Skip to main content

Jahresarchive: 2014

Sriracha Bloody Beer with Chili Sugar Bacon + New Years Resolutions For Beer People

Sriracha Bloody Beer with Chili Sugar Bacon + New Years Resolutions For Beer People

Sriracha Bloody Beer with Chili Sugar Bacon

 >

>

We do this too often. Spinning a resolution in a sacrifice that will ultimately give way to our guilt over lack of follow through. It’s not your fault, it’s the resolution. You can spend all year giving up coffee, carbs, sugar, or sleeping in, but that’s not what we should focus on at the dawning of a brand new year. It’s not supposed to be torture, it’s meant for celebration. So don’t put yourself in a culinary time out, or throw yourself into a debt related guilt prison, give yourself a gift. Grow yourself and your interest. Save the torture and regret for Lent. If you’re a beer person, you’ve got some options. But you already knew that, you’re way more creative than those vodka soda people.

1. Get certified in beer. Make it a goal to study hard, read up, and earn yourself a Cicerone Certificate, which is a certification that proves to the world that you actually know beer. And if anyone questions you, you will now have the proof you need to silence your opposition.

2. Brew your own. If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at homebrewing, there is no better time to start. Buy a starter kit, join a homebrew club, and realize that your first batch will suck, possible explode in the fridge, and then the next one will suck less. If that doesn’t scare you off, then you’ll make a fantastic brewer someday. After you stop sucking at it (don’t worry, everyone sucks at first).

3. Go to a beer festival. There is no better way to connect with the craft beer community than to drink with us. Nearly every state has a Craft Beer Week, there are ale fests, stout fest, holiday beer fests, fresh hop fests, summer ale fests, (and on and on), in every state. Find one locally or go to a giant gathering of craft beer lovers from all over the world like The Great American Beer Festival.

4. Invest in glassware. You’ll be shocked at the flavor difference between your favorite beer when you drink it from shaker pint (or, god forbid, a mason jar) and when you sample it from a glass made specifically for that beer style. If you appreciate beer, and especially if you invest in good bottles, you’ll love serving it the proper way. Although the names of  a few of these glasses are a bit suspect, I love the line of glassware from Crate & Barrel (my favorites: stout glass, half pints, IPA glass, wheat beer glass, craft beer glass).

5. Learn beer terms. Grab a great intro to craft beer book like The Naked Pint: An Unadulterated Guide to Craft Beer,  Beer Pairing: The Essential Guide from the Pairing Pros by Julia Herz and Gwen Conley or The Beer Wench’s Guide to Beer: An Unpretentious Guide to Craft Beer by Ashley V. Routson and learn how to speak the craft beer language (affiliate links).

6. A new brewery every month. Most cities have more than enough established breweries or new start ups to take care of twelve months of brewery hopping. Stop in, grab a flight, and don’t forget to chat up the staff, beer people are the friendliest kind.

Sriracha Bloody Beer with Chili Sugar Bacon-3

 

Sriracha Bloody Beer with Chili Sugar Bacon

Servings 2 cocktails

Ingredients
  

Garnish:

  • 2 Celery ribs
  • 2 strips thick cut bacon
  • ½ tsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp brown sugar

Cocktail:

  • 1 cup Calamato or tomato juice
  • 1 cup IPA beer
  • 1/2 tsp celery salt plus additional for glass rims
  • 1 tsp Sriracha
  • 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tsp brine for a jar of spanish olive
  • 1/4 tsp cream style horseradish
  • 1 tbs lime juice about 1 medium lime
  • 1 tbs lemon juice about 1/2 medium lemon
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • Ice

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350.
  • Thread the bacon through oven safe skewers.
  • Sprinkle with brown sugar and chili powder.
  • Place on a wire rack over a baking sheet.
  • Bake until bacon is crispy, about 15 minutes.
  • Rim glasses with celery salt. Add all cocktail ingredients to a shaker half full of ice, swirl to combine. Strain into prepared glasses, garnish with celery and bacon skewer.

Sriracha Bloody Beer with Chili Sugar Bacon-1

Twenty Minute Cinnamon Roll Beer Biscuits

 Twenty Minute Cinnamon Roll Beer Biscuits, plus the secret to the perfect cinnamon roll filling that doesn’t leak out the side once cut. 


 Twenty Minute Cinnamon Roll Beer Biscuits, plus the secret to the perfect cinnamon roll filling that doesn't leak out the side once cut.

I’ve had a complicated year. One that began with life in one state and ended in another, literally and figuratively. A year of answering questions with "It’s complicated." Where I’m living, what I do for a living, my relationship status, my goals, it’s all been so complicated this year.

My goal for next year is simple. That’s it, just: simple. Live simply, dream simply, love simply. I’ve loved complicated food, complicated love, complicated life, but my heart feels at home when it’s simple. The joy and beauty of the perfect roast chicken, a love that comes from unfiltered devotion, a simple well made beer.

 Twenty Minute Cinnamon Roll Beer Biscuits, plus the secret to the perfect cinnamon roll filling that doesn't leak out the side once cut.

I’m trying to strip everything down to simple elements. Rebuild a life with solid blocks. learning recipes that use simple ingredients, simple techniques. Getting lost wandering around a city, rather than the pressure to make plans. Learning to forgive, and rebuild a relationship from scratch.

The way even a seasoned chef will screw up rice and scrambled eggs from time to time, simple is harder to learn than complicated. A smaller margin or error. But it’s worth it. I’ve done complicated and it left some deep scars. There is joy and healing in the journey towards pure and simple.

 Twenty Minute Cinnamon Roll Beer Biscuits, plus the secret to the perfect cinnamon roll filling that doesn't leak out the side once cut.

Twenty Minute Cinnamon Roll Beer Biscuits

The trick to making any cinnamon roll recipe with a lovely thick ribbon of cinnamon sugar that does not fall out the sides once it's cut is making a paste with softened butter, cinnamon, and sugar. It will stay in place and you won't lose a grain!
Prep Time 8 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 10 -12

Ingredients
  

For the Cinnamon Rolls:

  • 3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 10 tbs unsalted cold butter cut into cubes
  • ¾ cup pale ale or wheat beer
  • 1/3 cup buttermilk
  • 6 tbs softened butter
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup white sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • pinch salt

For the Icing:

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • ¼ cup buttermilk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400.
  • In a processor add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
  • Pulse to combine. Add the cold butter, process until well combined. Add to a large bowl.
  • Add the buttermilk and beer. Mix with a fork until just combined.
  • Add to a well-floured flat surface, pat into a rectangle. Using a cold rolling pin (preferably marble) gently roll into a large rectangle, about 3/4 inch in thickness, using as few strokes as possible.
  • In a medium sized bowl add the softened butter, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and pinch of salt. Stir until a paste forms.
  • Spread the dough with the butter mixture. Starting at the long end, roll into a tight log. Cut 2-inch rounds, place in a baking dish.
  • Bake at 400 for 12 to 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
  • Allow to cool.
  • Stir together the powdered sugar, buttermilk and vanilla until well combined. Serve the biscuits topped with icing.

 Twenty Minute Cinnamon Roll Beer Biscuits, plus the secret to the perfect cinnamon roll filling that doesn't leak out the side once cut.

Fried Buttermilk Beer Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette

 

Fried Buttermilk Beer Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette

If there is one type of book that I will always want in the print version, it’s a cookbook. I want to feel the pages, make my own notes, and someday pass it down to future generations. It becomes a conversation between decades, an engagement among generations, that connects people in a way that nothing other than food has the ability to do.

Maybe it’s the end of a brutal year that was illuminated by the writing of my second book, a lifeline to stability, that makes me want to defend the print cookbook. Maybe it’s the ghosts of the past that seem to haunt the holidays. Maybe it was a small moment over the weekend while standing in the middle of a book store in Portland and finding a note card written 50 years ago wedged in the middle of a antique Sunday Suppers cookbook. It doesn’t matter, I have an analog soul, I like things that I feel with my hands. I love the smell of old books. As much as I love innovation and the sexiness of new technology, my heart will always belong to what I can pass down, or what I can receive from those who have gone before me. Like old cookbooks and fried chicken recipes. Somethings are just made to be shared.

Fried Buttermilk Beer Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette 3-1

 

Fried Buttermilk Beer Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

For the Chicken:

  • 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 tbs kosher salt
  • ½ sweet white onion sliced
  • ¾ cups buttermilk
  • 6 ounces pale ale
  • 2 tsp sriracha
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tbs brown sugar
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • ½ tsp cayenne pepper
  • canola or peanut oil for frying

For the Salad:

  • 2 heads red leaf lettuce chopped
  • 1 large avocado diced
  • ½ cup pomegranate seeds
  • 8 wt oz Burrata Cheese or goat cheese

Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette

  • ¼ cup honey
  • 1 tsp sriracha
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 3 tbs olive oil

Instructions
 

  • Arrange the chicken in an even layer in a large baking pan.
  • Sprinkle evenly with kosher salt, top with sliced onions.
  • In a small bowl whisk together the buttermilk, beer and sriracha, pour evenly over the chicken, cover and refrigerate for 8 to 24 hours.
  • In a medium sized bowl stir together the flour, brown sugar, chili powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne.
  • One at a time remove the chicken pieces, dredge in the flour mixture then gently re-dip in the buttermilk/beer marinade and recoat with the flour mixture (double coating of the flour mixture will give you a crispier chicken), set on a wire rack that has been set over a baking sheet.
  • Allow the coated chicken to sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 200.
  • Add the oil to a large pot until about 6 inches deep, heat to 350 degrees using a cooking thermometer clipped to the pan, adjust heat to maintain that temperature.
  • Working in batches fry the chicken until golden brown and cooked through (between 4 and 8 minutes each, depending on the thickness of the chicken)
  • Once each piece is done, place on a wire rack over a baking sheet in the oven to keep warm. Slice the chicken.
  • In a small bowl whisk together the honey, sriracha and vinegar. While whisking vigorously, slowly add the olive oil until well combined.
  • Add chopped lettuce, pomegranates, and avocado to a large bowl, toss to combine.
  • Top with burrata cheese and sliced fried chicken, drizzle with dressing.

Fried Buttermilk Beer Chicken Salad with Sriracha Honey Vinaigrette 4-1

How to Make Flaky Biscuits & Sour Cream Cheddar Beer Biscuits Recipe

 How to Make Flaky Biscuits, step by step with photos, & Sour Cream Cheddar Beer Biscuits 

 

How To Make Flaky Biscuits Step by Step

 

Biscuits, the glorious tender flaky beast that they are become the subject of massive levels of debate for something with so few ingredients. Ask a Southern grandma what she thinks and she’ll tell you you’re doing it wrong, no matter what you’re doing. Everyone has an opinion and everyone has a recipe. Lard, butter, oil, buttermilk, beer, water, White Lily flour, whole wheat flour, the ingredients vary from recipe to recipe, but one technique always gives me those gorgeous flaky layers that rival that anxiety provoking poppin' fresh tube of my youth. This brilliant idea came from the geniuses at America’s Test Kitchen, and no offense to your grandma, but these guys know their shit.

 

Step one:

Dough on a lightly floured surface. Try to work with the dough as little as possible or it becomes tough.

Sour Cream Cheddar Dinner Beer Biscuits-1

Step two:

Roll out into a rectangle about 3/4 inch thick. Again, use as few strokes as possible.

Sour Cream Cheddar Dinner Beer Biscuits-2

Step three:

Here’s where the magic begins. Fold it into thirds, like a brochure or a letter about to go into an envelope.

Sour Cream Cheddar Dinner Beer Biscuits-3

 

Step four:

Roll back into a rectangle, using as few strokes as possible.

Sour Cream Cheddar Dinner Beer Biscuits-4

 

Step five:

Repeat the magic. Fold into thirds again.

Sour Cream Cheddar Dinner Beer Biscuits-5

 

Step six:

Roll it out again, then turn it over so that the "seam" side is down. You can also turn it over before rolling it out.

Sour Cream Cheddar Dinner Beer Biscuits-6

 

Step seven:

Using a 3 inch biscuit cutter, cut out rounds. DO NOT TWIST. You’ll want to,that sucker is begging for a good turn, but resist the urge. Twisting the biscuit cutter will seal the layers and prevent the biscuit from rising as much as it should.

 

Sour Cream Cheddar Dinner Beer Biscuits-7

 

Step eight:

Now you’re ready to bake according to recipe directions. If you’re following my recipe, that’s some melted butter, coarse salt and enjoying the "leftover" beer that didn’t make it into the biscuit dough. You poor thing.

Sour Cream Cheddar Dinner Beer Biscuits-9

 

Sour Cream Cheddar Beer Biscuits

Ingredients
  

  • 3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 8 tbs unsalted cold butter cut into cubes
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 2/3 cup pale ale or wheat beer
  • ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 3 tbs chopped green onions
  • 2 tbs melted butter
  • ¼ tsp course sea salt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400.
  • In a processor add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
  • Pulse to combine. Add the cold butter, process until well combined. Add to a large bowl.
  • Add the sour cream, cheese, green onions and beer. Mix with a fork until just combined.
  • Add to a well-floured flat surface, pat into a rectangle. Using a cold rolling pin (preferably marble) gently roll into a large rectangle, about 3/4 inch in thickness, using as few strokes as possible.
  • Fold the dough into thirds as you would a letter about to go into an envelope. Roll lightly, once in each direction to about 1 inch thickness, fold in thirds again. Gently roll into about 1 1/2 inch thickness (this will give you the flakey layers).
  • Using a biscuit cutter cut out 12 biscuits. Place in a baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
  • Brush biscuits with melted butter, sprinkle salt.
  • Bake at 400 for 12 to 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

 

Sour Cream Cheddar Dinner Beer Biscuits-8

Puff Pastry Shrimp Beer Cheese Sweet Chili Bites & Why I Hate Santa

Puff Pastry Shrimp Beer Cheese Sweet Chili Bites. Only 10 minutes prep!

Puff Pastry Shrimp Beer Cheese Sweet Chili Bites

Right out of college I got a job working with gang kids in South Central Los Angeles, like this one and this one. I was prepared to be afraid of them, bracing myself to be on the defense, even packing pepper spray in my purse. I wasn’t prepared to fall in love with them.  I worked with kids as young as 5, and as old as 19, all either on probation or in foster care, sometimes both. To this day, some of the kids I met during that time are the smartest, most kind hearted, motivated kids I’ve ever met.

The first year I worked at a group home in a particularly rough part of Hollywood, I tried to make a big deal out of Christmas in a very middle American ignorant white girl kind of way. Let’s decorate the tree! Let’s make Christmas cookies! When I found out that the very small budget the organization had to cover Christmas gifts wasn’t enough to get the kids more than one small gift each, I ran around getting donations. Kids need presents.

To my WASPY surprise this wasn’t well received. The kids, all boys between the ages of 12 and 17, were mostly kind about it, although visibly annoyed. I wanted to know why, what where the traditions they grew up with, what did they miss? A few days before Christmas one of the younger kid, Jamal, offered to help me wrap some of the gifts, so I asked him.

He sighed, not sure how to proceed.

"Is this another one of my white girl questions that you guys tease me about?"

He laughed, "Nah, it’s just…a lot of us don’t got good memories of Christmas. It’s not really our thing. Some kids do. But most don’t."

He told me he didn’t get presents when he was little because they either couldn’t afford them or his mom was too drunk to buy any. For years he figured that it was because he was bad, that’s the story right? Santa brings presents to good kids, bad kids don’t get any. He also told me a story about waking up on Christmas morning when he was 5, spending it alone because his mom was on a bender. He sat in his living room hoping that Santa wasn’t real. Santa’s lack of existence was comforting, rather than the idea that he was alone and present-less because he was bad. It hit me how terrible the Santa story is for kids that don’t get gifts. My world opened up a bit that day, being taught life lessons by a 12-year-old will do that to you. I’ll never forget his face, so matter of fact, not the tears or grief you’d expect.

I can’t remember what I got for Christmas that year. In fact, I’d be hard pressed to name a dozen gifts I’ve been given over the years. But I’ll never forget Jamal and I hope he never has to spend Christmas alone again.

Puff Pastry Shrimp Beer Cheese Sweet Chili Bites

 

Puff Pastry Shrimp Beer Cheese Sweet Chili Bites

Ingredients
  

  • 8 wt oz cream cheese
  • 2 tbs cornstarch
  • ¼ cup pale ale
  • ½ cup mozzarella shredded
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 sheet puff pastry thawed
  • 16 jump shrimp raw, de-veined, shelled
  • ¼ cup honey
  • 1 tbs warm pale ale
  • 1 tsp sriracha
  • 1 tsp red chili flake
  • 3 tbs cilantro chopped

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 375.
  • In a blender or food processor add the cream cheese, cornstarch, ¼ cup pale ale, mozzarella, garlic powder, and salt. Process until well combined
  • Roll the puff pastry out on a lightly floured surface.
  • Place 1 tablespoon rounds of cheese about one inch apart for a total of 16 evenly spaced mounds of cheese mixture.
  • Top each mound of cheese with a raw shrimp. Cut the dough with a sharp knife between each shrimp/cheese mound.
  • Place the squares on a baking sheet.
  • Bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until puff pastry is golden brown.
  • In a small bowl combine the honey, warm pale ale, sriracha, and chili flake.
  • Plate the shrimp bites, drizzle with chili sauce, sprinkle with cilantro.

Puff Pastry Shrimp Beer Cheese Sweet Chili Bites

Spicy Chicken Sausage White Bean Beer Chili

Spicy Chicken Sausage White Bean Beer Chili. One pot, twenty minutes, crazy good. 

Spicy Chicken Sausage White Bean Beer Chili -3

For the first time in my life, winter has been the best season of the year. 2014 has been hard on me, beating me up in ways I didn’t expect, traumatic in ways I’ll never forget. Seattle, and the beautiful winter, has been like aloe on burnt skin.

Rain on the windows when I’m alone in bed, mid-50s, and overcast as I run through the trees along moss covered trails, drizzly days at small coffee shops when I finish my second book that was like the fragile line to a lifeboat pulling me out of the storm. The dark clouds in my life are starting to lift, the new normal is starting to feel like it actually is, in fact, normal, and the frenzy is starting to mellow.

Spicy Chicken Sausage White Bean Beer Chili -4

For the first time in my entire life, I’m looking forward to January, a month that has always been hideous to me. It can’t be worse that the previous 11 months, and it will mark a new beginning for me. For now, to make it through the most difficult year of my life, I need comfort food, not just for my body but for my soul.

Let’s hope 2015 is my year, I’m already looking forward to it.

Spicy Chicken Sausage White Bean Beer Chili -2


 

Spicy Chicken Sausage White Bean Beer Chili

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lbs spicy chicken sausages raw, removed from casing
  • 1 white onion chopped
  • 1 jalapeno chopped
  • 12 oz pale ale
  • 2 cup chicken broth
  • 4 15 oz cans Great Northern beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • ½ cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 large avocado diced

Instructions
 

  • Add the sausage to a large pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Cook, breaking up with into small pieces as it cooks.
  • Add the onions and jalapenos, cooking until softened.
  • Add the beer and broth, scraping to deglaze the pan.
  • Add the beans, garlic powder, paprika, and cumin. Simmer for ten minutes.
  • Remove from heat, stir in the sour cream, salt and pepper to taste.
  • Ladle into bowls, top with cilantro and avocado.

Beer Candied Bacon Bark and Craft Beer Lovers Holiday Gift Guide

Beer Candied Bacon Dark Chocolate Bark plus Holiday Gifts for Beer Lovers 

Beer Candied Bacon Bark-4

If you were to ask me about the best gift I’ve ever been given it’d take me a while to come up with the answer. I’m always uncomfortable getting gifts, awkwardly opening them as the giver waits for the expected reaction. Giving them, that’s where I excel. I can give a gift like a champ, and I love it. Figuring out what will make the person I care about wonder how I did it, how I found that perfect gift. Those stories I can tell you all day, the times I found the perfect present for someone I care about.

So take my gift giving advice if you have a beer lover on your list, skip the can cozies, and the kitschy pint glasses, and those weird tin signs that they won’t hang in their dens, and buy them things that will make them think you’re brilliant. Because you are. And if all else fails, make some bacon studded chocolate treats, those are always a hit.

Beer Gift Guide

 

  • State Beer Shirts: Not from California? It’s cool, they have other states. Maybe even yours, and if not, California is a pretty great one.
  • Homebrew recipe journal: For the homebrewer in your life that has a drawer full of spiral notebooks that are hard to decipher. Their future batches will thank you.
  • Sierra Nevada Lip Balm: The perfect stocking stuffer. And at only $1, you can fill the entire stocking.
  • The Craft Beer Cookbook (affiliate link).: Don’t look so shocked. Of course I’d add my book to this list. I’m pretty proud of it. Plus, it’s a great gift for the craft beer loving cook in your life.
  • Oatmeal Stout Soap: Because for a true craft beer lover drinking it isn’t enough, bathing in it is imperative.
  • Beer Glassware: I love these. I have every one. You can’t open a rare bomber of beer and expect to put it in Solo cups.
  • Beer Tote: Especially great for the beer lover who frequents the farmers market. It’ll be her favorite, she can use it to haul around her growler or her produce.
  • Rogue Hop Salt: How can you possibly have homemade popcorn without it?! It’s hops and salt!
  • Growler Tap: Growlers are great, if you can drink it all in one sitting. If you’re a normal person, you can’t. This allows you to take your time and enjoy it over time. It’s amazing.
  • Hard to find beer, like: The Lost Abbey’s Angels Share. Especially if you live in a different region than the person you’re gifting, it’s almost a guarantee that you can get a beer that they can’t. Go to your local bottle shop and ask about it.

Beer Candied Bacon Bark and Craft Beer Lovers Holiday Gift Guide

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

For the Bacon

  • 6 strips thick sliced bacon
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbs stout or porter or pale ale
  • pinch cayenne

For the Bark

  • 10.5 wt oz dark chocolate 72% cacao content
  • ¼ cup stout or porter or pale ale
  • 1/3 cup smoked almonds

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven the 350.
  • In a sauce pan over medium high heat, bring the brown sugar, beer and cayenne to boil, boil for one minute.
  • Place the bacon on a wire rack over a baking sheet. Brush the bacon on each side with sugar mixture.
  • Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, flip, re-brush with sugar mixture, bake for ten more minutes until bacon is a dark brown. Remove from oven, allow to cool. Bacon will harden as it cools. Chop the bacon once it has cooled.
  • In the top of a double boiler over gently simmering water add half the chocolate and the 1/4 cup beer, make sure the heat isn’t too high or the chocolate will seize. Stir constantly until chocolate is melted. Remove from heat. Stir in the remaining chocolate until melted and well combined. Stir in the smoked almonds.
  • Pour chocolate onto a baking sheet that has been covered with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Sprinkle with chopped bacon. Chill until set. Break into pieces.

Notes

A stout or porter will work well, especially a barrel aged version. For a more intense beer flavor use an IPA or a pale ale.

 

Beer Candied Bacon Bark-5

Slow Cooker Mushroom Winter Ale Chicken & What is a Winter Ale?

Slow Cooker Mushroom Winter Ale Chicken -1

What is a Winter Ale?

This is the time for generalities. With the Winter Ales, these seasonal favorites, it’s essential. Because you can get specific, and even technical with other beer styles, but the vast spectrum that these beers run along won’t allow for strict categorization. Winter ales are often what’s called an Old Ale, a rich amber-colored malty ale with an above average alcohol content. But of course, that’s frequently not the case. Winter ales can be stouts, Belgians, brown ales, and even IPA’s.

ABV (alcohol by volume) is a bit of a commonality among these late-in-the-year beers, most of which have an ABV around or above 8%. But, here we are again with the discrepancies. Winter Ales can be as low as 5% and as high as 20%.

Flavor seems to be the best way to round-up these beautiful beers, most of them taste like the holidays. Winter warmers (as they are often called) most commonly have flavors of cinnamon, cloves, figs, dates, nuts, toffee, and chocolate. Most are malty and low hops, but there are of course outliers, some of these beer will give you all those holiday flavors you love while still kicking you a big hop flavor, like this Abominable Winter Ale from Hopworks Beer. It’s pretty perfect for those of you IPA loving hop heads that still want to get into the Christmas Beer spirit.

So, in summation, Winter Ales are mostly Ole Ales, with a higher ABV, malty, with flavors of nuts and spice. But they can be IPA’s. Or stouts. Or have a 6% ABV. To clarify, a winter ale is whatever the brewer wants it to be, and if you’re smart, you’ll just drink it without asking too many questions.

Slow Cooker Mushroom Winter Ale Chicken

 

 

Slow Cooker Mushroom Winter Ale Chicken

Ingredients
  

  • 3 tbs olive oil
  • 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • salt and pepper
  • ¼ cup chopped white onions
  • 8 wt ounces sliced crimini mushrooms
  • 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 tsp chopped fresh sage
  • 3 tbs all purpose flour
  • 1 ¼ cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup winter ale or brown ale
  • 1 tbs brown sugar omit if using a low hop, malty beer

Instructions
 

  • Heat the olive oil in a pan over high heat.
  • Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with salt and pepper. Sear chicken on both sides in a hot pan until browned (chicken will not be cooked through).
  • Transfer the chicken to a slow cooker.
  • Lower the heat to medium, stir in the onions, cook until browned. Add the mushrooms, rosemary and sage, cook until darkened and softened.
  • Sprinkle with flour, stir until combined. Add the chicken broth, beer, and brown sugar, scraping to deglaze the pan. Pour the mushroom mixture over the chicken, stir to combine.
  • Cook in a slow cooker on high for 4 hours or until chicken shreds easily with a fork. Salt and pepper to taste. (if sauce doesn't thicken as much as you like, add to a pan over medium high heat, simmer until thickened.)
  • Serve over rice or pasta.

 

Slow Cooker Mushroom Winter Ale Chicken

Pumpkin Ale Farro Roasted Asparagus Pomegranate and Goat Cheese Salad

Pumpkin Ale Farro Roasted Asparagus Pomegranate and Goat Cheese Salad 

Pumpkin Ale Farro Roasted Asparagus Pomegranate and Goat Cheese Salad

Somehow I ended up being the girl who brought salad to Thanksgiving. Not my usual holiday offering. Spending the holidays in an unfamiliar city and not being the host for the first time in forever drove me to beer up a salad. Maybe it’s caused by the stir-crazy-work-from-home madness that’s set in, a fall that’s actually cold, or the life I’m living that looks almost nothing like it did a year ago, but beer in a salad made everything seem right. I needed a little familiarity in my world, and all of my favorite salads contain pomegranate seeds and goat cheese. You can even forget the fact that this salad is red, green, gold and white, making it more festive than it should be allowed to be for a holiday salad. This is a season for indulgences: barrel aged beers, cakes, fudge, cookies, and pie. With all of these perfectly fantastic holiday foods, I give you a salad. But rest assured it’s a damn good salad, and with beer infused grains, it definitely  made the naughty list.

Pumpkin Ale Farro Roasted Asparagus Pomegranate and Goat Cheese Salad

Pumpkin Ale Farro Roasted Asparagus Pomegranate and Goat Cheese Salad

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup whole farro
  • 12 ounces pumpkin ale
  • ½ cup chicken broth
  • 1 lbs asparagus tripped and chopped into 1 inch sections
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • ½ cup pomegranate seeds
  • 1 cup baby arugula
  • 3 wt oz goat cheese

Instructions
 

  • Add the farro, beer, and broth to a pot over medium high heat. Bring to a low simmer. Simmer until farro is tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Drain off any remaining liquid.
  • Preheat oven to 400.
  • Add the asparagus to a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss to coat.
  • Roast asparagus at 400 until fork tender, about 8-10 minutes (less for thin asparagus, you still want some firmness, it’s best to under cook rather than overcook).
  • Add the farro, asparagus, remaining ingredients to a bowl, toss to combine. Serve at room temperature.

 

Pumpkin Ale Farro Roasted Asparagus Pomegranate and Goat Cheese Salad

Stout Brined Crispy Chili Brown Sugar Pork Belly

Stout Brined Crispy Chili Brown Sugar Pork Belly P

Pork belly is a bit of a trade secret. It’s rich, delicious, and if you can get your hands on it, fairly cheap. It’s like shallots and Maldon salt, these little touches that turn a home-cooked meal into something that rivals a commercial kitchen. Pork belly is a favorite among chefs, and it’s easy to see why.

This gorgeous, fatty, melt-in-your-mouth cut of the pig is actually bacon, before it’s baconed. It’s hard to come by, but not impossible. Don’t plan to just pick this up at Safeway, you’ll have to call around to local butcher shops.

Stout Brined Crispy Chili Brown Sugar Pork Belly_The great news is, once you find it, it’ll probably be less than $4 a pound. One thing to keep in mind is how differently the meat and the fat need to be cooked. The meat itself needs the slow and low treatment or it’ll dry out, a good brine will help with this as well.

The fat, on the other hand, needs an intensely high heat. Finishing these little bites of meat candy on a hot grill is also a great idea. Adding some sugar to the skin will help with a beautifully caramelized crackle.

It’s also perfect with beer. Fancy, slow-cooked bacon was just made for a beautiful, balanced IPA, one with extra hops but a strong malt backbone. Beer and pig, it’s hard to go wrong.

Stout Brined Crispy Chili Brown Sugar Pork Belly 2

Stout Brined Crispy Chili Brown Sugar Pork Belly

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup very hot water
  • 3 tbs kosher salt
  • 1 tbs white sugar
  • 1 tbs whole cloves
  • 1 tbs whole allspice berries
  • 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
  • 24 ounces stout
  • 4.5 lbs pork belly
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 3 tbs rice vinegar
  • 2 tsp red chili flakes
  • 1 tsp red chili sauce such as Sriracha

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl or baking dish stir together the hot water, salt and sugar until the salt and sugar has dissolved.
  • Add the cloves, allspice and peppercorns. Stir in the beer, test to make sure the brine is cold (if not, chill until cooled).
  • Add the pork belly, cover and chill for 12 to 24 hours.
  • Remove from the brine (reserve brine), rinse the pork belly well.
  • Place a wire rack over a baking sheet (alternately, a baking pan will work), pour about 1 cup of the brine in the baking sheet making sure the wire rack is not submerged.
  • Place the pork belly on the rack, bake at 275 until pork is fork tender, about 4 hours.
  • Remove the pork from the oven, raise the oven temperature to 500.
  • Stir together the brown sugar, vinegar, chili flakes, and chili sauce.
  • Brush the pork belly with the sugar mixture.
  • Roast for ten minutes, re-brush with sugar mixture, roast again until pork is golden brown and the top is crispy.

 

Beer Meringue Cookies

Beer Meringue Cookies 4

You and I need to talk about Barleywine for a second. First, it’s not wine, It’s very much a beer, one that happens to be perfect this time of year. It’s a strong beer, with an ABV (alcohol by volume) that’s usually north of 10%.

Generally sold in the larger 22-ounce bottles that promote beer sharing, and the flavors are beautiful with the foods we serve during winter gatherings. Barleywine is usually amber or dark brown, gorgeous fruit, spice and vanilla flavors.

Beer Meringue Cookies 2

It’s not hoppy like those bold summer beers, it’s deep, malty and often slightly sweet. It’s a bold beer, but one with a character and depth that will surprise your "I don’t like beer" friends. Want to turn a bourbon drinker into a craft beer fan?

This is a great start. I used Odell Woodcut 8. A beautiful, rich, dark fruit, vanilla, and oak flavored gorgeous beverage that’s perfect to bring in lieu of wine to that holiday gathering.

Beer Meringue Cookies 3

Barleywine’s are not only perfect to serve with a huge spread of roasted meat, pumpkin pies, and candied yams, it’s also perfect for cooking with. The flavors are huge, making a little go a long way. Which will incidentally leave you with even more for that snifter glass you should probably be serving this out of.

Beer Meringue Cookies_

Beer Meringue Cookies

Ingredients
  

  • 3 large egg whites room temperature
  • pinch salt
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons Barleywine beer or Belgian ale

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 200°F at least 30 minutes prior to baking. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Add the egg whites and salt to a stand mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until light and frothy, about 1 minute. While the mixer is running, gradually add the granulated sugar about 2 tablespoons at a time, beating for 2 minutes between each addition. Beat until firm peaks form, about 2 additional minutes.
  • Add powdered sugar and beer, beat until peaks return.
  • Spoon meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a ½ inch tip. Pipe 1-inch rounds onto prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart.
  • Bake meringues until dry, about 2 hours. Let cool completely, about 1 hour.

 

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sandwiches with IPA Jalapeno Slaw + $350 Giveaway

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sandwiches with IPA Jalapeno Slaw 2

I’ll cook anywhere if you ask me to. A dorm kitchen, a camp stove, a closet with a griddle. Just make sure that I have a few things on hand. One of the items that I’ll always request, if you ask me to cook outside my comfort zone, is an enamel cast iron pot. These things are beast. If you treat them right, they’ll do the same right back. You’ll have this beautiful shiny pot for so long, your grandkids will fight over it once you’re gone. When I wrote my first cookbook, The Craft Beer Cookbook. I wrote it with recipes that I want you make for the rest of your life, because these are recipes that I want to make for the rest of my life. I used a cast iron pan, a Dutch (or French) oven, lots of beer (clearly) and ingredients that I love.

It’s the end of a long and difficult year for me, and as a way to celebrate the year, as well as my birthday, I’m giving you a gift. I’m giving you THREE of my favorite things. First, my book, The Craft Beer Cookbook. One of my proudest accomplishements. I’ll be shipping it to you myself and I’ll scribble whatever you want in it. You want me to profess my undying love for you? I’ll do it. Of course, because you’re the best.

Second, the amazing people at Le Creuset have agreed to send you one of my favorite cooking implements ever: the 5 1/2 qt French Oven. In red, which is my personal favorite color. This is a staple in my kitchen, a must for anyone who loves to cook.

Third, beer. Of your choice. BevMo is giving you a $50 gift card to grab the beer of your choice for general drinking purposes or perhaps to try your hand at cooking with beer. Or possibly both. If you’d like some recommendations for which beers to spend this windfall on, I’d be happy to provide those to you as an addendum to the prize. But really, there is no way to lose when you have yourself some money to spend at BevMo.

To enter, use the Raffle copter fields below (it may take a second to load), Like us all on Facebook, follow us on twitter, tell your friends about this and let me know what you make in your new pot, with your new beer and your scribbled on cookbook. And feel free to invite me over, even if you’re just cooking on a camp stove. I’m down for that.

The $350 Beeroness giveaway: with @LeCreuset and @BevMo

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(this post includes affiliate links)

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sandwiches with IPA Jalapeno Slaw

Ingredients
  

For the Pork:

  • 3 lb pork shoulder
  • 6 cloves garlic peeled
  • 2 tbs kosher or sea salt
  • 2 tbs brown sugar
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 24 ounces stout beer
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 12 French roll sandwich buns

For the IPA Jalapeno Slaw:

  • 1 large jalapeno stem and seeds removed, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
  • 2 cups purple cabbage thinly sliced
  • 2 cups green cabbage thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup cilantro chopped
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • ½ cup IPA
  • 1 tbs lemon juice
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • ¼ tsp chili powder
  • ¼ tsp salt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven 300.
  • Using a paring knife, create 6, 2-inch deep holes fairly evenly spaced through the meat. Push a peeled clove of garlic into each hole until no longer visible.
  • Sprinkle the pork evenly with salt.
  • In a small bowl mix together the brown sugar, pepper, paprika, chili powder, and onion powder. Rub the spiced all over the surface of the pork.
  • In a large oven safe pot or Dutch oven (with an oven safe lid) heat the oil until hot but not smoking. Sear the meat on all sides, about 3 minutes per side.
  • Add the beer and broth, bring to a simmer.
  • Cover and place in the oven. Turn the meat over every 30-45 minutes. If the pot begins to dry out, add extra broth or hot water. Allow to cook until meat is falling apart, about 3 to 4 hours.
  • Remove from oven, shred using two forks while still in the pot. Allow to sit in the pan juices for ten minutes while you prepare the jalapeno slaw. Remove meat from pan juices, draining off most of the liquid prior to serving.
  • To make the slaw, combine all the jalapeno slaw ingredients in a bowl, toss to coat. Fill each sandwich bun with pork topped with slaw.

Recipe from The Craft Beer Cookbook

Beer Braised Pulled Pork Sandwiches with IPA Jalapeno Slaw_

No Bake Cream Cheese Caramel Pumpkin Ale Pie

No Bake Cream Cheese Caramel Pumpkin Ale Pie. Free up that oven space with the easy, delicious make-ahead pie!  

No Bake Cream Cheese Caramel Pumpkin Ale Pie

The end of the year is a bit like dessert. The holidays are our reward for what we’ve endured, both the exceptional and the atrocious. Even the weather has turned it’s back on us, forcing us to dress in layers and scrape ice off our windshields. This year has been a beast to me so far, but I have hope for these last few months.

The fall in Seattle was gorgeous, much more beautiful and etherial than I’d expected. A charming backdrop to an otherwise difficult season in my life. The dessert is coming, the year isn’t over yet. We have Thanksgiving to look forward to, with the celebration of gluttony that it brings.

No Bake Cream Cheese Caramel Pumpkin Ale Pie3

The December holidays, whichever you happen to celebrate. Gifts to buy, wrap and tear open. New Year’s Eve is still waiting for us at the finish line. Champagne, barrel-aged beers, whiskey cocktails, sparkly sweaters, twinkly lights, and pies. Lots and lots of pies.

Here’s one that won’t take up oven space, it’s boozed up with beer, and it’s topped with caramel sauce. No matter what the year has dealt you, you always have pie and beer to look forward too. Pie and beer fix most things.

No Bake Cream Cheese Caramel Pumpkin Ale Pie2

 

No Bake Cream Cheese Caramel Pumpkin Ale Pie

Servings 6 -8 servings

Ingredients
  

Crust:

  • 1 ½ cups graham cracker about 9 whole graham crackers
  • 3 tbs brown sugar
  • 7 tbs melted butter

Filling:

  • 16 wt ounces cream cheese softened
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup brown ale beer barleywine will also be great
  • 15 wt oz pumpkin puree
  • 2/3 cup caramel sauce
  • ½ cup candied pecans

Instructions
 

  • Add the graham crackers, brown sugar and melted butter to a food processor, process until well combined.
  • Starting with the sides press well into the bottom of a 9 inch pie pan. Press well using the bottom of a heavy glass or measuring cup. (You can bake at 350 for 12 minutes to make the crust more solid, but it isn’t absolutely necessary).
  • Add the cream cheese, brown sugar and white sugar to a stand mixer. Beat on high until well combined, light and fluffy. Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, vanilla extract, beer, and pumpkin puree. Building up speed, beat until well combined, scraping the bottom of the bowl to make sure the mixture is well combined.
  • Spoon into the crust. Top with caramel sauce and candied pecans. Chill until set, at least one hour and up to overnight.

 

Stout Bacon Jam Jalapeno Poppers

 Stout Bacon Jam Jalapeno Poppers. Because the only thing that can make Jalapeno Poppers better is bacon. And beer. 

Stout Bacon Jam Jalapeno Poppers. Because the only thing that can make Jalapeno Poppers better is bacon. And beer.

 

I was on a reality TV show once.

By the time January rolled around and filming started, in a cold warehouse in Van Nuys, California, the idea I had been pitched by the team of producers had morphed into something that hardly resembled the original premise. I’d been sold on the idea that the team was to document the process of assisting me in developing a line of beer-infused food for grocery stores. I ended up walking into a cooking competition.

When I arrived at a hotel near the filming location I was asked to hand over my phone, my computer and all access to the outside world. The phone in the room was even disabled. I asked why, what if I need something? "You won’t" was as much of an answer as I could get.

A beat-up Dodge Caravan pulled up at 5 am the following morning as I stood shivering outside the hotel lobby. A few other TV show participates filed into the seats behind me. "Hi, I’m Jackie," I said to the girl who sat down next to me.

"No talking!" A 23-year-old from Kentucky snapped at me from the driver’s seat.

"Wait…what?" I was confused and dangerously under-caffeinated.

"You can’t talk to anyone except the producers unless we say you can."

I didn’t push back, I just gave a look of shock to the other 5 passengers that was mirrored by their own reactions to this news.

After arriving on set, and a brief orientation to the show premise, which wasn’t even a distant cousin to the show vibe I was sold a few months prior, I was hustled to a makeshift "room" which was no more than a large plywood box constructed on one end of the warehouse. Each contestant was put in a separate box, with nothing more than a folding chair. I sat there for three hours, re-reading the copy of Blood, Bones & Butter I luckily had in my bag. When it was my turn for shooting I was handed a plate of the bacon jam that I’d made for the shoot and given a few directions. "Walk to that podium, set down the plate, smile at the chefs." "Now do it slower" "Now do it faster" "Introduce yourself" "Do it again."  After a few scripted back and forth segments, I went back into the box. Starving, unsure of the time, bored to tears, to wait another three hours.

Late in the day, well past dark, it was time to shoot a mock cooking battle. The count down clock was faked. As soon as each participant was finished with the dish, the producers came over to shoot the "five…four…three…two…one…hands up, time is over" segment. We each did this three or four times, well after each of us had finished our dishes.

Close to midnight, exhausted, hungry, a bit jittery, the battle was over. I had made it to the top two. I wanted sleep, I didn’t care that I hadn’t been cut, I just wanted to sleep. Before I could go, I was taken to a dark room, sat in a chair, a bright light in my face obscuring the camera filming my responses to a young producer’s questions. It quickly became clear what she wanted. She wanted me to trash talk the other girls. I refused. Two hours later, the interrogation continued. "Aren’t you annoyed at how bubbly she is? Isn’t she ugly? Doesn’t it seem like she’s faking it all for attention?"

I thought of the people who admit to murders they don’t commit just to be left alone, just for sleep and food. "Listen," I finally said, "I won’t do it. I’m not going to shit talk girls I genuinely like and hardly know just for some sound bites. You have to take a different direction."

"Can you act scared of them?"

"Fine, they scare me."

I was finally able to sleep. At least until 6 am when I had to do it all again. Another day of shooting, another day of the box. Another day of getting scolded for talking to people. We faked conversations about things that hadn’t happened for the sake of the camera. We filmed the "if you win" scene and the "if you lose" scene. They missed the genuine moments, the good stuff went on off-camera.

After the final round, close to 3 am, the last remaining contestant and I presented our dishes to the judges and a grocery store buyer. We had already filmed the "post judges, waiting for the results" banter, which we had to fake given that it took place 3 hours before the judges even showed up. She started to cry, no cameras around, no one but her and me.

"My whole life is in this product. I mortgaged our house, I depleted our savings. What if I fail? I think they like you more. I think they’ll pick you." She sobbed.

stout bacon jam poppers

For me, it was a whim. It was something fun. It was her life. I was rooting for her, she was the one who should win.

My pitch had gone well, really well. They pressed, I had answers. "Bacon jam? Isn’t jam supposed to be sweet?" I explained that plenty of jam was savory, onion, tomato, even garlic jam. With plenty of applications. Bacon jam could be both. It can go on brownies or vanilla ice cream, or it can be spread inside a pork loin roulade or on biscuits. When the show finally aired, however, my monologue was cut in favor of a shot of me staring blankly into space. As if I had no idea what the question meant.

Hers hadn’t gone well. She had been rude, combative, hostile. Mostly because she was exhausted, emotional, and desperate to win.

At 3 am we were back, both of us rooting for her, both of us desperate to sleep. And then the answer came:

"And the contestant who is cut tonight is….Jackie"

I smiled. I was happy. We had to reshoot and I had to fake a sad face. But I was thrilled. The right person won.

Ten minutes later I was back in the interrogation room and I knew what the producers wanted. They wanted tears, they wanted me to be upset. I was just glad it was over. "Do you think the wrong person won? Did they make a mistake?"

"Nope. She should’ve won. She deserved it."

"Isn’t she rude? Mean? How can you want a mean person to win?"

"Look, I know it would make great TV if the blonde white girl shit talks the 60-year-old Jamaican woman, but that’s not going to happen. Maybe she’s a bit rough, but I like her. She’s tough, she has a great product, she put her entire life on the line for this. She deserves it. They picked the right person."

She didn’t like that. But it was 3 am and she finally just let me go back to the hotel.

By the time the show aired, it was full of petty, forced, artificial drama that had never really occur. You missed the heart and soul of good people, you had no one to root for. And even my competition, the woman whom even I wanted to win, came off as someone you wanted to root against. I looked sad, stupid, and vacant. You wanted to throw Prozac at the screen every time I was on. Needless to say, the show did not return for a second season. People want someone to root for. They want to see the heart and soul more than the drama and the tears. Especially when it comes to food, give us a hero, someone to root for.

Stout Bacon Jam Jalapeno Poppers3

Stout Bacon Jam Jalapeno Poppers

These peppers are best made in stages. They are time consuming and tend to be too much work for the day of an event. It’s best to prep the peppers, make the jam and the cream cheese ahead of time, storing in the fridge until ready. Just fill, coat and fry when it's time to serve. (they can also be filled and stored in the fridge for 24 hours, just make sure to coat right before frying)

Ingredients
  

For The Bacon Jam:

  • 12 oz thick sliced bacon 8-10 thick strips
  • 4 cloves of garlic smashed
  • 1/2 cup yellow onion chopped
  • 1 1/4 cups imperial stout
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar

For the Jalapenos:

  • 12-14 large jalapenos
  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 1 cup shredded mozzarella
  • 3 tbs IPA beer
  • 3 eggs
  • flour for dusting
  • 2 cups Italian style bread crumbs
  • oil for frying

Instructions
 

  • In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon, working in batches if necessary. 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. Bacon jam can be made up to a week ahead of time.
  • In a food processor add the cream cheese, mozzarella, and 3 tbs IPA beer, pulse until well combined.
  • Cut the top off the jalapenos, use a paring knife to scoop out the seeds and membrane inside the peppers.
  • Pipe the cream cheese mixture and the bacon jam into the pepper in equal portions. I used a dual piping bag for this. You can also slice the pepper ¾ the way down one side, spreading the jam on one side and the cream cheese on the other.
  • Sprinkle the peppers on all side with flour.
  • Add the eggs to a small bowl, beat until well combined.
  • Add the bread crumbs to another bowl.
  • One at a time dip the peppers in the egg mixture, allowing the excess to slide off before rolling in the bread crumbs. Place back in the egg mixture and then back in the bread crumbs. Set the pepper on a wire rack for about ten minutes to allow the coating to set.
  • Add 3 to 4 inches of oil to a pot over medium high heat, bring to 325 degrees using a deep-fry thermometer. Adjust heat to maintain this temperature. It’s important that the oil stays close to this temperature. If the oil is too cold the pepper will take on too much oil, if it’s too hot the breading will cook and the pepper will still be cold and vegetal. Cook the peppers for 5 to 6 minutes in the hot oil, return to a wire rack to cool. Serve immediately.

I used this multi-color piping bag set for the filling. It also works great if you make cupcakes for football games, you can pipe two colors on at once. (affiliate link)

 

Lemon Pepper Crusted Beer Steamed Sea Bass Cheeks

Lemon Pepper Crusted Beer Steamed Sea Bass Cheeks, just 20 minutes to a delicious and perfect dinner. 

Lemon Pepper Crusted Beer Steamed Sea Bass Cheeks

I’m always drawn to things I know nothing about, comfort zones make me a bit restless. While this can get me into a bit of trouble in my personal life, it has substantial benefits in my saucepans. Take me to a market in an unfamiliar city and I’ll immediately search for an ingredient I’ve never worked with. It was tea mixtures in Morocco, and spices in Costa Rica, and apparently in Seattle, it’s fish cheeks.

The texture is firm, a bit more like scallops than a regular fillet, the flavor a bit sweeter. It’s a cut of fish for people who don’t much care for fish. The crust is simple and the entire dish comes together in about 20 minutes. It’s Sunday Supper good on a weeknight time schedule.

Plus you get to open beer, that’s always a win.

Lemon Pepper Crusted Beer Steamed Sea Bass Cheeks

Lemon Pepper Crusted Beer Steamed Sea Bass Cheeks

Ingredients
  

  • 3 tbs unsalted butter
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • ½ cup wheat beer
  • 1 tbs lemon juice
  • 4 large sea bass cheeks or sea bass fillets
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ cup Italian bread crumbs
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 tbs melted butter

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 425.
  • In an skillet over medium high heat melt the butter. Add the garlic, stir for 30 seconds. Add the beer and lemon juice, remove from heat. Add the fish, sprinkle with salt.
  • Add the pan to the oven (make sure the pan is oven safe and the handle is not plastic or rubber), bake for 12 minutes.
  • While the fish is baking make the crust.
  • Add the bread crumbs, lemon zest, pepper and melted butter to a small dish, stir until well combined.
  • Remove the fish from the oven, turn the broiled on.
  • Pack the bread crumb mixture onto each of the fish until well crusted.
  • Place under the broiler until golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes.
  • Plate the fish, spooning the pan sauce onto the plate around the fish.

Lemon Pepper Crusted Beer Steamed Sea Bass Cheeks

Trashed Up Beer Cheese Tater Tot Pizza

  Trashed Up Beer Cheese Tater Tot Pizza.
Worth every. single. calorie. SO good. 

How Sweet Final Graphic

A great blog sucks you in.

Not just the food, or the photos, but the person behind it. A person you become a least mildly obsessed with. A real-life human who writes in a way that you makes you want more of them. When I first started blogging, Jess from How Sweet It Is was that girl. After I found her blog I binge read her past posts for at least two hours, and then proceeded to creepily google stalk her.

The most shocking thing about this endeavor was that she was on the other side of the computer, stalking me right back. When I finally met her in real life she gave me the biggest, most genuine hug I’ve ever been on the receiving end of and said, "I love your blog! I even google stalked you!" I was too shocked and flattered to tell her that I’d done the exact same thing to her, so I tried my best to play it cool.

Of all the people I’ve been fortunate enough to meet in this crazy world of blogging, there isn’t anyone more genuinely nice than Jessica. She’s even more of what you want her to be, sincerely gracious, food obsessed, blogging groupie, people fan, she’s the real deal and absolutely worthy of your google stalking hours.

She not only makes incredible food, she’s also making a human. In her guts. In honor of this incredible feat, a bunch of bloggers, all of whom have done our share of Jessica How Sweet Google Stalking decided to show her some love. We trashed up some food in her honor.

And I can’t wait to see the human she makes. Someone as nice, talented and genuine as Jess, I think she should make all the babies from now on.

 Trashed Up Beer Cheese Tater Tot Pizza.  Worth every. single. calorie. SO good.

 

My Top Five Favorite How Sweet Posts Using Beer:

  1. Beer Glazed Citrus Chicken with Orange Arugula Greens
  2. Jalapeño Pretzel Dogs with Cheddar Beer Sauce
  3. Spicy Beer Braised Lime Chicken Enchiladas
  4.  Crockpot Beer Carnitas Tacos
  5. Beer Marshmallow S’Mores 

 

 

 Trashed Up Beer Cheese Tater Tot Pizza.  Worth every. single. calorie. SO good.

Trashed Up Beer Cheese Tater Tot Pizza

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb pale ale pizza dough
  • ½ cup pizza sauce marinara or barbeque sauce
  • 1 cup mozzarella shredded
  • 2 cups tater tots cooked according to package directions
  • Olive oil for crust about 2 tbs
  • 2 tbs Butter melted
  • 2 tbs Flour
  • 1 tbs Cornstarch
  • ½ cup beer wheat beer, blonde ale, pale ale, pilsner
  • 1 cup shredded Cheddar do not use pre shredded
  • ½ cup whole milk
  • salt and pepper
  • ¼ cup cilantro chopped
  • 4 strips bacon cooked and chopped
  • ¼ cup pickled jalapenos nacho jalapenos

Instructions
 

  • Place 10-inch cast iron skillet in the lower third of the oven. Heat to 425 degrees with pan in the oven. Heat for at least half hour prior to baking.
  • Stretch the pizza dough into a 10-inch circle, avoid a rolling pin as this will remove the air bubbles that give great texture. Carefully remove the skillet from the oven, gently placing the crust in the pan.
  • Spread with sauce, top with mozzarella cheese and then cooked tater tots. Brush exposed crust with olive oil.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese has melted the edges are golden brown.
  • While the pizza is baking make the sauce.
  • Add the melted butter, flour, cornstarch, beer, cheddar cheese and milk to a blender. Blend on high until well combined. Add to a pot over medium high heat until thick and bubbly. Salt and pepper to taste. (If you encounter any issues with the texture, just re-blend until smooth).
  • Once the pizza is cooked, remove from oven, top with beer cheese sauce, sprinkle with cilantro, chopped bacon and pickled jalapenos.

I used this Beer Pizza Dough recipe  Trashed Up Beer Cheese Tater Tot Pizza.  Worth every. single. calorie. SO good.

Check out the rest:

 

trashed up salads

  1. Gimme Some Oven – Asian Broccoli Salad with Peanut Sauce
  2. The Lemon Bowl – Brussels Slaw with Tahini Dressing and Za’atar Crostini
  3. With Style & Grace – Kale Salad with Apple, Hazelnuts & Bacon

 

trashed up cocktails

  1. Dine & Dish – Hot Buttered Rum Cocktail
  2. Food For My Family – Cranberry Orange Dark and Stormy Cocktail
  3. Minimalist Baker – Bourbon Pumpkin Milkshakes
  4. Stylish, Stealthy & (sometimes) Healthy – Apple Cider Shandy
  5. A Spicy Perspective – Preggy Punch Mocktail
  6. Girl vs. Dough – Boozy Maple Peanut Butter Cup Milkshake
  7. Honestly Yum – Maple Bacon Pisco Sour
  8. Cookin Canuck – Pink Grapefruit Margaritas
  9. A Thought For Food – Mezcal Citrico Cocktail
  10. A House in the Hills – Pomegranate Rosemary Spritzer
  11. The Novice Chef – Ginger Bourbon Apple Cider
  12. Bran Appetit – Citrus Cider Punch Floats

 

trashed up burgers

  1. Edible Perspective – Meatloaf Veggie Burgers with Mashed Potatoes + Gravy
  2. The Little Kitchen – Salmon BLT Sliders with an Avocado Aioli & Brie
  3. Daisy At Home – Balsamic Beef Burger with Mac and Cheese
  4. Cookies & Cups – Candied Bacon Maple Cheddar Burger
  5. Climbing Grier Mountain – Trashed-Up Steak Burger with Chicken Fried Bacon & Dijon Gravy
  6. Dessert For Two – Bleu Cheese Burgers + Sweet Potato Fries
  7. Country Clever – Fig Rosemary Roast Chicken Brie Brussels Sprout Panini
  8. Foodie Crush – The Best Cheeseburger Soup
  9. Lady and Pups – Spicy Sambal Chicken Meatball Sub with Eggs
  10. Two Peas & Their Pod – Sweet Potato and Kale Grilled Cheese
  11. Bake Your Day – Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich

 

trashed up tacos

  1. Spoon Fork Bacon – Crunchy Ground Beef and Cheesy Tacos
  2. The Fauxmartha – Boozy Beef and Butternut Tacos
  3. With Food + Love – Harvest Hash Breakfast Tacos
  4. Mountain Mama Cooks – Crispy Kale and Brussels Sprout Tacos with Bacon
  5. Heather Christo – Bahn Mi Tacos with Spicy Sriracha Honey Sauce
  6. A Couple Cooks – Loaded Huevos Rancheros Tacos
  7. Fitnessista – San Diego Lobster Street Tacos

 

trashed up desserts

  1. Table for Two – Salted Caramel, Dark Chocolate, and Brown Butter Shortbread Bars with Sprinkles
  2. My Name is Yeh – Mini Vanilla Loaf Cakes, All Trashed Up
  3. Picky Palate – Pumpkin Spice Butterscotch Sprinkle Cupcakes
  4. Sprinkle Bakes – Cake Batter Confetti Cupcakes
  5. Averie Cooks – Easy Homemade Funfetti Cake with Vanilla Buttercream
  6. Sweet Phi – Trashed Up Shortbread Cookie Bars
  7. Love & Olive Oil – Loaded Junk Food Brownies
  8. Lauren’s Latest – Bakery Sugar Cookies
  9. Cookie + Kate – Peanut Butter, Banana, Honey and Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies
  10. Flourishing Foodie – Triple Layer Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream Frosting
  11. The Sugar Hit – Salted Caramel Popcorn Ice Cream Cake
  12. Hummingbird High – Breakfast Cereal Cake Donuts
  13. Top With Cinnamon – Triple Chocolate Vanilla Swirl Crumb Cake
  14. Bake at 350 – Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sundaes
  15. Simple Bites – Lemon Layer Cake
  16. Bakerella – Baby Block Cake Pops
  17. She Wears Many Hats –  Chocolate Covered Grapefruit

 

trashed up pizza

  1. Bev Cooks – Beer Battered Fried Calamari Pizza
  2. Rachel Cooks – Apple and Chicken Sausage Pizza with Macaroni and Cheese Stuffed Crust
  3. Foodie With Family – Trashed Up Barbecue Turkey Pizza
  4. Shutterbean – Pesto Potato Bacon Pizza
  5. i am a food blog – Grilled Cheese Pizza
  6. My Life as a Mrs – Chili Cheese Dog Pizza
  7. Simply Scratch – Steak + Blue Cheese Pizza with Crispy Fried Shallots and Honey Balsamic Drizzle
  8. The Beeroness – Beer Cheese Tater Tot Pizza
  9. Yes I Want Cake – Roasted Pumpkin Pizza
  10. Two Red Bowls – Bacon Mashed Potato Pizza
  11. Dula Notes – Pork Bahn Mi Pizza
  12. Weelicious – Trashed Up Mexican Pizza Pockets
  13. Take a Megabite – Roasted Beet Pizza
  14. Hungry Girl Por Vida – Hard Cider Braised Pork with Sour Cherries and Cheesy Polenta
  15. Bakers Royale – Trash’d Street Tacos

Rosemary Potato Brown Ale Galette

Rosemary Potato Brown Ale Galette. Vegan, healthy and insanely delicious. Perfect side dish for Thanksgiving! 

 

Rosemary Potato Brown Ale Galette. Vegan, healthy and insanely delicious. Perfect side dish for Thanksgiving!   #vegan #beer #recipe #sidedish #thanksgiving #potato

I once knew a woman who had marched on Washington with Martin Luther King. She was fascinating and captivating and no matter how many interesting stories I can tell you, she had me beat on all levels. I sat at a small formica table drinking bad coffee with a woman who was closer to my Grandmothers age than my own and she told me about praying with MLK Jr. in a tent the night before the big human rights rally. I was captivated. I looked at her hands, gripping a white paper cup and I imagined them gripping his. Facing each other, his hands tightly folded into hers, eyes closed, praying for the day to come, possibly wondering if they would both make it through alive. I felt like I was in the presence of Royalty. "One of the best things he ever said to me was to collect compliments, and disregard insults." I smiled, apparently she had picked up on the fact that I tend to disregard compliments and collect insults. "I’ll give you one, one that I hope you collect. Here it is: you get it. Most white people don’t, but you do. You get it. For as much as someone who has never been a minority can get it, you do."

To this day, it’s one of my favorites. More than Carlos Santana telling me I was pretty, or Tommy Lee saying I beautiful. It was a compliment that mattered from a woman I was intimidated by. It beat out Evan Kleiman saying my recipes are smart and even a woman I adored saying "you’re the kind of girl I hope my son marries." But all of these compliments I’m keeping. I’m saving them up and pulling them out when I feel beaten down. You should too. Collect the compliments, disregard the insults. After all, if someone wants to throw a nasty comment your way, it says more about them than it does about you.

Rosemary Potato Brown Ale Galette. Vegan, healthy and insanely delicious. Perfect side dish for Thanksgiving!   #vegan #beer #recipe #sidedish #thanksgiving #potato

 

Rosemary Potato Brown Ale Galette

Ingredients
  

  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 tsp chopped fresh sage
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • 4 lbs russet potatoes sliced into ¼ inch slices
  • 1/3 cup brown ale

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400.
  • In a small bowl stir together olive oil, rosemary, sage, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Microwave on high for 45 seconds, allow to steep for five minutes (you can also add this to a small pan and bring to a boil on the stove top).
  • Place a layer of potatoes in an overlapping circle in the bottom on a 9-inch spring form pan.
  • Brush potatoes circles with olive oil mixture. Add a second layer of potatoes, brushing with oil, repeat until all potatoes are used. You should have three or four layers of potatoes, each layer brushed with the herbed olive oil. Once all potatoes have been used, pour 1/3 cup brown ale gently over the top.
  • Cover spring form pan with aluminum foil, bake at 400 for 25 minutes. Remove foil and continue to bake for an additional 30 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.
  • Remove from oven and preheat broiler. Place potatoes under the broiler for 3 minutes or until the top is slightly crisp and golden brown. Press down firmly on the top of the galette with a spoon or fork. Allow to cool. Remove the sides of the spring form pan, cut galette into wedges.

This recipe is crazy delicious and just so happens to be vegan. It’s a beautiful way to serve a side dish to a diverse crowd at Thangsiving. It can even be gluten free if you use GF beer and it’s relatively healthy. Want a delicious and different breakfast offering? Put an egg on it.

 

Rosemary Potato Brown Ale Galette. Vegan, healthy and insanely delicious. Perfect side dish for Thanksgiving!   #vegan #beer #recipe #sidedish #thanksgiving #potato

 

 

Want to know how I made these incredibly delicious beer battered grilled cheese bites? You’ll love them. Check them out on the Harry & David blog.

Beer Box5

Chocolate Porter Mousse Tart with Potato Chip Crust

 Chocolate Porter Mousse Tart with Potato Chip Crust. POTATO CHIP CRUST!! #chocolate #beer #recipe

Chocolate Porter Mousse Tart with Potato Chip Crust. POTATO CHIP CRUST!! #chocolate #beer #recipe

You already know the kind of tricks I play over here. You know that I add salty things to sweet things more often than not. You know that pretzels have been a favorite, as is bacon. But I’ve moved on, or really, I’m expanding.

Chocolate Porter Mousse Tart with Potato Chip Crust. POTATO CHIP CRUST!! #chocolate #beer #recipe

I’m broadening my salty-sweet pairings to improve upon those chocolate covered potato chips you love so much more than you expected to. Sweet and savory is a balance, like malt and hops. It’s a way to round out flavors and bring them to a new level. Try it the other way too. Add a little brown sugar to your fried chicken, or maple syrup to your barbecue sauce.

Chocolate Porter Mousse Tart with Potato Chip Crust. POTATO CHIP CRUST!! #chocolate #beer #recipe

Beer needs that same balance, a little sweetness from the malt, and a little bitterness from the hops. Of course, I needed a beer that messed around with these principles as well. It seemed a bit fated when this beer showed up on my doorstep from Stone Brewing. This beer is savory. It’s warm and smokey with notes of cocoa and orange. It’s not a sweet chocolate beer that you might be used to. It’s perfect to pair with a big plate of barbecue beer ribs, and finish with a tart that has a big kick of savory-salty dessert mouthful. Stone’s Smoked Porter with Chocolate and Orange Peel is a fantastic cooking beer, the flavors and big and bold. It’s a fantastic reminder of how important beer and food are becoming to each other.

Stone Brewing Smoked Porter with Chocolate and Orange Peel

For the chips, I used Kettle Brand Sea Salt chips, so perfect.

Chocolate Porter Mousse Tart with Potato Chip Crust

Ingredients
  

  • 7.5 wt oz about 6 cups bag salted kettle potato chips
  • ½ cup flour
  • 3 tbs cornstarch
  • 2 tbs brown sugar
  • 3 tbs melted butter
  • 10 wt oz about 1 ¾ cups dark chocolate chips
  • ½ cup + 2tbs porter Stone Smoked Porter with Chocolate & Orange Peel
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar
  • ¼ tsp salt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350.
  • Add the chips, flour, cornstarch, and brown sugar to a food processor, process until chips have been reduced to crumbs. While the food processor is running, add the melted butter until well combined with the potato chip crumbs.
  • Starting with the sides, press the crust into a 9-inch tart crust with removable bottom (alternately, you can use a spring form pan, pressing the sides up just about 1 ½ inches).
  • Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
  • In a microwave safe bowl add the chocolate chips and ½ cup porter. Microwave for 45 seconds, stir and repeat until melted. Allow to cool for ten minutes.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer add the cream, remaining 2 tablespoons porter, salt and powdered sugar. Beat on high until soft peaks form.
  • While mixer is running, slowly add the chocolate until well combined.
  • Spoon into cooled crust in an even layer. Refrigerate until ready to serve.