10 ways to cook
with beer

While beer is a obviously a very popular drink, it can do as much for a recipe as wine...

In everything from breads to stews to flavourful sauces, it can add complexity and depth to dishes, bringing out the natural flavours of spices and vegetables, adding sweetness, bulking up stocks, moisturising chicken and tenderizing meat.

Any type of beer can be used as a zesty ingredient; however, as a general rule of thumb, never cook with a beer that isn’t good to drink.

• Add extra flavour to homemade bread by replacing the water required with light beer and a few dried herbs

 
• Marinade whole chicken breasts in a mix of beer and teriyaki or barbecue sauce overnight before grilling

 
• For a crisp golden brown roasted chicken with a juicy flavoursome inside, push a half full can of beer inside a whole chicken before roasting (using the legs to support its weight on the can)
  


• Make a tasty Welsh rarebit by mixing beer, grated cheddar, Worcestershire sauce and mustard before topping thickly sliced bread and grilling until golden
  


• Make a rich slow cooked beef carbonnade with onions, beef stock and Belgium beer and top with cheese sprinkled French bread croutes
  


• Tenderise steak in a spicy warming marinade of olive oil, red wine vinegar, ginger, and garlic
  


• Marinade pork ribs in beer, onions, garlic, herbs before basting with sticky BBQ sauce and grilling
  


• Add to a rich and warming beef chilli with onions, tomatoes and kidney beans
  


• Replace the milk in a chocolate cake recipe with stout and also add to the chocolate buttercream for a rich and deep flavour
  


• Replace part of the liquid in a soup recipe with beer to bring out the flavour of spices and vegetables – try onion, cheddar and brown ale.

Find all our summer beer festival offers and own-brand ranges in your local Food store.