I hate the taste of beer. I just hate it. But I am willing to acknowledge that it might have some positive influence in some recipes. For example, I was looking at recipes for making a corned beef brisket and noticed that some were recommending substituting beer for the water. I don’t want to ruin a 2 kg beef brisket so can somebody please reassure me that the brisket won’t actually come out of the crock pot tasting like Colt 45.
And while we’re at it, are there any other recipes that benefit from the addition or substitution of beer?
Beer is water, yeast, hops, and malted barley. When you add beer to a recipe, you’re going to get a sweet, toasty grain flavor from the malted barley; a baked-bread flavor from the yeast; and a floral bitterness from the hops. The particular beer you use will heavily influence the balance of these flavors. In general, though, the beer will add a bit of “depth” to the flavor of the dish.
Left Hand of Dorkness is correct. That felt weird to type.
I had skirt steak last night that was marinated in Left Hand Milk Stout, among other things, for about 4 hours. The result was just a hint of carmel-like sweetness. It was perfect, any longer and it would have been too much.
Cooking with beer has gotten more fun since the craft beer boom. I tried Bitch Creek in chili a couple weeks ago. It blended beautifully with the chipotles and other herbs and spices.
Just like cooking with wine, use a beer you would want to drink.
That said, I disagree a little bit with the idea of cooking with a beer you’d want to drink, because of the hops. I personally really like beers with a fairly strong hop flavor, but that bitterness doesn’t always go with dishes that benefit from beer. There’s a great 48-hour bread recipe that calls for beer to enhance the bready flavors, but it’d probably be pretty gross with a lot of hops in it; when my wife makes it, she uses a lager instead.
Yeah, what I meant was a quality beer with some character, be it hoppy, malty, or somewhere in between. I’ve used strong hopped beers with great success. Lightly simmering brats, then using it to deglaze after carmelizing onions, shallots and kraut.
I’m sorry, I forgot to address your brisket. Millions of corned beef briskets are cooked with Guinness every March 17th with great success. Many often use a little brown sugar or turbino as a, or in a rub to compliment the slight bitterness of the stout.
I often pour in some beer when I’m making beef stew, and I can assure you, nobody can tell. Well, they can tell that it has more complexity and depth than a similar dish cooked with just water, but not WHY.
I will sometimes boil shrimp or hotdogs in beer. In fact if people bring leave beer at my house that I wouldn’t drink I just save it until the next time I boil some dogs.
Beer is essential for boiling shrimp and cooking up chili. Any low-hop lager will do for either application. Guinness is also key in a number of recipes. You can’t sub water for it and expect the same results.
It’s funny how you consider Colt 45 beer. I wouldn’t even pour one out for my homies, much less over anything I intend to put in my mouth.
I’ve made corned beef with Yuengling Lager or darker for a while now, and have always gotten compliments. Ditto my chili and brats. I have a bread recipe I’m looking to try that calls for beer.
As with anything else, it depends on the beer. If all you have is the aforementioned malt liquor, find a different recipe.
