The Best of American Beer and Food: Pairing & Cooking with Craft Beer (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In The Best of American Beer and Food Lucy Saunders covers both pairing food and beer and cooking with beer. She begins by exploring the art of pairing flavorful beers with specific foods, considering today's wide range of beer styles and the foods and flavors that they compliment from salad through dessert. She then turns to recipes that incorporate beer, using the diverse tastes available from today's ales and lagers as flavor components.

About the Author

Lucy Saunders has chronicled the microbrewery movement since 1987, for such publications as Restaurants & Institutions, The Chicago Tribune, Market Watch, and more. A syndicated columnist (The Beer & Food Companion), and food editor of All About Beer, Saunders has also apprenticed in restaurants specializing in cuisine a la biere in the U.K. and Belgium. She has conducted beer tastings for cooking schools, food writers and magazine editors, and organizations such as the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Her cookbook, Cooking With Beer, was published by Time Life in 1996.

Lucy Saunders is the author of The Best of American Beer and Food and editor of beercook.com. She thinks of beer as food and has championed the presence of craft beer at the American table for over 20 years. She now lectures and conducts tasting classes at cooking schools, retailers and non-profit groups, including the Smithsonian. She has worked with the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the Fancy Food Shows, the American Culinary Federation, and other food trade groups to conduct beer and food pairings. She lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Brewers Publications (October 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0937381918
• ISBN-13: 978-0937381915
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #147,325 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book for beer lovers, October 27, 2007

By	M. Fischer (Fort Collins, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you enjoy drinking beer and eating food (and who doesn't), this book is for you. This book explained beer and food pairings (beer pairs better with cheese than wine does for example) and also had some great recipes for cooking with beer. I was surprised to even seem some dessert recipes for beer which I can't wait to try. Previously I only knew how to make beef stew with beer and beer can chicken, this has greatly expanded my repertoire.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Primer, May 5, 2008

By	Stephen K. Hindy "Beer School Teacher" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Lucy Saunders has looked far and wide to find a delightful array of explorations of how beer can enhance your enjoyment of food. Craft brewers and adventurous chefs across America are bringing beer to the table with delicious and suprising results. This book will change the way you think about that wonderful, inexpensive beverage, beer.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes your tongue juice up with anticipation, January 20, 2008

By	Carolyn Smagalski "Beer Fox" (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This beautiful, soft-covered book is fit for the great-room coffee table, but lives with even greater panache in the kitchen. Saunders traces the specialties of craft beer and food within each section of American continent: from the chocolate beer dinners of Chef Bruce Paton at the Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco, California, to "A Day at the Beach" menus with Alaskan Amber-glazed grilled salmon in the Alaskan Northwest or the Belgian Beer Dinners at Monk's Café in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

She seems to single out every great name associated with craft beer and food: Tom Peters and Chef Adam Glickman, Curt Decker, Garrett Oliver, Carol Stoudt, American Bounty Chef Anita Olivarez Eisenhauer, Dave Alexander, Pastry Chef Crystal Duck, Pam and Bob Cooper, Cheesemaker Willi Lehner, Chuck Skypeck, Brewchef Tim Schafer, Larry Bell, Rob Tod, Natalie and Vinnie Cirluzo, Gina and Vince Marsaglia, Shaun O' Sullivan, Dan Gordon and Dean Biersch, Chef Jody Denton, Lisa Morrison, Charles and Rose Ann Finkel, Greg Higgins, Jim Koch, Tomme Arthur, Ben Johnson - and scores of others. As you become more deeply aware of the hold beer has taken within the cooking community throughout North America, your blood begins to surge with anticipation. What might your own abilities be in the culinary arena? What could you do with a little knowledge of craft beer and your own local food styles?

In Part II of "The Best of American Beer & Food," Saunders presents an array of recipes for the casual party or the more formal dining theme. Although beer is included as an ingredient in some recipes, others are beer-free, but are accompanied with a "Beer Pairing Suggestion" that easily stands out for your reference. Bacon-Wrapped Bluefish with Brown Ale Hot Sauce, Spicy Steamed Mussels, and Shallot and Stout-Glazed Steak with Cumin-Pepper Onions will activate your palate, while Harpoon Winter Warmer-Spiced Pumpkin and Cranberry Bread, Barley Wine Banana Split, or Paxton's Chocolate Stout Pudding finish on the sweet end.

The Best of American Beer & Food is loaded with full-page color photos that make your tongue juice-up with anticipation. As you focus on each recipe, your mind can easily formulate the workings of your own holiday beer dinner - making yours the most memorable highlight of the season. Lucy Saunders gives you the secret ingredients that merge food with craft beer in the best possible way.