A well-made beer can heighten both your drinking and cooking pleasure. And fine-quality beers are especially well matched to summer grilling recipes, according to Lucy Saunders, author of “Grilling Wth Beer” (F& B Communications, $21.95).

As a frequent participant of gatherings that highlight craft beers, a term for handcrafted, single-batch brews, Saunders noticed that her fellow beer aficionados also enjoyed cooking outdoors.

Since Saunders is also a recipe developer, she made the natural connection of adding craft beers to foods for the grill. In fact, she says the specialty roasted barley malts in beer enhance the flavors of barbecued food.

Matching craft beers to recipes can be a pleasurable experience. “Craft beers are fun and experimental,” says Saunders who lives near Milwaukee, Wis.

If your experience cooking with spirits is limited to wine, beer has some advantages, especially if you’re cooking for two, Saunders says.

Beer bottles are half the size of the average wine bottle, so you’re unlikely to have leftovers when you cook with beer. As a twosome, you’re probably not going to sample two different wines during a meal but you can sample two different brews.

“Split one beer for the main course and one for dessert. You can have taste and variety,” she says.

When shopping for beer as an ingredient, read the label so you choose the characteristics you’re looking for in your recipe, says Saunders.

Beer is affordable so you can be selective. “If you don’t think a beer’s quality is good enough for quaffing, don’t use it for cooking,” Saunders says.

And, the expert says, treat the beer gently during cooking. “Brewers design their beer for drinking, not boiling. Beer shouldn’t be brought to a rolling boil. Treat beer gently so the flavors come through.”

During grilling, add a beer-based sauce toward the end of the cooking time. Otherwise the food can burn.

For more information on cooking with beer or the cookbook, visit Saunders’ website, www.beercook.com.

Here is an adaptation of Saunders’ recipe for Mustard-Sage Glaze, scaled back for two. Saunders suggests it for chops, steak or fish. I recommend the glaze with pork chops.

MUSTARD-SAGE GLAZE

• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard

• 1-1/2 teaspoons minced fresh sage

• 1/4 cup amber ale

• 1 tablespoon melted butter

• 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper mix (a combination of pink or red, white and black peppercorns)

Combine ingredients and set aside for flavors to blend while preheating the grill. Makes 1/4 cup, enough to glaze 2 pork chops or 2 chicken breast halves.

Taken from: www.courant.com
By BEV BENNETT, Tribune Media Services