The other day we had a question about beer cheese soup; now here's one on cooking with pale ale. In our most recent Open Thread, reggiesoang asks:
Is there any dish that could be cooked with pale ale? Brown ale is usually the choice for cooking, but since I have a lot of pale ale left that needs to be used (or drank), I wonder if I can use pale ale the same way I use brown ale in like BBQ sauce or chili (best time for a nice pot of chili). Help!
reggiesoang, we did a little searching around, and we think that pale ale would be just fine - if not as robust - in all those usual dishes.
But we also found a couple recipes that call specifically for pale ale - and one is from Jacques Pépin, one of our favorite chefs.
• Beef Stew with Belgian-Style Pale Ale at Food & Wine, by Jacques Pépin
• Creamy Potato Soup with caraway, at The Daily Green.
Do you have any other suggestions for cooking with pale ale?
(Images: Clipper City Beer, Rob Howard for Food & Wine, and The Daily Green)
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I boil lobsters in a mix of water, pale ale, and salt.
Amazing.
view mangabanga's profile
I use our homebrewed Irish Pale Ale to make my beyond easy beer bread. Five minutes of work and you'll have a warm, crusty loaf in under an hour!
view Farmgirl Susan's profile
My dad always used some sort of pale beer for cooking shrimp.
view Michelle of Montreal's profile
i like to make chili with a can or bottle of beer, and i use whatever's around. sometimes bud, sometimes guinness. i think chili is such a rich, strong-flavored dish that the type of alcohol matters less than the alcohol itself to carry the flavors.
view thinkingwoman's profile
Thanks very much! By the way, the pale ale that I have is Hop Obama, brewed by Six Point!
view reggiesoang's profile
Best American Recipes of 1999 says cook onions, garlic, fresh thyme, parsley in butter, add a cup of ale, simmer ten minutes, strain and use the liquid to cook mussels, 3 to 5 minutes. Planning to try this myself.
view Kate (NC)'s profile