Cooking With Brew

When I was growing up I would watch my mom cooking in the kitchen. I would sit there watching her and wonder how she would come up with all those wonderful looking and tasting dishes. It was a real treat when grandma would come visit. She would cook some things that I never had seen  mom cook. So I started asking questions and learning the methods of cooking. I started to prepare my own dishes and needless to say they were not the best but you know the saying “practice makes perfect”. I would mix everything under the sun in my sauces. From Dr. Pepper to Tang and tea grounds. You name it and I probably  have done it. That was the starting point of my adventures in cooking. From there on I told my self that I wanted to be a chef when I grew up. After getting out of high school I went to culinary school and the rest is history. This is the reason I am dedicating this cook book to my Mother  and Grandmother. I experimented with all kinds of foods, combinations, and methods. The thing that I always loved experimenting with was beer. There are two reasons why I chose beer. I liked to cook and drink beer at the same time. The other reason was who has heard of cooking with beer? It seemed to me as a challenge to be able to cook with beer. Ahh!!! Beer what a wonderful beverage. I use to cook for all my family and friends and I would always put beer in my marinades and sauces. I never really understood why I was putting beer in all my sauce and marinades until one day I used a dark beer to cook with. That was the starting point of my curiosity of cooking with beer. Then I started to experiment with different types and flavors of beer until I came to an understanding about the difference of cooking with them. Beer is useful in several different ways when it is being used for cooking. It can be used on all types of foods from chicken, beef, pork, to wild game even vegetables. One way is to use it as a marinade. The natural carbonation in the beer works as a tenderizer on meats. It tenderizes the meat you are marinating or cooking. Yes you may use beer in vegetarian dishes also. When using beer as marinade use a light or  lager beer for long term use. For example lagers are best used for marinades, soups, chili, and sauces. This type of beer is best used because it does not have a strong flavor that will bitter the product that you are soaking and can be soaked for a long period of time. The longer you soak the product the more time your spices will have to  explode, so you can get the full flavor of every spice and incorporate it into the meats or vegetables  that you are marinating. You may use the marinade for basting but only on beef and is recommended to use with in the first two to three minutes of cooking. Do not use the marinade for basting on any other meats. You may use the marinade from the vegetables for a sauce to use on the finished dish that you are preparing. If you use a dark beer it will add a different kind of flavor to your dishes and marinades. It gives flavors to the dishes you are cooking. If you use it as a marinade it is best if the product that is being marinated is not soaked for a long period of time because the beer will give it a bitter flavor when you go to cook it. If you use a flavored dark beer you may want to add a little water. It will cut some of the bitterness but not by much. If you want you can use a lighter beer instead of water for the fear of not getting the beer flavor. You may also use heavier beers but take caution to the flavor. You might want to test it on a small piece of meat to see what the out come would be. If you add some other things to it to cut down on the strong flavor of the beer. For example you can use sugar, honey, or fruit. You may use darker beer for sauces if you do not cook it long because it will give it a bitter flavor. As I explained earlier about dark beers you may also use the same principals for sauces using dark beers. This does not mean that you cannot use dark beer for marinades, soups, and chili. It is just not recommended to cook for  long periods of time. If you want the flavor of a certain dark beer I recommend that you add it in the last step of your cooking. The dark beer may also be added to a recipe if it calls for the dish to let stand. There are also heavy dark beers which may also be used for cooking but needs to be used in moderation. If you use to much of a heavy or dark lager it could give the dishes a whole different kind of flavor. It is not highly recommended to use very heavy dark beers. You use the beers in cooking  like you would use wine in cooking. White wine is like using a light lager. Chard is like using a regular lager. A Melot is like using a dark beer. Red wine is like using a heavy dark beer. If you use too much red wine it bitters your food.  I hope you learned a little bit about cooking with beer and I hope you enjoy  my cook book and its recipes as much as I did making this book.