Cooking with beer at River Cottage

A one-day course that was a real eye-opener. By Emma Marsden

The only time I ever cook with beer is with Guinness in rich hearty stews. River Cottage in Dorset runs so many brilliant courses but I was particularly interested in doing this one-off Badger beer course. What would we cook? And how would it taste?

 

We began early in the morning and making bread was our first task. We gathered around two huge tables pushed together to make a giant workstation. Each of us had a bowl of warm malted flour and pots of salt and yeast. The expert baker leading the way was Dan Stevens, who doesn't do quantities - he weighs everything in terms of percentages. Having a head for maths, I loved this - especially as it means you can apply it to any quantity of flour you have. So, if you think of the flour in terms of 100%, you need 1% dried yeast (or 2% fresh) and 2% salt. Liquid makes up 60% - no less, otherwise the finished bread will be dry.

 

The liquid, of course, was beer. Behind me lined up on another table were all the bottles. I picked Applewood cider then started to work out the other flavour combos - apples go well with rosemary, that's a must. So too were sultanas. Slowly cooked onions, soft slippery and sweet also caught my eye. I stopped there... too many ingredients and there's a danger the finished bread won't have any identity.

 

After stirring all the ingredients together (except the beer), we tipped everything onto the table and used fists to make a huge well in the middle. We then poured the beer in, watching it bubble up and lap at the edges. Dan guided us carefully through the mixing; I concentrated on using my fingers like a whisk to incorporate the wet into the dry. Soon we had a big mess in front of us, but Dan reassured us all was fine - the wetter the better. Ten minutes of extraneous activity, smearing, stretching and pulling and we had a soft pliable dough ready to rise. A slick of oil lined the bowl in which the dough was left, then it was covered with a bag.

 

We then moved to the other side of the River Cottage's demonstration kitchen for our sausage masterclass. Head chef Gill Meller had a half side of pig laid out to demonstrate they use every part ‘but the oink'. Gill explained that it's best to let the meat speak for itself. The base, an 80:20 combo of meat to fat, is pushed into the mincer to produce a soft, squidgy mass. Salt is essential to bring all the ingredients together, dried breadcrumbs add body and then it's up to you for flavourings. Simplicity rules. I chose Badger First Gold with just a pinch of ground mace and white pepper. It's hit and miss with quantities - too much and that's all your banger will taste of; too little and it could be bland. Add by caution, then a good way of telling if you've hit the spot is to sniff it to see if you can pick out those ingredients.

 

You could turn the sausagemeat into patties but to make proper sausages you need casings and a machine is handy, too. The hand-operated machine pushes out the mix into the casing - too quick and the fine gossamer-like tubes could burst; too slow and, quite simply, you'll be there forever. As Gill and Steve (another member of the River Cottage HQ team), twisted the long thin tube into butcher's link sausages, I wondered if I'd manage it. I did - it was much easier than it looked.

 

A quick session back at the workstations to shape the bread then we took it to a table where we left it to prove under big linen tablecloths. I made a mental note to replicate this at home with a linen napkin.

 

Next came a four course lunch (!), with each course teamed with a beer chosen specifically to match with food. It was enough to convince me that flavoured beer could be the perfect drink for my next dinner party.

 

Emma recommends: Golden Glory - peach and melon flavoured Badger Beer for summer drinking. Find out about more fabulously flavoured Badger Beers here. To find out about River Cottage courses click here 

 

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Look here too...

 

Our beer recipes 

 

Our sausage recipes

 

Our bread recipes