# What to do with root beer?



## MostlyWater

I have several cans of it and we aren't crazy about it.

Can I use it in chicken like beer, or are there other ways to use it in cooking?

Thanks


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## justplainbill

Root beer float?


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## 4meandthem

I guess you could reduce it for a glaze but if your not crazy about it why try and use it at all. You won't be crazy about whatever you make with it.


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## Aunt Bea

I vote for the root beer float or give it to a thirsty kid!


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## MostlyWater

I don't really want to drink it.  I wonder how it would taste, like with fennel or something else sort of strong flavored ....


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## taxlady

Give the nasty stuff to someone who likes it. Or, keep if for the occasion of a kid visiting.


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## CWS4322

Seems to me LP used it instead of beer for beer can chicken.


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## Merlot

I have seen it with pulled pork, baked beans, and the "beer can chicken".  I'm not saying they are good recipes (haven't tried them)... but it has been done!


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## PrincessFiona60

Funny, I never liked root beer as a kid (maybe because it was Shasta), but now I like it.  We buy Barq's Root Beer.


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## Merlot

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Funny, I never liked root beer as a kid (maybe because it was Shasta), but now I like it. We buy Barq's Root Beer.


 
Barq's with a bite!

I loved root beer as a kid and I think I burnt myself out on it, I can hardly drink it now.


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## CWS4322

What about making a rootbeer ice or ice cream?


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## Barbara L

If you don't like it, you probably won't like whatever you make with it. I agree with the others who said give it to someone who likes it, or save it for company. I LOVE rootbeer, especially ice cold A&W.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North

I must be the odd one out here.  I love root beer.  It's primary flavors are wintergreen and caramel, or brown sugar.  It lends itself well to dairy preparations and is great with ice cream, which tempers the strong wintergreen component.  It can be used to make a syrup, but is rather sweet for that.

If I wanted to cook with it, I would thing paring it with something savory, like pot roast might be a good thing.  Just use it as a flavor accent, maybe with some cloves, carrot, and onion.

As a desert, I might use it to make a shaved ice, or maybe an Italian ice.  It could be used as a syrup, as for sticky buns.  

To successfully use it, I would think you would want to make a bit of it flat, and roll it around in your mouth to figure out what it really tastes like, without the effervescence.  Then, pair it with other flavors in your mind.  I can see it making a good barbecue sauce for pulled pork, for instance.

Birch beer tastes a lot like root beer.  The sap is sometimes boiled down to make syrup, and used in the same fashion as maple syrup.

I don't know.  I have only used it to drink, ice cold, and in root beer floats.  Hopefully, this helps get the imagination going.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## taxlady

Wow Chief, our senses of taste are very different. To me, rootbeer tastes like sarsaparilla on steroids, with some licorice thrown in to make it worse.

I've never tasted birch beer, but spruce beer tasted like conifer sap.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North

It may truly be that you don't like root beer.  But before you give up on it, try different brands.  I detest the flavor of Hire's root beer.  I love the flavor of A&W, Dad's, and Barque's (sp).  There are others that I can tolerate, and some that just plain won't drink as they taste terrible to me.  

P.A.G. and her DH love Barque's and won't drink any other brand.  I knew people who loved Hire's and couldn't handle A&W root beer.  It all depends on your taste buds.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## buckytom

i love root beer and birch beer too!

i could go for a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a frosty mug of stewarts root beer.

i remember making root beer with the scouts when i was a kid by actually boiling down some kind of roots, adding it to seltzer, then making ziplock bag ice cream to go with it. 

i've had pulled pork that was mopped with root beer. it was pretty good, but then it's hard to screw up pulled pork.

you can also make a bbq sauce with root beer by reducing it with some chipotles, onions, and a thickener.


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## Cerise

How about chili or ribs:

Sweet Chili and Root Beer Baby Backs - Fine Cooking Recipes, Techniques and Tips

If you feel a little more adventurous...

*Root Beer Pecan Pie*

*Rootin’ Tootin’ Chocolate Torte
*
*Root Beer Apple Crumbs

Prawn Tempura with Spicy Chinese Cabbage & Mandarin Dipping Sauce

Recipes | REED'S, Inc.

*


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## Margi Cintrano

*Root Beer Ice Cream Float, Yes !*

Good Morning,

One of the only sodas, I like is Rootbeer ... and I love it as an icecream float ... Very typical of the old NYC icecream parlors of yester-year ! 

I cannot imagine it as a sauce for savoury dishes ... however, we each have our own palates ...

Thanks for posting.
Margi.


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## Margi Cintrano

@ Cerise, 

Rootbeer recipes --- thanks so much for posting ... Curious ... Interesting. Shall take a serious look when out of editorial deadline.

Thanks for posting !
Margi. Have lovely day.


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## justplainbill

buckytom said:


> i love root beer and birch beer too!
> 
> i could go for a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a frosty mug of stewarts root beer.
> 
> i remember making root beer with the scouts when i was a kid by actually boiling down some kind of roots, adding it to seltzer, then making ziplock bag ice cream to go with it.
> 
> i've had pulled pork that was mopped with root beer. it was pretty good, but then it's hard to screw up pulled pork.
> 
> you can also make a bbq sauce with root beer by reducing it with some chipotles, onions, and a thickener.


Sassafras smells and tastes like root beer to me.  A gulp of birch beer can be quite a letdown to someone expecting Harp lager.


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## taxlady

How do you make ziplock bag ice cream?


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## buckytom

that's it, jpb. i couldn't remember the name. we used sassafras to make the syrup for the soda.

taxy, you need a quart and a gallon ziplock bag, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, ice, and salt.

you pour some milk, sugar, and vanilla in the quart bag and seal it. then put the sealed quart bag inside the gallon bag, fill the gallon bag with ice, pour in some salt, seal the gallon bag, and then get busy mushing it all around. as the salt melts the ice, it freezes the milk and sugar in the inside bag. by mushing it around, you break down the ice crystals in the milk as they form, thus making ice cream. it only takes a few minutes and it's a lot of fun to do with kids.


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## taxlady

buckytom said:


> that's it, jpb. i couldn't remember the name. we used sassafras to make the syrup for the soda.
> 
> taxy, you need a quart and a gallon ziplock bag, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, ice, and salt.
> 
> you pour some milk, sugar, and vanilla in the quart bag and seal it. then put the sealed quart bag inside the gallon bag, fill the gallon bag with ice, pour in some salt, seal the gallon bag, and then get busy mushing it all around. as the salt melts the ice, it freezes the milk and sugar in the inside bag. by mushing it around, you break down the ice crystals in the milk as they form, thus making ice cream. it only takes a few minutes and it's a lot of fun to do with kids.


Thanks BT. I'll have to give that a try. I don't have room for an ice cream maker.


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## MostlyWater

I think beer can chicken is the winner !  thanks all !


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## CWS4322

buckytom said:


> that's it, jpb. i couldn't remember the name. we used sassafras to make the syrup for the soda.
> 
> taxy, you need a quart and a gallon ziplock bag, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, ice, and salt.
> 
> you pour some milk, sugar, and vanilla in the quart bag and seal it. then put the sealed quart bag inside the gallon bag, fill the gallon bag with ice, pour in some salt, seal the gallon bag, and then get busy mushing it all around. as the salt melts the ice, it freezes the milk and sugar in the inside bag. by mushing it around, you break down the ice crystals in the milk as they form, thus making ice cream. it only takes a few minutes and it's a lot of fun to do with kids.


Thanks, BT! I do have an ice cream maker, but this sounds like something fun to do with the kids who want to come out and meet the girls, collect eggs, gather veggies! I don't have kids--so would never have thought of this.


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## slett

Use root beer in the slow cooker with onions to make pulled pork.  Trust me, it's awesome


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## CharlieD

oy, I'd tell you a story about root beer, but I don't want anybody feel yuky.


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## Dawgluver

CharlieD said:
			
		

> oy, I'd tell you a story about root beer, but I don't want anybody feel yuky.



Aww, go ahead!


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## taxlady

CharlieD said:


> oy, I'd tell you a story about root beer, but I don't want anybody feel yuky.





Dawgluver said:


> Aww, go ahead!


I agree.


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## CharlieD

ok, fine, all public restrooms were pretty dirty in soviet times, and i mean pretty dirty. To kill the stinch, instead of actually cleaning the bathrooms they would spray it with airfresher, especially heavily in and the around the main epicenters of dirtiness, that smelled just like root beer. When I first time smelled root beer here in America I almost puke.


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## 4meandthem

buckytom said:


> that's it, jpb. i couldn't remember the name. we used sassafras to make the syrup for the soda.
> 
> taxy, you need a quart and a gallon ziplock bag, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, ice, and salt.
> 
> you pour some milk, sugar, and vanilla in the quart bag and seal it. then put the sealed quart bag inside the gallon bag, fill the gallon bag with ice, pour in some salt, seal the gallon bag, and then get busy mushing it all around. as the salt melts the ice, it freezes the milk and sugar in the inside bag. by mushing it around, you break down the ice crystals in the milk as they form, thus making ice cream. it only takes a few minutes and it's a lot of fun to do with kids.


 
I was given a soccer ball type ice cream maker. Same principal but you play with the ball instead.


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## buckytom

that's pretty cool, 4me. although, you might not want to head a ball full of ice cream. worse than brain freeze.


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## CharlieD

4meandthem said:


> I was given a soccer ball type ice cream maker. Same principal but you play with the ball instead.


 
I have two of those seating in my house, my wife bought when kids were little, they tried to fdo it in the day care, not sure if anything came out of it.


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## Uncle Bob

*Add a can to the braising liquid for beef, pork, chicken, (fowl) rabbit, squirrel, coon, 'possum, armadillo, venison, alligator, etc.

Fun! *


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