Cooking with Beer

[Duvel]

15 minutes ago, Susanwusan said:

Hi.  I want to make a beef in beer pie - what sort of beer would work best, that would be available from an English supermarket.

It depends a bit on your preferences, but in general a full-bodied and only lightly hopped beer would be a good choice. So, a brown ale would do fine - Newcastle brown ale is available near you ?

[kayb]

Newcastle's good. So's Guinness.

[Susanwusan]

Thanks, I've plumped for Newcastle Brown, £1.50 for 550ml if you're interested.  I'm surprised it's got glucose syrup in it.

[liuzhou]

Beef and Guinness is a classic  combination. For good reason.

[shain]

BTW, one doesn't really need actual beer for most cooking purposes. I use malt syrup for cooking, breads and pastry. It lasts for ever, doesn't have hop flavors which I personally don't care for in food items, and also doesn't add liquids to pastry and breads. It makes for amazing mashed potatoes and an awesome topping for vanilla ice cream (with some pretzel pieces).

[liuzhou]

32 minutes ago, shain said:

BTW, one doesn't really need actual beer for most cooking purposes. I use malt syrup for cooking, breads and pastry. It lasts for ever, doesn't have hop flavors which I personally don't care for in food items, and also doesn't add liquids to pastry and breads. It makes for amazing mashed potatoes and an awesome topping for vanilla ice cream (with some pretzel pieces).

 

Yeah, but we are talking about cooking WITH beer, an ancient and worthy tradition. I have no idea what your point is.

[Elkyfr]

There are recipes for batter that contains beer... and deep fry, delicious for fish. 

[liuzhou]

Two popular dishes round here are a) 啤酒鸭 or beer duck. This is spicy duck on the bone, braised in guess what - local beer. I love it. There are various recipes on the interwebs, but I suggest the Guilin version.

 

The other is 啤酒鱼, beer fish eaten by most visitors to China's most horrible tourist trap, Yangshuo near Guilin. It is carp from the local river braised with bones in a spicy tomato-ey sauce. My dear friend's grandma cooked me a better version in her village about 7 miles from the backpackers ghetto!

Edited December 29, 2020 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

29 minutes ago, Elkyfr said:

There are recipes for batter that contains beer... and deep fry, delicious for fish. 

 

Really? I think most people know that. I always make batter with beer. Have been doing so for decades. It's no secret!

Edited December 29, 2020 by liuzhou (log)

[shain]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

Yeah, but we are talking about cooking WITH beer, an ancient and worthy tradition. I have no idea what your point is.

 

Sharing information that people might find useful. I have nothing against cooking with beer, but I find raw malt to be underused.

[Elkyfr]

On 12/29/2020 at 12:44 PM, liuzhou said:

 

Really? I think most people know that. I always make batter with beer. Have been doing so for decades. It's no secret!

 

I only used beer to cook chorizo. I had fish and chips when I visited London, and I thought they were joking when they told me that the secret is beer.

[liuzhou]

On 12/31/2020 at 6:28 PM, Elkyfr said:

I thought they were joking when they told me that the secret is beer.

 

If it were a secret they wouldn't have told you!

 

Shepherd's Pie. Lamb filling cooked with beer.

 

 

 

[TdeV]

On 12/29/2020 at 6:44 AM, liuzhou said:

I always make batter with beer.

 

Why?

[heidih]

I often did batter with beer much like the sometimes recommended soda water, plus adds flavor. @liuzhou may have a different reason.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Beer batter classic, for its fiz as well possibly flavor.   Seltzer works equally well.

[TdeV]

And what does the fizz do?

[heidih]

3 hours ago, TdeV said:

And what does the fizz do?

Lightens I think

[liuzhou]

5 hours ago, TdeV said:

 

Why?

 

Improved flavour
 

4 hours ago, TdeV said:

And what does the fizz do?

Lighter batter. Those with an aversion to alcohol can use natural sparkling mineral water or carbonated water for the same effect (but without the flavour).

Edited November 28, 2021 by liuzhou (log)

[kayb]

My favorite thing to cook with beer is carbonnades a la flamande. And I don't think I spelled that right. If I can find it, I use Green Flash Double Stout for that.

 

Also add beer to chili, usually Negra Modelo.

 

[MaryIsobel]

I use beer for fish and chips batter, cheese sauce from the melty cheese caluclator and beer bread. I have gifted several young men in our family with a bottle of beer, a disposable loaf pan and the dry ingredients to make a loaf of beer bread. They have all been suitably impressed with themselves for "making bread."

 

[Robenco15]

Friend is hosting a beer draft (like a fantasy football draft, but for beers that people bring). He asked me to help cook sone appetizers so I’ll be doing tgat as well. Everything needs to incorporate beer, my rule. 
 

So far I have:

 

Soft pretzel nuggets with a dough that incorporates beer (a lager), with a beer cheese dipping sauce (Oktoberfest beer). 

 

Philly Cheesesteak egg rolls where I’m going to use sodium citrate to make a melty cheese made with a white cheddar and a local New England IPA

 

Not an appetizer, but a beef stew made with Guinness 

 

Maybe something beer battered and fried

 

That’s all I have so far.

 

Appetizers are tricky and I don’t want to really incorporate any more cheese. If you think of something please let me know. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

59 minutes ago, Robenco15 said:

Friend is hosting a beer draft (like a fantasy football draft, but for beers that people bring). He asked me to help cook sone appetizers so I’ll be doing tgat as well. Everything needs to incorporate beer, my rule. 
 

So far I have:

 

Soft pretzel nuggets with a dough that incorporates beer (a lager), with a beer cheese dipping sauce (Oktoberfest beer). 

 

Philly Cheesesteak egg rolls where I’m going to use sodium citrate to make a melty cheese made with a white cheddar and a local New England IPA

 

Not an appetizer, but a beef stew made with Guinness 

 

Maybe something beer battered and fried

 

That’s all I have so far.

 

Appetizers are tricky and I don’t want to really incorporate any more cheese. If you think of something please let me know. 

 

I'm not one much for beer, but three appetizer recipes from Gabriel Kreuther's The Spirit of Alsace caught my attention:

 

Farmer's Beer Soup (p45)

Beer and Gruyere Croquettes (p145)

Amer-Biere Pate de Fruit (pp156,157)

 

As you may have inferred, the Beer and Gruyere Croquettes contain gruyere.  Don't say you were not warned.

 

The Amer-Biere Pate de Fruit recipe looks rather mind blowing.

 

 

[Dr. Teeth]

I cook with beer all the time.    It never occurred to me to put it in the food.

 

17 year old thread and nobody made that joke yet.   What’s up with you people?
 

Seriously though, I put beer into waffle batter.   Usually less hoppy lagers or wheat beers.   Adds depth and carbonation.

[Robenco15]

1 hour ago, Dr. Teeth said:

I cook with beer all the time.    It never occurred to me to put it in the food.

 

17 year old thread and nobody made that joke yet.   What’s up with you people?
 

Seriously though, I put beer into waffle batter.   Usually less hoppy lagers or wheat beers.   Adds depth and carbonation.

Thanks for the waffle idea. Thinking mini chicken and waffles. Incorporate the beer in the waffle batter, brine, frying batter, and maybe some maple syrup 

[Robenco15]

Figured I’d give an update as the party was this past weekend. 
 

Philly Cheesesteak egg rolls with cheese made with a New England IPA

 

Soft Pretzel Nuggets made with Fat Tire Amber ale, with an Oktoberfest beer cheese dipping sauce

 

IPA Beer Battered Fried Chicken with a Porter maple syrup and waffles made with a Lager

 

 

The only thing I was personally disappointed with was the beer batter for the chicken. You can see in the picture, it just isn’t the right call. Should have just done a normal flour breading. 
 

The egg rolls will be making a return for next year along with the pretzel nuggets.