Cooking with Beer

[RDB]

Again depending upon what beer you have........however a good dish is the Flemish classic 'carbonnade de boeuf à la flamande', basically beef braised in beer. Also to integrate it with Carrot Top's suggestion you could serve it with Welsh rarebit croutons. That should use up your surplus.

Now if your fridge is full of stout, e.g. Guiness etc, the recipes are endless.

[Fat Guy]

If it's a stout, there are a few desserts that call for stout, ranging from the more traditional (e.g., Guinness Stout brownies) to the modern (e.g., Johnny Iuzzini did a dessert with Guinness and pretzels at Nougatine).

I wonder about using beer in a quick-reduced pan sauce, in lieu of wine. Might require some experimentation, but there does seem to be a potential application there.

[gfron1]

And if you have a bit more time on your hand, you can follow Mette's recipes from the Baking and Pastry Challenge with her deconstructed beer desserts. Here.

Edited May 24, 2007 by gfron1 (log)

[Peter Green]

Beer cooked fish (the Yangshuo version)

and, of course, if it's a dark, then a steak and kidney pie!

[TAPrice]

I use beer to baste chicken that I slow cook on the smoker. Even Coors would probably do for that.

Black beans cooked with a can a beer are excellent, although I normally use a darker brew.

[Tri2Cook]

I use beer in shrimp or crawfish etouffee. I use it in onion ring batter. I tried it instead of wine in my wild mushroom soup just out of curiosity and I do it that way all of the time now. It's a subtle difference but I liked it and so did everybody else that tried it. I have a batch of Guinness ice cream with caramelized cocoa nibs in the freezer that I made over the weekend. A scoop or three in a glass of stout or porter makes a nice float. Beer sabayon is different but tasty, I use it with gingerbread in which I use barley malt syrup instead of molasses.

[tino27]

I realized only after starting to make my risotto that the white wine I was planning on using had turned. Fortunately, there was a nice bottle of crisp Belgian ale in my fridge that I used in its place that saved the day (and the dish). It definitely tasted different, but it was just as good.

I'm also a big fan of using beer in chili as well.

[MattJohnson]

I too, have used beer in chili. I don't see that anyone's mentioned beer brats (I live in WI, so I have to put that out there).

I don't generally have the problem you do. Theres only been 1 beer I've tried that absolutely couldn't drink, and it was when I was still in college!

Wisconsin Club - ack.

[Chris Amirault]

It really depends on the beer.  As somebody with particular preferences, you clearly know that... so why are you asking for recipes with "generic beer" as an ingredient when there really aren't recipes (except maybe beer batter) where the flavor profile of the beer doesn't matter?

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Not sure if your question is generic, but: I didn't ask for recipes with "generic beer" in them. I was hoping that folks would reply as they have, with a range of responses that included a variety of brews, from stouts to ales to pilsners. For example, we currently have a variety pack from Saranac that includes these six brews and one Smuttynose Portsmouth lager.

Keep the ideas comin'!

[cdh]

Your question was akin to asking "I've got some spare wine. What recipes have wine in them?" Then you don't tell us whether you've got Sauturnes, Vinho Verde, Malbec or Beaujolais. You'll admit that asking for recipes with "wine" in, is a pretty generic question, no? Exactly the same for beer. No good answers will come without specificity as to what you've got. And "ales" is as generic a term as "beers".

The Portsmouth lager would be fine in a welsh rarebit sort of melty cheese thing. I wouldn't do a stout in that recipe, though. For bigger hoppier brews, I'd do a stew with lots of bittersweet root vegetables like turnips and parsnips... maybe marinate the meat in the beer before adding the lot to a slow pot to cook for a long time. Lamb and guinness is a classic stewing combination.

If somebody left you a sour beer, its would be the candidate for a quick pan deglazing... it has less hop bitterness to concentrate as it boils down and an acidity that would work nicely in a pan sauce. Wheat beers would fit in this category too, as they're generally lightly hopped.

Not sure if your question is generic, but: I didn't ask for recipes with "generic beer" in them. I was hoping that folks would reply with a range of responses that included a variety of brews, from stouts to ales to pilsners. For example, we currently have a variety pack from Saranac that includes these six brews and one Smuttynose Portsmouth lager.

Keep the ideas comin'!

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[Della]

I too, have used beer in chili.  I don't see that anyone's mentioned beer brats (I live in WI, so I have to put that out there).

I don't generally have the problem you do.  Theres only been 1 beer I've tried that absolutely couldn't drink, and it was when I was still in college!

Wisconsin Club - ack.

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I'll simmer my brats in beer and onions for a bit before finishing them off on the grill.

Also, sometimes, occasionally, once in a while when I'm cooking up some chicken or pork in a pan to throw into tacos I'll deglaze with beer and then pour that on the meat prior to eating the tacos.

[Darcie B]

I also simmer brats or Polish sausage in beer, but additionally I have used beer (all kinds except stout) to cook down onions. I let it get all syrupy and use that to serve alongside the brats/sausages. Kinda like a beer/onion confit.

I like the Gramercy Tavern Guinness Stout cake, and Guinness stew.

How about Wisconsin Beer Cheese soup? Yummy.

[Ktepi]

This was something I made as a free sample for customers at my last job:

Porter syrup and roasted pineapple:

Cook porter down (not on a high boil, if possible) until almost syrupy; eyeball how much porter reduction you have, and add about a third as much sugar as that, by volume.

For myself, I actually like to use Dogfish Head's IPAs, but Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter has a broader appeal. The syrup should have a really full complex flavor, the kind of thing that develops on your tongue, and then keeps developing when you think it's finished.

Drizzle over roasted pineapple -- fresh pineapple, cut into chunks, roasted and occasionally basted with pineapple juice until it's become drier and denser, with noticeable browning.

When I used to cater small informal parties, the roasted pineapple was a must-have and the fastest thing to go, and people will eat damn near anything on it -- but the combination of tartness and the caramelized flavor from the roasting really does go well with the porter syrup.

[natasha1270]

New Orleans classic, Barbecued Shrimp

Also, must confess... my mother always put beer in her hair (to condition?) and when I grew older it took me awhile to understand the concept of beer as a beverage instead of a hair product.

[Toliver]

I use beer in my marinades for cheap steaks and chicken.

[Tom_June]

Any stout/porter/brown ale goes awesome in a beef braise.

[Norm357]

Add a bottle of beer or two to your chili.

Use it in a pot roast as the braising liquid.

There are a lot of good recipes that use beer.

[Carrot Top]

I knew there was another good beer recipe rattling around in my brain, and it just rattled itself out of hide-and-seek-land.

Marcel Desaulniers (of The Trellis) used to make a Budweiser Beer Ice. Like a sorbet, you know. But beer-y.

[Chris Amirault]

I remember that! It was in that "Great American Chefs" book from way back when. It sounds vile, I know, but it's surprisingly tasty. I used to make it as a surprise intermezzo and tell people what it was only after.

[fiftydollars]

I remember that! It was in that "Great American Chefs" book from way back when. It sounds vile, I know, but it's surprisingly tasty. I used to make it as a surprise intermezzo and tell people what it was only after.

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There is a place here in San Francisco, Yoogo, that makes a Budweiser gelato. I've sampled it and it's pretty interesting...

[Carolyn Tillie]

My Hawaiian godmother's secret ingredient in her fried rice was beer; I can still see her now -- drinking Hamm's (of all things!) while adding the eggs and scallions to the rice. Half a can of beer was the final ingredient to get it all sticky and gooey and it was luscious.

[Tri2Cook]

Marcel Desaulniers (of The Trellis) used to make a Budweiser Beer Ice.

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He said beer.

[MissAmy]

My step mother makes a venison roast that is braised in Guinness.

My grandfather used to boil his shrimp in beer. (Cheap beer. Usually Coors or similar.)

[Carrot Top]

I remember that! It was in that "Great American Chefs" book from way back when. It sounds vile, I know, but it's surprisingly tasty. I used to make it as a surprise intermezzo and tell people what it was only after.

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Yes, that's the one.

I still have the book if you want the recipe. But I would serve it rather than as an intermezzo as a sort of side, during an outdoor picnic. A side to barbecue. You know, the stuff you make over charcoal?

There is a place here in San Francisco, Yoogo, that makes a Budweiser gelato. I've sampled it and it's pretty interesting...

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I can imagine.

Marcel Desaulniers (of The Trellis) used to make a Budweiser Beer Ice.

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He said beer.

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Any good dictionary will tell you that "Budweiser" is colloquial American English for "beer". And indeed, where would our great country be without it?

[suzilightning]

i have made cakes using guiness or red chimay

i use porters or weissbier to cook my onions before adding to my meatloaf

bowl o' red!! the hops interact with the chilies wonderfully well

cook my drained sourkraut with beer for kraut dogs

poach shrimp

the classic simmering swimming pool for grilled brats - beer and onion

all i can think of for now....but now I'M HUNGRY(and at work for another 45 minutes)