Does It Matter Which Beer You Cook With?

[Chuckwagon]

Does It Matter Which Beer You Cook With?

Have you got brats on the grill today? The brats you carefully made with just the right ingredients and fat content. Now you’re going to par-cook them or steam-cook them in beer before they hit the hot, smokey grill. Right? Does it matter what kind of beer you use? Actually, it does matter, according to Christopher Kimball, owner and editor of Cook’s Illustrated. He says, “Lots of cooks add beer to their dishes whether their recipes call for it or not. In many foods, beer leaves behind the wonderful flavor of grains, hops, and herbs, making the tangy savor of beer so unique. But the type of beer makes a difference”.

Old timers have long kept their secret of adding only “lager” beer to bread and hotcakes since its yeast is “bottom wort fermented”, in a low oxygen, cooler environment causing yeast to produce fewer phenols and esters. During beer’s fermentation, warm temperatures and oxygen encourage yeast to produces alcohol, carbon dioxide, and a few sulfur compounds with astringent flavored composites called phenols and fruity, floral amalgams known as esters - wonderful in beer - not so desirable in bread. In contrast, most non-lager beers, such as pilsners, are brewed using “top wort fermentation” in which more phenols and esters are produced by yeast actually floating on the surface of the grain-mash. Exposed directly to oxygen, it is also kept warm to stimulate fermentation, producing stronger, spicy flavors, a bit to heavy for bread making. Accordingly, persnickity cowboy chuckwagon cooks add only lager to their recipes.

Best wishes, Chuckwagon

PS... Hmmm. Why do I have the feeling that JohnFB is going to say the best beer to cook with is the one he has in his fridge at the time?
PSS. And Why do I have the feeling that Coastie and Beardosmoothshave are going to say,"To heck with cookin' it... pour it in a glass and lets drink it?

[coastie]

Hi Chuck couldnt possible advise on the beer as I don`t drink (only coffee tea now and again) Though I do make a mean wine lol. because of the pills I`m on when I`m syphoning the wine off (5 lots last time) I usually end up rat assed lol when I stood up I fell over and smacked the door with my head dont know who was most surprised me or the door Son in york makes amean steak and ale pie using guiness and a bitter for his batter. Well better go and see if I can get some more pork from my supplier and had all the kids home for crimbo and they`ve cleaned me out of bacon, gammons and even smoked salmon eldest even nicked me kippers I`d had a go at making
.coastie

[RodinBangkok]

I use very good quality brews for cooking I especially like Weißen Brau, or wheat beers. Then using a good dark beer for a braised beef is also good, lots of good recipes using Guiness stout also. Having said that, I'm of the school that says never boil your brats. As I grew up in Wisconsin brat country this goes against most back there, but I prefer to have an area on a grill for indirect cooking to get them done throughout, then pop them over the flames for that final finish. Let the brat boil wars begin!

[saucisson]

Now I'm confused as, as far as I'm concerned, a pilsner is a lager, and quite definitely bottom fermented at that...

Dave

[Mike D]

I'm with you Dave! I always thought Pilsner as a lager but with a slightly different taste due to the use of Saaz hops. More details on the history of Pilsner and the Lagering process can be found here.

[Nutczak]

I use very good quality brews for cooking I especially like Weißen Brau, or wheat beers. Then using a good dark beer for a braised beef is also good, lots of good recipes using Guiness stout also. Having said that, I'm of the school that says never boil your brats. As I grew up in Wisconsin brat country this goes against most back there, but I prefer to have an area on a grill for indirect cooking to get them done throughout, then pop them over the flames for that final finish. Let the brat boil wars begin!

I agree with Rod, Wisconsin is my home also! Brats get grilled, not boiled, end of story!!
Although if you need to hold them hot for a while, a bed of fried onions or sauerkraut which is slightly moistened with beer. a bratwurst should never be submersed in a liquid IMO.

Let me make a statement I know I will get flamed for, except in rare occasions, "NO MEAT SHOULD EVER GET BOILED"

Rod, what part of the state are you from, I am way north, up to my dangly bits in snow.

[wheels]

The L-word is tantamount to swearing in my neck of the woods!

[Mike D]

Hey Phil, ... CAMRA country is it??

[wheels]

24 miles from the home of British Brewing ...and Marmite, Burton on Trent.

I love British Beer, preferally cask or bottle conditioned.

I'm known for hating L*g*r - but this really only relates to the yellow-coloured maid's water that they pass off as L*g*r in the pubs here. Now, in Germany or The Czech Republic et al...now that's a different matter.

Phil

[RodinBangkok]

Rod, what part of the state are you from, I am way north, up to my dangly bits in snow.

From way down south, actually our family farm was in Illinois, only a couple hundred yards from the Wisc border just south of Monroe, grew up eating some of the best cheese and sausage found in the US then, back in the days of the small local cheese factories, now sadly almost all gone. Miss having a Huber bock and a Limburger sandwich at Baumgartners in Monroe, have not been back in almost 10 years now. Don't miss the snow, have not experienced anything below about 60 degrees in many many years.

Have a great new year!

[Chuckwagon]

Uhhh.... yep, I opened another can of worms eh? But when it comes to beer, I don't know jack diddley squat... other than how to properly hold my mouth while I guzzle it! ShheeYit, I once had a pinto mare that would paw at the ground until she got a swig or two off my bottle!
I'm going to write to Mr. Kimball at Cooks Illustrated and ask him if he knows that pilsner is actually a lager. He'll probably tell me it is contingent upon the ammonia content .

I should have listened to my ol' daddy a little more. He once told me:
"After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him. The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut".

Best wishes, Chuckwagon

[beardedwonder5]

I have a ladle which I ONLY use for dippling into my fermenting vessel. After dipping, guess what?