We have quite a few friends who are real beer enthusiasts. They have traveled to Belgium and Holland for the beer. They make sudden detours when spinning around Irish roundabouts to find remote specialty pubs. They visit microbreweries. They make knowing and considered remarks about the subtle and alluring flavor of a wheat beer. They nod seriously as they quaff. So perhaps they should read no further, because this week, in honor of National American Beer Month, we will be using beer as an ingredient, not as a beverage.
When I started drinking beer back in the Dark Ages, the event we remember most fondly about Freshman Orientation at Washington College was that there was a beer truck, dispensing pale, watery tepid refreshment. (It was legal back then for eighteen year olds to drink beer.) We progressed to highly sophisticated and stylish Dollar Drunks in East Hall, and on Thursday nights we ordered the cheapest, lightest beers at the Tavern. Flash ahead a few years when I was living in London, and learning to drink bitter, never lager. Perhaps it was the Orientation experience that set my palate for warmish, watery brews…
In Washington State while on vacation this summer we visited some local establishments that had many an artisanal beer on tap, and my recent college graduate would delight in pontificating on the pros and cons of each beer he taste-tested. I will drink a good local beer to be polite when traveling, but mostly I order Bass Pale Ale. With Fall arriving, we need to consider some comfort foods, and freshly baked breads and cakes should fit the bill.
Easy, Peasy Beer Bread
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups self-rising flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
12 ounces beer (I used Heineken)
2 tablespoons melted butter
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 375° F.
2. Butter an 8×4 inch loaf pan and set aside. Combine the flour, sugar, salt and beer in a large bowl and mix well. The mixture will be sticky. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for about 55 minutes.
3. During the last few minutes of baking, remove the loaf from oven, and brush the top with the melted butter and return to oven for the final three minutes of baking.
Add chili, chips and more beer.
https://www.brit.co/beer-bread-recipes/
https://www.spoonforkbacon.com/2012/11/black-pepper-parmesan-beer-bread/
Here is a Guinness Cake from the kitchen goddess herself, Nigella Lawson:
https://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-guinness-cake-3086
I just love her opening line: “This cake is magnificent in its damp blackness.”
We have started talking about Thanksgiving – which is a huge development in our normal planning process (which is to procrastinate until the last possible moment) and perhaps we will be brining and then deep frying the turkey this year. Here is a baby step for anyone else contemplating such a radical change to a holiday tradition! And here we give thanks to our friends at Food52 for cooking a chicken: https://food52.com/recipes/1431-stout-little-hen
Needless to say, one must always be sure to use high quality, well-tested ingredients when cooking at home. Bottoms up!
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer.”
― Abraham Lincoln
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