A little motivation to get in the kitchen and cook up some creative meals: do it with Straub beer

The Straub Beer Cookbook

John E. Schlim II

JES II Starstruck

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The Straub Beer Cookbook

John E. Schlim II

JES II Starstruck

There is a little drinking cliche that avid partygoers state with enthusiasm: “Beer can be food, but food can never be beer.” Who knew that there was indeed a good bit of truth behind this quirky saying? In each recipe in “The Straub Beer Cookbook” – which has a 1942 excerpt from The Carbon Copy stating, “Beer, to begin with, is a food” – beer is an ingredient. In some recipes, it seems to be a vital ingredient, while in others, it seems that the author, John E. Schlimm II, struggled to fill the pages and chose recipes where a mere tablespoon of beer could be added.

Recipes that use a significant amount of brew include Straub Beer Fondue, Straub Light Beer Cheese Bread, Straub Beer Sauerkraut and Straub Beer Steak Fajitas – that’s right, the proper name for each dish begins with “Straub Beer” or Straub Light Beer.” If you are running low on beer and need to conserve it, but still want to cook with it, there are a good deal of recipes that use it sparingly: Straub Beer Fried Potatoes, Straub Beer Blazing Hot Wing Sauce, Straub Beer Deviled Eggs and the Straub Beer Hummus Wrap.

And what would a beer cookbook be with out a recipe for beer-battered shrimp, beer bread or beer chili? Have no fear; the masters at Straub have included them with their own Straub twists. The old food cliche of beer and pizza going hand in hand even gets noted in this book – but here, the beer is in the pizza sauce.

In addition to quick and fun dishes that seem fairly easy for even the novice cook to whip up, at the end of each chapter is a feature called “Tradition on Tap,” which takes you through the history of the Straub brewing legacy from the brewery’s founder, Peter Straub, through prohibition, to the what modern enquiring minds want to know – the number of calories and carbohydrates in a 12-ounce serving of Straub or Straub Light beer.

Each recipe depends on beer, but whether or not it depends on Straub beer remains unseen. Breweries vary the amount of hops, wheat, barley and sugars that they put in their beers, and this, of course, varies the taste. You can stick with the book’s trademark Straub brand, but there is no reason to ignore your culinary urges simply because there is Budweiser in your refrigerator instead of Straub.