6 Tips for Cooking with Beer
2008-03-03 18:32:04
This St. Patrick’s Day save some beer for the cooking pot.By EatingWell , EatingWell.com
St. Patrick’s Day may be about the beer—but don’t just guzzle it all down at your local pub. Save some of nature’s elixir in a few easy recipes. Just as wine adds depth and flavor to many foods, so does beer, but with a distinctly different taste. Here are some simple guidelines for cooking with beer anytime, but especially as we raise our glasses—and forks—on this St. Paddy’s Day!
1.Start off slow. Try adding half a bottle to a batch of your favorite chili, let it cook for a bit, then taste it. Want more beer flavor? Crack open another one (you finished that first bottle while the chili was cooking, right?) and add some more.
2.Hops are bitter. Most every beer has some hops in it—they essentially act as the spice in beer. Some beers are more "hoppy" than others. Pale ales are pretty balanced and not overly hoppy, generally making them a better choice for cooking than IPAs (India Pale Ales). Use hops to your advantage: they can cut through creaminess, so try adding a slug to the sauce for a batch of homemade mac-and cheese. Balance the bitterness with inherently sweet things like carrots, caramelized onions or a touch of honey.
3.Malt is sweet. Malt is malted barley—barley that has been sprouted in water then dried in a kiln. Depending on how the barley is dried, some of the sugars are caramelized and give sweet flavors to the beer. To balance that sweetness in cooking, try adding acidic elements like some chopped tomatoes, a squeeze of fresh citrus juice or a splash of vinegar. Try a nut brown ale for a user-friendly maltier brew.
4.The flavors in a beer intensify as it cooks and reduces down, so use it judiciously and taste as you go.
5.Use beer like wine. Try making a combination of beer and broth to deglaze a roasting pan or the pot you’re browning meat in for stew.
6.Wing it. Steam mussels or shrimp in beer with some chopped tomatoes and garlic, add lager or pilsner to your favorite batter for fish or seafood (be sure to use light-colored beers or the batter will be gray) and use it to marinate almost any kind of protein.
Here are some tested recipes that take full advantage of the delicious flavor of beer. Cook up some tried and true recipes that go great with a tall frosty mug of your favorite brew.
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