A culinary experience of a somewhat “beery” kind
Last Friday evening I resolved to “cook something with beer”, which met with universal approbation from my friends. After all, it’s meanwhile not all that uncommon to add a glug or three of beer to a dish now and then. And admittedly, beer goulash is not a particularly venturesome recipe, more a sort of tried-and-trusted stand-by where there’s not much that can go wrong. A definite advantage, given my less-than-stellar cooking. There were sceptical glances, however, when I suggested trying out a beer-based cocktail beforehand. Either a beer or a cocktail – but not as a combination, please! So everyone was all the more pleasantly surprised by the Wheat Beer Mojito. First of all, the recipe had to be modified a bit: “It needs more rum and less beer!” Finally, though, we succeeded in mixing a thoroughly enjoyable drink. Everyone had now been served a cocktail – so it was time to start cooking.
Wheat Beer Mojito
Ingredients (for one person):
Mint if available
1 lime
4 – 5 tsp of brown sugar
8 cl of white rum
Ice cubes
Wheat beer
Instructions:
If it’s in season, put some fresh mint in a glass, squeeze the juice out of a lime, and dribble it over the leaves. Then sprinkle brown sugar into the glass, and add the rum. Stir it all thoroughly, and before adding the ice cubes, allow the whole thing to stand for a bit. Only top up with wheat beer right at the end (careful, not too much, or the cocktail will just taste of beer!), and stir.
Beer goulash
Ingredients (for four persons):
3 large onions
1 clove of garlic
750 g beef goulash
60 g of clarified butter
Salt
Pepper
2 tbs of paprika powder
1 tsp of ground caraway seeds
1 bay leaf
1 small piece of chocolate
1 tbs of tomato purée
500 ml of dark beer
100 g of sour cream
Parsley
400 g of fettuccini
Instructions:
For the beer goulash, peel the onions and the garlic and dice them coarsely. Cut the meat into small pieces, wash and pat dry. In a pan, heat up the clarified butter, and sear the meat. Gradually add the onions and the garlic.
Season it all with salt, pepper, paprika powder and caraway seed. If you want, you can add a bit of chocolate as well. This adds a sweetish note to the goulash. And just like beer, after all, a bit of chocolate never hurt anyone. Then add a bay leaf and some tomato purée. Finally, add half a litre of water and beer, bring it all to the boil and let it simmer for 1 ½ hours.
Shortly before the goulash is ready, stir the sour cream into it and cook the noodles. If you like, scatter a bit of parsley over it before serving.
In the end, not only the Wheat Beer Mojito, but also the beer goulash, passed the taste test triumphantly. Highly recommended for cooking (and mixing!) at home – just give it a try! And one small tip: it’s better to prepare the goulash first, and then try out your bar-keeping skills. You’ll find the cooking much easier, but it may not feel quite so much fun.😊
