We bet you’ve already heard about cooking with beer (and not just drinking it during the preparation and after eating) but have you ever tried to put some of the beverage to your food? People usually handle wine as if it was the only honorable drink and the famous booze has become the first that is being used while cooking something compelling to impress your loved ones.
But what about beer? Basically, we drink it to celebrate such as wine but it isn’t that prevalent to cook with. Craft beers are commonly special chasers beside meals and we should change this habit. The holiday season is coming and henceforth we provide you alternatives to try experimenting with it in your kitchen.
Chefs have always known the special effect that beer can cause to taste buds but first of all, there are some significant rules that you have to observe while fancy the idea of cooking with beer. You must use solely good quality beer and keep in mind that during the cooking process due to evaporation the bitterness of the beverage concentrates. Because of that, you need to add it in the end of the progress or use less hoppy wheat beer or fruity Belgian Lambic beer as an alternative.
In the case of low heat treatment, it is recommended to pour the beer into the ingredients in the beginning. Our favorite beverage is capable of enhancing particular aromas, but take care: it must not overwhelm others! Maybe that is the best case scenario when we don’t really feel the taste of it in the food, but we would notice if it was missing.
Here some ideas about what to cook and how to cook with beer:
- Marinating: you can easily marinate white meats and fish in beer. For that matter fishes and lighter, spicy wheat beers are the perfect match. In case of red meats, you need to use darker, stronger beers with more character. There are enzymes that are conducive to soften the meat and regarding that, they’re affecting the roasting after marinating.
- Steaming: black oysters that were steamed in Belgian wheat beer become heavenly but you can try to make in brown lager beer too.
- Baking: for baking bread, deep fried flat bread (namely lángos that is a simple but superb Hungarian dish) and even pastries you can use beer partially when the recipe wants you to add water. In this instance, one should use only non pasteurized, unfiltered beer, due to the operable yeast that can be located there and it takes part in rising, resting and baking. For lighter pastries, we recommend lighter- and for darker (either with chocolate) we suggest darker beers (like porters and stouts).
- Frying: frying á l’Orly is commonly known – the soluted carbon dioxid makes the pastry lighter and looser.
- Dressings and sauces: Fruity and classic Belgian lambic beers are completely suitable for making salad dressing. Wheat beers and complex strong ales with chicken-, beef- or vegetable stock can be used for sauces as well.
- Desserts: Like sauces or pastries, ice cream and sorbet can be made with beer as well. The roasted bitterness of stout beer can be an excellent supplementary for chocholate cake.
Take a tour of the Brewie Shop and choose some suitable Pads for your dinner!
