Everyone knows how to drink beer, but what about cooking with it? With the wide variety of craft beer and its many flavor profiles, cooking with it can be just as fun and tasty as using wine.
Vermont Life food editor, Melissa Pasanen, recently spoke with three experts about adding beer to food and compiled these tips:
- Don't cook with beer you wouldn't drink
- Try beer in recipes where you might have used wine
- Taste the beer and match its flavor with recipes and ingredients
- Reduce first (boil down beer so it's not too bitter or strong)
- Layer the beer flavor
- Flat beer is fine to cook with (but carbonation is good for fried foods)
These suggestions come courtesy of Jack Pickett from Trapp Family Lodge Bierhall, City Market's Addy Sechler and chef Sandi Earle. Listen to this podcast to hear Pasanen explain them in greater detail.
And watch for Sandi Earle's new beer cookbook, "My 30-Year Love Affair With Food In Vermont - Queen City Brewery Edition."
The VPR Cafe is made possible with support from Bistro de Margot in Burlington. A chef-owned restaurant offering modern, French cuisine in a casual atmosphere.
