Antony Worrall Thompson's guide to festive beer cookery

So, who likes a few beers at Christmas? That's right, a lot of people. Maybe even you – definitely us. With the recent discovery at Asylum towers of the world's most azcamaholic beer (weighing in at 32% abv) our interest in the bitter tipple has been piqued, and what with it being a festive time of year, we thought we might mix the two. Ho ho ho-hiccup.

So we went and had a word with that chef off the tellybox, Antony Worrall Thompson (or 'AWT' as he's known on the street) and asked him to give us a guide to the likes of beer batter, beer sauce and beer sorbet to give our Chrimbos a little more 'je ne said quoi' this wintertime... check it out, after the jump.

Beer in batter

"When you're adding beer to batter, basically what you're doing is substituting beer for water, or fizzy water, that some chefs use when they make their batter. Especially for fish, you'll want to err on the lighter side of things and use a lager style beer, giving it a slight yeasty flavour."

"I use a white beer, a Weissbier, like Hoegaarden – it's got a bit of orange zest, a bit of coriander flavour in it. It's quite a foody beer, which is good for batter."

Beer batter for fish

Serves 4
330 ml (11 fl oz) Real Ale / Bitter
55g/2 oz fresh yeast
125g/ 4 and half oz plain flour
a good pinch of salt

1. Make batter by whisking the beer and yeast until smooth, then whisk in the flour little by little until the consistency of thick cream is achieved.
2. Season with salt and allow to rest in a warm place for about an hour. As the yeast gets to work the batter will bubble up.

Beer with seafood
"Cooking clams and mussels, you can use beer instead of white wine, such as in a Moules Marinière. You've got be careful with which beer you use because you're letting the steam from the beer open up the mussels - you don't want the beer to be too acidic, as there's a great iron taste in seafood which can clash with beer, so you want to be a bit sensitive with that. Again, a lighter beer works better than a heavier one here."

Mussels steamed in beer

Serves 6-8
1 bottle full bodied lager
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 bay leaves
½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs, thyme, basil chervil, flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, or more to taste
1.8kg (4 lbs) mussels
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 tablespoons freshly chopped chives for garnish

1. In a large pot with a tight fitting lid mix the beer with the garlic, onion, spices, herbs and lemon juice. Bring to the boil, add the mussels, cover tightly.
2. After 5 minutes over a high heat, check the mussels. they should all be open and cooked through. If not, cover, and cook 1-2 minutes more.
3. Remove shellfish and carefully strain the broth, leaving sandy remains in the pot. Stir in the butter into melted add lemon juice if needed.
4. Heap the shellfish in a large bowl or deep platter, sprinkle with freshly chopped chives and serve the broth on the side for dipping, sopping up bread or drinking.


Beer in desserts

"You wouldn't normally put beer into puds, but we do do a Guinness and chocolate pud, as dark beers work well with chocolate, and you can actually get some chocolate stouts, which are great too."

"As for marinating, well, most beers would be a bit too bitter for desserts. If you add some brown sugar or honey, you could marinade some fruits, make mincemeat, or use it in your Christmas pud, that's quite good."

Chocolate Guinness Cakes

500ml Guinness
400g unsalted butter
150g cocoa
800g caster sugar
290ml sour cream
4 whole eggs
520g plain flour
1 tbsp bicarbonate soda
cream cheese topping
300g cream cheese
100g icing sugar
200ml double cream

1. Preheat oven to 180, line 2 x 12 muffin tins with large muffin cases
2. Pour the Guinness into a pan and add the butter and heat until the butter melts
3. Sift and mix the cocoa, bicarb and sugar
4. Beat together the sour cream and eggs and add to the Guinness mix
5. Whisk in the flour and cocoa mix a little at a time to make a batter
6. Pour into the muffin cases and bake for 16 minutes
7. Turn out onto a cooling wire.

For the Topping

1. Mix together the cream cheese, sugar and cream and whisk with an electric whisk until you get the consistency of thick cream.
2. Pipe the topping on the cakes when they are cool.

Beer in sauces
"Making a gravy, the key to a sauce is your stock, and beer can be part of that. Though as beers are quite bitter, I'd suggest adding a bit of sugar to the gravy mix. You'll get a nice earthy, hoppy flavour from ale, which goes particularly well with pork, where as beef would suit a darker beer better, such as Guinness."

Beef and onions braised in beer

Serves 4–6
800 g (1 lb 12 oz) chuck steak, cut into 5 cm (2 in) cubes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
50 g (2 oz) unsalted butter
3 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon fresh soft thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons flour
600 ml (1 pint) bitter or stout
300 ml (1/2 pint) beef stock
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 bouquet garni

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Heat the oil and the butter in a heavy pan. As soon as it is smoking, add the meat and brown on all sides. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside.
2. Add the onions to the pan and brown them lightly in the fat used to brown the meat. Add the thyme and bay leaves and stir to combine. Remove the onions and ser aside. Add the flour to the pan and stir over a low flame until the resulting roux is a dark-gold colour. Pour in the beer and the stock, add a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper, the sugar and vinegar. Bring to the boil, stirring, and simmer over a very low flame for 15 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 160ºC/325ºF/Gas Mark 3. In an earthenware casserole dish or terrine large enough to hold all the meat, place the meat and the onions in layers. Put the bouquet garni in the centre. Strain the sauce through a very fine sieve on to the meat, cover and cook in the oven for 3 hours, until the meat is tender and the sauce reduced and slightly thickened.
4. Remove from the oven and discard the bouquet garni. Allow to stand for a few minutes and skim off the fat. Correct the seasoning of the sauce and serve in the cooking pot with some mashed potatoes and greens.

Hint: If you use string to tie the bouquet garni, tie one end to the pot handle so that you can retrieve the bundle easily.

Can't get enough of AWT's cooking skills? That's very understandable. Fortunately he's teamed up with some of the guys from Breville to make a YouTube channel that'll help you cook that little bit better. He's nice like that, our AWT.