Cooking with beer
Though pouring a cold one is a great way to enjoy this frosty beverage, more and more recipes, from soups to desserts, use beer as an ingredient
Next time you whip up a salad, try adding a little Fat Squirrel to the recipe. It actually makes a tasty addition to a warm salad of roasted brussels sprouts, butternut squash and arugula.
Don’t turn up your nose. Relax. This isn’t a secret ingredient on a television cooking show or an old episode of “The Beverly Hillbillies.”
The squirrel in this delectable salad recipe is Fat Squirrel beer, a nutty brown ale made seasonally by Wisconsin’s New Glarus Brewery. The brew’s creamy hazelnut undertones make it a perfect addition to the salad’s warm bacon vinaigrette.
Beer lovers are finally having their day in the sun. It seems a new craft brewery is popping up weekly, each one adding its own twist and unusual names to its concoctions.
Though pouring a cold one is a great way to enjoy this frosty beverage, more and more recipes, from soups to desserts, use beer as an ingredient.
You may have already treaded into this land. Who doesn’t have a favorite beer batter or beer soup recipe? And don’t forget that grilling favorite, beer can chicken, a recipe where even the can contributes to the final product.
With so many craft beers at a cook’s fingertips, it’s time to reach beyond your beer-cooking comfort zone.
But before you flip off that bottle cap and start pouring beer into everything from eggs to chocolate cake, it’s best to bone up on some beer cooking basics.
Choosing the right beer
Beer brings a lot of flavor to recipes. “A dish made with beer has a lot of depth,” said Kristin Hueneke, chef at the Lakefront Brewery Beer Hall. “Most of our recipes include our beer. Each beer has different undertones and flavors, giving the dishes distinct flavors that can only be achieved with beer as an ingredient.”
With so many beers available, picking the right one for your recipe can be challenging.
Most beers fit into two basic types: lager (such as pilsner and pale lager, which include most mainstream American beers) and ale (such as pale ale, porter and stout). Ale is brewed with fast-working yeasts, yielding bold flavors. Lager, made with slower-working yeasts, is less intense and has a cleaner, even crisp, taste.
Like wine, individual varieties of beer vary from brewery to brewery. Craft brewers pride themselves in the nuances that make their beers unique. A good rule of thumb is to cook with a beer you are familiar with so you know the flavors associated with it.
Hueneke suggests those new to using beer in cooking should start with something like Lakefront Brewery’s Eastside Dark, a Bavarian-style dark lager.
“It’s a very traditional German-style beer that goes with almost anything,” she said. “It’s not too hoppy and it has enough sweetness to work even with a dessert recipe. It’s my favorite to cook with and my favorite to drink.”
Another good overall cooking beer is Ahnapee Brewery’s Long Goodbye.
“It’s a Munich-style lower-hop beer, light in color with smooth citrus notes,” said Nick Calaway, head brewer of the Algoma-based brewery. “It’s a great beer that goes with a lot of dishes.”
Color plays a big role in selecting the right beer for a dish. In general, dark beers go best with heavier recipes.
Red meats and rich chocolate flavors blend well with stouts, porters and spicy Belgian-style beers such as Door County Brewery’s Bière de Seigle.
“It’s made with Saison yeast,” said Danny McMahon, head brewer at the Door County Brewery in Bailey’s Harbor. “Saisons are very rustic beers, originally brewed in the French part of Belgium. They have a nice spice plus lots of full body. The spice, citrus and peppery notes really complement red meat recipes.”
Seafood and white meats like poultry and pork work well with lagers. The beer notes are clean and crisp and don’t overpower the more delicate flavors found in fish, shellfish and chicken.
Brown ales, with their nutty and sometimes maple-scented flavors, are a good pick for roasted root vegetables. A warm dressing made with reduced brown ales, brown sugar and bacon complement a salad made of roasted brussels sprouts and butternut squash.
Watch the heat and timing
Want a more pronounced beer flavor? Watch the heat when adding beer to a recipe. The delicate aroma will be lost if it’s boiled too long.
For a more pronounced flavor of hops, put an extra splash of beer in at the end of cooking. Giving the dish a final brief simmer rather than a boil will retain the essence of the hops.
Makes 4 servings
Steak: 1 ½ cups stout or porter 1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped 1 ½ teaspoons sweet smoked paprika 1 ½ pounds flank steak ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt ¼ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon unsalted butter
Herb sauce: 1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped (about 1⁄3 cup) ½ cup loosely packed Italian parsley leaves ¼ cup loosely packed coarsely chopped fresh sage leaves ¼ cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves 1⁄3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped ¼ teaspoon salt 1⁄8 teaspoon black pepper
Prepare steak: Combine stout or porter, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, garlic and paprika in a bowl. Whisk to combine. Place steak in a baking dish. Pour beer marinade over steak and cover dish with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight and up to 24 hours. Turn steak several times during marinating.
When ready to finish steak, remove steak from marinade and pat dry with paper towels. Discard marinade. Let steak come to room temperature for 15 minutes. Season steak with the ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt and ¼ teaspoon coarse ground pepper. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place olive oil and butter in a heavy ovenproof skillet. A cast-iron skillet is recommended. Place skillet on stove over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add steak and sear 2 minutes. Flip steak and sear another minute.
Place skillet with steak in preheated oven and roast about 7 to 8 minutes depending on steak thickness. To test doneness: Insert a meat thermometer into middle of steak. For medium-rare, roast to internal temperature of 125 to 130 degrees. For medium, 135 to 140 degrees, and for medium-well, 145 to 150 degrees. Remove pan and let steak rest 10 minutes before cutting. Slice flank steak against the grain and serve with the herb sauce.
To prepare sauce: While steak is roasting or resting, place all sauce ingredients into a food processor fitted with the blade attachment. Pulse to combine to create a coarsely chopped sauce.