“The other day Rod Tod from Allagash brought by a natural vinegar,” Corry says. “He let some beer spoil with cherries in an aged oak cask. It’s something we’re going to play around with. It will make a nice addition to a sauce or a game dish.”
Corry’s attraction to beer can be traced to an earlier career as a brewmaster in California. And while he hasn’t brewed any beer lately, Corry continues to create new uses for it in the Five Fifty-Five kitchen.
“I find that braising pork works well with beer,” Corry says. “We do some fun stuff (with beer), like pickled cherry peppers and beer battered tempura.”
Kai Adams, the vice president and brewmaster of Sebago Brewing Company, harbors a similar affinity for cooking with beer. As a fan of outdoor grilling (he does it four nights a week, even in winter), Adams often whips up beer-based grilling sauces. His go-to recipe uses sauted onions, tomato paste, chipotle and Sebago’s Bass Ackwards Blueberry Ale.
“We’re part of a CSA,” Adams says of the subscription he and his wife have to Broadturn Farm in Scarborough. “So we’ve been getting tons of local tomatoes.”
He’s paired many of these tomatoes with Sebago’s Midnight Porter for a hearty marinara sauce. He’s also been turning the bounty of farm fresh basil into a beer pesto, by mixing it with pinenuts, oil and Frye’s Leap IPA.
As a committed locavore, Adams soon will have a beer brewed with locally-grown hops to add to his cooking repertoire. The Local Harvest Ale is a part of Sebago’s single batch series that will be available in the brewery’s three restaurants (in Portland, Gorham and South Portland) at the end of the month. Adams is in the process of finding a local farmer to grow an acre of hops, which will allow him to brew up a much bigger batch next year.
Professional beer cooking tips
“The biggest thing to keep in mind when cooking with beer is hops are bitter, so you want to counteract that,” says Christian Gordon, who is the head chef at the Inn on Peaks Island and the Shipyard Brew Haus at Sunday River. “In our mussels dish, the sauted onions counteract the bitterness. You wouldn’t want to make that dish with an IPA, because it would be too hoppy.”
While many beers are dominated by the distinct bitter taste of hops, other beers, such as Belgium or Scottish ales, offer a sweet flavor profile. As a general rule, bitter beers work well in savory dishes and sweeter beers add a welcome depth to desserts. But like any rule, it’s made to be broken.
Gordon recalls a rather bitter chocolate ice cream he made with the Shipyard Bluefin Stout for a Chocolate Lovers’ Fling event. He used the ice cream to make a root beer float, which helped to balance the bitter notes. As Corry explains, successful beer cooks aim to complement, counteract or enhance the inherent flavors of a dish.
“If you want to enhance sweetness, go with a malty beer,” Corry advises. “If you want to offset the sweetness of a dish, go with a bitter beer. I would never take an American lager to offset the sweetness of chocolate. But that’s not to say you couldn’t braise pork in it. For beer battered chicken or onion rings, American lagers are effervescent, so they lend themselves well to an airy, light crust when you’re frying.”
Easy places to add beer include beef stew, chili and mussels, where beer can be used to deglaze the pan.
“Beer is, in some cases, a lot bolder than wine in cooking,” Adams explains. “If you’re steaming mussels or clams or pasta, add some beer. It will give it some added flavor. If you’re making a dessert with beer, you’d want a rich, sweet beer. Our Midnight Porter goes great with any chocolate dish or cream dish. One of my brewers makes blueberry jam with the Bass Ackwards Blueberry Ale. You can make a good salad dressing with our Hefe-Weizen. Just go easy and taste as you’re emulsifying.”
Just like cooking with wine or vodka, you’ll want to make sure the dish cooks long enough to evaporate most of the alcohol. This is particularly important when you’re cooking for kids or people who don’t drink. But for the rest of us, a little remaining alcohol can be part of the charm.
It’s also important to keep the chef well hydrated. As Adams points out: “One of the most fun things about cooking with beer is drinking some really good beer while you’re cooking.”
Five Fifty-Five Beer Dinner
Steve Corry is planning to hold a multi-course beer dinner in January or February of next year. The dinner will showcase Allagash beers. Every menu item will be made with beer and each course will be paired with a specific Allagash brew. FMI contact the restaurant at 761-0555.