Porter/Stout

Corn and Black Bean Enchiladas with Chipotle Stout Red Sauce

30.10.2015 8 Comments

Corn and Black Bean Enchiladas with Chipotle Stout Red Sauce

Let’s say you had someone coming over for dinner.

This is a person you like, a person that happened to be vegan. But for you, that’s not a big deal. You’ve got this. Except you don’t. Because salad is boring, and pasta is predictable. You don’t want anything complicated, you want the "this old thing?" version of a meal.

But then you freeze up. It’s a simple dinner, a "I hardly have more than 20 minutes to throw this together" meal, but it still has to be great. So you go back to your childhood comfort foods. And although what your mom made was less "enchiladas" and more of a "burrito casserole," it was still one of your favorites.

Tortillas are vegan. So is corn and beans and avocados. Beer is vegan, for the most part. And even though you still put cotija cheese on half of it, it’s still a damn good meal, vegan or not. Because produce is amazing and celebrating it in a big 'ol pan of spicy sauce will a malty stout should be something that everyone does more often.

Because plants are awesome.

This is how I make corn tortillas, once you start, you’ll never go back to store bought.

Corn and Black Bean Enchiladas with Chipotle Stout Red Sauce

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Servings 2 -4 servings

Ingredients

Sauce:

2 tbs cornstarch
2 tbs tomato paste
½ cup tomato sauce
1 chipotle chili in adobo finely minced
2 tbs adobo sauce
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp cumin
¾ cup stout

Enchiladas:

2 large avocados
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
8-10 homemade or good quality corn tortillas
1 can 425g black beans, rinsed and drained
kernels from one ear of corn
¼ cup cotija cheese optional. Omit for vegan
¼ cup chopped cilantro

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425.
Add the cornstarch, tomato paste and tomato sauce to a pot, whisk until well combined. Add to medium heat, stir in the chipotles, adobo sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, cumin and stout.
Allow to simmer until slightly thickened, about five minutes.
In a small bowl mash together the avocados, salt and pepper.
Heat the tortillas slightly to make them more pliable.
One at a time spread tortillas with avocado, fill with black beans and corn, roll tightly.
Place into an 8X8 pan in a tight row.
Pour the sauce evenly over the pan.
Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes or until warm and bubbly.
Top with remaining ingredients, serve warm.

Notes

*For an 9x13 pan, double the recipe

Stout Brined Pan Seared Flank Steak with Sage Chimichurri

23.10.2015 3 Comments

Beer Brined Pan Seared Flank Steak with Sage Chimichurri

Stout Brined Pan Seared Flank Steak with Sage Chimichurri

I’m going to tell you why I’m not a good person, at least not at first.

I was late a few days ago, trying to get to a place that had me stress-rushing but wasn’t important enough to remember now, three days later. The car in front of me, a Volvo station wagon as old as I am was making very slow forward progress, slightly swerving, down a winding back road in the Wine Country of King County. I’m annoyed, irritated, wondering if Seattle drivers do this on purpose. Do they see that you’re in a rush and slow down to make a point? Everyone in LA was always in a hurry and driving less than the speed limit wasn’t even physically possible. What the hell was this guys problem? At the first opportunity I speed past him, out of the corner of my eye I see his car slow to a stop in the middle of the road, his hazards flip on, and his body slump over the steering wheel.

I stop, my I-Need-To-Get-There-Now destination on hold. I turn around and go back to check on him. I pull off on the soft shoulder of the road, my tires scrapping a few blackberry bushes that have just gone dormant. I see his old, frail body shaking a bit.

I grab the thick black handle on the faded blue door of his car and pull it open with a loud creak, "Are you OK?" he looks up, smiles. He is easily 80 years old. He tells me that the car has been acting funny, but he thought he would be able to make it to the store, but then it just stopped. He’s shaken, unsure what to do. This is the man I though was an asshole for going so slow just three minutes earlier. I feel awful.

A small market is right across the street and a few employees have come outside to see what the action is. I wave them over. We push the car out of the road for him, and help him call a tow truck.

When I leave, he’s fine, his car problem assessed and fixed. But I wondered why I do that. Why do I first assume the worse about strangers? Maybe the guy in traffic is having car problems. Maybe the rude waitress isn’t a bitch, maybe she just got the worst news of her life and she’s only trying to hold it together. Maybe we should all just give each other a break and assume the best until proven otherwise. Maybe I need to stop driving like I still live in LA, and stop freaking out when I’m late.

Maybe we just need to get some beer and hug it out.

Beer Brined Pan Seared Flank Steak with Sage Chimichurri

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Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

For the Steak:

1 ½ lbs flank steak
1 ½ cups stout or porter
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp salt
salt and pepper
2 tbs butter

Chimichurri:

2 tbs 20g finley chopped shallots
½ cup 6g fresh parsley
¼ cup 6g fresh sage leaves
1/3 cup 72g olive oil
1 tsp 3g red pepper flakes
2 tbs 15g red wine vinegar
1 tbs l 15g lemon juice
1 clove 3g garlic, smashed
¼ tsp 1.5g salt
¼ tsp .5g black pepper

Instructions

In a small bowl, whisk together the beer, Worcestershire, onion powder, paprika and salt.
Place the steak in a baking dish, cover with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 6 hours and up to 24, turning at least once while marinating.
To make the chimichurri combine all ingredients in a food processor, pulse several times until combined.
Remove the steak from the marinade, pat dry. Allow to sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400.
Pat the steak dry again, if needed, sprinkle on both sides with salt and pepper.
Melt the butter in a cast iron skillet over high heat.
Add the steak, cook for two minutes, flip and cook on the other side for one minute.
Transfer to the oven and cook for 7 minutes or until the thickest part of the steak reads 120 on a meat thermometer.
Remove from the pan and allow to rest for ten minutes. Slice against the grain and serve with the chimichurri sauce

Oatmeal Stout Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

09.10.2015 17 Comments

Oatmeal Stout Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

A few years ago I had to sell a house. One I’d bought when I was probably too young to do so, and the Los Angeles housing market was angry and hostile. It was only about a year before things started to go south and I knew I needed out.

I had just one open house. The realtor asked me to leave an hour early so that she can get set up, work her house-selling magic. Before I left to wander the city and hope for the best, I baked a huge plate of cookies and left them on the kitchen table for the gawkers and home buying hopefuls to partake in. When I returned a few hours later I had three full-price-or-better offers, and a house that still vaguely smelled of vanilla and caramelized sugars.

Every offer was accompanied by a letter, and each letter mentioned the cookies. Maybe it was just the smell of freshly baked, chocolate-studded, hand-held desserts. Or maybe there is something about fresh-baked cookies that will transform your house and make people want to live there. Either way, it was the best batch of cookies I’ve ever baked.

Oatmeal Stout Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

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Servings 9 bars

Ingredients

Crust:

9 graham cracker sheets 147g
2 tbs 39g brown sugar
4 tbs 46g melted butter

Filling:

1 ¼ cups 100g old fashioned oats
1 cup 120g all-purpose flour
½ cup 92g brown sugar
¼ cup 58g white sugar
½ tsp 3g baking soda
1 tsp 6g salt, divided
3 tbs butter melted
1/3 cup 90g stout beer
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
4 wt oz dark chocolate chunks

Instructions

preheat oven to 350.
Add the graham crackers and brown sugar to a food processor, process until just crumbs remain. While the food processor is running, slowly add the butter until well combined and resembles wet sand.
Press firmly into the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish.
In a large bowl stir together the oats, flour, brown sugar, white sugar, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Make a well in the center, add the melted butter, beer, yolks, and vanilla, stir until just combined.
Add the chocoloate chips in an even layer on top of the crust.
Press the filling into an even layer over the chocolate chips, sprinkle the top with the remaining salt.
Bake at 350 until the top is golden brown, about 22-26 minutes.
Allow to cool completely before cutting.

Stout Bolognese and I Brewed A Beer with Fort George Brewing

02.10.2015 5 Comments

It started with a phone call.

A question. Would I be interested in teaming up with Fort George Brewery out of Astoria, Oregon to brew a beer for this years Willamette Week’s Beer Pro/Am in Portland, Oregon?

Of course I would, what kind of questions is that? I’d love to, not-be-able-to-sleep thrilled to. First step: deciding what I want to brew. I thought about the beers I’d fallen in love with over the years, the first beers, the best ones, the most memorable pints. I decided on a stout, the dark beers will always have my heart. The beer I brewed was inspired by food, a decision that seemed fairly fated. Head brewer Jack Harris and I brewed a deep, malty, stout with candied and roasted pecans that we’ve decided to call Glazed and Confused Praline Stout. I’m thrilled with how it’s turned out, it’s delicious, the notes of brown sugar and pecans melt into the malty backbone of the stout.

This weekend Jack and I will be pouring our Glazed and Confused , hoping you’ll love it as much as we do. If you’re at the event, come say hi. Try my beer and let me know what you think.

Stout Bolognese

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Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

2 tbs 20g olive oil
2 ribs 100g celery, chopped
1 large 350g white onion, chopped
1 large 120g carrot, chopped
1 lbs 454g ground chuck (85% lean)
12 wt oz 340g ground pork
2 tsp 16g salt
2 tsp 8g black pepper
1 tsp 6g red peppers
¼ cup 50g Mama Lil’s (pickled Hungarian goat horn peppers)
1 cup 268g whole milk
12 ounces 340g stout
1.5 lbs 680g crushed tomatoes
1 tbs 16g tomato puree
1 cup 80g fresh shaved or shredded parmesan
6 servings parppardelle pasta about 1 ½ lbs 525g

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the celery, onions, and carrot. Cook until the vegetables have softened and the onions have started to caramelize, at least 15 minutes and up to 45 (the longer you allow the onions to caramelize, the better the overall flavor).
Add the beef, pork, salt, black pepper, red pepper and Mam Lil’s, allow meat to brown, breaking up as it cooks.
Add the milk and allow to cook until the milk looks as though it is mostly cooked off, and the pan looks mostly dry, about 10 minutes.
Add the stout, cooking until the beer is mostly gone, about 15 minutes.
Stir in the tomatoes and tomato puree, cook over medium/low heat (very low simmer), for three to four hours (you can transfer the sauce to a slow cooker instead, cook on low for 8 hours).
Stir in the parmaesan in the last ten minutes of cooking.
Serve over pasta, sprinkle with additional parmesan if desired.

Stout Braised Pork and Black Bean Empanadas and a Craft Beer Adventure in South America

25.09.2015 5 Comments

Stout Braised Pork and Black Bean Empanadas

The first thing you notice about the owners of Bogota Beer Company is how much they care. About each other, about the people who work for them, about the brand and every detail of it. It conveys so strong, the minute they picked me up from an airport in Panama, I could feel it instantly. The entire reason they’d flown me thousands of miles was because of how much they care. The menu they had in the 27 pubs spread over 2 countries was good, but they wanted it to be great. They wanted me to revamp it, add some beer, make it exciting.

The week was peppered with new experiences every day. A fish market in Panama, foods and flavors that were new to me, gorgeous dinners, late nights walks around a rain slicked city, a private coffee class in the hills of Bogota, Colombia. All the while I was reworking an already decent menu. A menu that, to be honest, was better than most American pubs. We made it exciting. We added a burger with a bacon jam made with their porter, doughnuts served with sauces infused with their beer, fried chicken made the way American Southern women make it, and a pizza menu that feels as artisan as their beer.

I’m proud of what we did. Proud to work with a company that is paving the way for great craft beer in countries that are brand new to even the idea of a beer that isn’t a pale lager. The beer is fantastic, and the company is even better. If you’re in Bogota, Colombia, stop in the BBC for a pint and sample the menu I helped create. Or stop by one of the micro-pubs they’re dotted across the country in renovated shipping containers. If you visit Panama City, stop by La Rana Dorada. Stop by and have a pint, have some food, and make some friends. They are the best people you can hope to come across while traveling.

Stout Braised Pork and Black Bean Empanadas

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Servings 12 empanadas

Ingredients

Dough:

3 cups 350g Masa Harina (corn flour)
1 cup 120g all purpose flour
2 cup 450g warm water
2 tbs 32g oil

Filling:

1 tbs oil
½ large 160g white onion, chopped
12 wt oz 340g Ground pork
1 cup 226g stout
2 tbs 32g Tomato puree
15 oz 425g Black beans
¼ tsp 0.6g smoked paprika
½ tsp 1.5g garlic powder
½ tsp 3g salt
1 tsp 1g black pepper
Oil for frying

Instructions

Add the masa, flour, water, and oil to a bowl, stir until a soft dough forms. If the dough is too wet, add additional flour. The consistency should be similar to Play-Doh. Cover the bowl and allow to rest while you prepare the filling.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook the onions until slightly caramelized, about ten minutes. Add the pork, cooking until browned, breaking up into small pieces.
Add the stout and allow to cook until the beer is almost completely gone.
Add the tomato puree, black beans, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt and black pepper, cook until well combined. Remove from heat.
Form dough into balls about the size of golf balls.
One at a time place between two sheets of parchment paper (parchment works better than plastic wrap, the dough removes more easily) and using either a tortilla press or a rolling pin, press/roll into 6 inch circles.
Add about 2 tablespoons of filling in the center. Using the parchment, fold over the dough to form a crescent shape. Peel back the parchment and press the dough to seal the edges. Repeat for all dough balls.
Heat the oil (canola or peanut oil), in a large pot over medium high heat. Using a cooking thermometer adjust heat to maintain 350F degrees.
A few at a time, fry the empanadas until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Allow to drain on a stack of paper towels.

Notes

Masa Harina is sold in most major markets, look for it in the Hispanic food section.
To make ahead of time: After frying allow to cool. Place on a plate and loosely cover, chill for up to three days. Once ready to serve, drizzle with oil and bake at 425 for 12 minutes.

Crispy Honey Porter Sticky Chicken Wings

18.09.2015 13 Comments

Crispy Honey Porter Sticky Chicken Wings

This was version 6 of this recipe.

Usually, it doesn’t take me that long to get a recipe right. More often than not, I get it on the first try, maybe a few small tweeks, but this one took some trail and a lot of error.

None of the versions were bad, they just weren’t what I was looking for. Like that guy you dated a few years ago that just wasn’t a fit. Although I’m sure your issue with him had nothing to do with how crispy his skin is, or how thickly glazed he was. Although, I don’t know your life.

I had a very specific vision. I wanted wings that are baked-not-fried, skin so crispy it could hold up to glaze without getting soggy, I wanted a thick glaze that was sticky and sweet, and although I’m Ok with a few steps, I didn’t want it to be a huge pain in the ass. I’ve told you that I’d found the secret to crispy skinned baked chicken wings that are even better and crispier than fried (these crispy chicken wings) so I used that as a base. I brined them in beer, which made a remarkable difference in the fall-off-the-bone texture, and I finally got the glaze right.

This will officially be my go-to chicken wings recipe for this football season. Although I’m sure it won’t be long until I make a spicy version. I tend to do that.

Crispy Honey Porter Sticky Chicken Wings

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Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

2.5 lbs chicken party wings
1 tbs 4g salt
12 wt oz 355 ml beer (wheat, brown ale or pilsner)
2 tbs 16g baking powder
1 cup 226g porter or stout beer
½ cup 170g honey
2 clove 8g garlic, grated with a microplane
3 tbs 46g soy sauce
1 tsp 2g black pepper
½ tsp 1g smoked paprika
2 tsp 8g chili powder
2 tbs 16g cornstarch
Chopped cilantro optional

Instructions

Add the wings to a shallow bowl or baking dish, sprinkle with salt. Pour beer over the wings, cover and refrigerate for one hour and up to over night.
Preheat oven to 250.
Remove from the beer, rinse and pat dry, making sure wings are as dry as possible. .
Add the wings to a large bowl. Sprinkle with baking powder, toss to coat.
Place a wire rack over a baking sheet, brush with oil or spray with cooking spray.
Place the wings on the wire rack.
Bake in the lower section of the oven for 30 minutes. Move to the upper 1/3 of the oven, increase oven temperature to 425. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown.
While the wings bake, make the glaze.
Add the porter, honey, garlic, soy sauce, black pepper, smoked paprika, chili powder and cornstarch in a pot over high heat. Boil, stirring frequently until thickened, about 5 minutes. Allow to cool.
Add the wings to a bowl, pour the glaze over the wings, toss to coat.
Serve warm.

One Bowl Chocolate Stout Loaf Cake with Blackberry Frosting

09.09.2015 10 Comments

One Bowl Chocolate Stout Loaf Cake with Blackberry Frosting

The first time I was paid to write a story it was about gang members. Gang members who are also bakers.

It was a story I’d pitched to a start up emagazine that asked for submissions and received thousands. I wanted to talk about Homeboy Industries, a non profit that helps get people out of gangs via a bakery they started to employe the unemployable. Maybe it was my guilt I carried with me about leaving the job I had working with gang kids in order to pursue my dream of food writing. Maybe it was just so incredibly impressive that this program actually worked, and worked really well. Or maybe it was the fact that baking could save someones life. I got the assignment.

My first draft read so starry-eyed-in-love with the company that I needed more, I need the reality of it all, the grittiness that sometimes gets lost when mainstream media try to glam up the truth for mass consumption. So I went back to Homeboy Cafe, to talk to Sarah. A woman who had run a very successful chopshop, ran around with gangs since she was 13, sold drugs, and ended up in solitary confinement with bullet holes in her body. It was driving around East Los Angeles with her in my passenger seat, stopped outside the urban garden she was running, that made the biggest impact on me. At least a decade older than me, and several lifetimes more experienced, she seemed so shy, "I brought this for you…" She pulled a crumpled page out of her pocket, "they did a story about me." She showed me the internal newsletter the company prints out for employees, Sarah was the lead story. "It’s nice…you know…people talking about you for something good." We sat there for a second, worlds apart in the same car, and I told her she should be so proud. The silence for the next few seconds was about as warm as I’ve ever felt.

I think about Homeboy sometimes when I bake, how transformative it can be just to do something right and to have people talk about you for something good.

You can read the article about Homeboy, and Sarah, in my Portfolio (scroll down, past the black). To this day, it’s one the my favorite articles I’ve ever written.

One Bowl Chocolate Stout Loaf Cake with Blackberry Frosting

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Servings 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
1 1/2 cup 335g granulated sugar
1 large egg at room temperature
1 teaspoon 7g vanilla extract
¾ cup 170g stout beer
¼ cup 55gvegetable oil
1 1/2 cups 225 g all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa 60 g powder
1/2 teaspoon 3 g baking soda
1/2 teaspoon 4 g salt
½ cup 130 g blackberries
2 cups 1/2 lbs powdered sugar
1 teaspoon 5g fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon 3g vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325.
Add the butter and sugar to a bowl. Using a stand mixer, beat until well creamed. Add the egg and vanilla, beat until combined. Stir in the beer, and olive oil.
Sprinkle the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir until just combined.
Pour batter into a loaf pan that’s been greased and floured.
Bake for 60-65 minutes or until or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out with just a few crumbs.
Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
In a blender add the blackberries, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla extract, blend until smooth.
Pour over the top of the cake, chill until set.
Remove from loaf pan and slice prior to serving.

Slow Cooker Honey Chili Pulled Beer Chicken Sliders

04.09.2015 7 Comments

Slow Cooker Honey Chili Pulled Beer Chicken Sliders

This is a sign.

It’s fall. I realize that the calendar technically disagrees with me, but the calendar is wrong. Often. Calendars will frequently tell you that the week starts on Sunday, and that Summer starts the end of June. But according to our guts, the week begins on Monday, and Summer starts the first time it gets over 80 degrees in May. Fall, along these lines, starts with September and football season.

This slider is sign that we really don’t care what the calendar tells us, it’s fall. Sigh for a second, leave your sandals out for one more week, but summer is behind us. Let’s look at the good side of this, not the silver lining. Silver linings imply that there is only a thin layer of good on an entire crap cloud. This isn’t the case, fall is an incredible season. Pomegranates are back in season, football is back on, football food is back in consumption range, you can again wear boots and scarves without getting the side-eye from some Lululemon chick at Starbucks, and you can make sliders in your slow cooker.

Stouts are also back in season. Fall kicks off the releases of my favorite beer, the dark and roasty beast that I wait all year for. Even though I’ll still drink them in August, wearing boots and a scarf, no matter who side-eyes me.

Slow Cooker Honey Chili Pulled Beer Chicken Sliders

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Servings 6 servings

Ingredients

¼ cup honey
2 tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tsp red chili sauce
1 tbs chili powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp salt
2 lbs chicken thighs boneless, skinless
¾ cup beer porter, stout, brown ale, or wheat beer
1 tbs cornstarch
12 slider buns

Instructions

In a small bowl stir together the honey, vinegar, red chili sauce, chili powder, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and salt.
Add the chicken to a slow cooker, pour the mixture over the chicken.
Pour the beer into the slow cooker.
Cook on low for 6 hours, or high for 3 hours. Remove the chicken, shread with two forks, set aside.
Add the sauce and cornstarch to a pot over medium high heat, bring to a boil. Boil, stirring frequently until thickened, about 8 minutes.
Add the chicken to the sauce, stir to coat (you can add to a slow cooker on a warm setting until ready to serve, if needed).
Add to slider buns before serving.

I use this slow cooker (affiliate link).

Pork Ribs with Chipotle Peach Beer Barbecue Sauce

10.07.2015 3 Comments

Maybe it’s because I’m writing this from 30,000 feet above Houston, Texas, en route to South America, that I feel compelled to tell you that American Barbecue has nothing to do with your backyard grill.

Sure there are similarities, the flames, the metal grates, the brave souls with large metal cooking implements poking at the meat from a safe distance. But it’s the difference that makes the biggest impact on your final results.

Barbecue gives us the gorgeous smoky flavors, the fall off the bone meat, the get-your-shirt-messy eating experience because of a cooking method that’s long, slow and low. Grilling is quick, hot and high. Real, true barbecue is a process that takes hours, even days to complete.

The low temperature renders the fat, infusing the meat, injecting it with flavor and giving you that tender fall-apart texture. Your oven can do this slow and low cooking as well, it just takes time.

It’s the best way to cook ribs at home, no other method can compare to the tender texture, caramelized sauce, and flavors that taste as close to true smoky barbecue as you can get in your own house.

It takes time, as true barbecue should. The meat melts off the bone, the sauce is caramelized and just a little sticky. You’ll need plenty of napkins and a couple beers to make this a meal. And it’s worth every second you spent cooking it.

Pork Ribs with Chipotle Peach Beer Barbecue Sauce

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Ingredients

For the sauce:

1 pound fresh yellow peaches
2 tablespoons olive oil divided
¼ cup chopped shallots
¼ cup cider vinegar
½ cup stout beer
3 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons molasses not blackstrap
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 chipotle chilies chopped
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon dry mustard

For the ribs:

3 lbs pork ribs
salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450.
Slice the peaches in half, remove the pit. Place cut side down on a baking sheet, drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Roast until skin starts to pull away from the peach, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven, gently peel away and discard skin.
Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium high heat, add the shallots, cooking until slightly browned, about 5 minutes.
Stir in the vinegar, beer, honey, molasses, brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, chipotles, smoked paprika, and mustard powder, bring to a simmer.
Add the peaches, stirring occasionally, until peaches have broken down, about ten minutes. Remove from heat.
Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth (alternately, you can allow the sauce to cool slightly and blend in an upright blender.) Sauce can be made several days in advance.
Lower oven temperature to 250.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the ribs on the baking sheet, sprinkle on all sides with salt.
Brush liberally with sauce on all sides.
Cook for 30 minutes, remove from oven, brush on all sides with sauce and return to oven. Repeat this step for 4 hours, brushing with sauce every 30 minutes, until meat easily pulls away from the bone and sauce has caramelized

Grilled Stout Jamaican Jerk Chicken

17.06.2015 11 Comments

Grilled Stout Jamaican Jerk

There is a magic in an old recipe. In a method of preparing food with an origin that’s hard to trace. Jerk meat has been a staple in Jamaica for centuries, but follow the history through a labyrinth of poorly kept records and unsettling invasions of outsiders, it’s hard to get a clear view of how it all began.

It doesn’t matter, it hasn’t changed much between the generations of hands that have cooked it. Traditional jerk is cooked over direct flames, not just from coals but also fresh, green wood. Fire is an important component in the dish. The heat, the smoke, the crisp blackened skin. The result is an addictive plate of chicken that’s smokey, sweet, spicy, and juicy.

The idea to add beer isn’t mine, as much as I’d like to claim it. Years ago I read the book, Blood, Bones and Butter, by Gabrielle Hamilton. I’d been to her restaurant in New York, Prune, and became a bit fascinated with her. Just a few lines in one chapter about her favorite jerk recipes, no more explanation than it had 25 ingredients including Scotch bonnet peppers, stout beer, and honey, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. I’ve spent years adjusting this recipe trying to get to that perfect balance of flavors. One thing is for sure, the smoke and heat of the grill is a must, it just isn’t the same made in the oven.

Grilled Stout Jamaican Jerk Chicken

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Prep Time 8

Cook Time 30

Total Time 12 38

Servings 4 -6 servings

Ingredients

1/2 cup stout or porter beer coffee or coconut stouts and porters work well
3 Scotch Bonnet or Habanero Peppers
6 cloves of garlic peeled
3 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoon chopped scallions green and white parts
¼ teaspoon fresh ginger grated with a microplane
1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1 tablespoon Chinese 5 Spice powder
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon Kosher or Sea salt
3 lbs chicken wings legs, thighs (bone in, skin on)

Instructions

Add all ingredients (except the chicken) to a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.
Add the chicken to a resalable gallon sized plastic bag (use two if necessary), pour the sauce over the chicken. Close the bag, removing as much air as possible. Refrigerate over night and up to two days, turning once or twice during marinating.
Preheat grill to medium high.
Grill the chicken, turning occasionally, until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Move to upper rack of the grill to finish cooking once the exterior is as dark as you prefer it.

Chocolate Stout Frapp-Brew-ccino

15.06.2015 12 Comments

Chocolate Stout Frapp-Brew-ccino

There is a point in every day that the clock tips from coffee-drinking hour to beer-consumption o’clock. It’s a gradual transition, the coffee cravings are slowly pushed aside by your desire for a beer that’s beckoning you from the fridge. In the middle of these two worlds is a bit of a beverage gray area, an afternoon slot where a crossover can take place. Beer and coffee, both are accepted. Coffee beer had this time in mind when it was being brewed. A beverage no-mans-land. Because coffee beers exists, you no longer have to choose between these two well-loved drinks.

But what is a coffee beer?

Brewers are magically creative people, constantly chasing new flavor combinations, new ways to brew, waking up in the middle of the night to jot down beer concepts to flush out the following day. Most brewers start the day in a similar way, a steaming cup of coffee in their hands, rubber boots pounding the wet cement between fermenters and mash tuns, checking batches, sampling wort, mashing in. Coffee still fresh in their mouths as they make giant batches of beer. Coffee and beer never seemed a peculiar combination to this set.

Coffee can be added to beer in a variety of ways. Most commonly is right from the beans. Either ground and added to large bags that function like tea bags, or whole beans added during brewing, the beans are steeped to extract the flavors. On occasion brewers use brewed coffee or espresso. Brewers have a natural affinity for local ingredients, you can bet that in most cases craft breweries will seek out high quality, local, craft beans. Most beers that are infused with coffee are dark beers, like porters and stouts. But don’t ask a brewer to limit themselves or fit within any box. Cream ales have been used and Fort George Brewing makes a coffee IPA called Java The Hop. For this recipe, a bold coffee stout or porter is the way you want to go.

A few to seek out:

Great Divide// Espresso Oak Aged Yeti

Founders // Breakfast Stout

Surly // Coffee Bender

Ballast Point // Victory at Sea

Alesmith // Speedway Stout

Southern Tier // Mokah

Lagunitas // Cappuccino Stout

Schlafly // Coffee Stout

Stone // Coffee Milk Stout

Chocolate Stout Frapp-Brew-ccino

Print Recipe

Prep Time 5

Servings 2 servings

Ingredients

¾ cup espresso or very strong coffee chilled
¾ cup half and half
¾ cup espresso or chocolate stout
¼ cup chocolate syrup
¼ cup chocolate chips
2 tbs sugar
2 cups ice

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a blender.
Blend until smooth.
Serve immediately.

Chocolate Stout & Blackberry Shortcakes

03.06.2015 3 Comments

Chocolate Stout & Blackberry Shortcakes

You and I, we have a very odd relationship.

I tell you stories, like that time I almost died in Morocco, or about that time I was asked to do porn. I give you recipes that I hope you like, and answer your question about beer and how to get chicken skin super crispy. And you tweet me pictures of the dishes of mine that you make, and email me about how your soon-to-be in-laws now love you because you made them Honey Mustard Stout Chicken, or that you finally know what you were always doing wrong to screw up baked Mac N Cheese, and now you make the creamiest Mac in town.

And I love all of that. The tweets especially, those make my day. But you have to admit, this is odd. And I hope that someday we meet, I’ll buy you a beer, and then you buy me one. And after a few, I’ll tell you all to stories I won’t post.

Someday. Beers and inappropriate stories all around.

Chocolate Stout & Blackberry Shortcakes

Print Recipe

Ingredients

1 ½ cups of flour
½ cup cocoa powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup sugar
½ cup 8 tbs butter, cut into small cubes
¼ cup whole milk
½ cup stout beer plus 1 tbs, divided (optional)
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint blackberries

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a food processor, add the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, baking soda and sugar; pulse to combine.
Add the butter; process until well combined.
Add milk and 1/2 cup of stout, process until combined.
Drop 6 mounds of dough onto a baking (or lightly oil your hands and form into balls) that has been covered with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Bake at 350 F for 16 to 18 minutes or until the top is dry and slightly springy when touched. Remove from oven, allow to cool.
In the bowl of a stand mixer add the cream, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and tablespoon of stout (if using); beat until soft peaks form, about 4 minutes.
Split the shortcakes, fill with whipped cream and blackberries.

Black and Tan Stout Cake

29.05.2015 11 Comments

The first time I made a cake I did everything wrong.

I didn’t care what the directions said, I was going to do it my way, because that made way more sense. I was just going to add all the ingredients at once, because that saves time. And the greasing and flouring of the pans, I had no idea what this meant, and it sounded like a lot of work. So I skipped it. I didn’t check the oven temperate, I just turned it on. And then the frosting, I did the same thing. It ended up looking like cottage cheese. And the cake didn’t come out of the pan, and because the batter wasn’t mixed well, and the butter was still in lumps, it had crater like pock marks where the butter lumps had melted.

But I ate it anyway, with my lumpy frosting.

I’ve made a thousand cakes since then, but that’s the one that I learned the most from. That’s the one I remember. I learned that directions matter, that softened butter is an important thing, that steps count, as does oven temperate. I learned that if you’re going to all the work to make a cake from scratch, you should respect the process and enjoy the time. Or just go buy one.

Be all in or all out, but don’t half way make a cake. If you’re going to do it, make it count. And enjoy every minute.

Black and Tan Stout Cake

Print Recipe

Servings 10 servings

Ingredients

Cake:

1/2 cup butter softened
2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup chocolate stout
1 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Frosting:

1 cup heavy cream
3 8 oz packages cream cheese
Pinch salt
1/3 cup pale ale or brown ale
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 lbs powdered sugar
1 3.5 oz bar dark chocolate, grated (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
In the bowl of a stand mixer add the butter and sugar, beat until well combined, about 5 minutes.
Add the eggs and the vanilla, beating until well combined, scraping the bottom of the mixer to insure the butter is well incorporated into the mixture.
Add the sour cream, oil and beer, stir until well combined.
Stop the mixer, sprinkle with salt, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda, stir until just combined.
Grease and flour 3, 9-inch, cake pans. Divide batter evenly between the three pans.
Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched.
Allow to cool for 20 minutes, transfer to a wire rack, allow to cool completely.
Add the cream to a stand mixer, beat on high until medium peaks form, about 4 minutes. Transfer whipped cream to a separate bowl.
In the stand mixer (no need to clean between jobs), add the cream cheese. Beat on high until light and fluff, about 6 minutes.
Add the salt, beer, vanilla extract. Slowly build up speed, beat until well incorporated. Add the powdered sugar, beat until well combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream.
Plate one layer of cake, top with frosting. Add another cake layer, top with frosting. Add the final layer and frost the cake with remaining icing.
Press the grated chocolate into the sides of the cake, if desired.

Bourbon Stout Cherries + What is A Barrel Aged Beer?

28.05.2015 13 Comments

Bourbon Stout Cherries

We would love to pretend like barrel aged beer is something a trend setting, bearded, flannel wearing brewer invented just a handful of years ago, igniting a craft beer phenomenon that’s taken over the bottle shops.

But that’s not the case. In the dawn of civilization, when beer and humanity where in their infancy, beer wasn’t just aged in wood barrels, but brewed, fermented and stored in wooden barrels. We’ve recently rediscovered the beautiful flavors oak barrels transmit into our beers. The caramel, vanilla, fruit and toffee, along with a huge kick of warm alcohol to our favorite brews, make these beers to seek out.

What is barrel aging?

You can age any beer in a barrel, some styles just happen to get there more frequently. Most beers that are chosen for barrel aging are usually darker, maltier beers. Think: stouts, porters, brown ales or scotch ales. Once the beer is brewed and ready for aging, it’s transferred to a wooden, usually oak, barrel. Breweries generally buy these barrels from wineries or distilleries, there is only one brewery in the world that makes their own, Rogue Ales in Portland. Most of the time these are barrels that were perviously used to age wine or spirits. Bourbon barrels are the most common. Since these barrels had previously housed bourbon for years, the wood is still soaked with the liquor. As the beer ages in the barrels, the beer soaks up the liquor, taking on the flavors of the previous tenant. Beer is aged for as little as one month and as long as several years, but most commonly just less than a year. Barrel aged beers have an intensely boozy flavor, and a much higher ABV than most beer. They are best served in small amounts in snifter or tulip glasses.

I’m a sucker for a good barrel aged stout. These are beers to share, beers to sample, beers that you don’t forget. For these boozy cherries, perfect for your next cocktail, I used Track #10 from The Lost Abbey. A beer that should be shared, and can’t be forgotten.

Bourbon Stout Cherries

Print Recipe

Servings 1 /2 pound

Ingredients

1/2 cup Bourbon
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup barrel aged stout
½ lbs Bing cherries pitted

Instructions

Add the bourbon, sugar, and stout to a saucepan. Simmer until sugar has dissolved.
Add the cherries to a re-sealable jar, pour bourbon/beer mixture over the cherries. Allow to sit at room temperature for one hour. Seal and refrigerate for at least two days before serving.

Chocolate Stout S’Mores Icebox Pie

01.05.2015 8 Comments

Chocolate Stout S’Mores Icebox Pie: no bake, ten minutes prep.

I had a conversation with a group of brewers the other day about water, a conversation that reminded me of what is at the heart of most brewers.

They were concerned about how much water the beer industry uses in the midst of a drought. It didn’t matter that beer uses far less water than other beverages, that it doesn’t even come close to the top five most water-consuming drinks, or the top 20 food products. It was about them giving back, figuring out how to be better, do better, give more back.

I see this spirit in most of the craft beer world. I see start-up breweries run by owners still working day jobs to make ends meet. I see most breweries make little to nothing on 6-packs, some even lose money. I see brewers who make far less than people think, giving to charities in their neighborhoods. I see breweries that aren’t even breaking even after 4 years talk about how lucky they are to do what they do. So why do they do? Because they can’t imagine doing anything else. Because they love it.

People who are in craft beer never talk about how much it costs to buy. It’s expensive to make, for what you get, it’s a sold at bargain prices. If beer had the mark-up that soda does, it would easily cost over $100 for a six-pack. Sure, brewers could mark up their beer, make more. But no brewer gets into beer to get rich, and you can see that when you meet one.

So please don’t complain about the cost of craft beer, you’re not the one who has to figure out how to balance the ledgers at the end of the month.

Chocolate Stout S’Mores Icebox Pie

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Crust

9 graham cracker sheets
1/4 cup brown
4 tbs butter melted

Filling

1/3 cup chocolate stout
2 tbs unsweetened Cocoa
1 1/3 cups 8.5wt oz bittersweet chocolate chips
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
¼ cup powdered sugar
pinch salt

Topping

3 cups mini marshmallows

Instructions

Add the graham crackers and brown sugar to a food processor, process until just fine crumbs remain. While the mixer is running, add the melted butter until well combined.
Press into the bottom of a spring form pan in an even layer until well compacted.
Add the chocolate stout, cocoa, and chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl, microwave on high until melted, stirring frequently, about 90 seconds.
In the bowl of a stand mixer add the vanilla, heavy cream, powdered sugar and salt. Beat on high until medium peaks form. Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the chocolate until combined. Stir until well combined.
Pour over the crust in an even layer.
Top with marshmallows, freeze until set, about 2 hours.
Before serving toast the marshmallows with a culinary torch until blacked to desired degree.

Honey Balsamic Beer Glazed Shrimp Skewers

24.04.2015 11 Comments

Honey Balsamic Beer Glazed Shrimp Skewers

"What’s your favorite beer?"

It’s a question get asked all the time. The problem is, it’s a trap. There is no right answer. If I talk about well-distributed beers I love, "Black Butte Porter is a great beer," or "Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar is one of my favorite brown ales," I’ve disappointed people looking for insider knowledge.

If I talk about the whales (hard to find beers), "Pliny is a great beer, but so is Heady Topper," people see me as a snob who’s just following the craft beer sheep pack. If I mention a beer they have never heard of, "Wow, Blitz Pack from Huminstat Brewing is amazing," they have no frame of reference, maybe it’s a terrible beer, or maybe I just made it up (I did).

The real issue is that I don’t have an answer, and it’s mostly a bullshit question. I don’t have a favorite food either, it changes with my mood and what I feel like eating that day. My favorite beer does the same, and I like beer that lives in harmony with the food on my plate.

When I go to a beer bar I ask the bartender what he drinks, or if there is anything exciting on tap right now. Anything special release? Anything new? There are days when I just want a stout, and during hop harvest season I want to drink all the fresh hopped beers I can find.

If I go to a brewery that specializes in a specific style, give me one of those. Maybe it’s because I’m not picky, I’m a very go-with-the-flow person. Or maybe I just believe in adventure over comfort. Or maybe I just love all the beer.

So the answer to the question, "What’s your favorite beer?" is most likely, "Whatever you want to serve me."

Because you buy the beer, and I’ll make the food. I’ll drink what you bring, and you’ll eat what I make.

Deal?

Honey Balsamic Beer Glazed Shrimp Skewers

Print Recipe

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

½ cup stout or porter beer
½ cup honey
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp red chili sauce such as sriracha
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp ground ginger
1 lbs raw shrimp shell and vein removed
salt
2 tbs chopped green onions or chives

Instructions

Preheat grill to medium high.
In a large pot over high heat add the beer, honey, vinegar, chili sauce, garlic powder, and ginger. Bring to a boil. Stirring occasionally, boil until bubbles have mostly subsided and turned glossy and the mixture has thickened, about ten minutes.
Thread the shrimp onto metal or pre-soaked wooden skewers, sprinkle with salt, brush with glaze.
Cook on the grill until cooked through and glaze has slightly caramelized, about 2 minutes per side. Sprinkle with chopped green onions prior to serving.

Stout Beef Barbacoa Tacos

22.04.2015 13 Comments

Stout Beef Barbacoa Tacos

The way New Yorkers feel about hot dogs is the way people from LA feel about tacos.

While Los Angeles is a very live and let live society, and while you are free to love and believe what you want as long as you aren’t hurting anyone, we do not extend this courtesy to your taco eating habits. There is a right way and a wrong way. We don’t have access to the words best recipes, pass down from generations of grandmothers from all over the world just so that you can add some iceberg lettuce and shredded cheddar cheese, that’s not OK with us.

The acceptable format for tacos is this: homemade corn tortillas, a protein (even if it’s vegetables), chopped onions and cilantro, and possibly a few dashes of hot sauce. That’s it, your taco is complete. Save the cheese and sour cream for your nachos, and the lettuce for your burger, this is how tacos are made.

It might be a coincidence that the hop-heavy IPAs of the West Coast go beautifully with spice and grease of the perfect taco. Just like it might be another coincidence that the maltier beers of the East Coast go so well with those New York hot dogs, or that the rich stouts of Ireland are a perfect combination with a pot pie. But then again, food and beer have always lived in harmony, this is just more evidence of that.

It’s an incredible reminder to keep an open mind and an open palate when traveling. Eat how the locals eat, checking your food preferences at the boarding gate, and drink how they drink. You might just be surprised at how much you love an IPA and a taco without Supreme in the title.

I served this with Homemade Beer Corn Tortillas, so good you’ll never go back to store-bought.

Stout Beef Barbacoa Tacos

Print Recipe

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

1 dried Chile Negro pod
1 dried Ancho chili pod
1 tbs olive oil
1 white onion cut into large sections
1.5 lbs pounds chuck steak cubed
3 chipotle peppers in adobo
1 tbs adobo sauce
1 cup stout beer
1 cup beef broth
4 cloves garlic peeled
juice from one lime
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
12 homemade corn tortillas
1 red onion chopped
½ cup cilantro chopped

Instructions

Heat oven to 300.
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the dried chili pods, toasting on each side until warm and slightly crisp, about 2 minutes. Remove and allow to cool, tear into pieces and add to a blender or large food processor.
In the Dutch oven heat the olive oil, add the onions and cook until slightly charred on each side. Add the onions to the blender along with the chipotle, adobo sauce, beer, broth, garlic, lime juice and vinegar. Blend until smooth.
Return the Dutch oven to heat, add the beef cubes, cooking until seared on all sides, about 6 minutes.
Add the blender sauce, reduce heat to a simmer, stirring for about a minute.
Cover the pot and transfer to the oven. Cook at 300 until the beef is falling apart, between 3 and 4 hours.
Remove from oven, shread in the pot using two forks.
Transfer to a serving bowl along with all the sauce.
Serve with corn tortillas, onions and cilantro.

Blackberry Stout Mini Pies with Beer Whipped Cream

08.04.2015 9 Comments

Blackberry Stout Mini Pies with Beer Whipped Cream

You fall in love with beer the way you fall in love with music. Good music, the kind that gets into your bones and moves your soul, the kind you can’t explain to someone who frowns when they hear the same opening chord that makes you giddy.

You can dissect music, break down the lyrics, examine every note. You can categorize it, but you can’t really explain why it moves you, why a live recording with errors and missed keys has a vibe that’s better than the perfect Pro Tools-ed edition.

Beer isn’t different. You can break down the ingredients, explain the process, decide why one beer is better balanced than others in that style, but you can’t convey why you really love it. You can take the Jack and Coke out of your friend’s hand, replace it with Left Hand Milk Stout and explain why it tastes like love and James Brown music. But you can’t replace the confusion when he doesn’t get it.

You just have to accept that some people just won’t fall in the same love that you do. Just like if John Bonham rose from the grave, reunited with the rest of Led Zeppelin, there are some people who would go to the show, nod, smile and check the clock, hoping it would be over soon.

Some times I like to introduce Jack and Coke guy to a new beer, even if he doesn’t get it. And sometimes I just want to go the show with someone who wants to try to get as close to the stage as possible, begging for one more encore. Sometimes I just need to drink beer with a beer person.

I used this Pale Ale Pie Dough recipe.

Blackberry Stout Mini Pies with Beer Whipped Cream

Print Recipe

Servings 12 mini pies

Ingredients

For the pies:

Pie dough enough for one crust
1 lbs blackberries fresh or frozen
1½ cups powdered sugar
1 cup stout
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch

For the whipped cream:

1 cup heavy cream chilled
½ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs stout

Instructions

Roll the pie dough out on a lightly floured surface. Using a 3 to 4 inch circle cutter, cut out 12 circles (if you don’t have a cutter this size, a wine or margarita glass works well).
Press into the wells of a muffin tin, poke holes in the bottom of each crust.
Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until light golden brown, allow to cool.
In a pot over medium-high heat, stir together the blackberries, sugar, beer, salt and cornstarch. Bring to a simmer and stir until very thick, about 10 minutes (frozen berries will take longer).
Spoon filling into the crusts.
Add the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixer, beat on high until soft peaks form. Slowly add the beer, mixing until peaks return.
Spoon the whipped cream on the pies. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.