# Help!! Arugula left my stew bitter



## kidmims (Apr 21, 2007)

This is my first time trying arugula in my stew and I now know that I don't like the taste of arugula. It left my stew a bitter taste to it. Does anyone know how I can get rid or even mask the bitter taste of it?? Need Help!


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## cacook (Jan 18, 2006)

Well, I know that arugula is meant to be consumed fresh, otherwise it turns...bitter. I'm not sure on how to get rid of that taste. Some citrus maybe?


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## breton beats (Feb 21, 2007)

Arugula is a bitter green, and is probably not the best thing to add to stews. If you are looking for a green go for a tougher one that needs to be cooked My prefered ones are: Kale, Chard, Beet Greens. 

If you want to use Argula I would cut into ribbons, wait until the stew is done, turn off heat, then let the residual heat do any cooking. BTW This is the same way I would handle any green that I added to a soup or stew.

Good Luck


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## kidmims (Apr 21, 2007)

I was searching online for some answers and I read that adding carrots and a bit of sugar may help. I did that but I can't really tell if there is a change for the better. 

I was using a recipe for white bean stew with baby romaine and it was delicious the first time. But then tonight, I went to the store and they didn't have any fresh baby romaine at all so I picked up some arugula, instead. The recipe suggested baby romaine or arugula so I thought it couldn't hurt. Boy, was I wrong after I tried it! =( Never again will I buy arugula...even my husband said the first batch was better. Oh well...live and learn, right? Thanks for your help!


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

Use arugula fresh its really not good for cooking. IMHO its not good for much at all hehehe. You're better off grazing in the fields.

From,
A dedicated arugula disliker


P.S. ok ok its not that bad, just not my cuppa tea


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## even stephen (Oct 10, 2005)

I disagree, Arugula is often used cooked as are many other bitter greens.
For some reason, and I am not sure why, arugula has a bitter almost tabacco
taste sometimes. I have sauteed it, used it in sauces, and in pasta fillings and haven't had problems. On occasion though, it comes out tasting like an
ashtray, not that I taste ashtrays. Usually I pick larger growth or more mature arugula for soups and other cooked items. It seems to me that the
younger, smaller, more tender arugula(such as baby arugula)tends to cook up
with that bad taste. As far as your soup goes, chunk it, the most you will ever do is mask the flavor at best, and thats not what its all about. 
Good luck.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

Problem with arugula is that it is very heat sensitive, and turns bitter when it's ready to bolt.

Grown properly, under cool/cold conditions, it has a flavor that is more peppery than bitter. Arugula is so cold hardy, in fact, that it actually prefers getting frost-bitten. Even the larger leaves are that way. Just as soon as temps start to rise, however, it's a crapshoot whether or not you get bitter leaves or peppery ones.

If you grow your own you can easily taste this evolution. But with commercially sourced there's no telling how old the plants are, or whether or not they have turned bitter. 

Baby arugula available anytime not in late fall or early spring probably was greenhouse grown, under too-hot conditions, and so is always bitter.


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## psycho chef (Feb 1, 2007)

A healthy pinch of salt is great for taming bitterness. Bitter greens always get a little extra salt in my kitchen, I feel it helps balance them. Always Kosher salt I should mention because iodized salt has 33% more sodium and tasts more salty.


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## kyheirloomer (Feb 1, 2007)

>The recipe suggested baby romaine or arugula <

Frankly, I can't imagine them as subs for each other. Totally different tastes and textures. 

If there was no romaine, I'd have subbed a different lettuce; staying with a loose-headed type.

Nor would I add it to the stewpot. Given your dish, I would do as Breton Beats suggests; chiffonade the green and sprinkle it on each serving, so the heat of the dish wilts it. Then the diner could stir it in or not.


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## kidmims (Apr 21, 2007)

Wow, thank you for all your responses! I feel like I know a little bit more about arugula with all your great responses. I'm going to try to add a bit of salt to my stew and hopefully it'll balance out the bitterness of the arugula. It really was delicious with the baby romaine. I think it is added to the dish for color more than anything else. Thanks, again!


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## cookie jim (Apr 24, 2007)

kidmmims,as suggested add chiffonade at serving time,I also do the same for basil,but don't add the salt.Being a diabetic as well as a heart patient I would always allow guest to add extra salt to suit thier taste. good cookin...cookie


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## someday (Aug 15, 2003)

I would say add some sour elements, and as was already suggested some salt. Try a little lemon juice and some salt. The sour will reduce the bitterness quite nicely.


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## rsteve (May 3, 2007)

Sometimes you just have to attempt to minimize your losses. Last year I catered a dinner for 300 assisted by a young chef who came with the highest credentials and education. The meat entree requested was sweet and sour braised brisket of beef. The briskets averaged 17 lbs. untrimmed and had to be fabricated before cooking. It was very time consuming and my young colleague was quite slow, though eager to learn. She insisted that we prepare at least half the briskets using a recipe she'd used many times previously, using carmelized onions and sun dried tomatoes. It sounded interesting, but I was uncertain about using a recipe that I hadn't used previously with success. Long and short: Her sauce was inedible; extremely acidic. The meat, however, was tender and with the sweet and sour sauce I'd used on the other briskets was easily corrected. I dumped her sauce and washed her cooked briskets. Losses were minimized. Sometimes, that's the best you can do.

If the meat in your stew hasn't been embittered by the arugula, wash it and set it aside. Cook some vegetables separately in bullion; thicken when done, and add the meat. 

Frankly, in over 40 years of catering/cooking, I have never used arugula in anything other than a salad or as a deliberate "bittering" agent in a soup.

It's always a good idea, of course, to "preview" an ingredient before you commit to using it in a recipe. But then, it's one thing when you err on two portions for the home kitchen; another when it's for a couple of hundred servings.


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