How often do you cook with beer, wine, or liquor" It?s not unusual to catch me cooking with a glass of wine in hand (in fact, it?s pretty common). But, for some reason, my favorite cabernet hardly ever makes it into a recipe. It really should! Wine adds incredible depth and flavor to sauces, soups, and stews. As it turns out, so does beer.
I?m not a big beer drinker anymore; it makes me super bloated and gives me a terrible headache. But, I still love the flavor. In one of my deep dives down an Internet rabbit hole, I discovered a way to enjoy beer without a monster hangover: drunken beans. Here, we use beer to simmer pinto beans with a bunch of spices and spoon it over a bowl of creamy polenta. Swoon.This hearty and satisfying dinner covers the three Bs: beer, beans, and (vegan) bacon. I totally just made up that three Bs thing, but the flavors do go amazingly well together. Drunken beans (a.k.a. burracho beans, burracho means drunk in Spanish) are traditionally made with a dark lager-style beer and bacon. I say use whatever beer you have leftover in your fridge and (obviously) opt for vegan bacon.I recommend springing for the fancy vegan bacon in this recipe. Sweet Earth Hickory & Sage Benevolent Bacon is seriously delicious. Sweet Earth has a handy tool on its website that shows you where you can purchase Benevolent Bacon in your area. I found it at Whole Foods in the refrigerated section near the tofu and other meat alternatives. Meijer carries it as well, tho...