I love Buttered Beere. It's awesome stuff, and as old as the hills.
My mother's old recipe books all had versions for this wonderful Autumn elixir, but my favourite is copied from a scrap of paper I found long, long ago, crammed in the pages of an ancient tome I found in a musty old book shop. So imagine my horror when one of my goddaughters sent me an email and asked me if some seltzer-and-caramel-sauce-goo "recipe" she'd found on some Harry Potter webpage was a good one. HORRORS!!!
Everyone should know how to make true buttered beere. It's a classic recipe, and it's wonderful, so pass it on and make your family's Autumn festivities more fun!
REAL English Buttered Beere:
6 cups good English Beer (about 3 bottles)
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup natural brown (rustic) sugar
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup sweet butter, softened
*In a heavy saucepan, bring beer and spices just to a boil; reduce heat to low to simmer beer for just a few minutes (about 20 if you want to burn off the alcohol).
*Whisk sugar and egg yolks together until light and frothy; add mixture to the simmering beer and whisk together. Stirring mixture constantly, let the beer thicken slightly (about 5 minutes), but don't let it curdle.
*Stir in softened butter, then froth mixture with your whisk until it foams on top.
*Serve hot in mugs with a sprinkle of nutmeg.
If you want chilled Buttered Beer, refrigerate your caramelized beer overnight, then mix it with 6 cups ice cold milk until frothy.
The best commercial beers to use are Old Speckled Hen, Spitfire, or Bishop's Finger. Always use a true English Ale, never a lager. I brew my own hoppy beer for just this purpose.
This recipe is several hundred years old and known and enjoyed throughout England, and it's most definitely what Harry Potter would be drinking in a pub (where it is regularly served in the Winters). were he real. To my knowledge, it was first published in "The Good Huswife's Handmaide for the Kitchen," in A.D. 1588.
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