Stacey Langille suggests ideas for cooking with beer.
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Cooking with beer
Submitted by Stacey
Langille
Long before our modern conveniences
such as running water
and electricity, people enjoyed beer. Because most water was not safe
to drink,
people drank beer and
cooked with it also. The brewing process made it
safe for
both methods of consumption.
Despite the Roman insistence that only barbarians drank beer and wine was the drink of the time, beer survived because in rural areas wine was not readily available.
Fortunately drinking and cooking with beer has never gone out of style. Many call beer "liquid bread" and based on its ingredients, that's not too far off the mark. Forget cooking with wine: get on the beer bandwagon.
Cook with beer
Cooking with beer has become fashionable and many restaurants and "gastropubs" are picking up on this long-loved pairing of food and beer.
Usually, when visiting the local pub, your choices were narrowed down to domestic or imported, bottled or tap, major brand or microbrew. But now entire menus have been created around cooking with beer.
Even the home cook can get in on these tasty treats with a little experimentation and patience. Like any cooking, trial and error are key. The more you practice, the better your dishes will become and eventually people will be drooling at the mere mention of a beer-based dish.
A few simple tips to follow will take some of the error out of the process. When cooking with beer, keep the temperature as low as possible, as high heat will kill many of the delicate aromas. For bread you can replace all or some of the required liquid with beer. Never cook with a beer you would not drink, as chances are it won't cut it for you in the recipe either. Marinate, marinate, marinate (some cooks disagree, but beer marinade rocks!). Lastly, add it to any sauce for extra flavor.
I am not saying to put beer in your Cheerios instead of milk: just have some fun. If total experimentation scares you a bit, then here is a guide for matching different types of beer with food:
Starters
Vegetable
soups: pale bitters
Meaty soups:
malty ales
Shellfish:
stouts; porters
Fish:
Pilsners;
lagers; light bitters
Pate: Strong
dark lagers
Quiches/souffle:
light bitters
Main courses
Beef:
bitters
Pork:
Pilsners; strong dark lagers
Lamb: spicy
malty ales
Chicken:
lagers; wheat beers
Turkey/game:
malty ales
Sausages:
Bitters; dark lagers
Meat pies: bitters
Barbecue:
smoked beers; dark lagers
Oriental:
wheat beers
Curries: IPAs;
premium lagers
Salads:
nutty malty ales; wheat beers
Pizzas:
malty lagers
Desserts
Mild
cheeses: light bitters
Stronger cheeses:
full-bodied ales
Chocolate/coffee desserts:
porters; stouts
Red berry desserts:
porters
Creamy desserts:
stouts
Go ahead, give cooking with beer a try!
We have all enjoyed fish in beer batter at a pub, but
don’t let them have all the fun. Mix up a batch of beer
tempura and add it to
just about any meat or fish for a meal you won’t soon forget.
Another fun and simple trick is the beer can chicken that can leave you not sharing your meat with anyone. A simple rack that can be purchase at most department stores that holds the half filled beer can and the chicken (yes, the can sticks up its butt!).
While the chicken cooks, it slowly boils out the beer to flavor the chicken from the inside.
I have experimented with many beer-added recipes when cooking with beer and have never been disappointed. Sometimes, I was pleasantly surprised.
Even Emeril from the Emril Live cooking show occasionally features beer culinary delights, a few of which are: Beer Brined Chicken with Giblet Gravy; English Fish and Chips; Beer Braised Cabbage and Celery Root; and Guinness Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Honey Sauce. Don't these sound YUMMY!
Try our United Nations of Beer beer recipie ideas.
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