How to prepare a three-course St. Patrick’s Day meal with Guinness beer in every dish

Even in an age when the increasing popularity of craft brews is introducing American tastebuds to bold new flavors from the bottle – or growler – there’s still a tendency to pigeonhole beer as merely a beverage.

Who says it can’t be equally at home in the bowl or on the plate?

No one. That’s who.

According to the Dublin-based brewer of Guinness, about 13 million pints of Ireland’s most-famous stout will be sold tomorrow on St. Patrick’s Day, and at least some of those should be used for more than sipping, says Chattanoogan Marc Michael.

“The flavor is magnificent,” says Michael, a local trivia night host and musician who owns an all-Guinness cookbook. “Guinness is the beer to cook with, extremely versatile.”

If you’d like to give a few of those St. Paddy’s pints a new lease on life, here are four dishes – a complete meal – that feature the creamy-headed, bitter brew as a key ingredient.

GUINNESS & CHEDDAR DIP

Let’s start with an appetizer, something to whet the palate but not so filling that you can’t move on to the rest of the meal. Dips are always a good starter, especially when they’re made with cheese, like this one.

On the Feastie website, Qnauthor commented: “We had this dip at an Irish pub in Oxford, Conn.. They served it with soft pretzel sticks, warm from the oven. It was fantastic!!!! They serve it as a starter, but it was so delicious I wanted to cancel my entree and have another serving of this!”

Guinness & Cheddar Dip

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature

2 1/2 cups shredded Irish cheddar cheese (or any sharp cheddar)

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons half & half or milk

Sprinkle of kosher salt

1/4 cup Guinness draft beer

2 scallions, finely chopped

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley (and additional for garnish)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. For a minute, you’ll be all, “Eew, this looks gross and it’s not going to mix together.” Calm down. Keep stirring. It will. Transfer the dip to a serving bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to a few days. When you’re ready to serve it, take it out of the fridge to let it soften a bit before serving, and garnish with a bit more chopped parsley or green onion. Serve with kettle-cooked potato chips (regular chips will crumble) or pretzel twists.

– feastie.com

BEEF & GUINNESS STEW

Chattanoogan Annie Shattuck says she makes this savory stew throughout the year, but especially on St. Patrick’s Day. An official Guinness recipe, the stout has an understated profile that doesn’t overwhelm the broth, she says.

“I’d say that it’s fairly common to cook with beer, so most people aren’t too surprised to hear that it’s an ingredient, but you wouldn’t be able to tell by taste alone that it’s in there,” Shattuck says. “It definitely enhances the flavor of the stew, but it doesn’t taste like alcohol.”

Beef & Guinness Stew

7 ounces Guinness Foreign Extra Stout (slightly more than 1/2 bottle)

1 pound stewing diced beef

1 medium onion, diced

1 large carrot, diced

1 large parsnip, diced

1 large potato, chopped

1 quart beef stock

Sprigs of fresh thyme or rosemary

In a stew pot, stir fry the beef, add the vegetables and cook until tender. Then pour the Guinness and reduce by half. Add the beef stock and herbs and simmer very slowly for between one hour and an hour and a half. Serve with creamy mashed potatoes and honey roast carrots and parsnips. [Note: Guinness recommends preparing the stew at least a day in advance of serving.]

– Guinness.com

You’ll need a side dish to go along with your stew. And here’s one that some Chattanoogans remember well.

GUINNESS ONION RINGS

Former Chattanooga restaurateur James Wade’s golden-fried O’s of deliciousness are so tasty, Chattanooga bartender Eddie Bridges remembers them more than a decade after eating them at Porter’s Steakhouse.

“James knocked them out of the park,” Bridges says.

After stints in the kitchen at Porter’s and 212 Market, Wade left Chattanooga in 2013 and is now working at Valentino’s Ristorante in Nashville. Using Guinness in the batter for these rings, he says, was a move inspired by his love for his wife Jenise.

“My wife and I had an Irish-themed wedding followed by a honeymoon in Ireland,” he says. “I cooked a lot of things inspired by that trip and featured them as specials at Porter’s.”

Guinness Onion Rings

2 yellow onions, sliced 1/2-inch thick

1 1/2 cup Guinness

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tablespoon kosher salt

6 cups all-purpose flour

Vegetable oil

Kosher or sea salt for seasoning

Separate the onion sliced into rings and place into a gallon container. Mix the Guinness and buttermilk and pour over the onions. Place the container in the fridge and chill for at least four hours and as long as 12 hours. (The longer the onions stay in the liquid, the better the flour will stick.)

Heat 2 inches of the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven (or your favorite large, deep cooking vessel). Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Drain the onions and immediately toss in the seasoned flour. Working in small batches, shake off excess from five or six onion rings and carefully place in the hot oil.

Fry until golden brown – about four or five minutes. The rings will float once they are fully cooked. Remove from the oil to a towel-lined platter. Season with salt. Devour.

CHOCOLATE STOUT CAKE

This Guinness-based cake – although any stout beer can be substituted – has received near-universal praise on Epicurious.com, where it has a rating of four forks out of four among users, 94 percent of whom said they’d make it again. The use of a stout beer such as Guinness gives this dessert “an intense, not-too-sweet flavor,” the site says.

“If I could give this recipe 10 forks I would,” writes Epicurious user Gniedermaier of Gladstone, Mich., in one of more than 450 reviews posted for the recipe. “We’ve all heard about chocolate cake, but this one is the real deal. Rich chocolate taste that just cream[s] in your mouth with the moistness. This will be the only chocolate cake we will ever make again.”

Chocolate Stout Cake

Cake

2 cups Guinness (or another stout beer)

2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)

4 cups all purpose flour

4 cups sugar

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 large eggs

1 1/3 cups sour cream

Icing

2 cups whipping cream

1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Line with parchment paper. Butter paper.

Bring 2 cups stout and 2 cups butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined.

Divide batter equally among prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cakes in pans to rack; cool 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto rack and cool completely.

For icing, bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate until icing is spreadable, stirring frequently, about 2 hours.

Place 1 cake layer on plate. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with second cake layer. Spread 2/3 cup icing over. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake.

– epicurious.com

Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.