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In order to use beers effectively in cooking, one
must know their general characteristics. This way,
you can pair them with different foods by using their
flavors to compliment or contrast a dish. The general
flavors in beer are malt, hops, and yeast, with other
ingredients occasionally added for flavor.
Malt gives beer its sweetness, as this is where the
sugar comes from to make alcohol. Different types
of malt can lend different flavors to a beer. Light
malts tend to be used in ales and pilsners. Medium
malts are used in brown ales and red ales. Dark malts
are used in stouts and porters. In addition to dark
malts, roasted malts (sometimes referred to as black
patent malts) are often found in porters and stouts.
This is what gives them a coffee or dark chocolate
flavor.
There is actually more variance in hops than there
is in malt. Often, companies don't tell you what type
of hops they use in their beer. Some don't want to
give away their secret recipe, while others choose
to market to a less beer-savvy crowd. There is a noticeable
difference with some species of hops. For instance,
saaz hops have a spicier flavor, as do a lot of the
other Czech hops. There are many species of hops grown
in the Pacific Northwest, such as cascade hops, and
mt. hood hops. A lot of these Pacific Northwest hops
are used in IPAs, being moderately to very bitter.
There are many other hops used when making beer, including
tettnanger, fuggles, and cluster. The amount of bitterness
in hops is measured in IBUs. This is often the most
important feature of the hops, the strength. Hops
are what give a beer it's spicy, or herb bitter flavor.
It is the most dominant flavor in many beers, especially
in India
Pale Ales (IPAs).
Yeast is not typically a flavor that is really strong
in most beers. It is what converts the sugar from
the malt into alcohol and CO2. There are some styles
of
beer where the leftover yeast adds quite a lot of
flavor. These beers typically have an aftertaste of
homemade bread. It is very slight in some beers and
more noticeable in others. Hefeweisens tend to have
some of this yeast flavor, as do some other individual
recipes by micro breweries. While yeast is one of
the most important ingredients in beer, there is generally
a lot of care taken to prevent outside yeast from
entering the beer during fermentation. There is wild
yeast in the air that can sour the flavor of beer
if it is left to ferment in an open container.
This is undesirable in most beers, but it is actually
used to flavor some Belgium beers. Lambic beers are
made in Belgium using open air fermentation, where
the
wild yeast in the air are allowed to sour the beer
slightly. This works especially well when you add
fruit to the beer, yielding a whole style of fruit
beer with a very sweet, but slightly sour aftertaste.
These beers taste more like a sparkling wine than
they do a beer. There are cherry, peach, raspberry,
and current flavored lambics exported from Belgium.
They take a while to age properly, so don't expect
to buy a whole 12 pack of these beers. There are generally
available in single 12-16 ounce bottles.
Now that we've gone over some of the flavors in beer,
let's talk about the different varieties of beer available.
Hefeweisen has a strong wheat flavor, with a lot of
medium-light malt and a yeast flavor. Brown ales tend
to be maltier, with very little bitterness from hops.
IPAs are the opposite, having a strong hop bitterness
with the malts coming through in the background. Stouts
have a high malt content, but are generally more bitter
from the black patent malts used (a coffee flavor).
Porters are also really high in malt, and tend to
have a lot of complex flavors that are hard to describe.
Some porters even have spruce tips thrown in for added
flavor. Ales are the lightest in flavor, with a crisp
but clean aftertaste. They use very little malt, and
the malt used is lighter than with a stout or porter.
Their hop content is usually just enough to balance
the malt. Fruit beers are generally ales with fruit
added to the fermentation to impart some fruit flavor.
Lambics are Belgian fruit beers, with a very sweet
but also sour flavor. Pilsners are generally more
bitter than ales, having both more light malt and
more hops to balance the malt. They are both more
bitter and sweeter at the same time.
One of the things to remember when cooking with beers
is that the flavors will change as the beer is left
to simmer with the dish. There are some great stews
and rich meat sauces that can be made with dark beers.
The high malt content means lots of sugar, which can
also work well for rich chocolate dishes. Stout can
be added to chocolate as well as cherry sauces for
desserts. As long as all of the alcohol cooks off,
no one will be the wiser. As hop flavored and bitter
as IPAs are, they can be used to good effect in pork
dishes and with peach or apricot. The bitterness of
the hops can be balanced with a light, sweet fruit.
Pilsners also balance well with light fruit. Both
of these beers can also add a more complex flavor
to vegetables. Beers with a low hop content and high
malt content, such as brown ales, can be used in a
wide variety of dishes. The sweetness from the malt
will complement a lot of dishes, and there isn't enough
hop flavor to override any dish.
With as many different beers as there are available
now, it's amazing more people are still cooking with
wine. You can make sweet or rich sauces, stews, Irish
stews, desserts, savory vegetables, and steak with
beer. Of course, there are always the well known barbecue
beer techniques. You can marinade hamburger patties
in beer, or you can par broil bratwurst or other sausage
in beer prior to grilling. In addition, you can use
beer for fondue, bread, or soup. There is really no
limit to what you can use beer for. As long as you
think of the general flavors associated with the beer
you are using, you can experiment with most recipes.
Be creative, and have fun with it! After all, it's
just beer!
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