Cooking with Beer

Sophie Blog December 16, 2016

Cooking with Beer:

With the abundance of early December snow in these parts, I recently spent an afternoon creating a hearty beef stew to warm me up. When the recipe called for red wine, I opted to use Salt Box Old Foundry Stout instead. I must say, the result was a fabulously rich and hearty stew with a nice depth of earthy flavour thanks to the roasted chocolate and coffee notes of that Stout. Complimented by some warm, crusty bread and a nice glass of Salt Box’s newly released Irish Red ale, the rest of my afternoon felt like a welcome indulgence.

Cooking with good beer can offer benefits that often surpass the use of wine. There are three fundamental reasons that beer is a great ingredient to consider in a recipe: 1) it’s a leavening agent – the yeast in beer can help to lighten baked goods, 2) it’s a tenderizer, offering even the toughest cuts of meat a softer texture, and 3) it’s a flavour-enhancer, as was evidenced by the rich stout in my stew.

Julia Childs and I? We have nothing in common…except we both like to drink when we cook. However, don’t be alarmed! Any alcohol you put in a recipe evaporates during the cooking process – so those who abstain from drinking can still get the benefits of beer without compromising their principles. For those of you who do imbibe, if you cook with beer, make sure it’s a good beer – in other words, don’t cook with something you wouldn’t drink yourself.

How do I choose a particular type of beer for a recipe? In general, the principles are similar to those I’ve discussed in previous articles about pairing beer with food. The idea is to find complementary flavours in the beer and the other ingredients you’re cooking with. For example, if your recipe has some “heavy” ingredients like bacon, beef, or chocolate, then think about using a porter or stout with similar notes of chocolate, plum, or smokiness. If you’re cooking something lighter, like chicken or fish, try to find a beer that has notes that often complement this kind of dish – like a wheat beer with hints of orange or rosemary.

To give you some prompting, I’ve included below three different recipes (from multiple sources) – an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert. I’ve suggested some specific beers you can try, or use them as an example of how to incorporate alternative beer choices into your own recipes. It’s fun to experiment in the kitchen, and cooking with beer gives you an opportunity to try alternative beer styles that you wouldn’t normally reach for in the fridge. Happy Holidays and happy cooking! Appetizer – Baked Brie with Caramelized Apples, Pancetta, and Amber Ale (source: J. Dodd, The Craft Beer Cookbook)

Ingredients:

Small wheel of baked brie 1 large Honeycrisp apple, peeled, cored and diced ¼ cup unsalted butter ½ cup amber ale (try Salt Box Irish Red or a beer with low hop bitterness and caramel/malt flavours) 1/3 cup brown sugar ½ cup diced pancetta 1 sheet puff pastry dough

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F

2. In a pan over medium-high heat, add apples, butter, beer and brown sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally until apples are soft and beer has reduced to a syrupy consistency (about 10 min)

3. In a separate skillet, cook the pancetta over medium-high heat until slightly crispy (about 5 min)

4. Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface until large enough to fit over brie. Transfer pastry to a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Place brie in the center of the pastry, top with the apples and then the pancetta. Fold the pastry up over the brie, pressing together to secure tightly.

5. Bake at 400F for 25-30 min or until pastry has started to brown.

6. Serve warm on a platter with crackers or small toasts.

Main Course – Beef Stew with Caramelized Onions and Scottish Ale (Source: foodnetwork.com)

Ingredients:

¼ cup vegetable oil 2 ½ lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch chunks 2-3 medium sized yellow onions 3 sliced carrots 3-4 medium sized potatoes, diced into 1-2 inch pieces ½ cup frozen peas 1 tbs unsalted butter 2 tsp sugar 2 tbs all-purpose flour 1 ½ tsp dried thyme or rosemary 12 fl oz bottle (375 ml) Salt Box Scotch Ale (or good quality amber ale, not too biter) 1 cup beef broth 1 tbs tomato paste 1 tsp anchovy paste Salt and ground pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 F

In a large heavy pot or Dutch Oven, warm the oil over high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in small batches (don’t crowd the pot), brown the meat well on all sides, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer the browned meat to a plate and repeat until all the meat is browned.

Add the onions and butter to the pot. Stir over high heat until the onions start to soften, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and sprinkle in the sugar. Continue to cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Add the flour, thyme, and carrots and raise the heat to high. Stir for 1 minute, then pour in the beer. Let it come to a vigorous boil. Stir in the broth and tomato paste and anchovy paste and return to a boil.

Return the meat and any accumulated juices to the pot. Let the liquid come to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover with a piece of tin foil and replace lid on pot. Place pot in oven for 1 hour. Remove pot from oven and add the potatoes. Return to oven for another 45-60 minutes. Remove from oven, stir in peas. Let simmer on stove top until peas are cooked through and potatoes are tender (10-15 minutes).

Serve in warmed, individual bowls with warm, crusty baguette bread on the side.

Dessert – Honey and Beer Spice Cake (source: Craft Beer.com)

Ingredients:

3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 2 tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp all-spice ¾ tsp ground cloves zest and juice of 1 lemon 1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature ½ cup sugar 4 large eggs 1 cup honey 12 ounces (375 ml) Holy Mackerel Pale Ale

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour 9x13 inch pan and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment, cream together butter, sugars, spices, and lemon zest. Mixture may look crumbly, but mix for about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition.

Beat in the lemon juice and honey.

In an alternating fashion, add the flour mixture and the Pale Ale. First add 1/3 of the flour mixture, mix, then add half the beer and mix. Add the second 1/3 of flour and the rest of the beer. Mix. Finally add the last 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat the batter on high speed for 30 seconds. The batter should be loose and smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the upper third of the oven for 45-50 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Serve with barely sweetened whipped cream and salty roasted nuts.