Beer Cheese Dip - Once Upon a Chef (2024)

FAQs

What kind of beer is best for beer cheese? ›

I used Fat Tire because that what I had on hand, but Budweiser, Bud Light, Coors Light, and Miller Lite are all good options. No need to use anything fancy! What brands of cheese do you recommend? For the Cheddar, you can use a good supermarket brand, like Cabot or Tillamook.

Roughly speaking: Beer cheese sauce, bourbon caramel and other sauces brought to a boil and then removed from the heat typically retain about 85 percent of the alcohol. Diane, cherries jubilee and other recipes that flame the alcohol may still have 75 percent of the alcohol.

Beer cheese dip is typically made by heating beer with ingredients like garlic, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce in a saucepan until the beer reduces, mixing in cheese and milk, and continuing to cook until the cheese is melted. The resulting mixture is a cheesy spread that can be served warm or cool.

Can I serve beer cheese dip to kids? It's a little tricky. Most of the alcohol cooks off, leaving just the beer's flavor behind. While some residual alcohol could remain, it's a very minor amount.

Beer cheese should be stored in the refrigerator, tightly covered, where it will keep for three to four days. When buying store-bought cheese, simply leave it in its original container. Transfer homemade beer cheese to an airtight container.

Pub cheese is a type of soft cheese spread or dip prepared using cheese as a primary ingredient and usually with some type of beer or ale added. While beer cheese is made with beer, pub cheese can be made without alcohol. Pub cheese is a traditional bar snack in the United States.

Add the cornstarch slurry to the boiling beer, whisking constantly to fully incorporate it. Bring the beer back up to a boil, at which point the cornstarch slurry will slightly thicken the beer.

A skin will form across the surface as beer cheese dip cools, but the overall density means a quick stir can evenly redistribute the warm center. Once the beer cheese dip recipe fully cools to room or refrigerated temperature, the roux can make the dip look gritty. Reheating just before serving solves the problem.

Serve cold as a spread or warm as a dip. If you want to serve this dip warm, simply whisk constantly in a small saucepan over low heat, or microwave on high in 1 minute intervals, stirring between sessions until cheese dip is warm and heated through.

The longer you cook, the more alcohol cooks out, but you have to cook food for about 3 hours to fully erase all traces of alcohol. A study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Nutrient Data lab confirmed this and added that food baked or simmered in alcohol for 15 minutes still retains 40 percent of the alcohol.

How to keep beer cheese from separating? ›

A good beer-cheese dip takes little time but some attention and a few tricks. Coating the cheese with cornstarch keeps the fat from separating, the proteins from clumping and the water in both cheese and beer from thinning the sauce.

A full-bodied, matured cheese often goes well with heavier beer types, like pale lager, brown ales or even stouts. You might also give a heavy barley wine a try. Sharp blue cheeses can handle a heavy black stout, which can otherwise easily smother other flavors. Heavy, fruity beers also go well with blue cheeses.

Most are fair game for beer batter (Pilsner Urquell, Stella Artois, Modelo, and Firestone Pivo Pils are particularly nice), with the exception of Bohemian pilsner, which comes with a heavy dose of spices that can change the overall flavor of your dish. In a beer batter, pilsner is one of the more low-key options.

Barley, a main ingredient in stout, contains a polysaccharide that increases prolactin, a milk-production hormone. Oats, another stout ingredient, are also thought to promote healthy milk supply, as is vitamin-B-heavy brewer's yeast.

What Are Some Beer and Food Pairing Tips for the Super Bowl? Pair light lagers with traditional game day snacks. IPAs can be paired with spicier foods, while dark beers go with heartier dishes. Try local craft beers and other unique styles and pair them with foods that have contrasting flavors.