Cowboy Beans Too Sweet- What to do? (cider, bbq, crock pot)

[no kudzu]

I tried a new recipe for cowboy beans last night which had both white and brown sugar, molasses and ketchup and bbq sauce. Even though i didn't use as much as the recipe states, it is too sweet. Could I put a dash if vinegar in it? I made a huge crock pot full and have too much invested to throw it out. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[OpenD]

When I saw the headline my first thought was "add some vinegar."

My suggestion: separate a small batch from the rest and experiment on it until you get the result you want, then doctor the rest to match.

[fibonacci]

Salt can also help balance it, hopefully they aren't too salty already.

[rural chick]

Maybe this site will help:

What To Do If The Dish Is Too Sweet, Too Sour, Or Too Salty. And A Lot Of Other...Too's - The Cat's Meow Blog at Allrecipes.com - 237754

[Bulldogdad]

Cider vinegar and lemon juice. Add a touch at a time until you get the flavor profile you seek. Some type of chili spice like Tabasco, Franks Red Hot etc..will help as well.

[no kudzu]

Thanks all. guess my instincts are right on. I'll do a little at a time with apple cider vinegar.

[SATX56]

Add some water then throw some out and reduce as required.

[OpenD]

Since cider vinegar is a little sweet, I'd use white vinegar instead, if you have it.

Also, adding some Tabasco or other pepper sauce is a good idea, but since they are all vinegar based, add before the other vinegar, taste, proceed...

I'm not a fan of adding salt to try to counter excess sweetness. I think you just wind up adding saltiness, not reducing sweetness. I had some salted caramel gelato with my dinner yesterday which proved the point... it was very sweet AND very salty.

One thing I would try is adding something bitter. Bitter does counter saltiness (and versa the vice!). Personally, I would experiment with adding a shot of espresso. I have used espresso in making scratch chili many times, and it does add richness to the flavor and could knock down the excess sweetness.

[jasper12]

Just add liquid smoke and a pound of bacon. Bacon cures anything.

[jlawrence01]

I would add a good garlic pepper sauce which has a vinegar base.