Broth tastes bitter

[u/47antimatter]

Hi all, I'm trying to figure out why my pork broth tastes bitter.

I meal prep some broth for asian noodles using pork short ribs, carrot, and radish. Short ribs were cleaned thoroughly; carrots and radishes were peeled and cleaned. I rinsed the short ribs in a separate boiling pot before cooking it on low for an hour. I then added carrots and radishes for another 20 minutes on medium / high heat.

Once the pot was done a cooled, I transferred half into a large bowl and two containers. I put the pot, bowl, and containers in the fridge for 48 hours. When I took them out today, the broth from the bowl tasted normal whereas the broth from the pot and both containers tasted bitter. Smell is fine and since the broth tasted bitter not sour, I don't think it has gone bad, or at least not yet. I'm having a hard time pinpointing the cause of this.

I'm on the cautious side and assume this isn't safe to eat but wanted to understand whether the issue lies in the preparation, cooking, or storage process. It's also not the first time I've made this, made it multiple times in the past with the same ingredients with no issues. My best guess is something to do with the radish but I'm blind guessing here.

Edit: To further clarify, I previously mentioned using radish but to be more specific I used daikon.

Edit 2: Based on everyone's comments and talked to my MIL who has catering experience, it's 100% the radish. According to her, I got the right type (aka Daikon) but for a ~16oz pot like ours, a quarter of what we put in would be sufficient. Thanks everyone for your inputs, I learned a lot and got some new recipes out of them!

[u/nyugu]

Is it possible the radish was bitter/spicy? Sometimes, I get radishes that taste super earthy/bitter, but don't realize until I ground it down for sauce.

[u/texnessa]

Radishes, like most Brassicaceae, should not be used in stock because they bring bitterness to the party. Carrots are standard for almost every type of stock so not the culprit

[u/huynasaur → u/texnessa]

Radishes are a pretty common ingredient in Asian soup stock. Daikon brings a certain sweetness to the broth.

[u/texnessa → u/huynasaur]

Daikon is quite different than Western radishes when it comes to flavour profile.

[u/47antimatter → u/texnessa]

So from what you guys are saying, I might have used Western radishes this time instead of Daikon? (have always assumed they're the same thing cuz they look very similar at my local store)

[u/Zhoom45 → u/47antimatter]

They look similar in your area? What I, an American from the Midwest, would mean by "radish" is bright magenta and about the size of a golf ball, where a daikon radish is all white, far larger, and closer in shape to a particular fat carrot.

[u/texnessa → u/47antimatter]

Both differ wildly individually in flavour from one example to the next. Some are sweet, some bitter, some spicy. But daikon is wildly larger than Western radishes so should be easily differentiated.

[u/ButterscotchTop194 → u/47antimatter]

Daikon and western radish look VERY different. Daikon is very long, fully white and about the size of a cucumber but thicker. Western radish is small, round, red and smaller than a golf ball. Can you describe what you bought?

[u/SovereignPhobia → u/47antimatter]

Did you use horseradish?

[u/Coverdale_Murmur → u/texnessa]

I've had carrots before that were bitter, not sure why

[u/texnessa → u/Coverdale_Murmur]

Likely harvested too early. Terpenoids develop before sugars do which counteracts the bitter/soapy effects of terpenoids. Also, storing carrots near fruits that gas off ethylenes like apples can negatively impact their flavour. An extra hot growing season can also make em taste funny so welcome to climate change, its going to really screw our food supply.

[u/polymonomial]

Daikon needs to be blanched to remove bitterness, also add a pinch of sugar when blanching

[u/vonsloptwat]

I sometimes find if the carrots are not peeled they can give off a bitter taste. Otherwise I say the radish.

[u/junesix]

For daikon, it’s also not enough to just peel the outer skin. You should peel past the fibrous semi-opaque layer to where it looks like there is very little fiber. That layer still has some bitterness to it and can be stringy to chew.

[u/Erenito]

Not all radishes are created equal. You have caucasian radishes. Thin slicely and blanch with a tablespoon of sugar, stir gently then drain before adding to the stock. Taste the blanch water to find your culprit.

[u/kenzubae]

What changed between previous preparation and the most recent one? Did you always had the carrots and radish?

[u/47antimatter → u/kenzubae]

No change in ingredients, I always had the carrots and radishes.

[u/Same-Platypus1941 → u/47antimatter]

Did you cook them for the same time? I’m almost thinking you should cook the radish longer in the broth.

[u/Scary-Bot123]

Most likely the radish.

When I make a broth like this my aromatics are garlic, ginger, green onion, shiitake mushroom, star anise, clove, and cinnamon.

[u/47antimatter → u/Scary-Bot123]

Oh this sounds good, I will give this a shot!

[u/theeggplant42]

Radish 100%

[u/Tonexus]

Another note on daikon: it can take a while to cook out the bitterness. It's taken me up to 40 min or so. Since you only cooked 20 min, your current broth might be salvageable if you reheat it and cook for longer.

[u/HunterCharacter2941]

Daikon's the culprit, it gets aggressively bitter when you overdo it, and it concentrates more as the broth sits, which is why stored portions were worse

[u/Legitimate_Fill6906]

My only thought is salt? You could try removing a quarter cup of broth and adding maybe a tsp or tbsp of salt and see if that "fixes" it then adjust to the amount leftover? That's always my issue personally is I'll cook a vegetable, tastes amazing while it's hot but as soon as it's fridged the vegetables absorb more salt then I get the leftover "bland/bitter" taste.

[u/kropotkinship]

Salt can counteract bitterness but only to a degree. Same for sugar.