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Cooking with Hops

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Homebrewing is fun, and there's nothing like the smell of wort in the morning. But we have a freezer full of hop flowers and they're taking over! Does anyone have any good recipes for cooking with hops? It seems they would go well with chicken or white fish, white wine and lemon juice, maybe capers. Or as a substitute for any recipes that call for hoppy beers. I might try to make an iced "tea" with them and mix it with lemonade. If you have any recipes please share!

(PS: We have leftover Magnum, Centennial, and Northern Brewer hops to cook with right now, if that means anything to anyone.)

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  1. They're kinda... well.. bitter. You really want to cook with them?

    2 Replies
    1. re: Diana

      We have 10-year old aged hops and aromatic hops, which allegedly don't impart as much of the bitter flavors. And I don't think bitter is a bad thing, if it can be well-managed. Just wanted to see if anyone had tried cooking with these before!

      1. re: ecdopfel

        I used to cook with 'em all of the time.

        I'd cook a good Belgian golden, a rye IPA....

        I digress.

    2. I only have experience with the bitter stuff, but I appreciate the floral, apricot/ honeysuckle quality of hops. Could they infuse a simple syrup to be used in a fruit sorbet?

      1. The original comment has been removed

          1. Ok, I'm fascinated with this topic, so I figured I'd bump it up to see if anyone has any other thoughts/ideas. I have read a recipe for a hop fried chicken and seen a reference to it as a steak marinade. I'm not a fan a marinading steaks, generally, but perhaps with a cheaper flank cut or something? It seems to me that hops should work in a braise, pork maybe? Ice cream?

            Anyway, I renew the question: Who knows what about cooking with hops?

            1 Reply
            1. re: MGZ

              I'm experimenting with this right now. I'm working out a method for infusing hops into simple syrup for use in sodas.
              I'll be experimenting this evening with infusing into hot, cold & warm water to see if I can get the aromatics to infuse without taking the bitter qualities.
              Will post my results!
              I've heard they are wonderful in a tomato salad like you would use basil though. Provided you could get them fresh...dried hops would not work in that way