Everybody loves outdoor cooking especially if it is a BBQ events. As most people know, a basic barbeque sauce is usually a balance of sweetness and tartness. They are often associated with a particular part of the country. There is Texas BBQ, St. Louis BBQ, Memphis BBQ, Carolina BBQ, etc. Some lean more toward the sweetness side of the scale, while others lean towards the tartness aspect. More often than not, heat in the form of hot peppers, hot pepper flakes or hot pepper sauce is also added. The base of most barbeque sauces is the sweetness to which the tartness is added to achieve the desired balance. Tomato based sauces are the most common, however, any fruit or other form of sweetness is used. Beer jellies made from craft beers make an excellent base for barbecue sauces. There is that age old combination of grilling and chilling with beer, so why not use the beer in the barbeque sauce to make the experience that much more enjoyable.
The phenomenon of using beer to make jelly isn’t new, however, more and more people are realizing how delicious and user-friendly they are. Not just as a spread for appetizers, but also incorporated into recipes. Similar to wine, beer has many varied and interesting “descriptors” used to describe the flavors inherent in them. From malty to bitter, the range of descriptors can include coriander, orange peel, banana, chocolate, citrus, piney, caramel, toffee, spicy and smokey. When beer is cooked and made into jelly, these flavors get enhanced and magnified. A slightly citrus flavor in the beer, might translate into a full- blown lemon flavor in the finished jelly.
Since everybody has different tastes, there is no perfect beer jelly to use in a barbeque sauce. It is probably best to start with your favorite beer jelly and go from there. So, instead of starting with boring ketchup as the base for your barbeque sauce, try using beer jelly. With this as your base sweetness, either vinegar or freshly squeezed lemon or lime can be added to provide the tartness. Vinegar is generally easier and a more potent form of tartness.
Doing a search on the internet for beer jellies might give you a host of suggestions leading you in a direction not intended. There is one store in North Carolina using mostly craft-brewed North Carolina beers to make their beer jellies. Main Street Produce in Littletton, NC has one of the most diverse and unique selections of beer (and wine) jellies that one need look no further. They can easily be found on Facebook.
When next grilling and chilling with beer, consider beer jellies to add to your list and let your imagination run wild making your own barbeque sauce. Here are some more tips on using beer jellies and wine jellies in your everyday cooking.
THE BASICS
Depending on the what wine or beer you used to make your jelly, will determine your next step. But I’m going to lay out a few things you can do to jazz up your meals with a few basic concepts. I call them concepts because there are so many ways to craft these, that knowing the “concept” is the most important part. I’m talking about vinaigrettes, sauces, glazes, salsas and chutneys. The common denominator in all these this is “balance”. In other words, there is some kind of balance of sweetness and acidity, sweetness with heat, sweetness with savory flavors, etc. That “sweetness” is going to come in the form of your wine jelly, the balancing part is where we get creative.
Vinaigrettes – This is how I make a vinaigrette. Equal parts “sweetness”, Dijon Mustard and “acidity”. The acid part would be either vinegar or citrus juice, or a combination of both. This all gets whisked together or blended in a food processor. At this point, you might want to add your favorite herbs and/or spices. A little salt and pepper is also needed. Next comes the oil. The oil will be three times the amount of acidity. For example, if you used 1 Tablespoon each of the sweetness, mustard and vinegar/citrus juice, then you’ll need 3 Tablespoons of oil. Your choice of oil, I love Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Here again, though, you might want to choose an oil that accents the flavor profile of the wine jelly and/or herbs and spices. An example of this would be using Walnut oil to compliment nutty flavors inherent in a wine. But this is something we can get into later.
Sauces/Glazes – These can get really interesting and fun! Again, balance is the key thought to keep in the back of your mind. Another thing to note is that these sauces have multiple uses. Once made, they might go well on top of chicken, veal, pork, beef, etc. The point is the balance. Some meats like duck and lamb stand up well by themselves to sweet, fruity flavors. Pork does too, it just depends on personal taste whether or not you want to “cut” the sweetness with some acidity. A basic barbecue sauce will have some “fruit” component. We are all familiar with tomato based barbecue sauces. Tomato is a fruit for all those who didn’t know. Anyway, the fruit is reduced at first. Meaning, you bring it up to a slow boil on the stove, and then start adding the balancing components. This is the point where I get in trouble for not measuring. There have been times when I set out to make a sauce for my nightly meal and ended up with a week’s worth. Why? Because I didn’t measure, and as I was tasting during cooking, I kept having to “add” something to get the flavor I was looking for. The good thing is that you can always add, the flip side is that you can’t “take away” once you’ve added. I guess you see where I’m going with this. Picture an old fashioned scale with two sides. On one side is sweetness, on the other side is acidity. Well, as I added, I tipped the scale in one direction. When I tried to balance it, I tipped the scale back in the other direction. When I finally got the scale balanced, I had A LOT of sauce. I assure you in the recipes to come that I’ve tested and tasted them for balance. At least, balance to my tastes. That in itself can be a caveat, because I’m partial to spicy foods. The good is, you can reduce or eliminate the spices you don’t like. It really is that simple.
Salsas/Chutneys – The main difference between a salsa and a chutney is that chutneys are cooked down to bring the flavors together. Salsas, for the most part, are made with fresh ingredients and not cooked. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, balance again is key here. As far as salsas are concerned, most people are familiar with tomato based salsas. Let me break the news to you, tomato salsas get boring. Yeah, they are good and nice with tortilla chip, but when it comes to a condiment for meats, you’ll want to experiment with a multitude of fruit combinations. Chutneys are probably the least used condiment, but one of the funest to make, and one of the most versatile with meats. As I mentioned, chutneys are cooked. The longer they are cooked, the more the flavors marry and the better the end result. My only side note to salsas and chutneys is that when making a salsa, you don’t have to be that exact with your proportions. Since it is not cooked, it doesn’t get the same opportunity as a chutney to reduce and bring flavors together. Therefore, more careful measuring is needed when making a chutney. Otherwise any imbalance of flavor will be magnified by the cooking. Here again, I assure you that these recipes are tried and true. At least to my taste.
Marinating vs. Brining – Most marinades are actually the same thing as vinaigrette. How many times have you had grilled chicken marinated in Italian Dressing? I’m yawning. No offense, it is a quick and easy marinade, but I’d much prefer my own marinade. Not to mention the fact the first ingredient in most store bought dressings is high fructose corn syrup. Followed by some things you can’t even pronounce, not the best oil, salt and more things you can’t pronounce. But I digress, and we’ll get into these later. Brining, however, is a longer process based on a salt solution. The idea is to tenderize the meat by giving it a long, cold bath in brine. Patting it dry and letting it rest for about half an hour to distribute the salt is important before grilling or roasting. Herbs and spices can be added to brines just like marinades. The difference here is the acidity in a marinade renders it more useful in quickly tenderizing and imparting flavor than a brine. Therefore, one could easily come home from work, whip up a marinade, have a glass of wine and then throw the meat on the grill. Brining, however, would require an all day or overnight process.
Customizing your own recipes
Now that you have the basics, you can see how wine and beer jellies can easily fit into recipes that you already work with. Basically, whenever a recipe suggests honey, molassas, brown sugar, fruit or anything sweet, one of these jellies can be substituted. The end result will be sufficiently having the desired sweetness the recipe asks for, plus the flavor profile of the particular wine or beer used to make the jelly. Bon Appetite! Read more for customizing your corporate catering events.
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