Russia Probe, Cooking With Beer

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• Mueller Investigation Requests Air Force One Phone Records, Ramps Up Russia Investigation

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  Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team have ramped up their investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 election. This week the team requested documents pertaining to President Trump’s time in the White House, including Air Force One phone records. We speak with Lowell Barrington of Marquette University to get the latest.

• Food Friday: Cooking With Beer

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  Our guest chef has fresh inspiration for using a quintessential Wisconsin ingredient: beer. We’ll get recipes and advice for cooking delicious food with beer from a Wisconsin chef and cooking instructor. She’ll share what beer adds to the flavor of various dishes, and whether you need to buy top-line brews for cooking.

  Do you cook with beer? What are your favorite dishes, and what types of beer have you experimented with? Do you have a recipe to sahre, or a question about how to use it best?

  Let us know by emailing ideas@wpr.org

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• Beyond The Beer Brat: 3 Recipes For Cooking With Beer

  From lager, to porter, to pale ale — if you’ve got a beer, you can cook with it, says Terri Milligan, a chef and culinary instructor.

  “It has a lot of different flavors in it, and it can compliment a lot of dishes,” Milligan said. “You’ve got hops, you’ve got malts, a lot of subtle sweetness can come out in your dishes. And it’s also got some of those yeasty flavors, depending on your beer, so you really can add a lot to your recipe.”

  Wisconsinites are no stranger to the beer brat — a popular recipe achieved by simmering bratwurst in beer.

  But to Milligan, beer as an ingredient can compliment nearly any recipe. The trick, like with fine wine, is in the pairing.

  “One of the main things you want to look at when you’re gonna cook with beer is the color,” Milligan said. “So if it’s darker, like a porter or a stout, it’s gonna go with meats, or even desserts, like chocolate cake. And if it’s a lighter color, it’s gonna go more with your fruit dishes, chicken, seafood.”

  Milligan uses Milwaukee-based Lakefront Brewery’s Fuel Café Stout beer to make a dense, rich, flourless chocolate cake full of intense flavor. But you can also marinate meat, such as steak, in dark beer. She recommends marinating for at least four to six hours for full flavor.

  Another popular recipe of Milligan’s is a beer-infused beef stew, which she makes with a stout or Belgian saison ale.

  As for lighter colored beer, cheese is a common Wisconsin pairing. Milligan plays with that, caramelizing pears and apples in beer as a topping for brie cheese.

  “It’s a nice appetizer you can have and (is) easy to make,” she said.

  She also commonly uses pale ales instead of white wine to steam mussels with. Even with more traditional beer recipes, switching up the beer can make all the difference, Milligan said.

  For example, most use a basic lager in a beer brat or beer cheese soup recipe. But for a different flavor profile, try switching in a brown ale for a nuttier flavor.

  “It tends to be a little sweeter but has that malt flavor, and sometimes you get a little spice with that as well,” she said.

  Milligan says it’s OK to give the kids a taste — most of the alcohol “burns off” in the cooking process, leaving the flavors behind. However, for an extra burst of flavor, you can add more beer at the end of the cooking process.

  With the craft beer boom, picking a beer for your recipe can be anything but boring. As of last year, Wisconsin alone had 140 craft brewers.

  “There’s always a little to sip on while you’re cooking,” Milligan said.