One of the perks of blogging is the invitations for the behind the scenes tours of places you’d never be allowed in otherwise, to fully indulge the Food Geek in all of us in the how it’s made process that thrills and fascinates those of that have dedicated our loves to internet food. The… Read More
I’ve noticed something about you. You seem to have no interest in healthy beer recipes. You want your beer recipes to be a flagrant indulgence of full flavored stimulation. You want chocolate and bacon and sugar and whatever else I can manage to squeeze into your meal. I like that about you. No “semi-homemade” or… Read More
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… Read More
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… Read More
The best part about visiting a brewery is the opportunity to sample those special release beers that never make it into bottles. Those brews that are only made in small batches, put into casks that sometimes make it to local pubs or events but will never make it into bottles in your local distributors shelves.… Read More
Why do I cook with beer? What is it about this fantastic beverage that drives me to create recipe after recipe with beer as a star ingredients? Flavor. Beautiful and complex flavors that take months, even years to perfect by brewers. Aside from that, beer is a natural meat tenderizer, making it the perfect choice… Read More
I’m in the process of developing a beer scale for the recipes I write. A scale that lets you know how much beer flavor comes through upon the final result. From the low end being, “Mild Hints of Beer Flavors” to the high end of “Strong Bold Forward Beer Taste.” Some people want to be… Read More
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… Read More
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… Read More
There are two ways to look at this post. Either it’s a week late, or 11 1/2 months early. I prefer the latter. Unless you are a turkey on Christmas type of person, in that case, I’m right on time. I use Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar for several reasons. This is a beer with the perfect… Read More
I could get really cheesy about this. I could even call it CranBEERy sauce. But I’m not going to do that, because, that would be lame. And I respect you too much for obvious puns. Drunken cranberry sauce? Boozy? All of those overused descriptors miss the point, and the fact that high heat burns off… Read More
I came across Albion Amber Ale, from Marin Brewing Co this week. It isn’t a traditional Amber, but the flavors are bright and complex. One taste of this brown ale, and a caramel sauce immediately came to mind. The rich toffee and nut flavors paired beautifully with this recipe and the strong caramel and malt… Read More
Beer bread is simple. A few ingredients creates a soft, but dense bread. The basic principle is to use the beer as the yeast. Although beer is great in this capacity, adding a leavening agent like baking soda, or self rising flour, is important to help keep the bread from becoming too dense. The simple… Read More
There is nothing new about braising with beer. In fact, it should be the standard. Beer, as with all alcohol, is a natural meat tenderizer but it’s the flavors of the beer that make for braise meat that has a truly special taste. Craft brews are known for more intense flavor profiles and will always… Read More