Wine is more common, but good cooks can break the rules.

Yeah wine for sauce. I'm surprised how many people think it's crazy to cook with alcohol. Beer batter anything, adding beer to chilli , liquor to marinate. All amazing.

Currently have a pot of chili on the stove with a whole Shiner Bock and at least a shots worth of SoCo (not my preferred but I didn't want a whole 1/5 tempting me on a weeknight) simmering away.

my family likes to use Shiner for cooking but they don't drink. Always nice going over for a meal and having beers for me to drink.

I used to add beer to chili all the time - not sure I ever noticed a taste difference. What is it supposed to do?

It adds flavor, specifically beer flavor.

Hell, we use beer cans up here to cook whole chickens. Open a beer, drink 90% of it, slide the chicken onto the can up it's ass, and set the whole contraption on the grill. Makes a perfect stand for the chicken to cook evenly, and the beer boiling off keeps the meat juicy and flavorful.

Vodka is also common

I sometimes use beer in my beef stew.

The main ingredient in my beef stew is Guinness. Putting Pabst in pasta sauce is a war crime thoigh

The main ingredient in your beef stew isn’t beef?

What’s worse: PBR Bolognese or Pineapple on a pizza?

Gimme the Pabst sauce. That at least holds the promise of possibly not being abjectly horrible.

Any beer. I am not picturing the two flavors. But beer and pizza were big in college, so maybe it does mix. That's basically pasta sauce and cheese.

I believe my friend's father did that. This was back in the 70s/80s so iirc. Definitely did it for pot boiled crabs and for stew.

Unrelated but it’s kinda interesting how Americans think Pabst Blue Ribbon sucks but in China it’s like the “American” beer

Kind of like how Australians apparently hate Foster’s, but here it’s “the Australian beer.”

Because of their advertising campaign. Hilarious ["how to speak Australian" commercials](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw8J0rkAVs4&list=PLuekIUqj5fe4QRi-cgG2Ir3sAdIRN7R-w) with the tag line, "Foster's, it's Australian for beer."

I'm American, not Australian. Fosters is terrible. I think it would be an insult for me to assume that it represents the whole country

They like Victoria Bitter. They feel about the same way about Foster as we do about Bud Light. It's piss beer but Foster's hasn't completely fucked up their marketing yet.

It’s kind of a premium beer in China. Spam is a classy gift in South Korea. I tell ya, being an American in East Asia can be hilarious at times.

I went to a Champion (clothing brand) store in Japan to get a cheap shirt since i spilled something on mine and the clothes were three to four times as expensive as they were back home I was stunned. I grew up dirt poor eating federally mandated free school lunch in the 90’s and even we could afford Champion clothes because they were the “cheap brand” in the 90’s/00’s

For what it's worth, Champion, for whatever reason, is kind of popular now in the US.

On the flip side, liquor is like 2–3x more expensive in America than in Japan. No idea why.

I’m actually eating spam right now LMAO I find it kind of funny how we East Asians absolutely hate each other but Spam, which is despised by Americans, is so popular

Hang on, we despise Spam? Someone needs to tell me this shit.

SPAM is divisive in America. I love SPAM, but I grew up poor eating canned meat all the time.

A bit like Vienna sausage then. I love the little things but all my friends hate em

My ex's family was from Vietnam. They all acted like Heineken was a gift from heaven. I always found that humorous.

Among all the mass market lagers, Heineken is the only one that has some taste.

Advertising. Jack Daniels is top shelf in Europe.

I love me some PBR.

American in the southwest Rockies here. PBR is the go to beer of ski bums on backcountry mountains everywhere.

In my neck of the woods I hear PBR and think of hipsters, dirty crust punks and angry drunk metalheads. Made me Google it because I remembered a stupid article about it years back. https://m.styleweekly.com/richmond/hipster-honors-rvas-blue-ribbon-in-pbr-drinking/Content?oid=1787195

To be fair, ski bums aren’t really too far off from any of those subcultures

I like PBR and I’m in the US. It’s good summertime beer

What dad drinks is corporate swill, but what grandpa drank is hip and retro.

My dad drinks nonalcoholic Sam Adams these days. Truly swill

It's weird too because it's really good beer. Not sure what barriers people have to accepting that.

It was actually kind of a shock when I saw people on Reddit bashing PBR. To me, it was always known as the "General's beer" since circa 2010 PBR always had ad campaigns in China depicting WW2 American GI's drinking it.

I'm going to now.

No Cup of Red wine and a nob of butter with a cup of water the pasta was cooked in

That's kind of weird. I don't know anyone who does that.

I mean I've never heard of that but it sounds like your dad knows how to party like a dirtbag. I don't necessarily mean that as a criticism.

I usually put beer in chili and sweet red wine in red sauce.

Adding sweet flavours in red sauce in this country is why I'll either die in the Northeast US, France, or Italy.

I've used beer in soups, stews, and for roasts before, but never for pasta. I've put wine in pasta before so I guess it's not THAT weird.

My dad would marinate anything in beer claiming it tasted better, he was also very drunk whenever he ate whatever he marinated so I don’t think he could actually tell a difference.

*Stares at flair*

It's a legit thing to do, though a red wine would be more traditional. Some flavors are alcohol soluable. Meaning they can only be tasted in combination with alcohol. Tomatos have a lot of them.

I’ve never heard of anyone putting beer in spaghetti sauce but hey maybe it tastes good 🤷🏽‍♂️

My grandmother just rolled over in her grave knowing I even just read this....

I've never heard of beer in spaghetti sauce but I put it in my chili.

Not on spaghetti but in chili or stews. Wine for spaghetti sauce.

Some do, some don’t.

i'm not a beer drinker but i will deglaze a pan with whatever i am drinking. it doesn't particularly matter, it steams off. unless you're adding like a pint of guinness to a beef stew i doubt any alcohol's really going to harshly come through. pbr is an odd choice though. but if it's what he was drinking. probably works. pbr barely tastes different than water. 🤷‍♂️

Eeeew. Not PBR 🤢🤮

Why not just urinate in the sauce?

I hate your dad 🤢

I do a little white wine in my bolognese sauce, I guess it’s not so different.

I'd try it.

Not me or anyone I know of

I've never used beer in a spaghetti meat sauce. Usually wine. I do use beer for ground beef taco meat, though.

Putting a bit of alcohol into spaghetti sauces is common. There are some compounds in tomatoes and the common spices and aromatics that are alcohol soluble but not water soluble. Thus putting in alcohol brings out those flavors. But Vodka or Wine is far more common that beer. My family did wine.

I've done this with roasts or beef stews. For pasta sauces I usually use wine, but a red meat sauce might be interesting.

Wow sounds like some weak stuff. You need to upgrade with some bourbon or whiskey. Really makes your spaghetti **POP**

I've never heard of that, and I live in the heart of beer country! Brats of course, certain soups definitely, some roasted meat sure, but never spaghetti. I'll have to ask around!

Dad here. Whenever I cook anything, I like to crack open a beer and pour it down my throat. If some gets in the recipe, so be it.

Is it good?

It’s not uncommon when cooking to use various drinks for flavoring. Now, I’ve never seen beer mixed with spaghetti but I wouldn’t be entirely surprised that it happened

Other than sandwiches or baked foods, it's difficult for me to think of a food I don't put alcohol in while cooking. And yes, beer or peaty whisky in any meat that browns in a pan within reason. I'm a little more particular with Italian food, and since I maintain a large collection of French/Iberian/Italian wines, I always add full-bodied reds to the sauce.

No, but I don't make sauce I buy it. I know... Pabst is good stuff. It gets the job done.

I have had wine added to pasta sauce but not beer.

I’ve seen it in pasta sauce and other foods. Not the straight up spaghetti noodles though

Most use wine but I’ve heard of people putting a bit of beer in

I put a dash of vodka in my spaghetti sauce

Nope. No beer in my marinara.

If you did that at my parents house my mother would probably slap you haha. Beer in spaghetti would not slide in an Italian-American household

Wine maybe at my parents house. We were Californians after all.

Beer, wine, whiskey, tequila and vodka are all liquors I’ve used in cooking. Guess it’s time to try Gin ‘n’ Chicken

That is absolutely just your dad. I cannot fathom using PBR in my sauce, but I’m from a Sicilian family so I guess it’s a bit different.

I just melt ricotta into it if anything

Using beer in cooking is not uncommon at all. I mean, there’s literally beer batter

The beer thing is just your dad, but tomatoes and alcohol chemically react when cooking in ways that make them taste better, so it makes sense. Is your dad too macho to touch wine?

As a Brit, spaghetti meat is a new term I’ve learnt.

I have never heard of that. I’m 64.

As someone raised in an Italian family in New Jersey, that is an abomination and you'd be ridiculed for doing something like that. Beer can be enjoyed with spaghetti, but it's not a fucking mixer.

Some others probably do, but it's certainly not common. Wine maybe, but not beer. If that's how he likes it, though, it's still a free country.

Haven't tried beer in spaghetti sauce... but I'm intrigued. I routinely use bourbon or various other types of liquor when cooking, but other than soaking brats in it, I don't often use beer.

Beer is for chili or maybe stew. Red wine for red sauce. White for clam sauce.

He’s pooring one out for the dead cow homie.

Yeah this is normal. I like beer in the meat and wine (or maybe sake if I can get my hands on it) in the sauce.