Beer in cooking?

I like the flavour that beer imparts on food but I don't find that flavour beery if that makes sense. I'm not an expert but I find that strong ales incl barley wines, porters and stouts work best.

Brett

pot slow cooking of hot food. Very Big Snip>

nationally) with which to cook and maybe a recipe?

Hi Gareth, I passed on your request to uk.food+drink.misc as it seemed more their subject. The first reply is to suggest this site.

Gareth a écrit :

Erm no, wine is not intrisically superior to beer whenit comes to cooking. You just nbeed to take into account that beer being different, it needs to be used slightly differently...

My own theory is that there's two hurdles when substituting beer to wine in a recipe : sourness (lack thereof) and bitterness. Heed them and you'll be fine, mostly...

Bitterness : long cooking times tend to bring out the bitterness in the beer, and hoppy beers should be avoided for stews and the like. It'll especilly concentrate in potatoes and root veg such as carrots. Better, here, use a sticky belgian abbey ale than a yorkshire bitter, or even an english old ale.

Sourness or rather lack of it : Few people realise it, but a - moderate

- touch of sourness tends to bring out flavours amazingly. Typically, in a carbonade flamande or such a beer stew, if you use a sweetish strong dark ale such as Chimay blue label or Rochefort 10, you'll end up with something that tastes "flat", lacking crispness, dull... add a tiny splash or vinegar or a few drops of lemon juice... and taste the difference... but do not overdo it. Alternatively, instead of Rochefort 10, try a Liefmans Goudenband in your carbonade. It will bring the much-needed sharpness.

A little trick that may help : for dishes n which the beer is cooked, keep an inch or so at the bottom of the botte and add it to the dish just before serving. Brings out the flavours of the beer.

Recipes ... well apart from Liefmans Goudenband in a carbonade flamande, try a tiramisù with a strong stout (anything over 6% with a rich roastiness will do) instead of the coffee and amaretto mixture to dip the sponge cake in. (There are recipes for tiramisù all over the web, just remove at least one third of the sugar, it'll help too). Nobody'll notice the substtution before you confesss to it, and the bitterness of the stout will cut a bit through the egg and mascarpone cream, yielding a balance that's IMHO better than with coffee and amaretto.

Or try pieces of salmon fillet (say 150g per person) with diced red onion, two slices of lemon, a sprig of dill, a bit of pepper and a sprinkle of salt and a splash of Schlenkerla Rauchbier each, in a foil pouch. Take a deep plate, spread the tin foil on top of it, form a depression in the middle, put all the ingredients, fold over, crimp the edges well. Arrage on a baking tin, leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes, and then cook another 30 minutes in a preheated oven (150-180° C). Serve piping hot, with nice thick slices of granary bread to mop up the juices, and a cucumber salad with a yoghurt / dill / sprinkle of salt dressing. And a Budvar on the side.

Schleknerla can also be used to déglacé pork émincé. reduce it until it becomes really thick, then put the meat back in there, and leave the caramelised beer glaze the meat, adding a good sprinkle of sweet paprika just before serving along with rice / pasta / tatties and some stir-fried veg. Here, a malty german lager or a nutty brown ale should wor well to wash it down...

Carrots cooked with cummin and glazed with butter and honey beer (I tend to use Dupont's Biere de Miel for such recipes) are a great way to accompany a nice bit of goat cheese (think french bûchette de chèvre or the like), and a Saison Dupont on the side... (Saison Dupon on its own with goat's cheese's already a marriage made in heaven)

I hope this helps... if you're looking for a solid beer cookbook that also guives you tips in the "which beer for which dish" department, get Susan Nowak's Beer Cookbook (Faber & Faber). And to get the basics of matching beer with food, get Garrett oliver's "The Brewmaster's Table"..

Hope this helps...

Laurent.

Now I'm salivating.....

anyway to help the OP out here are some observations.

Hoppy beers in general aren't good for cooking. You need either pale lagery types or old ales, or mild or brown ales.

If you are doing a beef stew with beer (which is the basis of any steak and ale pie) then put a bay leaf in before the oven part of cooking: this removes the bitterness to some extent. Agreeing with Laurent, the fruitier the beer the better.

Do not put the sludge at the bottom of a bottle of real ale in any cooking. It does it no favours whatever.

Beer has a particular affinity with fruitcake. My last batch of Christmas fruitcakes were made with Hobgoblin and very nice they were too. I've made fruitcakes with ESB, Gales Prize Old Ale and Simpkiss Old (ah! those were indeed the days).

Pale beer makes a good batter: just add it to plain flour and mix. Especially for coating fish in for frying - you get the most success if you create a sort of tempura batter, don't mix until smooth, just enough to remove most of the lumps. This might be where Rooster's Yankee comes into cooking, or Pioneer's White Cloud - extreme paleness and hoppiness.

Chili con carne with ESB is good too (just ask the Swedish Chef).

However, to disagree with Laurent, I don't think Schenkerla Rauchbier should be let loose near any food, but then I hate barbecues too!

Oh Yea! Use it in onion ring batter. Truly wonderful.

My fav beer batter rings come from Ye Jolly Farmers in Dalton (nr Thirsk). But they might use a heavier, darker brew. great stuff.

nick

In article , Christine writes

I'd like to try that - any chance of a recipe?

Thanks

Hobgoblin makes good beer batter too :-)

I usually use a dark lager (Sapporo Ebisu black beer) when making a stew, as I usually have a 10 litre keg on tap, but t'other day made meat pies using a can of Bass. They turned out pretty good.

Wayne

Alas not for the Simpkiss Old... ;-)))

But for the cake:

Take a large saucepan. Pour into it half a pint of beer. Add 4 oz butter, 1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda (which will make it froth up), 6oz dark brown barbados sugar, 6 oz currants, 6 oz sultanas or raisins, 2 oz chopped peel,

Line a 7 inch square or 8 inch round cake tin with greased greaseproof paper.

Now to the cooled mixture, add 2 beaten eggs, 4 oz plain wholewheat flour,

Bake in centre oven, Gas 4, 350F, 180C, for 75 to 90 minutes. You will know it's done when it stops singing.

Oh - and remember to drink the other half of the pint of beer...

In article , Christine writes

Many thanks - I'll give that a go tomorrow - Cheers!