Some Beery Recipes

I bought some beer. Not for drinking but to cook with. I had 2 recipes that I wanted to try that have beer in the ingredient list. The compadre will have to help me out and drink the rest of each bottle though, (whoops, while I wasn't looking he drank a bottle). While I was at the liquor store I got a lesson in the difference between an ale and a lager. One of my recipes specifically calls for a lager. So the gist of what the young man told me is that ale is easier to brew and takes less time and is more bitter. Lager has more steps to the brewing process and has to sit for a while. It’s less bitter. Doesn’t matter to me – I can’t stand the taste of any beer. But I’ll try cooking with it anyway.

I had wanted to make Caramelized Onion Pot Roast from the Betty Crocker Slow Cooker Cookbook when I first saw it but we didn't have the beer. Beer in pot roast - I suppose it's there to aid in tenderizing the meat. And to add a certain flavor. We liked the result - but maybe not enough to make a special trip to the store for the beer. It was different and the onions on mashed potatoes were wonderful.



Here's what you'll need:
A 4# boneless chuck roast
olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
6 medium onions, sliced
1 1/2 cups beef broth
3/4 cup beer
2 T. packed brown sugar
3 T. dijon mustard
2 T. cider vinegar

I browned the meat in a cast iron skillet with a little olive oil. Then I seasoned it with salt and pepper. While I was doing that I put the onions in the bottom of my slow cooker. It's hard to peel and slice that many onions without tearing up! Mixed the rest of the ingredients with a whisk and poured over the beef and onions. Then I cooked it for about 8 hours on what I've decided is low on my slow cooker. I served it with mashed potatoes and we put the onions on top. Yumm.

The jury is still out on the other recipe that I tried with the beer. I want to try it again and I'll give you a report about Almost No-Knead Bread next week.

Oh, when I'd used all the beer I needed for my recipes I had about a quarter of a cup left in the bottle. The compadre was at work and being of a frugal nature I didn't want the beer to go to waist, no I mean waste, so I decided to try it. It wasn't so bad - maybe I could learn to like beer...but only if it's a lager - less bitter remember!