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Skillet Sour Cream Beer Chicken

Skillet Sour Cream Beer Chicken

Skillet Sour Cream Beer Chicken

I travel a lot, you know this. Last minute trips to South America, a rapid-fire two-day trip to Copenhagen, sometimes just a long road trip to clear my head.

I don’t travel the way normal people travel. To be honest, I rarely do anything in a conventional way, it’s something you just have to get used to. While I’m not a creature of habit, I do like to search for the same souvenir every time I travel. Two, in fact.

It started when I  began seeking out the little markets locals shopped at, usually dingy and unappealing, always far from tourist-heavy streets, and once even in a total city-wide blackout in a sketchy part of Costa Rica.

I wandered the aisle in the little store in Dominical, Costa Rica lit only by the afternoon sun streaming in from the open doors in the front of the bodega, only accompanied by a few older women picking up last minute supplies for dinner. The beige aluminum shelves boasting as much dust as dry goods and the summer heat heavy on my skin, making wandering the store a conscious effort. I found what I was looking for.

A small glass jar with what appeared to be a home-printed label with a scripty font that read, "Miel." Honey. That’s what I wanted. It’s a part of the land, the honey and it’s hard working bees allowing me to check in my luggage 6 ounces of the terrior to take home.

Ever since that trip, I seek it out, a small jar of the land to take home with me. Salt is the same. If it’s possible to find salt harvested from a local ocean, that comes home with me as well. So far, I have honey or salt from 15 countries.

I use it. On toast, in recipes, making bread. I don’t store it on a shelf to crystallize and be forgotten. It gets used, enjoyed, shared. It’s a way to keep the places that I’ve been a part of my life when I’m off the road. A way to remind myself that it’s OK to use, because my next adventure awaits.

Maybe even as I type this some little bugs are making my next souvenir for a trip I haven’t even planned yet.

The honey I use in this recipe was from my recent trip to Brazil, a place I fell in love with and a country I will most definitely visit again.

Skillet Sour Cream Beer Chicken

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon 15mL olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon minced basil
  • 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
  • 1 tablespoon 15g Dijon mustard
  • 1 cup 240g sour cream
  • 2 tablespoons 30g lemon juice (about ½ medium sized lemon)
  • 2 teaspoon 12g honey
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ cup 2oz pale ale
  • Rice or pasta for serving

Instructions
 

  • Sprinkle the chicken thighs liberally with salt and pepper on all sides
  • Heat the olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken, sear on both sides until browned.
  • In a bowl stir together the basil, rosemary, mustard, sour cream, lemon juice, honey, and garlic powder, set aside.
  • Pour the beer into the skillet, scraping to deglaze the bottom of the pan.
  • Pour the sour cream mixture over the chicken, cover skillet and lower heat to maintain a simmer. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
  • Serve with rice or pasta.

 

 

Brazilian Beer Gumbo (Moqueca)

Brazilian Beer Gumbo (Moqueca)

There’s a nervousness, a panicked isolation that can set in when you’re thousands of miles from familiarity and alone in a country that speaks a language you aren’t even vaguely familiar with.

Water? Hello? Taxi? When not even those basic travel words are accessible, it can cause a panic to rise up like the water in a quickly flooding basement.

I’m somewhere in the middle of the mountains of Brazil, in a town that’s not even on most maps of the country and I’m alone, wandering the streets with a camera and Google Translate, and I realize that I don’t, in any way, feel unsafe.

Maybe, from where you sit, that’s not a big revelation but in that moment, it’s shocking. It’s my fault, really, for believing that this gorgeous country was dangerous beyond reason. Sure, Rio has crime.

It’s a city filled with humans, and humans pose danger. So is Detroit. And Los Angeles. And Paris. The part of Brazil I’m in, however, happens to contain a collection of the nicest people I’ve encountered anywhere in the world.

From other conference attendees, to the guy at the front desk of the hotel, to the people at the Brazilia airport, the outpouring of kindness is unexpectedly overwhelming.

I came to find myself in this place, this city with its stunning waterfalls, amazing beer and outstanding people, as part of a beer conference, one that’s gaining traction and should someday be bigger than anything else on that continent.

I’m there to talk about beer, about beer and food, but in reality, I walked away with far more than I gave.

The first night in Brazil I end up on the patio of a gorgeous restaurant, a clay pot of seafood bubbling away in front of me, the company of over a dozen people I’d just met, and even the jet lag from 34 consecutive hours of travel couldn’t shake my love for that moment.

I asked what it was, this gorgeous mixture of shrimp, peppers, and coconut milk steaming away in front of me in a handmade clay pot.

"It’s Brazilian Gumbo!" laughed one of the locals who had just returned from Lousiana. It made sense, even if it wasn’t entirely accurate. I had it four more times before I left, far less than I would have liked. I came back and knew I wanted more.

Even if I didn’t have access to the gorgeous homemade chili oil that I’d spiked it with. Even if I couldn’t eat it alongside the lovely Brazilians that had been there that night. It’s still a beautiful and simple way to serve a meal.

Brazilian Beer Gumbo (Moqueca)

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • ½ lbs cod fillet
  • 1 lbs raw shrimp
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large limes
  • 1 tablespoons palm oil or olive oil
  • 2 cups chopped bell peppers red, yellow or orange
  • ½ yellow onion sliced
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 cup pilsner or pale ale
  • 1 cup broth fish broth or chicken broth
  • 1 15oz can of coconut milk
  • 1 lbs fresh tomatoes diced
  • Rice for serving
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Instructions
 

  • In a medium bowl add the cod and shrimp, sprinkle with salt. Squeeze the juice from both limes on the fish, allow to sit at room temperature while you prepare the rest of the meal.
  • Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the peppers and onions, cooking until softened.
  • Stir in the garlic, red peppers, pepper and cumin, then pour in the beer and broth, then the coconut milk and tomatoes. Simmer until tomatoes have broken down, about 15 minutes.
  • Raise the heat to a low boil, stir in the fish and shrimp, cooking until the cod has broken up and the shrimp has cooked, remove from heat. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
  • Serve warm with rice and cilantro.

 

 

I Want to Give You a Beer Fridge! + Grilled Lime and Herb Beer Chicken

Grilled Lime and Herb Beer Chicken

I have a beer fridge in my office!! There really isn’t a way to overstate how happy this makes me. My excessive stash of beer that once took up residence in my regular-food-fridge is now happily occupying a boozy-VIP-space in my office between some nerdy books and a weird ceramic head vase.

It was one of those, "why didn’t I do this sooner?" acquisitions that came almost by accident. The same day that I decided that it was well past time that I actually get a beer fridge, I get an email from New Air asking if they can send me one without obligation. Yes, of course the answer is yes.

And then it came! It’s stunning. It’s gorgeous. It’s the best thing I’ve taken ownership of since Chowder Jones. I haven’t ever (and I mean ever) been this in love with an appliance. For your own sake, check it out.

This is the SKU that they sent my way: Dual Zone Beer and Wine Cooler(it can do a different temperate for each side!)

And because you’re so awesome, I want to give you one, too. And because THEY are so awesome, they agreed. So it’s settled:

We are giving you this Black Beer and Beverage Refrigerator (not the same one I have, but it’s super amazing!) to one lucky winner.

Just three easy steps to enter:

  1. Follow @TheBeeroness on Instagram
  2. Follow @NewAirUSA on Instagram
  3. Leave a comment with your Instagram handle saying you do so.

No Instagram? No problem! Just share this post on Facebook, leave a link in the comments below to your post on Facebook (make sure it’s public so I can see it!)

I can’t wait to see who wins!

(Giveaway ends  March 28th, 2018. USA Addresses only)

GIVEAWAY CLOSED. *winner has been notified*

But you can still get one!

Use the code: BEERONESS at checkout at newair.com for 20% off!

 

I also have some chicken for you, because that’s how much I adore you.


Grilled Lime and Herb Beer Chicken

Ingredients
  

  • ¼ cup basil chopped
  • ¼ cup cilantro chopped
  • ¼ cup parsley
  • 2 tablespoons chopped green onions
  • 3 cloves garlic smashed
  • 1 large lime juiced
  • ¼ cup oil
  • 1 cup beer pale ale, pilsner, wheat beer, pale lager
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 lbs chicken drumsticks

Instructions
 

  • Add the basil, cilantro, parsley, green onions, garlic, lime juice and oil to a blender. Blend on high until well combined. Add the beer, pulse to combine.
  • Sprinkle salt liberally over the chicken.
  • Add the chicken to a large bowl or Ziploc bag. Add the marinade, cover (or seal), refrigerate for one hour or up to 12 hours.
  • Preheat a grill to medium high heat.
  • Add the chicken to the grill, brush with marinade. Grill on all sides until cooked through, brushing with marinade with each turn.
  • Serve immediately.

 

 

I was given a free beer and wine refrigerator by New Air, as well as one to give away. I was not monetarily compensated for this post. As always, all opinions, text, photos, and recipes are my own.  

Blood Orange Beer Roast Chicken

Blood Orange Beer Roast Chicken

Let’s forget for a second that we’ve never actually met. After all, it’s easy to pretend that we know each other. I’ve told you about the time I almost died in Morocco, and the time I was asked to do porn, but we’ve never shared a beer in real life.

Because if we did, I’d probably drive you crazy. I stay up late, I’m kind of messy, I forget appointments, I obsess over things, and when I cook I make the kitchen such a disaster you’ll be tempted to call FIMA.

But if you did come over and I cooked dinner, I’d make you something like this. It’s easy, it’s so, so good, and it has some weird ingredients (brown sugar, cherries, and olives together? it works, I swear).

It’s like me: easy going, weird ingredients, good at some things but also kind of messy. You’ll probably get your hands dirty and get chicken grease on your beer, but that’s OK. Me too.

If you do come over for dinner you’ll have to put up with me, but you’ll get some great chicken and beer out of the deal. So it’ll be worth it.

Beer and Blood Orange Roast Chicken

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 3 lbs chicken thighs and legs bone-in, skin-on
  • 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
  • ½ white onion thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup kalamata olives pitted
  • ½ cup dried cherries
  • 2 large blood oranges
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 3 large cloves garlic grated with a microplane
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 cup IPA beer
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 375F, add the chicken to a baking dish in an even layer. Sprinkle liberally with salt.
  • Sprinkle the onions, olives and cherries over the chicken.
  • Thinly slice one of the oranges and add the slices to the top.
  • Juice the other orange and add the juice to a small bowl. Stir the olive oil, brown sugar, beer, garlic and black pepper into the juice.
  • Pour the juice mixture over the chicken.
  • Roast for 20 minutes, remove the orange slices, and continue to roast until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 more minutes.
  • Transfer the chicken and the juice to a serving platter, add the orange slices to the top, sprinkle with parsley prior to serving.

 

Beer Chicken Tortilla Soup

Beer Chicken Tortilla Soup, best 20-minute soup ever.

Beer Chicken Tortilla Soup

You’d be shocked if you knew how many nights I lay away wondering what you want me to make. Trying to predict what it is that you’ll take notice of, share, and love as much as I do.

Sometimes I go too far with it and make something side-eye-worthy like this, and sometimes I just make something I love and hope you love it, too.

This is the second one. I wanted something that reminded me of LA, of the older Mexican ladies who made me homemade tortillas and were forgiving about my toddler-like Spanish.

The women who sold tamales in Echo Park and would never use any cheese other than cotija (or maybe panela) in their food and topped everything with Crema. 

I wanted something warm and spicy so I could forget that I’m in Seattle and we’re in the thick of it right now. The Pacific Northwest is pretending like daytime doesn’t exist and we’re going from dawn to dusk with not really much in between.

It’s a soup for lovers, for pretenders, for those of us who don’t live in the present as much as we like to pretend we do. I’m already planning my escape to a warmer land, even if it’s just for the weekend.

For now, my warm escapes are mostly just soup and coffee.

Beer Chicken Tortilla Soup

Servings 4 -6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 14.5 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
  • 1 6oz can tomato paste
  • 2 dried negro chili pods stem and seeds removed, torn in pieces
  • 1 cup beer pilsner, pale ale, pale lager, Hefeweizen
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon red chili flakes
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 3 large radishes thinly slices
  • ¼ cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 avocado diced
  • ¼ cup cotija cheese crumbled
  • 4-8 tostadas crumbled (or fried tortilla strips)
  • 1/4 cup Mexican crema

Instructions
 

  • Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, chili pods, and beer to a high powered blender. Blend on high until well combined.
  • Add mixture to a large pot over medium high heat along with the broth and all spices except the salt.
  • Sprinkle salt all over the chicken. Add the chicken to the pot to poach.
  • Once the chicken is cooked through, about ten minutes, remove from soup, shred using two forks, return to pot.
  • Ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with remaining ingredients.

Notes

Garnishes are not optional. They make a big difference in the flavor profile and the balance of the soup. If you don't like radishes, try sliced jicama.Don't like cilantro? try green onions instead.

 

Indian Beer and Butter Chicken

15 minutes to this delicious dinner: Indian Beer and Butter Chicken

There’s a small Indian restaurant in LA, run by an amazing family from Delhi.  They cook family recipes for the masses who line up outside their doors. I’d make a call to this little spot when I was sick, or just too tired to leave the house. I’d place an order and ask if they deliver.

They didn’t, I knew this already. I’d sound sad and disappointed when they reminded me that they didn’t deliver. After a long pause, they’d ask where I lived. Just a few blocks away, I’d tell them.

They’d send their son over, in his old, faded red, Honda civic. He’d deliver it to me, always smiling, and tell me to feel better.

I did this about once a month. I think, towards the end, they were on to me. They knew that I hadn’t forgotten that they didn’t deliver, but they played along anyway.

The generosity, the butter chicken, and the Naan made me a loyal customer. I still miss that chicken, and nothing in Seattle has come close.

So I’ve started to tweak a recipe I got from a friend to try and recreate it. I love this version, even if it doesn’t come from a smiling restauranteur’s son, deliver in a compact economy car.


Beer and Butter Chicken

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • ½ white onion chopped
  • 1 lbs chicken thighs cubed
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon garam masala spice mix
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • ¾ cup pale ale
  • 6 ounces tomato paste
  • 7 oz plain Greek yogurt
  • Rice for serving
  • Chopped parsley

Instructions
 

  • Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat.
  • Add the onions, cooking until softened and starting to brown.
  • Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garam marsala, turmeric, ginger, smoked paprika, garlic powder and cayenne, stir to combine.
  • Add the chicken, cooking until browned (does not need to be cooked through at this point).
  • Stir in the beer, scraping to deglaze the bottom of the pan.
  • Stir in the tomato paste, then the Greek yogurt. Lower heat, simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 5 minutes.
  • Serve over rice, sprinkle with parsley.

 

Buffalo Beer Chicken Wing Soup

Buffalo Beer Chicken Wing Soup

 

It occurs to me that in the event of a zombie apocalypse I have no useful skills. No one is weeks deep in a bunker, unshowered, clothes unchanged and thinks: "What I really need is someone to take a great picture of this MRE before I eat it."

Oh, but food! (you must be thinking this, please be thinking this of me). Sadly,  I can’t even keep an air plant alive, there is no hope I could re-populate the earth with produce. My only useful skill is the ability to improvise and the possibility that I can make expired canned goods edible.

This, my friends, is how my brain works. Years ago I woke up in a panic after too many zombies-eat-the-world dreams and I had to make a Zombie Plan in order to put my mind at rest and resume the ability to sleep.

So, I decided to make a soup out of just what I had on hand to test my ability to be useful in case of an apocalypse of some sort (possibly also fueled by current-political-climate-induced-fears, I’m sure).

Although the stop-motion-video would be of little use in the event of worldwide system failure, the soup turned out fantastic.

And yes, If you’re wondering, I really am that nuts. Sometimes. (most of the time).


Buffalo Beer Chicken Wing Soup

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

Soup

  • 2 tablespoon butter
  • 1 cup white onions chopped
  • 2 ribs celery chopped
  • 2 large carrots chopped
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 lb chicken thighs boneless and skinless
  • 1 cup pale ale beer
  • 2 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 4 cups chicken broth low sodium
  • ¼ cup buffalo wing sauce
  • ½ cup Mexican crema or 1/3 cup heavy cream
  • Salt and pepper

Toppings:

  • 1/2 cup blue cheese crumbled
  • Chopped green onions
  • Chopped cilantro

Instructions
 

  • Melt the butter in a stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat.
  • Add the onions, celery, and carrots, cooking until the vegetables have softened and started to brown.
  • In a shallow bowl stir together the flour, chili powder and salt.
  • One at a time dredge the chicken in the flour mixture until well coated.
  • Push the vegetables to the edge of the pot making a hole in the center. Add the chicken one or two at a time until seared on all sides.
  • Sprinkle the remaining flour mixture over the pot.
  • Pour in the beer, scraping to deglaze the bottom of the pot.
  • Stir in the tomato paste, broth, and wing sauce.
  • Lower heat to medium, stir in the crema, cover and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the broth has thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve topped with blue cheese, green onions and cilantro.

 

BBQ Beer Tex Mex Chicken Sliders

BBQ Beer Tex Mex Chicken Sliders in just 20-minutes 

Hi, my friends. I made something for you, something that seemed a bit of a necessity this week. A repurposing of things we’ve made in order to make it new. After those Beer Pickled Jalapeños we made, and the beer BBQ sauce, it just felt like I needed something that brought it together.

Two seemingly unconnected elements making sense in a new context. For reasons I have yet to pinpoint, I feel like I need that somehow. Like this is an obscure min-sandwich-metaphor for my life right now. I know, you can eye-roll that, I won’t hold it against you. I just needed to make order out or randomness, to connect dots, to make peace with two opposing forces.

I’m getting too deep for a sliders post, I appreciate that you’ve stayed with me in the midst of that, and for your graciousness, I have a recipe for you. A 20-minute-slider-metaphor to remind you that sometimes things don’t seem to connect, until they do. And then you wonder why you never saw it before.

Make some sliders, drink some beer, and let life fall into place this weekend. And then report back, I could use a little good news right now.

For this recipe, use Beer Pickled Jalapeños, and Beer BBQ Sauce

BBQ Beer Tex Mex Chicken Sliders

Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 12 sliders

Ingredients
  

  • 6 chicken thighs boneless, skinless
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 ½ cups barbecue sauce recipe link above
  • 1 cup pale ale
  • 1 avocado sliced
  • ¼ cup cilantro sliced
  • ½ cup pickled jalapenos recipe link above
  • 12 slider buns

Instructions
 

  • Sprinkle the chicken thighs on all sides with salt and pepper.
  • Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium high heat.
  • Add the chicken thighs, searing on both sides.
  • Add the barbeque sauce and beer, lower heat to maintain a simmer. Turn the chicken over periodically. Cook until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
  • Remove chicken from pan, shred using two forks, return to sauce, simmer for 5 minutes.
  • In each of the slider buns add chicken, avocado slices, cilantro and a few pickled jalapenos. Serve immediately.

Lager-Simmered Chicken Thighs

 

I’m in Panama right now, but I already told you that. I’m mid-menu-consultation for a brewpub in Panama City, and I made them all stop (yes, they are waiting on me) so that I could share this recipe with you. And the book it came out of.

When I find a great cooking with beer recipe, I need to share it, and this one was good I even ate the leftovers. Any recipe developer/food blogger will tell you how rare that really is. You make so much food, most of it does not get saved for leftovers. You will just be making and eating more food the next day. This is a save-worth, and share worthy.

Kristy from She Eats is a fellow cooking-with-booze-enthusiast, so much so that she wrote a book called Cooking With Cocktails: 100 Spirited Recipesa concept I can get behind.

So here it is, I need to get back to working on this menu with the awesome crew down here in Panama, I’ll tell you more about that in a few weeks.

 

Lager-Simmered Chicken Thighs

Used by permission from Cooking with Cocktails: 100 Spirited Recipes, Countryman Press, 2017

Ingredients
  

  • 3 slices thick-cut bacon chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 4 chicken thighs bone in and skin on
  • Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 2 large carrots halved lengthwise and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 2 garlic cloves thinly sliced
  • 8 ounces button mushrooms wiped clean and quartered
  • 2 cups lager beer low-hop beer works best
  • 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
  • 2/3 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley

Instructions
 

  • 1. Heat a large frying pan over medium-heat.
  • 2. Add the chopped bacon and cook until crispy, 12 to 15 minutes. ?Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
  • 3. Season the chicken amply with salt and pepper. Arrange, skin side down, in the pan of bacon fat and cook until browned and crispy. Flip to brown the bottom and then remove from the pan and set aside with the bacon. Discard all but 4 tablespoons of the fat.
  • 4. Add the onion and carrots to the pan and sauté until so . Add the garlic, stirring for about a minute, and then the mushrooms. Stir and continue to cook until the mushrooms begin to brown just slightly.
  • 5. Raise the heat to high and pour in the beer. Sprinkle with the nutmeg.
  • 6. When the mixture comes to a medium boil, put all the chicken (skin side up, to keep it crispy) and about three-quarters of the bacon back into the pan, reserving the rest of the bacon to nish the dish. ?
  • 7. Lower the heat to medium-low. Simmer, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has reduced, about 45 minutes.
  • 8. Remove the chicken from the pan.
  • 9. Add the cream, stirring constantly until warm, and boil until the ?sauce is somewhat thickened.
  • 10. Return the chicken to the sauce. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.
  • 11. Add the parsley, sprinkle with the reserved bacon, and serve.

Notes

Tipsy Tip
Swap out the lager here for a darker beer as the weather turns from hot to cool. Use whatever beer speaks to the season, to keep it fresh and inspired.

I was given a review copy of Cooking with Cocktails without expectation or obligation. All opinions are my own. 

Baked Asian Beer Barbecue Chicken Thighs

Baked Asian Beer Barbecue Chicken Thighs. Less than 30-minutes and just a few simple steps and you have a delicious dinner! 

When you work from home, with limited human interaction, you do weird things.

You become overly immeshed with your UPS guy, to the point that you are genuinely disappointed when there is another guy instead. You were going to ask him how his sons birthday party went! WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE CREEPY BALOON GUY?!

You eat weird things. Not just me, the one who cooks odd, offseason, recipes for clients.  But you just eat lunch meat out of the container while reading Buzzfeed to find out which First Lady you are, and then become excessively disappointed that you didn’t get Michelle Obama. You’ll also eat this chicken over the sink at 10 am because it was really good and it didn’t take nearly as long as you’d assumed.

You have no governor on impromptu social interaction. You are either too excited to talk to the cashier at the grocery store, or you shrink away unable to form words.

You start to think that social media interaction is actual, legit, social interaction. It’s not. But the lines start to get waaaaaay too blurry.

Showering and clothes seem to mean different things than they used to. You might get up and shower right away to "start your day off right," put on your daytime clothes and do your makeup, that might even last a day or two. But then you always slip back into a place of wearing your pajamas at noon, no make up, eating lunchmeat. Poor UPS guy, maybe that’s why he switched routes.

The mail delivery becomes a legit event, a marker in your day.

And here you thought working from home was all glamour. Maybe if your idea of a glamorous life is tank tops, no bra, unshowered, deli meat and too much time on Facebook, I’ve got it nailed.

Baked Asian Beer Barbecue Chicken Thighs

Servings 4 -6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 6 chicken thighs bone-in, skin on
  • Salt and pepper
  • 3 cloves fresh garlic grated with a microplane
  • 2/3 cup 227g hoisin sauce
  • 1 teaspoon 3g chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon 3g onion powder
  • 3 tablespoons 38g low sodium soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon 12g rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon 15g Sriracha
  • 1 teaspoon 21g honey
  • ½ cup 4oz stout beer
  • Rice for serving

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400F.
  • Liberally sprinkle the chicken thighs with salt and pepper on all sides. Add to a large cast iron skillet, off heat, skin side down.
  • Add pan to a burner over medium heat (this method of starting the chicken in a cold pan will render more fat and crisp the skin better than searing in a hot pan).
  • Cook until the skin has browned, turn over, remove from heat.
  • In a medium sized bowl stir together the garlic, hoisin, chili powder, onion powder, soy sauce, vinegar, sriracha, honey and beer. Pour over the chicken.
  • Add the skillet to the oven and bake until the chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. (For a thicker sauce, remove chicken from the pan and simmer the sauce until thickened to desired level).
  • Plate the chicken over rice, drizzle with pan sauce.

Grilled Beer Chicken Sliders with Burrata and Stout Chipotle Cherry Sauce

These Grilled Beer Chicken Sliders with Burrata and Stout Chipotle Cherry Sauce can be made on a grill, or indoors in a grill pan. Easy and delicious, perfect for game day!

Welcome to the new year.

Welcome to the year that is equal parts a welcomed relief and intensely terrifying. Let’s make a plan, you and I. Let’s agree to one thing: make the small corners of the world we occupy better in hopes to cause a ripple. Let’s express gratitude more often, very often, and even to those we hardly know. Let’s compliment strangers, pay for the order behind us, donate to that charity that we always say we will donate to but always forget. Let’s make a plan to always assume positive intent, especially from those we like the least until we are proven otherwise.

We don’t have much control over, well, pretty much anything. But we DO have control over that. We have control over what we focus on and what we put into the world. The thing I’ve learned with counting blessings is that it tends to multiply them, or at the very least amplify them. The same applies to hardships, so be careful.

Let’s assume positive intent for this year, and hope for the best. We’re in this together, all of us.

Grilled Beer Chicken Sliders with Burrata and Stout Chipotle Cherry Sauce

Servings 12 sliders

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs chicken thighs boneless skinless
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 12 ounces wheat beer or brown ale, pale lager, pilsner
  • 1 teaspoon 3g garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon 3g onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon 3g chili powder
  • ½ teaspoon 1g smoked paprika
  • 1 cup 154g pitted dark sweet cherries (frozen is fine)
  • 2 tablespoon 38g minced chipotle in adobo
  • 1 tablespoon 13g balsamic vinegar
  • 1 cup 240g beer(stout beer works best)
  • 1 teaspoon 2g black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon 8g cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 8 oz ball burrata cheese
  • 12 Hawaiian buns split like slider buns

Instructions
 

  • Add the chicken to a bowl or small baking dish. Sprinkle with salt, then cover with beer. Refrigerate for one to six hours.
  • Remove the chicken from the brine, pat dry. Add to a plate or cutting board.
  • In a small bowl stir together the garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, and smoked paprika. Sprinkle over the chicken on both sides. Allow the chicken to sit for ten minutes.
  • Spray the grill (or a grill pan) with olive oil or cooking spray, heat to medium high heat. Add the chicken, cooking on both sides until cooked through. Remove from grill, slice.
  • Add the cherries, chipotle, balsamic, stout beer, and black pepper to a pan over medium high heat. Simmer, breaking up the cherries and stirring until the cherries have started to break down.
  • Remove from heat. Sprinkle with cornstarch, blend with an immersion blender until smooth (this can also be done in a small blender or food processor). Stir in the honey and return to medium heat until slightly thickened (cherry sauce can be made up to three days in advance).
  • Fill the Hawaiian buns with chicken. Split the Burrata ball open, putting a few teaspoons of cheese on top of the chicken (the rind is very tasty and can be put on the sliders, if desired. It tastes more like traditional mozzarella), drizzle the cheese with a teaspoon or so of the cherry sauce.
  • Serve immediately.

Notes

To make ahead of time, make all elements before hand, store separately. Transport this way, if serving off site. Heat the chicken and sauce separately and assemble just prior to serving

Baked Everything Bagel Beer Chicken Legs

Baked Everything Bagel Beer Chicken Legs

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They tell me it’s all about the water.

That’s what bagel people will tell you if you listen long enough. That New York bagels are obviously the best because of the magical properties that the water contains. That’s also, coincidentally enough, what beer people will tell you. That different regions of the world have gravitated towards different styles over the centuries because of the water in their area.

It’s also a great pairing. Sure, bagels and coffee have had a long-standing relationship and who am I to get in the way of that, but bagels and beer have something special. Try an Everything Bagel with a hoppy pale ale, or a cinnamon raisin bagel with a Belgian quad, or lox and cream cheese bagel with a Witbier and you’ll get it.

Beer really does go with everything. Even more beer.

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Baked Everything Bagel Beer Chicken Legs

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs chicken leg drumsticks
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 2 cup buttermilks divided
  • 12 ounces pale ale
  • 1 teaspoon red pepper sauce i.e. Tapatio, Tabasco
  • 1 cup flour plus 2 tablespoons, divided
  • 1 egg
  • 4 large everything bagels
  • 3 tablespoon canola oil

Instructions
 

  • Add the chicken to a large bowl or baking dish. Sprinkle with salt. Pour 1 cup buttermilk (reserve the other cup for the coating), beer and red pepper sauce over the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours and up to 8 (can be done in the morning for dinner in the evening).
  • Break the bagels into 4 to 6 pieces each. Place on a plate, uncovered, to dry out while the chicken brines.
  • Remove the chicken from the brine, add to a plate and allow to sit at room temperate for 10 minutes while you prepare the dredge.
  • Preheat oven to 350F.
  • Add 1 cup of flour to a small bowl.
  • Add the remaining cup of buttermilk to another bowl, whisk in the egg until well combined.
  • Add the bagels to a food processor of blender, process until just crumbs remain.
  • Add to a baking sheet in an even layer. Bake at 350F until slightly toasted. Add the crumbs to a large bowl, stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons flour. Increase oven temperature to 425F.
  • Place a wire rack over the baking sheet, spray the wire rack with cooking spray.
  • One at a time roll the chicken legs in flour, then dredge in the buttermilk, then roll in the bread crumbs. Add to the prepared pan. Drizzle with canola oil.
  • Bake at 425 for 40 minutes or until the internal temperate of the chicken reaches 165F.

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White Bean Turkey Beer Chili (for Thanksgiving leftovers)

White Bean Turkey Beer Chili (for Thanksgiving leftovers)

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Please excuse the interruption from your otherwise lovely Holiday weekend while I boss you around.

If you have leftover turkey this is what you should do with it. Make yourself some warm-your-bones chili, full of the beer brined turkey that you obviously made, and use it as an excuse to open a beer for lunch.

Because if you still have family in town, you’re gonna need it.

But if you’re reading this on any day of the year that is not punctuated with holiday sales and over-zealous shoppers looking for dirt cheap TV’s, then you can always substitute cooked chicken. Or just leave it out all together. It’s cheese and beans and beer, it’s a win no matter what.

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White Bean Turkey Beer Chili

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cups white onion chopped
  • 1 cup chopped carrots
  • 1 rib of celery chopped
  • 4 large garlic cloves minced
  • 1 cup wheat beer
  • 1 cup chicken or turkey broth
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
  • 2 15oz cans cannellini beans (rinsed and drained)
  • 1 15oz can Great Northern beans (rinsed and drained)
  • 1 jalapeno chopped
  • 2 cups cooked turkey cut into cubes
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
  • ½ cup Chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions
 

  • Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onions, carrots and celery, cooking until the vegetables has softened, about 8 minutes.
  • Stir in the garlic, cooking for about 30 seconds.
  • Add the beer, scraping to deglaze the pan. Stir in the broth, cumin, chili powder, red pepper, beans, jalapenos and turkey. Simmer until turkey is cooked through, about 8 minutes.
  • Stir in the heavy cream, remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste.
  • Ladle into bowls, top with cheese and cilantro.

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Pulled Chipotle Beer Chicken Sliders

Pulled Chipotle Beer Chicken Sliders

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I’ve made a decision.

I need to clear the emotional cache from this past week. I need to a little distance from reality and my incessant need to over-think. I need a break and a beer and I’ve decided that a trip to Bend, Oregon can fix what ails me right now. Or at least numb it and distract me enough to remind me how big the world is.

I’ve even booked a place that has a kitchen, because I’ve already told you about my need to bake bread when I’m sad, and my over excitement for the sourdough starter I made (yes, I’m contemplating bringing it with me like a cat in a carrier). I’m leaving in 11 days and I’m going to update you, like I did when I was here. Because even if you can’t blow off Thanksgiving to road trip and drink beer, I still want you along for the ride.

I also made you some sliders, because football is forever and we need food for that, these just take 20 minutes.

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Pulled Chipotle Beer Chicken Sliders

Total Time 20 minutes

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 chipotle chilies in adobo chopped
  • 2 tablespoons adobo sauce
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 cup stout
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 6 boneless 1.5 lbs, skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ¼ cup chopped green onion or cilantro
  • 12 slider buns

Instructions
 

  • Add the garlic, chipotles, adobo sauce, honey, tomato paste, beer, chicken broth and cornstarch in a blender, blend until smooth.
  • Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with salt and pepper.
  • Heat the olive oil in a pan over high heat, sear the chicken on both sides.
  • Reduce heat to medium, pour the sauce over the chicken. Simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened, 6-8 minutes.
  • Remove from heat, shred the chicken using two forks, toss in the sauce.
  • Fill the slider buns with chicken, sprinkle with chopped green onions (or cilantro).

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Chili Brown Sugar Oven Beer Can Chicken

Chili Brown Sugar Oven Beer Can Chicken

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A few months ago I sat at a table with a mess of brewers and beer people. The conversation turned to the water shortage, and farming practices. The debate went back and forth, what we can do, what we need to be careful of, and even how to move to a zero waste facility. The inspiring take away from this roundtable conversation was that although the ideas varied, the feelings of wanting to move towards sustainability and environmental responsibility was unanimous.

The heart and soul of good beer has never been ruled by a traditional bottom line. The concerns are quality, taste, community, and responsibility. If it costs more, then that’s just how it has to be.

Craft beer, as we know it today, is still in its infancy. With a constant stream of articles showing a struggling industry, a bubble on the verge of bursting, the beer business is still pushing forward with sustainability and responsible practices. There isn’t another industry that puts those needs in such a priority, even in the midst of a difficult phase.

 

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Long Root Ale —a collaboration between HUB and Patagonia— is exciting evidence of the soul of this movement. It’s made with Kernza, an ancient grain that few have even heard of, but as it turns out, makes great beer. It also requires much less water and land, without the need for pesticides, and it assists in the reduction of land erosion. All that and a flavor that rests somewhere between wheat and rye. If that wasn’t enough, a portion of the proceeds goes towards environmental issues.

Just in case you needed a good reason to drink great beer.

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Chili Brown Sugar Oven Beer Can Chicken

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • Whole roasting chicken 5-6 lbs
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 can of beer

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 450, lowering the rack to the bottom most position (all other racks may need to be removed for space).
  • Rinse the chicken inside and out. Dry very well with paper towels until all the moisture is gone.
  • Sprinkle the inside cavity with 1 tablespoon salt.
  • In a small bowl stir together the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, brown sugar, smoked paprika, garlic powder, black pepper, chili powder, onion powder and baking powder (this will help crisp the skin).
  • Rub the outside of the chicken with the spice mixture.
  • Pour about ¼ of a cup of beer out of the can (or drink it). Place the can on a flat surface.
  • Lower the chicken down onto the can until the can is well inside the chicken cavity. Set the chicken and can upright (use the two legs and the can to create a tripod) in a baking dish or rimmed baking sheet. Gently transfer to the oven. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165F on a meat thermometer.

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Buffalo Beer Cheese Bites + What is Wet Hop Beer?

Buffalo Beer Cheese Bites + What is Wet Hop Beer

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This time of year there is an obsession among the beer crowd, an almost singular obsession that takes over.

It’s not pumpkin ales, which seem to be more of an obligation brewers take on mid-summer to compete in an oversaturated fall market. It' not even Oktoberfest, which is a long standing, time-honored tradition that resumes in late September with a touch of cultural stagnancy that we tip our beer hats to. These aren’t the obsession that I’m referring to. This one grew organically and sucked us all in before we even had a chance to protest.

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Fresh hops. This is our obsession.

Hops are the above little flower, looking like a soft green pine cone and smelling like citrus, flowers, herbs, and earth. They are beautiful and vibrant and responsible for the enticing bitterness and citrusy earthiness in every beer. While every beer is made with hops, very few are made with fresh of the bine hops.

Hops are harvested once a year (just once!), most of which are dried to either store as dried flowers or turned into pellets that resemble bunny food. This is how hops get into 99% of beer—via dried hops.

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This time of year, this magical-object-of-our-obsession time of year, brewers are able to use fresh hops in their batches of beer. Once a hop is picked from the bine (*bine is the term for a hop vine), a hop has roughly 12-24 hours before it starts to go bad. It either has to be used in the brew, or it needs to be dried. For a brief window of time, a brewer is able to throw buckets of fresh-from-the-bine hops into a batch of beer.

The results are a flavor you’ve never tasted if all you’ve ever had is traditional beer. It’s bright, vibrant, grassy, citrusy and floral. It’s the difference between sunlight and lamplight. It’s only eating raisins and then finally having a grape.

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This is why we obsess. We count the days until fresh hop beer (also called wet hop or harvest beer) hits the taprooms. It’s gone before we get our fill, lasting just a few months before it disappears altogether and we are forced to wait out the months before we can have more.

This week the first few batches are starting to trickle out. Over the next few weeks the fresh hop supply with reach it’s peak and pushes aside any pumpkin beer that might still be lingering from it’s late July release.

If you think you don’t like hops, give a fresh hop beer a chance before you make your final decision. After all, you can hate a raisin and love a grape.

 

 

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Buffalo Beer Cheese Bites

Servings 24 bites

Ingredients
  

  • 8 wt oz cream cheese
  • 2 cups 145g grated cheddar cheese
  • ¼ cup 77mL IPA beer
  • 3 tablespoons 45mL buffalo sauce
  • 1 tablespoon 12g cornstarch
  • 1 cups 140g chopped cooked chicken
  • 2 sheets puff pastry
  • ¼ cup chopped chives or green onions

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 375.
  • Add the cream cheese, cheddar, beer, buffalo sauce and cornstarch to a blender or food processor. Process until smooth.
  • Add the chicken, pulse once or twice to combine (do not over process or the chicken will be destroyed).
  • Roll the puff pastry sheets out on a lightly floured surface. Using a 3-inch biscuit cutter, cut out 24 circles. Press the circles into the wells of a mini muffin tin, poke the circles one or twice with a fork to create air holes in the bottom.
  • Fill the puff pastry 2/3 full with the cream cheese mixture.
  • Bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes or until puff pastry is light golden brown.
  • Add to a serving platter, sprinkle with chopped chives.

 

 

 

Jalapeño Honey Grilled Beer Chicken

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I had a camera in my face and a man four-inches shorter than me asking questions he should know the answers to.

This is mid-day TV, I suppose. This is a cooking segment on a Los Angeles NBC station. This is a person unable to let a millisecond of silence creep across your screen. Your ears must be punctured with words, even if they are odd and out of place.

I’d been making a chipotle beer cheese sauce, a blender version that takes only the few seconds TV cooking can tolerate without a pay off, and I mentioned that alcohol intensifies heat. The higher ABV a beer is, the hotter it will make that pepper you put in your sauce. Add a jalapeño to some vodka and it will exploit every inch of capsaicin it contains in just mere minutes. It was a warning, really. If you don’t want a screaming hot sauce, steer away from the 13% triple IPA monsters and towards the 4% session beers.

A slight pause to pour the sauce into a bowl, no more than a full second and he panicked. "So….what does "intensify" mean?" The second he said it, I could see a flash of regret in his eyes and a plea for me to pick up the ball. He could have asked about ABV, or about local beers that would work best. But instead he asked me to define a word like we were in the middle of a really heated spelling bee.

I can no longer talk about alcohol intensifying heat without thinking about him and his request to define the word rather than explain the idea. It is true, the higher the alcohol content, the spicier it will make your peppers. This can be great if your like your dishes with a kick. It can be assaulting if your pepper is already hotter than you’d expected. Either way, it something to keep in mind.

Jalapeno Honey Grilled Beer Chicken 4

Jalapeño Honey Grilled Beer Chicken

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup 125g stout or porter beer
  • ¼ cup 70g balsamic vinegar
  • ¼ cup 70g sodium soy sauce
  • ¼ cup 90g honey
  • 1 teaspoon 4g garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon 4g onion powder
  • 1 lbs chicken thighs cut into cubes
  • 2 jalapenos sliced

Instructions
 

  • In a medium bowl whisk together the beer, balsamic, soy, honey, garlic powder, and, onion powder.
  • Add the chicken and jalapenos, stir to coat.
  • Cover and refrigerate for one hour and up to 12.
  • Thread chicken and jalapenos onto heat safe skewers.
  • Grill until chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes per side.
  • Serve warm.
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Street Fair Grilled Beer Chicken

Street Fair Grilled Beer Chicken

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There is a street fair in LA that I used to frequent, with chicken the smells so incredible it will haunt your dreams. I’d rush past the booths of produce, handmade ceramic mugs, the guy trying to get me to vote for his City Council pick, the face painting lady, just to be near to the lady grilling the chicken.

Sophia was always with me, as polite and charming as a bulldog could possibly be. She wasn’t the kind to bark (even when she probably should have), and she never once jumped up where she wasn’t supposed to. She’d run up to her intended target, sit her chubby body down right in front, and lift a paw to get attention. It was a genius move. Whatever she wanted she got. Head pets, food scraps, lavish praise. But the chicken lady was her crowd, and she worked it. She’d run up to the booth, sit down right in the front, and gently scratch the vinyl sign covering the bottom of the booth. Chicken Lady would squeal that "her dog" was back. She’d load up a plate of chicken (probably too full), and rush to feed Sophia and pet her head.

I, of course, had to order some. I’d convince myself it was as a way to thank her for feeding my dog better food than most the world eats, but really it was because I’d jones like an addict for what she was peddling.

Lately, I’ve been consumed with puppy fever. Sophia’s been gone a while, and I need another furry, fat, beast in my life. So I decided to make our chicken and stalk all the bulldog rescue sites in the Pacific Northwest. It’s a legit way to spend the afternoon. At least until I can find another buddy to visit street fairs with me and beg for chicken.

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Street Fair Grilled Beer Chicken

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs chicken thighs boneless, skinless
  • 2 tbs kosher salt
  • 12 ounces wheat beer
  • 1 3g teaspoon paprika
  • 1 teaspoon 3g onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon 3g garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon 0.5g dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon 6gsalt
  • ½ teaspoon 3g black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon 2g chili powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoon 6g brown sugar

Instructions
 

  • Add the chicken to a bowl or baking dish. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons salt. Pour the beer over the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for two hours and up to 12 hours.
  • Preheat the grill.
  • Remove the chicken from the brine. Rinse and pat dry.
  • Add to a plate, sprinkle on all sides with the spice mixture.
  • Grill over medium high heat until cooked through, about 4 minutes per side.

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