It doesn’t always take a growler-full when cooking with beer. Sometimes just a dash will do. A small amount of the “secret ingredient” can leave your guests mystified and delighted. What IS that!?
Sriracha anyone?
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Beer and Food
My “beer mood” is constantly changing, but one style that I can drink day in and day out is Berliner Weisse. It’s refreshing, tart but not sour, and light enough that you can have multiple multiple multiple pints.
Given my love of matching beer and food, I had to track down the best bites to go with a Berliner.
When finding the right food to pair with a beer, one of the first things I consider is intensity. Berliners are light bodied and generally 3-5% abv, so the food cannot be too powerful. Ribs, rich dessert, or anything smoky will overpower the beer, so you can rule those out. If you think about a beer dinner with multiple courses, you would place the Berliner towards the front, with the appetizer not the entrée.
That’s when it hit me.
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What’s the market size for a $100 beer dinner? Pretty small.
Pairing good beer and food is an scrumptious experience but it’s one normally reserved for the connoisseur.
How about something for the average Joe? That’s why we need more of what New Belgium and Smashburger are doing. Good beer, thoughtfully paired with menu items in a fast-casual setting.
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Yes, there are now pickles made with Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA. My order was confirmed less than 5 minutes after I heard the news. Check out the video to see what I think about them.
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It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of pairing beer with food, and one of my favorite sites for inspiration is BeerChow.com. I asked Dave from BeerChow if he could put together a tasty beer and food pairing for BillyBrew readers and possibly also include beer in the cooking. He came through big time on both fronts. Thanks for the video, Dave!
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Brussels sprouts aren’t exactly “mouth watering.”
In fact, I’d be surprised if they’ve ever caused a mouth to water in their entire history. If they have, it’s probably because they were made with beer.
Stone Brewing has turned boring Brussels sprouts into something you actually want to eat by what else – infusing them with beer. Stone Pale Ale to be exact.
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A few months ago I mentioned my new found love for chocolate and beer.
In that post, I explained how a gift of gourmet chocolate to my girlfriend woke me up to a world not too different from the beer world: mainstream crappy products sprinked with delicious gems.
I entered this unexplored world excited but a total noob, so I asked my chocolatier friend Jenny to help me out:
“Jenny”, I said, “What is some chocolate that isn’t hard to find, not too expensive, but is a good introduction to gourmet chocolate?”
“Chocolove”, she replied.
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There was a time in my life when my idea of pairing beer with chocolate was drinking a Natty Light with a Kit Kat Bar.
Ok so I haven’t evolved much. My beer choices have improved but the chocolate I eat isn’t exactly artisanal. That will soon change, and I will tell you why a little later.
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Cooking with beer is best when you can incorporate beer into something you already make on a regular basis. For me, that’s a rib eye steak.
There’s nothing like cooking a steak on the grill, but the drawback is that you can’t make a delicious sauce from all the juices, fats, and proteins come off of it. That’s why I often pan fry them – to make a beer pan sauce.
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