Exbeeriment: Deglazing and Cooking Stew with Beer
6 Comments Published by Joel October 6th, 2006 in Beer, Food. Share This
After browning some stew meat, along with some whole cloves of garlic, some red onion, and fresh basil, I tried something new: deglazing with beer instead of wine. (I used a homebrewed Belgian-style wit that had not actually come together yet and was just going to waste in the fridge.)
After it gets done crockin’ it tomorrow I’ll update you with the results.
One possible mistake: I used the rest of the beer, along with some broth and tomato paste, as the base for the stew. It’s either going to have an awesomely beery richness or taste like someone got sick in my stew.
I do the same when I make chili -I’ll brown the meat (ground beef, chopped flank steak, and maybe bits of a nicer cut too), then pour in a bottle of something good (usually a good IPA or sometimes a Belgian White) and let it simmer for a while before adding other ingredients.
I’d like to think that some of the beer flavor stays and isn’t overpowered by the tomato/cumin/onions/chili in the final dish, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking.
I also cook with beer often. I find that ales go best with chili, Corona, DosXX, etc. For stews and brats I like the lagers, Sam Adams, Fat tire, etc… Note that these are not expensive beers. I disagree with Blogstoper about wasting a good IPA or Belgian. They are for drinking.
I always use beer in any hearty soup or stew. If you cook it long enough, there will be no “someone got sick in my stew” phenomenon. Good stuff, especially in chili and beef stew. Some yuengling adds a bit of depth to white chili especially.
Verdict: Not bad, but I can’t really tell that it’s adding a lot of new flavors. I’d deglaze with beer again, but probably not add as much to the broth.
Hi. Nice new blog. Humble girl tip or rather, tip from humble girl: add your fresh herbs just before serving instead at such an early stage of prep that you show. The aromatic richness will knock your socks off, should you be wearing any at the time. And either tear or chop the stack of leaves up first to distribute said herbs, dispersing more of their pure flavor throughout your creation without having to ever encounter a clump of the wilted stuff.
Kudos for all the cooking, by the way.
i have bee cooking with beer for a long time, use some in a marinade for red meats(i have found that useing lighter beers for meats with less fats and dark hearty beers for thick fatty meats is a good way to go) and in the case of chili, use a darker more wheaty beer like a bock or a dunkelweisen and it really adds a lot of depth to the flavor, use to degalze and add some more after you have your other wet ingredients in the pot and ends up better, and make sure you let everything cook through and that it simmers for quite a while to make sure all the flavors get absorbed