Enjoy a good ale with your food — and in it

Beer has bitterness, sweetness, carbonation, lower levels of alcohol and, most importantly, a range of flavours you simply wouldn't find in wine. It's this complexity of qualities that can enhance a meal once you come to terms with what matches what.

This might prove difficult at first. What beer for instance do you drink with a curry, a fish dish, or a rather sweet pudding? And why should you even bother to try to match beer with food when there are so many wonderful wines available?

During the summer I had the good fortune to visit The Cherry Tree, in Stoke Row, for lunch. This attractive red brick inn, which stands back from the road, is one of those delightful user-friendly pubs where service is relaxed and informal, and the staff are friendly and helpful. With its flagstone floors, bare boards and low beams, it's everything you expect a country pub to be.

The most impressive thing about this pub, however, is that many of the dishes on the menu had a recommended beer listed next to them. A Chimay red - that coppery-coloured Trappist beer, with its superb fruity taste - for example, was recommended to go with the wild boar sausages and braised red cabbage. A Leffe Blond beer was suggested for those ordering the haddock and parsley fishcake starter. Unfortunately, not many pubs are promoting their beers in this way yet, though members of Camra are convinced the idea is beginning to catch on.

Fiona and Will Beckett, who are mother and son, have written their book to encourage us all to think beer when we serve a meal, by both adding beer to the cooking pot and matching our food with a glass or two of good ale. Their rules for matching beer with food are quite simple. They say that all we need ask ourselves is: "What kind of drink do I want with this dish or this meal?" They go on to suggest that it's all a question of balance.

If you know the flavours are going to be delicate, as they would be if you were eating a salad or perhaps a seafood risotto, you want a beer that won't overwhelm them, such as a Pilsener or a wheat beer. A steak and kidney pie or beef stew, however, calls for a beer of equal weight, such as a traditional British or Belgian Trappist ale. If the flavours are extreme - very hot, spicy or sweet - you need a beer that offers some respite and refreshment.

When cooking with beer it's the bitterness that you have to be aware of. Using beer as the sole base for a stew or sauce, as you might do when cooking with wine, can make the dish too bitter. Beer has to be added cautiously and diluted with stock for the perfect balance of flavours. The hoppier the brew, the less you will need. Fiona and Will suggest that a little malt extract, brown sugar or tomato ketchup will counteract the bitterness. I find that by making beer-based dishes the day before I need them, then storing them in the fridge once they have cooled, mellows any aggressive bitterness that might have been evident when they were first cooked.

It's certainly worth remembering that beer is a great raising agent, as a consequence of the yeast it contains. By adding beer to a batter, you have a lighter mix which, when fried, puffs up beautifully and gives a really crisp finish. Beer added to a bread dough tastes great, too, and makes for a far lighter loaf. Beer also makes an exceellent marinade, as it contains tenderising enzymes. But beware of leaving meat to marinate in a beer mix for too long. As Fiona points out, a couple of hours is usually long enough for the beer to permeate the meat. Any longer, and the meat may begin to break up. A dash of beer in a cheese dish can work wonders, too, as the bitter hop flavours help counteract the creamy richness of cheese if used sparingly as you would when adding a squeeze of lemon or a dash of vinegar to the pot.

It's worth remembering that by reducing beer as you would wine when making a sauce that the more it's reduced the stronger it's flavour will become. This is fine when cooking with wine, as this is usually the effect you aim to achieve. But with beer it could add too much flavour to the dish.

The brewers of Manns Brown ale, which is the oldest continuously brewed beer brand in the UK, are now contacting food writers to remind them of the virtues of cooking with this brew during the festive season. They didn't have to remind me, actually. There are always a couple of bottles of Manns in my store cupboard, as I like that extra fullness it adds to rich fruit puddings.

I have even flavoured chocolate truffles that are destined for the festive board with Manns as it combines superbly with chocolate. When enjoyed with a a glass of Young's double chocolate stout at the end of the meal, these truffles add just the right finish. The combination of beer and chocolate is not new, as I discovered during a chocolate and beer tasting at the Chocolate Society's London headquarters a couple of years ago.

Indeed, it may have been one of the earliest combination of flavours contrived by man if we consider the bitter pungent chocolate drink that the Aztecs enjoyed. There are excellent chocolate stouts made today from a special barley that's been malted and then roasted into a dark brown colour that imbues a beer with an aroma and flavour suggestive of dark chocolate.

They prove an excellent way to finish a meal, particularly when enjoyed with a chocolate truffle - so let's raise our glasses to having an appetite for ale.