How to Cook With Beer

“Beer gives home cooks a lot to work with,” explains Jackie Dodd-Mallory, a Seattle-based food writer and founder of The Beeroness. She ought to know: She’s written several books (as Jacquelyn Dodd) about cooking with beer.

Beer has a minimum of four base ingredients (most wines and spirits have only one or two), and each brings a lot of variety. “Take hops,” Dodd-Mallory says. “They’re bred to have very specific flavor notes: tropical, citrus, herbal. Not only that, but you have carbonation, which works really well in baking.”

She uses flat leftover beer to tenderize meat. The beer’s acids and tannins break down the meat, infusing it with moisture and flavor. Malty beers, like porter or brown ale, boast rich, toasty notes that can enhance the flavor of everything from pulled pork to a Thanksgiving turkey.

For lighter fare, try lighter beer. Dodd-Mallory uses a fruit-forward Belgian-style pale ale or a malty pilsner to make an elegant béarnaise, which she often serves with tender asparagus and a poached egg. (Try her recipe below.)

Bakers, here’s a sourdough shortcut: Use sour beer to feed your starter. “[It has] the same wild yeast and bacteria that give sourdough its flavor,” Dodd-Mallory says. “In bread, sours become this kind of baker superliquid for replacing water — you have the grains, the yeast, and the carbonation for leavening, and then all that great tang too.” (Learn how to make a gluten-free sourdough starter.)