Cooking With Beer

Now you can drink your favorite beverage and eat it too.

BY LYNDA BALSLEV • PHOTOS BY TIM PORTER

IF YOU LOVE beer, chances are you’re drinking it (as you should), but before you quaff that bottle, consider adding a splash to your food. After all, wine and spirits are renowned for adding depth and oomph to your favorite recipes — so why shouldn’t it be the same for beer? “Beer works with everything,” says chef Michael Bilger, co-owner of Sessions Restaurant in the Presidio. “And there are no rules.”

With that gloves-offendorsement, along with the explosion of craft beers and home brewing, you have an inspiring recipe for creative cooking, enhanced by a range of brews touting flavor notes running the gamut from earthy, chocolate and toffee to citrus, biscuit and rose. It would be remiss to not add a fortified flavorladen glug to your dinner.

So where to begin? Ale or lager? How about those bitter IPAs? And what the heck is a lambic? With award-winning breweries at our doorstep, the possibilities for embellishing meals seem boundless and maybe a bit overwhelming at first. So we’ve asked a few local brewers and restaurants for tips and recipes using beer, with a recommended pairing. Their enthusiasm for this culinary trend is apparent. As Bilger attests, “When your belly is full and you’ve defeated your hearty (beer-enhanced) meal, you can celebrate your victory by crushing the beer can in your fist.”

You can’t do that with a wine bottle.

Think Before You Pour

Before you dump a bottle of beer into your chili-to-feed-a-crowd, taste. Beers have distinctive flavors, aroma and body, and what you pour in will impact the flavor of the dish. Beer consists of three basic components, which add flavor to food. Hops injects bitterness, malted grain lends sweetness and the fermentation process provides yeasty notes. The type of beer you choose will determine the balance of these flavors. And remember: if you wouldn’t want to drink it, then don’t cook with it.

Keep It Simple

As a starting point, choose a light pale ale that has a balance of hops and fruit. “Lighter, less hoppy beers are not too bitter and generally work with most dishes,” says Marin Brewing Company executive chef Mario Gongora. “If I want a darker beer, to go with meat, I use a porter, which is strong and smooth.” Another way to approach mixing beer and food is the same way you might approach wine: combine heavier and meaty beef, pork and game dishes with dark ales, porters and stouts. Combine lighter dishes, such as seafood, chicken and salads, with a light ale or wheat beer. Beer Basics

• LAGERS are fermented slowly at cool temperatures, which inhibits the production of esters, the fruity aromas present in ales, and allows the hops flavor to be more present. Lagers are highly carbonated, lighter in body and crisp, which makes them an ideal alternative to seltzer in batters for deep-frying or for yeast in breads.

• ALES are fermented quickly at warmer temperatures, which produces the flowery, fruity-inducing esters. While ales are more bitter than lagers, their bitterness is balanced by malt, resulting in sweet, full-bodied brews. Try steaming sweet mussels in ale or pour ale into hearty soups or meaty stews as a substitute for stock or red wine.

• INDIA PALE ALES (IPAs) are famously bitter, characterized by an abundance of hops. It bears mentioning that while IPAs are great for drinking and pair well with spicy foods, such as curries, they are usually too bitter for cooking.

• STOUTS AND PORTERS are made from heavily roasted barley and malt grains, yielding rich chocolate, coffee and malt flavors and aroma. These dark beers are a hearty addition to stews and sauces, where they can stand shoulder to shoulder with other assertive flavors. They work well in chilis, marinades, and barbecue sauces, and believe it or not, they are excellent additions to rich desserts that complement their chocolate, spice and sweet notes.

• LAMBICS AND SOURS are funky beers, with dry, winey and sour flavors. Unlike other beers, which are fermented with specific yeast strains, lambics are fermented with wild yeast. Fruit, such as raspberries, cherries and peaches, is often added to the fermenting process. Lambics are a refreshing addition to desserts like poached fruit, crisps and fruit sorbets. They can also be an interesting addition to beverages — beer cocktails, anyone?

• To find all the recipes mentioned in this story, visit marinmagazine.com/beer.

BEER PAIRINGS

For fresh goat cheese, pour a pale, citrusy, hoppy, carbonated beer such as the Citroen Farmhouse Ale. Pair a nutty aged cheese, such as gouda, with a strong, malty beer with caramel notes, such as Corsair Dark Strong Ale. For a washed rind cheese, such as Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk, try a hoppy carbonated beer to cut the fat, such as The Frog That Ate the World Double IPA. For blue cheese, go big, fruity and earthy with a glass of Beleriand Barleywine.

Baeltane Brewing, Novato

PLOUGHMAN’S CHEESE BOARD WITH BEER-BRINED PICKLES AND ONION-CHILE-ALE RELISH

“Beer pairs exceptionally well with cheese,” says Alan Atha, founder and co-owner of Baeltane Brewery. “You can have a field day with the pairing.” With up to a dozen artisanal beers on tap in Baeltanes’s cozy taproom, there’s no better place to experiment. Specializing in small-batch Belgian, French and West Coast–style ales, Atha explains that each of his beers “tells a story and is crafted with a twist.” Baeltane’s tiny tasting room is often full of regulars enjoying the unplugged convivial atmosphere. While there isn’t a food menu, picnics are cheerily encouraged, and as always, cheese is welcome (include a variety of flavors and strengths).

Marin Brewing Company, Larkspur

POINT REYES PORTER–MARINATED FLANK STEAK SALAD

Marin Brewing Company has been an anchor at Marin Country Mart, formerly Larkspur Landing, for decades, dishing out fresh Cali pub fare and pouring award-winning beers for thirsty shoppers, ferry riders and tourists. Its extensive menu includes classic beer-fortified fare, including Mt. Tam Pale Ale–Battered Fish and Chips and Pork Beer Sausage Chili. Executive chef Mario Gongora is a big fan of incorporating beer in marinades, which he uses for his Flank Steak Salad. “The beer acts as a tenderizer for the meat,” he says, as the alcohol breaks down the proteins. Darker beers are slower to burn off han lighter beers while cooking, driving more flavor into the meat, so Gongora uses Marin Brewing Company’s Point Reyes Porter for the flank steak. “It’s strong enough to stand up to the meat flavor, but smooth and not bitter.”

BEER PAIRING

Assistant brewer Will Thompson recommends Marin Brewing Company’s Tripel Dipsea Belgian-Style Ale, “which has fruity, estery notes and a little spice, and pairs wells with the fresh salad and spicy meat.”

Iron Springs Pub and Brewery, Fairfax

FAIRFAX COFFEE PORTER BBQ PULLED PORK

Iron Springs has been pouring handcrafted beers in Fairfax for more than 20 years. This casual beer pub, popular with families, bike riders and musicians alike, serves up fresh homemade pub fare in a relaxed and friendly environment. All beers are brewed on site, and while most are poured into a glass, traditional beer and food combinations are found on the menu. One such classic is the BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich. Head chef William Hazzard slow-cooks the pork in a sweet and tangy sauce fortified with a bottle of Iron Springs’ Fairfax Coffee Porter. The smooth brew has strong coffee notes and hints of chocolate and vanilla, which complement the sweetness and balance the acidity and spiciness of the sauce.

BEER PAIRING

Brewmaster Michael Altman recommends Iron Springs’ JC Flyer IPA, which is well hopped with fruity notes and bright carbonation that will balance and cut the rich flavorful pork.

Sessions Restaurant, San Francisco

BEER-BRINED FRIED CHICKEN WITH CHEDDAR ALE MAC AND CHEESE

Longtime home brewer and chef Michael Bilger, with his Marin-residing business partner Evin Gelleri, set out to create an establishment that would “combine great cuisine with great beer in a restaurant that was different than a gastropub.” Lucky for them (and us), they scored a soaring space in the Presidio’s newly constructed Letterman Building. Not only is beer an ingredient in many of Bilger’s recipes, such as the brine for his Sunday Supper Fried Chicken and Cheddar Ale Mac and Cheese, he also incorporates brewing ingredients in his creations such as Hops Salt Fries with Dark Malt Aioli — created with the dark malt sugar — and homemade brown bread with Belgian Abbey yeast. When Bilger is not concocting his beer-kissed Californian recipes (incorporating olive oil, vegetables and wagyu beef sourced from George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch in Marin), he makes his own small-batch brew in Sessions’ on-site brewery, where he plans to develop a community space for home brewers to make and release their own batches.

BEER PAIRING

Chef Bilger recommends pairing Fort Point Park beer with his beer-can-crushing dinner. The session-style wheat beer “delivers a wonderful grapefruit and citrus aroma, with a mildly tart palate that finishes clean and dry and cuts through the richness of the mac and cheese and highlights the herbaceous notes of the chicken.”

BEER PAIRING

Chef Andraneda recommends pouring Dunkelweizen to serve with the cake. Clearly, you can’t have too much of a good thing.

Hopmonk Tavern, Novato

HONEYED BANANA CAKE WITH DUNKELWEIZEN CARAMEL SAUCE

Hopmonk Tavern, the brewpub institution founded by Dean Biersch, has been combining beer, food and live music since its inception in 2008. The classic beer-infused pub grub includes Kellerbier-Battered Fried Calamari, Smoked Sausages with Lagunitas Ale, and Cider Braised Salmon — but it’s the dessert we are interested in. According to chef Aaron Adraneda, head chef at Hopmonk’s Novato outpost, you can have your dessert — and a beer, too. He uses Hopmonk’s Dunkelweizen, a smooth dark wheat beer with aromas of (no surprise) chocolate, banana, caramel and clove, in a number of his desserts, such as Pumpkin Seed Brittle, ice cream and the caramel sauce he serves with his Honeyed Banana Cake. • To find all the recipes mentioned in this story, visit marinmagazine.com/beer.