Cooking Ale

[65C]

come end of September I'll be doing beef/ale stew, pie etc.

it occurred to me today now I'm brewing porters I could make something that maybe wouldn't drink well but could really up my stew game as I'm using a lot of ale and reducing it down

maybe going much heavier on the grain bill, the bittering and using peppery aroma hops - I could leave out the carbonation and use 2L bottles to store it

anyone got any thoughts?

 

[jwelch1103]

Taste is very subjective so with that in mind I'll share my two cents. To my palate darker beers make dishes too bitter so I prefer paler beers to cook with. YMMV

 

[flars]

My preference would be a dry malty beer. Maybe a dry Irish red or a dry amber ale. I've used a strong stout in cooking but only by the tablespoon as a flavoring.

 

[Leezer]

Haven't used a dark ale, but I did make a Rosemary IPA once and went a bit too heavy on the rosemary. Made it kind of hard to drink but it was a great flavor addition to use in making braised short ribs.

 

[pdxal]

+1 for an amber. I'd go with little to no hops, because they may clash with the food flavors- you can always use pepper instead of peppery aroma hops.

 

[Lefou]

Taste is very subjective so with that in mind I'll share my two cents. To my palate darker beers make dishes too bitter so I prefer paler beers to cook with. YMMV

Yes, but tasty beers don't have to be dark and hoppy. Carbonation helps soften the meat, too.
Beer batter is good stuff when deep frying fish, but if you make bread with beer, it's best to heat it up and cook off alcohol so it doesn't affect your baking yeast. Around 175F for 20-30 minutes is OK, depending on your altitude and air pressure.
Me, I'd much rather drink my beer. Any beer that's not worth drinking is a candidate for cooking - but that's my opinion.

 

[Yooper]

One of my favorite ingredients in chili is my oatmeal stout. It really turns out great.

I don't do anything different to the recipe- just use it "as is".

 

[catdaddy66]

Just finished simmering bratwurst in 22oz of my milk stout. My goodness did it cook down to a glorious syrup consistency with awesome sweetness and roast character. Great on the french fries as well!

 

[bstacy1974]

I've always heard TV chefs say don't cook with wine you wouldn't drink. I would think this also applies to beer. Although, you may be on the verge of creating a new "cooking beer" product to go beside the cooking wine in the condiments aisle of the supermarket.

 

[filthyastronaut]

You could probably go overboard on ingredients like crystal malt and lower the IBUs fairly significantly, which would play well with cooking purposes but not be great for drinking.

 

[Queequeg]

I made a imperial porter and cherry cake once with a sauce consisting of reduced Impy porter, chocolate and cherry syrup. It was a amazing/