Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I have read the book and tried several recipes. I have nothing but praise for this book. The pictures add to the pleasure of reading good recipes. But the main thing is the taste of the food matched with the ecommended beer types. Everyone should buy this book for a great culinary experince!

I was lucky enough to meet Lucy at GABF and enjoy a great beer and food tasting session that she gave. It was astonishing the amount of knowledge she was able to convey regarding the large selection of beer and the ways of pairing it with your favorite foods(who doesn't love brownies, made with beer!). From a chef's perspective the book provides an amazing tour through current American beer in a way that allows you to think of them as spices when making your next recipe! Thanks Lucy!

I LOVE this book! Written by an author who actually knows her subject-and seeks out some of the foremost craft brewers across America-Lucy Saunders has done beer lovers and foodies a tremendous service by traveling across the country seeking out the best brewers and recipes.
Whether you're a novice or accomplished foodie or brewhead you'll enjoy this book.
You'll especially enjoy the regional introductory information, where she interviews regional brewmasters.
Imagine learning all about pairing beer with food by matching beer with cheese or chocolate! Then, Saunders takes you on a gastronomic and zymurgological journey across the USA.
The photography is stunning, the writing-like a great ale is clean, crisp and down to earth.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys either food or beer or both!
Bruce Bjorkman
Host
ON TAP (Suds,Spirits,Sodas & Stogies)
KXL Radio-Portland, OR

Beyond your normal cookbook, as this book uses beer as an ingredient in a lot of the recipes. Wonderful information on pairing, beers and breweries from different regions all over the US, great recipes, nice photography and other useful information. This has to be Lucy's best book to date! If you liked to cook and enjoy a fermented beverage, I would highly recommend this book!

Very nicely written book and nicely pairs foods with various beers, although it might help if you already have cooking experience. The bacon wrapped blue fish recipe called for an amount of habanero peppers that would have made the dish too intense for even those who enjoy spicy food. Fortunately, the recipe was made with a more reasonable amount of habanero pepper (less than 1/3rd of the amount specified, if I remember correctly) and it turned out very nicely, lively, and zesty.

this book goes into great detail about using beer in cooking as well as pairing with your meal. My boyfriend will enjoy using this book when he cooks.

Lucy Saunders is an excellent author, and an authority on the interplay of Beer and Food. She has done a wonderful job at bringing these two worlds together. This is her third book on the subject, and her best effort so far. I do not know why the Brewers Association does not pimp this book more (I fear a case of what is the latest book in their stable effect). I recommend this book to anyone interested in beer and cooking.