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Beer
Also called lager, ale, stout
Malted grain fermented with yeast, then used for batter, gravy and the odd stew. Cold lager lifts a fish coating; stout is a different pot — sweet, roasted, better in a pie than on a fillet. If the bottle is skunked, the batter will be too.
Origin
Brewed almost everywhere grain would ferment. The fizzy batter tradition is British and Irish fry-shop practice; Belgian pots drink the same malt in the bowl as on the table.
Flavour
Malty, hop-bitter, carbonated when fresh. Lager reads clean; stout is coffee and cocoa. Heat leaves malt and hop resin.
How it is made
Malted barley is mashed, boiled with hops and fermented. Use a drinkable bottle, not salted 'cooking beer'. Very hoppy IPAs can turn a batter grassy.
How to use it
Keep beer fridge-cold and the batter slightly lumpy so bubbles stay. Fry hot; warm beer goes flat and the crust greases. Sparkling water is the teetotal stand-in — you lose malt, not crunch. In a francesinha or gravy, reduce until the raw alcohol smell goes; hops turn bitter if you boil a pale ale to nothing.
Storage
Unopened, cool and dark. Once open it dies in hours — a batter uses it immediately.
Recipes using it
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