Tips for Cooking with Beer

Cooking with beer helps prevent cancer – well, it’s in New Scientist magazine, so it must be true. In fact, ancient Egyptian and Sumerian physicians considered cooking with beer a healthy practice. Normally I’m deeply skeptical of “eating/drinking X gives you/prevents Y” stories but this one was so wonderful I had to repeat it. The first commercial cookbooks, including some with recipes for cooking with beer, appeared in England during the Tudor era, late 1400s to mid-1500s.

What it all boils down to is that cooking with beer concentrates its natural flavors. Brewpubs across the US, trendy European gastro-pubs and up-market eateries in many countries are all doing it: cooking with beer. Although Belgians and Germans have been cooking with beer for centuries, America’s chefs have featured wine or whisky in gourmet dishes with much greater prominence. Of course, anytime you’re cooking with beer it has to be good. Being a home brewer, I do quite an amount of cooking with beer.

Tips for Cooking with Beer

• The first thing you should know about cooking with beer is that it is in a whole different area than cooking with wines.
• Some easy ways to incorporate beer into a given recipe: Substitute part of the liquid content in traditional brownie recipes with the equivalent volume of stout.
• Most cooking with beer is encouraged with malt-accented beer styles like Abbey Dubbel, Scotch Ales, and low-hopped Stouts, Porters, Brown Ales, Belgian Strong Ales, etc.
• Game marries well with beer, but so does chicken and fish.
• Pilsener, ale, stout, porter, lager and bock beer are all good candidates for addition to your recipes.
• Brown ale makes a robust gravy for beef stew with dumplings. Brown Ale beer goes well with beef entrees, like steak, pot roast or roast beef.
• Pale ale is generally considered the most versatile for cooking. But beware the India Pale Ales (IPA's), which are excellent for drinking yet can be too bitter for cooking. Strive for a lighter pale ale, like Anchor Steam, or, depending on the dish, a more hoppy brew like Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
• Nut brown ales can be used interchangeably with pale ales but lend themselves particularly well to cheese dishes and rich stews.
• When it comes down to matching beer and food, grouping beers by their overall flavor makes more sense than categorizing them a lager or ale, or by color, or along national boundaries.
• Beef-and-Beer Chili Beer and chili have always been a good combo, but something tells us combining the two so intimately would create the kind of flatulence that could qualify as abuse for others around you.
• Dark beers also provide a distinct roasted flavor.

Beer Brat & Onions

Great for a lazy Sunday watching football. Also with aluminum foil you can do this on the grill, turning the brat in the beer.

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 Onion sliced, separated in rings
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 package bratwurst
• 1/2 cup beer (For this I usually go light and cheap. Stuff that 'That Guy' will leave behind in your fridge)
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• Buns and appropriate garnishments for the buns

Melt butter in skillet. Add onions. After about 3 minutes add paprika, salt, and pepper. Cook onions until golden brown, stirring occasionally.·
Place beer and brats in saucepan. Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes. Drain the beer from the pan and add oil. Cook brat until golden brown.
Now for the most complicated part which I am sure no one would have ever even guessed. Place the brat in the bun. Add Ketchup and Mustard. Cover with onions.

As a little aside. Don't we all have 'That Guy' who will come over, but only when you have groups of people over, and bring a 6 pack of crappy cheap beer. When you wake up the next day you have 5 of them in your fridge while you are shockingly low on your favorite $12 a 6pack beer. I guess I am bitter because guess what I have in my fridge right now. 4 Natural Ices but my Folly pack from New Belgium has 1 beer left. I only had 4 beers last night.

Beer Cheese Dip

One of my favorites. I usually use a lighter ale.

• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2 packages (8oz each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 packet ranch salad dressing & seasoning mix
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup beer (again I prefer lighter ales)
• Chopped green onion
• Additional Cheddar cheese

In a bowl combine cheddar cheese, cream cheese, and salad dressing & seasoning mix. Gradually stir in beer until mixture is to desired consistency. Garnish with green onion and additional cheddar cheese.

Serve with pretzals or veggies