In “Hopeless Homebrew Solutions,” Emily Hutto offers some culinary suggestions for homebrew that didn’t quite turn out the way you hoped. For instance, she suggests that if your homebrew is too yeasty, you can try using some of it in beer bread or biscuits. Or if your batch is too boozy, you can reduce it down to a barbeque sauce as Breckenridge Brewery does. Or if you have an overly estery homebrew on your hands, you can use it in a brine bath for turkey or chicken.
However, you don’t have to wait for a bad batch to cook with homebrew. Pairing your favorite homebrew with a home-cooked meal is a fun way to hone your skills as a brewer and as a cook. One of my favorite approaches is to simply work the beer itself into the dish with which I plan to serve it. If the beer works well as an ingredient, then it will almost certainly be a wonderful accompaniment to the meal.
I tend to brew seasonally, and my cooking reflects that seasonality as well. Grilled witbier-marinated citrus shrimp is great backyard fare in the summer, while Oktoberfest just wouldn’t be the same without Märzen-braised bratwursts served with home-fermented red sauerkraut and sourdough Bauernbrot.
I find that cooking with homebrew is a great way to make use of that first glass of foamy beer that emerges from the kegerator draft tower. Pull a pint of foam, set it aside to settle, and then pour your own pint to enjoy while you cook.
The recipe below is for a shepherd’s pie that’s just the thing on a cool, blustery, rainy spring evening. Made with my house dry Irish stout, it’s comforting, satisfying, and very forgiving. I rarely measure anything when I cook, so the indicated quantities represent my best estimates. Feel free to change up the proportions and make it your own!
O’Davey Shepherd’s Pie
Mashed Potatoes
1.5 lb (680 g) Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
½ cup (4 fl oz/120 ml) whole milk
½ cup (4 fl oz/120 ml) heavy cream
2 Tbs unsalted butter
Salt and black pepper to taste
Place potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Place over high heat, and bring to a boil. Add a generous pinch of salt and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 15 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender.
Heat the milk and cream on high in the microwave for 60 seconds, or until warm to the touch but not boiling.
Drain the cooked potatoes and return to the saucepan. Mash the potatoes, and then add the milk and cream, folding into the potatoes. Season with salt and black pepper to taste, and fold in the butter. Cover mashed potatoes and set aside.
Filling
2 Tbsp (1 fl oz/30 ml) olive oil
1 lb (450 g) ground bison or turkey
Mirepoix of 1 white onion (diced), 2 stalks of celery (diced), and 2 carrots (peeled and diced)
2 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 Tbsp (0.5 fl oz/15 ml) Herbes de Provence
1 Tbsp (0.5 fl oz/15 ml) Worcestershire sauce
1 cup (8 fl oz/240 ml) O’Davey Irish Stout or your favorite commercial Irish stout
1 lb (450 g) button mushrooms, stemmed and coarsely chopped
½ cup (100 g) peas, fresh or frozen
Salt and black pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Heat the olive oil in an enameled cast iron Dutch oven or oven-safe frying pan over medium heat. Add the ground bison or turkey, and season with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Cook until just beginning to brown. Remove the meat and return the pot or pan to the burner. Add the mirepoix and bay leaf, and sauté for about five minutes, or until onions are translucent, scraping up any browned bits that may remain from cooking the meat. Season with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper.Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
Increase the heat to medium-high and return the cooked meat to the dish, stirring to incorporate. Cook the meat and vegetable mixture for another 2 to 3 minutes, or until browned bits begin to develop on the surface of the pan. Add the Worcestershire sauce and stout, and stir well, making sure to fully scrape the bottom of the pan to dissolve any browned bits of meat and vegetable.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook until the liquid evaporates by about half. Then add the mushrooms, thoroughly mix, and cook for an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Season well with salt and black pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and add the peas, stirring to incorporate. Remove the bay leaves and smooth the filling into an even layer in the pot or pan. Then top the filling with the mashed potatoes, creating an even layer over the entire dish.
Drag the tines of a fork over the top of the mashed potatoes to create a series of ridges. These will brown up nicely in the oven! Place the dish, uncovered, in the oven, and bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the potatoes have browned to your liking.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.