Lucy Saunders is one of the most respected beer and food writers around. Aside from writing some wonderful books about beer and food, she’s also an accomplished cook (which helps when you write about beer). Lucy has also attended the Siebel Institute. If that doesn’t make her a top tier authority on cooking with beer and beer pairings, we’re not really sure what does. We asked Lucy a few questions recently and she responded with some great answers. Thanks, Lucy!

What’s your background? How did you get started cooking with beer and pairing craft beer and great food?

I’ve always enjoyed the taste of beer – and my family always served beer at barbecues, picnics, porch parties. When I learned how to cook, I found that beer could be used in batters to make apple fritters, to make beer bread with dill and Cheddar, all the simple but tasty dishes. In cooking school, studying baking and pastry, I made a Jamaican spice cake with stout instead of rum, and everyone thought it was an inspired substitution. And that’s what cooks do - work with the ingredients you have to come up with something delicious.

What do you think goes into a successful recipe that contains beer? Are there any secrets that we should know before cooking with beer?

My website, beercook.com, has a section devoted to tips and tricks for better cooking with beer. First, start with a beer in good condition, that you would enjoy drinking, because the flavors will intensify. I start by substituting beer for a portion of the liquid in the recipe and take my cue from the spices and seasonings in the dish to choose the appropriate style. For example, I think a very hoppy IPA has a resinous flavor that would go well with rosemary or Mexican oregano – or accentuate the flavor of chiles.

Are you seeing any recent trends in craft beer and food pairings? Are there any unique recipes/craft beer pairings you’ve seen recently? Anything that’s just being horribly overdone?

In terms of service, there’s a shift away from elaborate, long, multi-course beer dinners to tastings, where smaller portions are served in a shorter time frame. Every now and then, it’s fun to feast for four hours, but really, the goal is to get people out to a restaurant or café, to try new tastes and come away satisfied, not stuffed.

More chefs are cooking with beer as part of their normal daily menus, and that’s a wonderful trend. Beer is no longer seen as a drink unworthy of pairing or cooking. Beer lists are getting longer, with more choices, and almost every city in the USA has a local brewery to support.

Sometimes, I think the beer community in the US focuses so much on Belgian styles and imports that they overlook the exceptional quality of American craft beer. But there’s that cachet about something rare, that’s traveled from far away – and it’s human nature to be excited by new discoveries.

Wine and food pairing has been around for a long time, and it seems that in the last few years craft beer is coming on strong. Do you think that beer is finally being given the proper respect while being considered as a great pairing option with food? Or is it still sort of the “red-headed stepchild” compared to wine pairing?

That was the lede of an article I wrote for Pacific Northwest Brewing News back in 2002. Craft beer belongs at the dinner table as much, if not more so, than wine. Yet in the minds of many restaurant chefs and patrons, craft beer is like the boisterous kid brother of the beverage world - fun, but not grown up enough to be taken seriously.

Actually, the media has been talking about beer getting its due respect at the table for the last decade or so…so it’s no longer shocking to see beer served in a fine dining setting. However, the selection in fine dining is typically limited.

The most popular “restaurant concept” is that of the bistro or tavern, with excellent caliber food served in a casual setting. And more breweries are beginning to collaborate with chefs on restaurants co-located with their breweries – not just a brewpub with burgers and pizza. Remember that the current generation of chefs grew up with craft beer, and see its flavors and potential for pairings without bias. Eric Warner and I talked about this at the National Restaurant Association show in 2007, when he registered the beerdinners.com URL.

Alec Lopez, who with his wife Sherry Sadowski founded the Armsby Abbey in Worcester, MA, is one chef who is fearless in showcasing the flavors of craft beer. Almost everything on the menu is prepared with beer or a brewing ingredient, such as baby carrots pickled in Duchesse du Bourgogne, or an Indian-style naan made with spent grain, or chicken with an ale and mustard glaze. Checks average $50-60 – not too shabby for a restaurant these days. The Armsby Abbey just celebrated its first year in business and is doing very well.

There are still people who will never appreciate craft beer’s subtleties and nuances of flavor, insisting that wine is superior. I’ve debated a few zealots over the years, and have come to believe that some people simply have a palate for wine—fruit—and others have a palate for beer—grain. And some people object to carbonation – most often because they have never experienced the gentle mousse of cask-conditioned ale but instead have been gassed by mass-market suds. Then it is a matter of guiding them to the styles they would mostly likely enjoy based on preferences for sweet, sour, salty, bitter flavors. Find the right food pairing to make the beer sparkle, and it’s a chance to win over a “winer”.

Are you working on any new books?

I wrote Grilling with Beer in 2005-2006, The Best of American Beer and Food in 2006-2007, and in 2008, contributed a chapter to a book of essays in honor of Michael Jackson, the legendary drinks writer. The book is called Beer Hunter, Whisky Chaser, and it’s sold online at beerables.net:

In 2009, I am working on more events involving craft beer, teaching classes, and adding more content to my websites - especially beercook.com and bestofamericanbeerandfood.com.