Beer used in cooking

[evmori]

" If you get caught, it really makes no difference."

 

Since there seem to be no penalties, what does it matter?

 

What does it matter? You have to be kidding!

 

Little Johnny goes home & tells mom that Scoutmaster Frank brought beer on the camping trip!

 

I can't believe it!

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[John-in-KC]

All it takes is one parent complaining to the DE, and the person who brought the alcohol may well get "The Letter" from the SE. You know The Letter: The one returning your dues and inviting you never to darken the door of BSA again.

 

Is it really worth the risk?

[Venividi]

You could always save the recipes that use beer for a cookout on a non-scout trip weekend. Call the other dutch oven enthusiasts that you know and invite them over for a DO gathering. Provide some hot charcoal and a place to set dutch ovens, let everyone bring ingredients for a favorite recipe (or new recipe that they want to try), and enjoy the comraderie while cooking, and then enjoy the tasty results.

 

We did this, and it turned into a frequent get together. What could be better than another meal from a dutch oven every month?

[Scouting Mom]

Vinegar has the same tenderizing effect on meat as alcohol does. Cider Vinegar is probably the closest to the flavor of beer, but there are all sorts of other vinegar flavors...wine vinegar is closest to red wine...Balsamic vinegar doesn't resemble any alcoholic beverage that I know of, but has a strong flavor that compliments red meats...not sure how it would work with corned beef, but it is fantastic with steak or venison.

 

There is such a thing as Beer Vinegar, but it's expensive and not readily available. I have also heard of using Ginger Ale.

[Basementdweller]

Boy have times changed. The fathers who accompanied us on the boy scout trips of my youth drank , smoked cigars and played cards late into the night.

 

I don't remember anyone saying anything. It was no big deal.

 

Good example. I don't know, but again this was small town american and everyone was friends and no one had an agenda. We were just glad that our Dad's came along.

 

 

[Gold Winger]

Those were kinder and gentler times and not everything had been declared evil.

 

I'm sure that back then, your father had a couple beers and that was it. Now, with the excess of excesses that we see, too many would be getting drunk and falling into the fire.

 

Oh for the kinder and gentler times. Even if we didn't have health care and cable TV, people had common sense and generally had manners.

[acco40]

The Boy Scouts of America prohibits the use of alcoholic beverages and controlled substances at encampments or activities on property owned and/or operated by the Boy Scouts of America, or at any activity involving participation of youth members.

 

Near beer is not alcohol free. It is not to be sold to minors in approximately 30% of the country. O'Doul's contains roughly 0.4% alcohol, 5% for most beers, and around 0.3% for a glass of slightly fermented fruit juice.

 

Your automobile is a controlled substance in a literal sense. From a legal sense, a controlled substance is a drug or chemical whose manufacture, possession, and use are regulated by the government.

 

The BSA allows alcohol to be consumed when youth are not present. If the recipe is such that the alcohol content is significantly removed via the cooking process one could bring along the alcohol in a separate container (non-labelled). Best bet is to use another recipe that doesn't include alcohol if youth are present.

[Gold Winger]

I wonder if BSA has a problem with NyQuil?

[OldGrayOwl]

The last time that I checked, NyQuil is not a beverage, but medication.

BSA is concerned about the use of alcohol as a beverage, not IN medication.

 

OGO

[Slouchhat]

Not that I'd ever bring alcohol (except as part of the First Aid kit) to a scouting event, but being from a country where beer has a cultural meaning, I can tell you that you have no reason to be overly afraid of the effects of American beer on the average person. It reminds me of the difference between American beer and sex in a canoe...nonexistent, both is very close to water.

 

Still, if the rule says no alcoholic beverages, then you either follow the rule and be fine or get the rule changed.

 

best regards,

Volker

[scoutldr]

Slouchat, we kill hundreds a day with American beer. Especially when mixed with gasoline.

[Trevorum]

Ahem. Beer definitely has a cultural meaning here in America as well, just a different kind of meaning than in Germany.

 

But, I know what you mean about "American beer". The big brands are uniformily thin and watery. Ugh. It's too bad those are the ones that are best known. However, there are some really excellent microbrews being made. World class brews. I doubt you get those - there would be little point in exporting American beers to Germany!

[Stosh]

"The Boy Scouts of America prohibits the use of alcoholic beverages and controlled substances at encampments or activities on property owned and/or operated by the Boy Scouts of America, or at any activity involving participation of youth members."

 

This of course is the traditional double standard hypocracy that permeates much of our American culture. Tobacco is a controlled substance, prescription meds are as well as some over the counter medications. Of course there are a mirade of exceptions which in fact make the "rule" pretty much what people want to make it out to be. It's just that we get a little more hyper when it comes to alcohol used in cooking. Be careful, VERY careful with the use of vanilla extracts. At 15% alcohol by volume, it is by volume two to three times the alcohol content than beer and 3% more than most table wines. This too could be an exception, but I often wonder whether beer as a marinade or vanilla as an extract flavoring would in the food world actually be the same thing, neither of which if consumed would amount to enough to spike someone's breathalyzer.

 

This is the same rationale that scouters use to show up at district dinners without uniforms so they can drink in front of the boys without setting a bad example.

 

Cheers! Have a good day.

 

Stosh

[Gold Winger]

Is drinking really setting a bad example? My children have seen me drink hundreds of times, they've seen their grandfather drink hundreds of times but they've never seen either one of us drunk.

 

For the record, I like American beer.

[Slouchhat]

Agreed, there are many fine beers produced in the US. I remember the Bricktown Brewery in OK City quite well.

 

I don't think that it is harmful idf a child sees Dad (or his Scoutmaster) drink a beer now and then, if the adult handles his dose of alcohol responsibly.

After all, some day we will have to teach the kids that having a drink is okay, but drinking and driving isn't and getting blind-drunk isn't either.

 

best regards,

Volker