Cooking with Beer
By Sarah Saleh. The Hop Shed Founder
What sprang to mind when you read the title of my blog? Beer battered fish, steak and ale pie or a chocolate stout cake probably, but there are so many more inventive uses for beer in the kitchen. Beer is a versatile ingredient that can add deep flavour, moisture, and acidity to both savoury and sweet dishes. As a keen cook, I have tried many Hop Shed beers in various recipes and have been pleasantly surprised at the results, well most of the time!
When you cook with beer, you aren’t trying to make something that tastes of beer, rather using it as one of many ingredients to give a subtle beery flavour. This is good because a recipe rarely needs a full 500ml bottle of beer so there is usually at least part of a bottle available for sipping as you cook!
Simply substituting beer for another liquid in a recipe is easy such as using Brakel lager to make risotto instead of wine, or Sebright Golden Ale or Buckeye Best Bitter instead of water to make a beer batter – like Hooked and Cooked do on the first Friday of every month when they visit the tap room! But if you fancy trying something a bit more interesting, how about making a brine with beer and soaking potatoes to make beer baked fries? I tried this with 330ml Frizzle IPA, 3 tbs salt, 2 tbs sugar, sprig of rosemary, 3-4 whole garlic cloves and a good amount of freshly ground black pepper. Chop potatoes into chips and put in the brine – top up with water so the potatoes are covered and leave in the fridge for a few hours. To cook, remove them from the brine and dry them off, toss in olive oil and bake in the oven until crispy!
Baking with beer is a winner in my opinion, for example, 3 Cheese and Chive Java Pale Soda Bread. This recipe is plant based (as all Hop Shed bottled beers are Vegan), but you can use the real dairy deal if you’d rather! Mix the following ingredients together in a bowl: 250g wholewheat flour, 1tsp salt, 1tsp bicarbonate of soda, handful of chopped chives and 125g of grated vegan cheese – I used a mix of Applewood smoked, Violife prosociano (parmesan look alike!) and Cathedral City Plant Based, extra mature. In a jug combine 150ml Java Pale Ale, 1 tbsp maple syrup, 100ml Oatly Creamy Oat Fraiche (or buttermilk if you’re going dairy!) Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then knead for a few minutes. Shape into a round loaf, cut a cross on top and bake at 200⁰ for about 45 minutes until the loaf sounds hollow when you tap the bottom. There are lots of variations you can experiment with such as Cheese, Onion and Buckeye Best Bitter which is delicious or an idea I’ve had that I haven’t tried yet is cinnamon, walnut and Phoenix Porter for a slightly sweet loaf!
Any of these breads would be delicious with some cheese and chutney – an opportunity to use more beer! Chutney is so simple to make and works well with Buckeye Best Bitter. Finely slice 2 large red onions and soften in a large pan in 2 tbsp of oil for 10 minutes. Add 850g of veggies / fruit, all diced into small chunks, (I used courgette, carrot, bramley apple, raisins and beetroot), 1 tbsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper, 1tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 50g molasses sugar, 150g demerara sugar, 125ml malt vinegar, 125ml of Buckeye, salt & pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 2 hrs, stirring occasionally, until everything is soft and it has reduced to a thick consistency. Spoon into 2 sterilised jars and in theory it will keep for ages, although mine never does!
Whilst dark beers like Phoenix make a great addition to stews, casseroles and chillis, it really isn’t the weather for those at the moment, so I use Frizzle to make a fabulous salad dressing. Just put these ingredients into a jam jar and shake: 1 tsp honey, 1tsp wholegrain mustard, 1 tsp fresh orange juice, 25ml Frizzle IPA, 50ml Olive Oil. A lovely dressing with a slight acidity and bitterness from the beer!
Of course, the beer you have used in the recipe will probably taste great with the food you have made so make sure you have an extra bottle to serve with your beery creations!
