Cooking with beer

NEW FLAVOURS

Not many are fond of beer but those who are need no occasion to enjoy the drink. For those who don’t relish beer it is bitter taste of the drink that keeps them away.

 But what if this beer fills your mouth with some really good flavours? Yes, beer can be used while cooking some interesting dishes at home. 

 “Surprising to most, beer, besides being an extremely popular drink, is a hugely versatile ingredient in cooking too.  In everything from batters to stews to flavourful sauces, beer adds a complexity and depth to dishes like no other ingredient,” sayschef Manu Chandra, executive chef and partner Monkey Bar.

The Beer Battered Fish is an item that can be easily made at home. “The very composition of beer makes a great base for batter - enabling the fish to stay tender and juicy even when fried while rendering a super crisp classic beer-batter crust to it. Even the Beer and Buttermilk Fried Chicken are brilliant examples of how beer helps with not only the cooking process by protecting the tender fish or chicken meat but also enabling a wonderful crisp coating,” says Manu.

You can even go for lamb, chicken and Yorkshire pie. Chef Umesh Dalal, Courtyard by Marriott, Gurgaon, mentions about easy to cook Chicken with Honey and Beer Sauce. “Prepare glazed chicken in the oven. For the sauce, add beer to the fine chopped brown onion. Pour some honey on it and cook it until it is caramelised. Pour this sauce over the chicken and you will get a nice flavour of the beer and honey together.”

Since a variety of beer is available in the market, each adds a distinctive flavour when added to different dishes. “While most people would rather just enjoy beer for its refreshing taste, its base ingredients are barley, hops or wheat. For instance, a stout beer is made from roasted malt or roasted barley and when you add the beer to a tenderloin or meat stew it not only helps to tenderise the meat, but also imparts a distinctive rich and malty flavour to the stew which cannot be achieved with any other ingredient,” says Manu. 

He also mentions about beer festival which will be soon organised in their bar. It will have a list of classic as well as innovative small plates, main courses and even some desserts using this hugely versatile ingredient.