The Beerbistro Cookbook [Hardcover]

I bought The Beer Bistro Cookbook for my partner for the holidays, and we've been having fun with it ever since. The Stout Brownies, alone, were worth the price of the book.

However, we planned a dinner party for 7 this weekend using only recipes from the book, with beer in every one, and had more trouble than we bargained for. For example, the recipe for white beer-cured salmon with sweet mustard and porter pancakes begins on page 81, then refers the reader to page 171 for the beer-cured salmon, page 200 for porter pancakes, and page 211 for the sweet mustard sauce. Different parts of the recipe serve different numbers of people, so the whole thing becomes very confusing and inefficient, with not enough sauce, way too much pancake batter and way, way too much fish. The appetizer was delicious, but when we make it again, we'll refer to our own notes in the margins to get it right.

We also made the potato-weissbier bread, which took 3-4 times longer to bake than indicated in the book, bistro salad (no problem), Belgian ale steak stew, which had such an acrid gravy that I drained all the gravy off and created my own, and beeramisu, which took us two tries and some ingenuity to make it suitable. We had a wonderful dinner party, but could have used more help from this cookbook. Did anyone test these recipes for home use?

Casual elegance...Gourmet chic merged with relaxed gustatory delight - in a word, beerbistro of Toronto. Brian Morin, Executive Chef and Owner of beerbistro, and Stephen Beaumont, International Travel and Drinks Author, have found a way to bring this casual elegance into the lives of those throughout North America with this dynamic, eye-catching, hardcover book.

A quick perusal through the photographs of this volume provides a voyeurs look at the silky level of sumptuous comestibles prepared at beerbistro. These tasty victuals titillate the taste buds with pleasure, both in cuisine à la Bière and in libations that combine to make the beerbistro experience one of unparalleled pleasure. Concurrently, the mind instantly engages in a state of comfort through the authors' simple illumination of specific topics that enhance your immersion into the pleasures of good beer. Chef Morin's mission, "changing the way people think about beer," emerges as a glowing ember in this cookbook-style presentation of beerbistro's avant garde objective.

The essence of beerbistro stands out as upbeat, youthful, energetic, sophisticated, freshly local, diverse, economical, and multicultural. Brian Morin's distinctive vision to provide freshly crafted, beer-infused food, including beerbistro's home-smoked bacon, 16-hour pulled pork, and hand-crafted mayonnaise, sauces, jellies, salsas, jams, and glazes, positions him in a distinctive category of culinary excellence. One quickly recognizes beerbistro fare as something to be savored, like the languorous pleasure of a lover's all-night caress.

The beerbistro Cookbook covers two areas of expertise: The first, Beaumont and Morin's instructive section on beer knowledge and styles; and the second, Chef Morin's classic, French-inspired beer cuisine. The introduction makes beerbistro come alive through its philosophy of beer cuisine, beverage exploration and the people that infuse energy into each dining experience; then plunges forth into Beer Knowledge with a straightforward orientation about how beer is crafted and the highlights that differentiate styles, one from another. It elaborates on geography, climate, flora, attitude, and technology, and how these led to the expansive selection we enjoy today.

Chapter 2, Beer at the Table, gives a tutorial, complete with photos, defining the proper way to pour specific styles of beer, noting the characteristics that dictate the pour and how to enhance the overall beauty of each. Beaumont provides his "four steps to pairing beer and food," simplifying a complex subject with realistic guidelines that set the stage for epicurean discovery. This follows with "seven steps to hosting a home beer tasting," encouraging greater exploration into the world of beer and the nuances to be found within each style.

Beer in the Kitchen awakens the senses with a multi-faceted array of possibilities in beer cuisine. Rules that will keep you out of trouble in beer cookery are invaluable. In addition, the authors infuse the brain with exciting possibilities through Morin's finely polished skills; then expand the gustatory arena by associating styles with mental awareness, whether quenching or crisp, sociable or bold, soothing or contemplative.

Following this delicious dip into beer enlightenment, Chef Morin's beer cuisine, à la beerbistro, defines the symphonic merging of select ingredients, culinary expertise and a clear understanding of the complexities of beer. Recipe sections include everything to please the appetite: from beginnings, everyday food and barbecue, to pastries, beerscreams and baked goods. You will find such exotic treats as blonde ale pakoras with roasted pineapple raita; duck confit corn dogs; cold spring pea soup with white beer, yogurt, crushed red peppercorns, and mint; grilled lamb loin niçoise; and stout and Skör Bar ice cream. Such epicurean specialties are evidence of the free-range creativity Morin has cultivated as a Master of Bière Cuisine.

Highlights of The beerbistro Cookbook include a mouth-watering section on mussels (one in which beerbistro's mission clearly takes center stage), while the Butcher Shop satiates with the beautiful results that are possible when French culinary training intermingles with a philosophy centered on in-house marinating, slow cooking, and smoking of meats. A chapter on Beer and Cheese presents a chart describing the attributes that enable the creation of "ultimate pairings," with specific examples of each. Morin stretches even further with The Pantry, where he shares secrets that create the pièce de résistance - banana-onion jam, gueuze sour cream, tarragon and ale vinaigrette - that puts the heart of casual elegance into the beerbistro dining experience. To further quench the spirit, Beer Cocktails, such as Belgian redhead or bière flambée, lay at the conclusion as a gentle reminder of traditions long established that sate the tongue or soothe the belly.

It is no surprise that Certified Chef de Cuisine Brian Morin has been described as "North America's Gold Standard for Beer Cuisine."

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