This Summer, Avoid Cooking With These Types Of Beers

  This Summer, Avoid Cooking With These Types Of Beers  

There's just something about the heat and humidity of the summertime that have us reaching for a frosty beer more often than we tend to in other seasons. On long summer afternoons, as the mercury climbs and we might find ourselves at a backyard cookout, neighborhood pool party, or the beach, an icy-cold brew often feels like the perfect sipper for the occasion.

Since many of us tend to keep the fridge stocked with beer throughout the summertime months, this is also a great time of year to experiment with cooking with some of those ales and porters that we already have on hand. Cooking with beer is a great way to add acidity and depth of flavor to many dishes ranging from soup to stew and even to dessert, according to the Food Network — think of classic, heady Irish beef stew featuring a dark, bitter stout, or a surprisingly tasty beer-soaked tiramisu, whose sweetness and creaminess is balanced by a chocolate porter.

Because we're feeling in the mood to cook with beer this summer and wanted some fresh ideas, we checked in with Michael Murdi, founder of the food science website Robust Kitchen, who provided some tips on cooking with beer overall, as well as pairing it with specific summer flavors.

BBQ is an excellent way to incorporate beer into summertime dishes

Impact Photography/Shutterstock

When we asked Robust Kitchen's Michael Murdi about cooking with beer, he provided a wide range of ideas. "Every beer has its place in the kitchen," he told us. But with summertime cooking specifically, Murdi suggested using that seasonal classic — barbecuing — as a starting point. "If you've never cooked with beer, then barbecue is an awesome place to start," he explained.

Because BBQ sauces lean towards sweetness, adding an intensely flavored beer — like a Stout, IPA, or Porter — is a great way to balance the taste in a preparation such as baby back ribs, Murdi said. However, he made it clear that many styles of beer will simply get drowned out by the strong flavors of barbecue. Murdi recommends avoiding using beers such as Pilsner, Helles Lager, and Kolsch in BBQ dishes, as these lighter, crisper styles will "get smothered by BBQ's rich flavors."

Murdi also cautioned about the willy-nilly use of bitter IPAs, in spite of the popularity of these heavily-hopped beers, warning that their intensity can be "an absolute dish killer." While an IPA might work well incorporated into a strongly-flavored dish such as a stew or a heavily-spiced carrot cake, it will obliterate the more nuanced flavors of delicate summer produce, for example. Murdi's overall advice for cooking with beer? "Start with beers of more subtle character, then progress to beers with higher ABVs and more complexity."

RECOMMENDED

FOODS FROM THE 1980S THAT ARE WEIRDLY MAKING A COMEBACK

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE TAKING ANOTHER BITE OF WATERMELON

PRINCE GEORGE'S FAVORITE DISH MAY SURPRISE YOU

HOW TO COOK PORK TENDERLOIN PERFECT EVERY TIME

NEXT UP

Veggie Tales

The secret to making better grilled vegetables this season

BY BAILEY BENNETT/UPDATED: JUNE 27, 2022 2:33 PM EDT

It's Sunday, you're at a BBQ and you sit down to cut into your meaty, smoky plateful with a steak knife. You take a bite that's simultaneously salty, savory and sweet, and wash it down with a tall, cold beer. No, we're not describing you devouring a New York strip pulled hot off the grill. Instead, we're talking about vegetables.

From hearty grilled eggplants to stuffed charred peppers and heavily marinated zucchini, vegetables are having a moment in the summer sun. Now, we know what you're thinking: I've been grilling vegetables for years. We have, too. But we think it's about time you actually treated those vegetables like meat and discover a whole new set of recipes to play around with.

One of the best ways to coax out a vegetable's flavors and give it the barbecued love it deserves is to prepare, season, grill, smoke and char that veggie like you would a piece of steak or chicken. Don't know where to start? Take a page from the chefs all over the country who are embracing these techniques, creating unique, vegetable-centric dishes without ever losing that distinctive taste of a summer cookout. Most of their best tricks translate perfectly to the home cook, meaning you can have the best grilled vegetables of your life from the comfort of your own backyard.

Read More: https://www.tastingtable.com/917208/this-summer-avoid-cooking-with-these-types-of-beers/?utm_campaign=clip