Here it is, just like I promised. Beer Chicken Piccata, to go with those beer noodles I made.
The first time I ever had Piccata I was a completely broke college student traveling through Italy. And it was cheap. It turned out to be one of the most memorable dishes I had on that trip, moving it to the top of my list of Italian Favorites. If I see it on a menu, especially those family run strip mall joints that I love so much, I can’t resist ordering it.
If you are familiar with this dish, you can see that this is a pretty standard Piccata with the white wine replaced with beer. You need to choose a low hop beer with notes of citrus, an IPA will overwhelm this sauce.
Filet each chicken breast in half horizontally, making each chicken breast thinner, not smaller. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the chicken and pound with a meat mallet or a rolling pin until about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
Sprinkle on all sides of the chicken with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour until well coated.
In a pan over medium high heat, melt the butter. Once the butter is melted, add the chicken and cook on each side until browned, about 3 minutes per side. Remove from pan.
In a clean pan melt the remaining butter. Sprinkle with 1 1/2 tbs flour and whisk until combined. Add the beer, broth and lemon juice and cook until warmed and thickened, about 3 minutes. Add the capers and stir.
Add the chicken to a plate on top of a bed of rice or pasta. Top with sauce, serve immediately.
Literary Grief. This is the term I use for the moment you finish a great book and realize that it’s gone. This sort of anchor to those free moments in your life is now spent and the characters that ran behind your consciousness during the busy moments of your day, beckoning you back to the pages have run their course. You miss having more left to discover, but all mysteries have been unearthed and the plot has crescendoed. Most recently for me, that has been Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton.
Inspired writing and an intriguing story peppered with mentions of thought-provoking recipes that I couldn’t help but mark for later reference.
One of those recipes was a reference to a Jerk marinade that Gabrielle still makes on a regular basis. Her only notes about it were just that it contained Stout, Scotch Bonnet Peppers, and Honey as well as the fact that the recipe’s ingredients totaled an upwards of 25.
The Stout Jerk marinade that I have created falls very short of the 25 ingredient threshold, but the inspiration to use stout, scotch bonnet and honey is from the above book. As fascinated as I am with Gabrielle, and grateful that I was able to eat at Prune years ago, I would bet all of my recipes on the hunch that she may have less than favorable opinions about lowly Food Bloggers.
After all, I’ve never slept on a pile of chefs coats between 12-hour shifts. I’ve never scraped mold out of a walk in. I’ve never reached calloused fingers into a deep fryer or worked one handed with a blood-soaked bandage covered with a finger cot slowing my progress. I worked as a waitress in the front of the house, but I always knew my place. I begged to be allowed do deep prep when we were slow, took the fall for wasted produce when the owner would hassle the over-worked line cooks, and made sure the cooks "water" cups were full when we were slammed. But I know my place even now, in the world of food and I am still, in so many ways, "front of the house" hoping one day to be in the kitchen doing more than just deep prep.
Here is a jerk marinade, inspired by Blood Bones & Butter and using Stout Beer for its flavor and its meat tenderizing properties.
1/2cupstout beerI used Storm King Stout, by Victory Brewing
4Scotch Bonnet or Habanero Peppers
6clovesof garlicpeeled
3tbsponzu sauce
3tbsbrown sugar
1tspdry mustard powder
2tspChinese 5 Spice powder
1tspfresh ground black pepper
3tbschopped shallots
1tbsfresh squeezed lemon juice
2tbshoney
1tspKosher or Sea salt
3lbschicken wingslegs, thighs
Instructions
Add all of the ingredients (other than the chicken) to a food processor and process until smooth, about 2 minutes.
Add chicken to a large Ziplock style bag, pour marinade over the chicken and seal, removing as much air as possible.
Allow to chill and marinate in the fridge for 8-24 hours, rotating about every 3 hours to redistribute the marinate.
Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Remove the chicken from the marinade and arrange on the sheet, spooning a bit of the remaining marinade over the chicken. Bake at 375 for 18-22 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Baking time will depend on the size of chicken you use. For very small chicken wings, start to check after 12 minutes.
Barbecue debates rage on all over the south, even as we virtually speak. The most sweltering of all topics is Sauce versus Rub. Rub people claiming that good meat doesn’t need to be drowned in sauce, and sauce people attesting to the holy balance of flavors between sauce and meat, and then there is the apathetic middle who just shrug and use both.
And even when you eat your way across the Barbecue Belt, sampling the best of both slow cooked worlds, and finally take up residence in a meat preparation camp, the disputes don’t end. If you decide to consort with the rowdy sauce crowd, you have more decisions to make. Are you a vinegar based sauce person or tomato based? Molasses or brown sugar? Mustard sauce or chili sauce?
I’ve decided I’m a sauce girl, but I will never turn away good Slow Cooked BBQ Rubbed Spare Ribs. And although I prefer a deep sweet tomato sauce with a kick of spice, I’ll eat every last bit of a Golden Mustard Pulled Pork Sandwich.
Whether you decide on sauce, or just a great marinade, beer is an ideal addition. Beer is a natural meat tenderizer and a deeply flavored stout is a great way to go.
I used Bear Republic, Big Bear Black Stout. A fantastic stout, and as Beer Store Beer Guy told me last week, "Bear Republic’s Stout is one of the most consistent beers I’ve ever had. It always tastes the same, no matter what batch it came from." Hard thing to accomplish.
In a pot over medium heat, add the oil and allow to get hot but not smoking. Add the garlic and stir until you can smell it, about 30 seconds. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until combined. Allow to cook until thickened, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.
The first time I made marinara was a complete accident.
Just a few months after I nearly accidentally graduated college, I got a job working with teenage gang members in South Central Los Angeles. You are free to laugh at the idea of a very white girl, who grew up on a farm in Eastern Washington, working in South Central. With gang kids.
I sat on one side of a light oak dining table in a small Group Home, a transitional respite for kids who had been released from jail but who were still on probation, to talk with Dominick. He was from a rough area of Compton, and had found his way to the seat across from me via a GTA charge and a hot temper. But to me, he was a baby faced 14-year-old who secretly liked Whitney Houston. This was our first meeting, and part of my job was to compile a list of his "Triggers." Anything that made him angry enough to lash out, to do something that could land his ass back in jail. We both had the same goal: get him back home. Most kids, in my short 4 months of experience all had a very similar trigger. This usually centered around someone "talking shit" about them, their mom, or their crew. Maybe a handful of other miscellaneous and understandable offenses.
When I asked Dominick what triggered him, what drove him to a rage that welled up in him a feeling of violence that once caused him to send a chair on a journey through a class room window, his face fell flat.
"What?" I was so curious, "What makes you that mad?"
He took a deep breath and lowered his voice, "When those mother fuckin' girls make human pyramids."
I laughed so hard I felt bad about it. His young face broke open into a sweet smile, "Jackie, I’m not gonna lie.." He started to giggle, "Pisses me the fuck off, I have no idea why. I want to push those chicks right over."
Fair enough. My job was to teach him how to deal with his anger, no matter what triggered it.
He wanted to learn how to cook, and he wanted to make Spaghetti. He thought that cooking might help him channel his anger. We didn’t have any sauce, but his group home staff had just come into ownership of 10 pounds of tomatoes, so we made do.
Because of Dominick, and his human pyramid hating ways, I will always love a good, homemade, can free, marinara.
Rub the head of garlic until about half of the papery white skin comes off. Cut a small amount of the tip off the head of the garlic, just enough to expose all of the cloves. Place on a small piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with about 1 tbs of olive oil. Fold the foil tightly around the garlic, place on a baking sheet. Cut the tomatoes into quarters and place them on the baking sheet along with the garlic packet.
Roast the tomatoes and the garlic at 400 for 20-30 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft and the skin starts to peel back from the flesh. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
The skin of the tomatoes should be very easy to remove at this point, peel the skin off the tomatoes and discard. Place a fine mesh sieve or strainer over a bowl. Scoop the seeds into the strainer and place the remaining part of the peeled and seeded tomato into a bowl, repeat until all of the tomatoes have been seeded. Allow the seeds to continue to drain while you make the rest of the sauce.
In a pot over medium high heat, add 2 tbs olive oil. Add the onions and carrots, sauté until carrots are soft and onions are translucent. Add the beer, seeded and peeled tomatoes and whatever juice has accumulated in the bowl beneath the tomato seeds. Discard the seeds. Remove the head of garlic from the foil packet and squeeze the soft head until the cloves comes out and into the sauce. Add the salt, pepper and basil.
Reduce heat to maintain a low simmer, allow to cook and reduce until thickened, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
If you want a smoother sauce, add to a food processor and process until smooth.
Use this with my Homemade Beer Ricotta to make a beer infused Lasagna or stuffed Rigatoni.
There are foods that I relent to making from scratch, taking hours to carve a meal out of whole ingredients. Hours spend on homemade pasta, breads, pie dough and sauces. The extra time is more than worth it for real food, feed to those I love from the earth, to my hands to the table.
And then there are things that take so little time and effort, I am amazed that it took me so long to start making them from scratch.
Like whipped cream, tortillas and ricotta.
The active time on this recipe is so little, and the reward is so great, I will never buy it again. No special equipment or difficult to find ingredients. No extensive aging times or unusual techniques. Just a few simple ingredients and a stove.
Spread it on bread and top with fresh vegetables.
Make homemade ricotta ice cream.
Stuffed cannellonis.
Ricotta Cheesecake.
You might need to make a double batch.
This is recipe that needs a wheat beer. The citrusy breadyness comes through in really great way. I used Colete By Great Divide. The flavors were perfect for this ricotta and lent themselves well to either sweet or savory recipes using the cheese.
I was grateful that I bought a six pack, this is a beer that will make it’s way in my normal drinking and cooking rotation.
Homemade Beer Ricotta
3 cups whole milk (do not use Ultra-Pasterized, it won’t work)
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup Saison beer, Plus 2 tbs divided
3 tbs Apple Cider Vinegar (you can also use lemon juice, or a combination of the two)
Makes about 1 1/4 cups
In a pot over medium high heat (do not use an aluminum pan) add the milk, cream, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/3 cup beer.
Clip a cooking thermometer onto the side of the pan.
Bring the liquid to 190 degrees, stirring occasionally to prevent the bottom from scorching. Keep a close eye on it, the liquid reaches and passes 190 very quickly and you don’t want it rising above 200.
Remove from heat, add the 2 tbs beer and then the vinegar (or lemon juice) and stir gently once or twice. It should curdle immediately. Allow to sit undisturbed for about 5 minutes.
Line a large strainer with 1 or 2 layers of cheese cloth, place the strainer in the sink over a large bowl.
Pour the ricotta into the strainer and allow to drain for 15 to 30 minutes and up to an hour.
After 15 minutes you will have a smooth creamy spreadable cheese. As you continue to allow it to drain, it will become more and more firm. It will also continue to firm once it is chilled, remove it from the strainer before it reaches the firmness level you want as it will continue to firm up in the fridge.
Place in an air tight container and store in the fridge.
Remember the Beer Cooking Scale I told you about last month, the one I want to invent? The one that would let you know the approximate level of Beeryness the final product has? This recipe is at both ends of that yet-to-be-invented scale’s spectrum. The beer butter has a kick you in the mouth beer flavor that will be heartily enjoyed by beer enthusiast, and the shrimp has a subtle note of beer in it’s finish. If you are a Kick You In The Mouth kinda person, cooking for a Maybe Just A Touch kind of person, this will satisfy you both. You get a butter full of intense beer flavor to slather onto whatever you so choose, and your little friend gets a plate of shrimp with slight notes of beer. Harmony between the two of you once again.
For this recipe I used a Saison brewed with sage, giving really great herb notes to the finished product. This is a special release beer from Epic Brewing called Utah Saison Sage #2.
If you can’t find this beer, look for a Saison with herb or citrus notes.
Roasted Garlic Beer Butter
1 head of garlic
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup Saison beer
1 stick of butter, softened
Preheat oven to 425. Rub several layers of the white papery skin off the head of garlic, leaving a light layer still in tact to keep the bulb together. Cut off the top point of the head, exposing the cloves inside.
Place on a sheet of foil, drizzle with olive oil and fold the foil tightly around the garlic. Place in a baking dish and roast in a 425 degree oven until the cloves are soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
While the garlic is roasting, add the beer to a pot on the stove. Cook until reduced to 3 tbs, about 10 minutes. (To lower the level of beer flavor in the butter, reduce 1/4 cup of beer by half.)
In a food processor, add the softened butter and the beer. Squeeze the head of garlic until the cloves push out, adding just the cloves to the food processor and discarding the papery skin.
Process the butter until smooth. Add to an air tight container and store in the fridge.
Roasted Garlic Beer Butter Shrimp, two methods
3 tbs beer butter
10 shrimp
pinch of salt and pepper
Metohd one: Grilling
Preheat grill. Melt the beer butter in a microwave safe dish. Skewer the shrimp with a heat safe skewers(or water soaked wooden skewers). Sprinkle with salt and pepper, brush liberally with melted butter. Grill until pink and cooked through, about 2-3 minutes per side. Brush occasionally with butter while cooking.
Method two: Stove Top
In a pan over medium high heat, add the butter and stir until melted. Sprinkle the shrimp with salt and pepper, add to the pan and saute until cooked through about 5 minutes.
Beer and bacon in a spreadable form, this may be the best thing to ever come out of my kitchen. It is a simple food, a few ingredients that over time become large with flavor and possibilities. A conversation piece, something your guest won’t forget, or a handmade gift for those carnivorous beer lovers in your life. Although the cooking time is long, your active time is relatively short.
This is the perfect way to spend a lazy sunday afternoon: The smell of bacon welling up around you in a sun soaked kitchen with Delta Spirit rising from the speakers and the rest of the demanding world no longer existing. Just you, music and the transformation of ingredients happening on your stove. Cooking, creating, lingering in my kitchen gives a very grounded feeling to my over extend life. A reminder that I need to slow down and enjoy, just be. A recipe that ask little of me other that the time it takes to simply simmer is a reminder of that, just be.
In a large pot or dutch oven, cook the bacon, working in batches if neccessary. Remove the bacon from the pan and allow to cool and then roughly chop. Drain off the bacon grease from the pot, leaving only about 1 tbs bacon drippings in the bottom of the pot. Return the pot to heat and cook the onions until soft and translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for about 30 seconds. Add 1 cup beer and both vinegars, scraping to deglaze the bottom of the pot. Add the brown sugar and the bacon, reduce heat to maintain a simmer. Place the lid on the pot at an angle, allowing to vent the steam. Cook until reduced to a thick and syrupy consistency, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a food processor along with remaining 1/4 cup beer and pulse until most of the large pieces have been chopped.
There’s a good chance that when you think about cooking with beer, a meat recipe comes to mind. Your Dad’s beer marinated ribs? Beer can chicken? Beer braised pork? There’s a good reason for that.
Not just for the spectacular flavors that craft beer can impart on the meat, but because beer, especially high acid beer, acts as a meat tenderizer by breaking down tissue.
For this recipe you are free to run the spectrum of beer styles. Most recipes I write will be accompanied by stern warning about using any beer other than the type called for, this isn’t one of those recipes. That IPA I keep shaming you into avoiding? You can even give that a try. My gut instinct with a recipe like this was to use a light, high acid beer with herb notes (basil, sage, oregano) but I opted for a porter to test my "Any Beer Goes" theory.
The porter effect, as I am now calling it, gave a "meatier" quality to the chicken. Which turned out wonderfully, and gave this a bit of a pork taste.
The beer I used for this recipe was the Payback Porter by Speakeasy. It’s a fantastic choice for a porter because the notes are similar to those I see in barbecue sauces and rubs: smoke, coffee, cocoa, and molasses.
Next time I’ll use a beer with a high acid content for a little contrast, but as far as the beer that you pick, experiment and let me know how it goes.
Beer Braised Chicken Sliders With Hoisin Beer Barbecue Sauce
Heat 2 tbs canola oil in large pot or Dutch oven. Sprinkle the chicken with salt on all sides. Place in the pot and cook on each side until browned, about 2 minutes per side. Cover with 1 1/2 cups of beer and 1/2 cup chicken broth, cover and cook for 15 – 20 minutes or until chicken is completely cooked.
While chicken is cooking, prepare barbeque sauce by warming olive oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds; add 1 cup beer, hoisin sauce, chili powder and soy sauce. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until thickened and reduced, remove from heat.
When chicken is cooked, remove from pot and allow to cool. Using two forks, shred chicken to as thin slices as possible, then add to hoisin barbeque sauce pan, tossing well to coat.
Split rolls in half across the middle to resemble small sandwich buns, fill with chicken.
In the food world you hear terms thrown around so casually. Words like confit, reduction, braise, semifreddo. I even see those words being used wrong so often, their meanings seem to change as more and more people republish inaccurate content. Braise is one of those terms.
Maybe it’s ignorance, maybe it’s an attempt to fancy-up boiled chicken to make it sound more impressive or maybe it’s just the result of blindly believing everything that’s posted online. As I post the definition of braise, I hope an inherent skepticism creeps into you, it should. Anyone can post anything online and hit "Publish". I have no editor, or fact checker, I don’t even have any consequences if I publish inaccurate content. Just the reputation as a reliable, solid source of information that is important to me, an integrity in writing that I hope to keep in tact. And for that, I’ll give you three sources, that you are free to check at your leisure.
Braise:
A cooking method by which food (usually meat or vegetables)
is first browned in fat, then cooked, tightly covered,
in a small amount of liquid at low heat for a lengthy period of time.
For this recipe I chose Allagash Black, one of my favorite beers of all time. It’s a stout that has notes of caramel, chocolate, coffee and roasted malt and such well-balanced flavors it not only incredibly perfect for mole, it’s a beer I will always list in among my Top 5 of All Time. It’s a beer that I urge you to seek out, whether you decided to make this recipe or not.
If you can’t find Allagash Black, look for a Stout with coffee and chocolate notes. This is a recipe that is on the difficult side and the flavors are in a delicate balance. Choosing the right beer will make all the difference.
Beer Braised Enchiladas with Beer Mole
6 boneless chicken thigh fillets
1 tsp kosher or sea salt
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 to 2/3 cup Stout Beer such as Allagash Black
12 tortillas
2/3 cup mozzarella cheese
For the Mole:
2 dried ancho chilies, stem and seeds removed
2 dried anaheim chilies, stem and seeds removed
2 dried guajillo chilies, stem and seeds removed
4 prunes
1 stick mexican cinnamon
1 cup Stout Beer such as Allagash Black
1/2 cup of water
1/4 cup dry roasted almonds
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup onions, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup Stout Beer such as Allagash Black
3/4 cup chicken broth
1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup tomato puree
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs creamy peanut butter
Toppings (if desired):
1/2 cup mexican crema
2 tbs chopped green onions
In a pot over medium heat, at the 3 types of dried chilies, the prunes, cinnamon stick, 1 cup beer and enough water to submerge the chilies. Bring to a boil, cover and remove from heat. Allow to soak, covered for 20 minutes.
In a skillet, add the almonds and toast over high heat, tossing frequently until toasted, about 5 minutes, remove from skillet and add to a food processor. In the same skillet, add the olive oil and allow to get hot but not smoking. Add the onions and sauté until translucent, add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Add to the food processor.
In a pot over medium high heat, add the 3/4 cup beer, 3/4 cup chicken broth and chocolate. Cook until the chocolate has melted, stirring frequently. Once the chocolate has melted, add the contents of the pot to the food processor along with the sesame oil, tomato puree, smoked paprika, sugar and peanut butter. Removed the chilies and the prunes that have been soaking from the pot and add to the food processor, discard the cinnamon stick. Turn the food processor on and puree until smooth, about five minutes. Add a bit of the soaking liquid from the chilies pot to achieve the right consistency. Return the mole to a pot on the stove to keep warm, adding more soaking liquid or hot water to thin if mole starts to thicken.
To make the chicken:
Sprinkle each side of the chicken thigh fillets with salt. Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium high heat. Add the chicken thighs and cook on each side until slightly browned. Add enough beer to barely cover the chicken, cover and reduce heat to maintain a low simmer. Allow to simmer until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and shred with two forks.
Fill warm tortillas with shredded chicken, and cheese, roll and place 3 or four on each plate. Top with mole sauce, mexican crema and green onions.
I have an analog soul, still shooting with a film camera.
I like to read real life paper books.
I write letters with pen and paper.
I like to listen to the scratchy sound of Robert Plants voice spun out of a vinyl record.
I guess I was born too late to enjoy all the good stuff. And little by little my antiquated habits are being digitized. I own a DSLR, an iPod, an iPhone and of course, a MacBook. But I will always shoot with my medium format Yashica, and I will hold out strong with my paper words inside real life pages, and I will always say Thank You with ink and a stamp.
It’s probably my primitive spirit that draws me to beers that have been around a while, staying true to what they have always been. Full Sail Amber Ale has been a pioneer in the Craft Beer world since the 1980’s, earning the distinction of the first craft beer bottled in Oregon. And just as you should all have a fierce respect for film cameras, vinyl records and paper books, you should also put Craft Beer Pioneers among those ranks.
In a sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the jalapenos and Serrano, cook until soften, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, add the beer and then the remaining ingredients. Allow to simmer for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Add the blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Store in an air tight container in the fridge.
Let’s start by talking a little bit about steak, and how to cook it at home. Before you even start your meal, you need to know how to buy steak and what those stickers on the package mean.
If you are lucky enough to be cozy with your local butcher, you can disregard this next bit of trivia. If you buy your steaks at the grocery store, you’ll need to know this in order to get an amazing steak on to your dinner plate.
While I’m the first in line to let everyone know that cheap cuts of meat can turn in to fantastic meals, this is not a dish that will give you memorable results with low quality beef. You must spend on steak.
That being said, the most expensive cuts of meat aren’t always worth the price but knowing how to decipher the labeling will help you balance price vs quality.
Prime, Choice, and Select.
Prime is the best meat for that cut and will, most likely, taste the best once cooked, but it almost always cost the most.
Don’t even bother with Select, it’s the lowest quality of meat. Unless you are a "well-done" steak person, then it doesn’t really matter, an overcooked piece of meat taste the same regardless of quality.
Choice is a great option and a middle ground between price and quality if you are on a budget. It’s far better than Select, but not as expensive as Prime.
Don’t fall for the “Inspected by USDA” sticker, all meat is inspected by the USDA and that sticker just means that quality was so poor, it didn’t even qualify for a "Select" sticker. If there is no indication if the meat is Prime, Choice or Select, the odds are that the meat didn’t meet standards for any of those categories. In other words: don’t buy an unmarked steak.
Another important step in pan-searing a steak at home is removing excess moisture from the outside of the steak. I know that it seems counter-intuitive to remove moisture when the goal is a juicy steak, but this is the only way to get a good sear and avoid gray meat. Pat the steak dry with paper towels before seasoning it.
Salt is another essential component in making steak, regardless of the cooking method. Salt the outside of your meat generously. This will tenderize the steak, brighten, and enhance the natural flavors. Without it, your meat will be slightly tougher and have much more of a "flat" taste to it.
A hot pan and a 350°F degree oven is the combination that you need to achieve a crust on the outside and the perfect amount of pink on the inside of the steak.
For the mushrooms sauce, I used Steelhead Extra Stout by Mad River Brewing. A smooth, creamy stout with a surprisingly light finish. A stout lover’s dream, a great beer to drink with dinner or dessert.
Pan-Seared Steak with Stout Beer Mushroom Sauce
Doneness is a hard thing to explain, but there are several ways to know if your steak is where you want it to be without the dreaded slice through the middle that will compromise your overall results.
First, there is the temperature check, but this does require a stab to your meat which will allow some juices to flow out, but far less than cutting it open. Get out an oven-safe thermometer and push it halfway through the middle of your steak. Keep in mind that your meat will continue to cook an additional 5 degrees once remove from the oven so keep that in mind when your test the temperature, removing the meat about 5 degrees before it reaches the level you want it.
126°F Rare
131°F Medium Rare
145°F Medium
154°F Medium Well
The second way is the feel test. This is what I use, and if you cook enough steak, you will be familiar with how your steaks feel once they are done. Here is an old line cook secret to understanding how a steak should feel once it’s done:
Put your thumb and forefinger together. With your other hand, feel the fleshy part of your palm, just below your thumb. That is what a rare steak will feel like. Then put your thumb and middle finger together. The fleshy part of your palm will now feel medium-rare. Thumb and ring finger: medium-well. This is a way to get the doneness you want without having the unsightly cut marks in your beautiful steak.
Here is a great article about the feel test, with pictures of what I’m talking about.
Allow your steak to rest for five minutes while you finish the sauce.
Top each steak with mushroom sauce, serve with stout beer.
In a pan over medium heat, melt 3 tbs butter. Add the shallots and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and stir. Add the mushrooms and cook until the mushrooms are soft and dark brown, about 5 minutes. Add the olive oil if the pan starts to get dry. If you add the beer before the mushrooms are cooked through, they will absorb too much of the beer flavor.
Reduce heat to medium and add the beer and broth, allow to cook until reduce by more than half, about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. You can cook the steaks while the sauce is reducing (see below).
Once the sauce has reduced, add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
Pat the steaks dry with a paper towel, and season all sides generously with salt. Sprinkle liberally with pepper.
In a sperate pan, heat 1 tbs butter until melted and the pan is very hot but not smoking. Add the steaks and cook on each side until a brown seared crust has formed, about 2 minutes per side. Don't crowd the pan or the the cooking temperature will fall below what the steaks need for a good sear. Cook in two batches if necessary. Move steaks to a sheet pan or baking dish.
Cook in the oven for 5-7 minutes, or until desired level of doneness. Allow to rest for at least 5 minutes.
There are always exception to even the most powerful rules. This leaves a movement and an honestly to the lives we live, without the guilt of hypocrisy. The rule I am adding an addendum to is my strong allegiance to West Coast beers. Although great beer can be found nearly everywhere in the world these days, I have a powerful draw to local food and drink. I’ll make a unabashed exemption to my locavore attitude in support of my love for Allagash. In fact, Allagash Black was one of the beers I choose for my profile shot, and a fabulous example of a well crafted stout. If I ever make it up to Portland Maine, I’ll be making a very long stop at the brewery.
Today, I used Allagash’s freshman beer, their first ever product that was an undeniable success and pioneer in American Brewed Belgian Wheat Beers, The Allagash White.
Ale Steamed Salmon With Belgian Wheat Beer Bearnaise
4 Salmon Fillets, about 3 oz each
2 bottles of Allagash White
2 tbs vinegar
1 tbs finely chopped shallots
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 tbs fresh tarragon
1 tbs chervil
1 sprig fresh parsley
4 egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter
Rice or pasta for serving
Preheat oven to 350.
Place a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet, place the salmon fillets on the rack. Pour one bottle of Allagash White in the bottom of the baking sheet, making sure that the beer does not submerge the wire rack. You want at least 1/2 inch between the beer and the top of the wire rack.
Cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil, making sure to tent the foil over the salmon so that the foil does not touch the fish at all. Secure tightly, in order to trap the steam inside the foil.
Bake for 15-18 minutes or until the salmon flakes easily with a fork.
While the salmon is cooking, make the Bearnaise.
Add ½ cup of the remaining Allagash beer, the vinegar, shallots, pepper, tarragon, chervil, and parsley to a pan over medium heat. Allow to simmer and reduce until about 2 tbs of liquid remain, about ten minutes. Pour through a fin mesh strainer to remove the solids, allow to cool.
In a food processor add the 2 tbs of liquid, egg yolks and salt. Melt the butter in a sauce pan until very hot and just starting to bubble. Remove the stopper from the top of the food processor lid. Turn on the food processor, allowing to process for a few seconds before beginning to slowly pour the melted butter into the food processor while it is still running. Allow to process until well combined and frothy, about 3 minutes.
Plate the salmon over rice or pasta, pour about ¼ cup sauce over each plate.
Firefighters are a rare beast. The perfect combination of rugged bravery and compassion driven sensitivity. A sports watching, beer drinking guys-guy, who is also the first in line to pull a shivering puppy from a frozen river and then make a batch of tender homemade scones.
So what do you do if you find yourself on the daylight side of a fantastic evening, eye to eye with one these hungry beasts?
Make waffles.
Not just any waffles, beer waffles. With beer caramel sauce.
Somehow, it seems to be a rule that every fire house has at least two resident fire fighting chefs, ready for a culinary battle at all times. Making it a near certainty that the beast you woke up with is used to eating, or cooking, great food on a regular basis. Your average breakfast just won’t do.
And keep a healthy stock of Fireman’s Brew handy. Not only is it made by real life Firefighters, they even donate a portion of their profits to causes that support families of fallen Firefighters. Craft beer with a cause.
Great beer and a warm fuzzy feeling. Fireman sold separately.
Beer Waffles with Amber Ale Caramel Sauce
What To Make A Fireman For Breakfast: Beer Waffles with Amber Ale Caramel Sauce
12ozBlonde Ale or Pilsnersuch as Firemans Blonde Lager
Caramel Sauce:
12ozAmber Alesuch as Firemans Amber Ale
2cupsbrown sugarpacked
3/4cupheavy cream
1tspvanilla
2tbsbutter
Instructions
Make the caramel sauce: Add the beer to a pot over high heat and bring to a strong boil, reducing the beer to about 1 cup, about 6-10 minutes.
Remove from heat and add the brown sugar, stir until dissolved. Add a thermometer with a clip to the side of you pan, submerging the tip in the liquid, but making sure it does not hit the bottom of the pan.
Boil, without stirring (swirl the pan occasionally to redistribute the caramel sauce), until the temperature reaches between 230 degrees. Remove from heat and stir until the bubbling subsides. Add the cream, vanilla and butter, stir to combine. Allow to cool.
Make the waffles:
Heat your waffle iron according to manufacture directions.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. In another bowl, stir together the butter, milk and egg yolks, in a third bowl add the egg whites and a pinch of salt.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the milk mixture. Stir to combine. Add the Pilsner (there will be significant bubbling) stir until just combined, a few lumps are to be expected.
Whip the egg whites until light and fluffy and tripled in volume. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, whip until well combined. Stir the egg whites into the waffle batter.
Using the waffle iron, cook waffles according to manufacture directions (make sure to use butter flavored cooking spray, if called for).
