Cooking with Beer Tips and Hints

Belgium is famous for its Carbonnade à la Flamande, a thick stewof beer, bacon, onions, and brown sugar. Many home cooks prefer their shellfish and hot dogs steamed in beer. 

Beer also has wonderful tenderizing properties, making it an excellent choice for a marinade for tougher cuts of meat. Baked goods using beer have a more moist texture and a longer shelf life.

Used in a glaze or baste, beer adds wonderful flavor to poultry and ham. In batter coatings for fried foods, the yeast in the beer acts as a mild leavening agent, causing the batter to puff up, as well as adding a distinctive enhancing flavor. 

The hops, barley, and/or malt flavor imparted by the addition of beer to foods will naturally depend on the amount and strength of the beer. Dark beer, such as stout and porter, have a much stronger flavor than a light Pilsener. A good recipe using beer will have a distinctively light, not dominating flavor in the finished dish. 

Non-alcoholic (alcohol removed) or light/lite (low-calorie, less than .5% alcohol) beers can usually be substituted (except in baking), but keep in mind that the flavor may not be as desirable and the texture may have less body.

Beer and Alcohol Burn-Off

The premise that all the alcohol cooks out of the dish during the cooking process is not necessarily a true one. 

Alcohol is indeed sensitive to heat, and the longer the dish cooks and the higher the cooking temperature, the less alcohol in the finished product. For example, take a look at this chart compiled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture using wine as an example. Keep in mind that wine has a higher alcohol content than beer, and the chart shows percentages of percentages. 

So, although some alcohol may remain in the finished dish, the amount is most likely not worth worrying about to the general consumer. However, the considerate host should advise guests when cooking with beer since even a minute amount of alcohol could prove to be a problem for recovering alcoholics. 

Standard commercial beers contain about 3% alcohol. For a listing of alcohol and calorie content of a large list of commercial brews, take a look at thischart.

Beer and Health

Believe it or not, taken in moderation, beer is actually a very healthy food. It's full of vitamins and minerals which are good for nerve production, help you concentrate, increase blood circulation, and stimulate the metabolism. The hops, low alcohol content, and carbonation help relax the body. 

A glass of beer has less calories than the equivalent amount of whole milk or apple juice, and much less than the empty calories contained in harder libations. Alcohol raises the levels ofHDL (good cholesterol) thus benefiting the heart and circulatory system.

See more at: http://homecooking.about.com/od/alcohol/a/beertips.htm