Porter/Stout

Stout Braised Short Ribs over Creamy Pale Ale Polenta

Stout Braised Short Ribs over Creamy Pale Ale Polenta

I accidentally found my new favorite get-away town on Monday. A four-hour drive to interview a brewery owner for an article I’m writing turned into an overnight stay in a Northern Oregon. A little town that I’m convinced haphazardly, and purely by accident, wound its way into being excessively charming. As if one day the residents of this little river town, this former not-more-than-a-train-stop location woke up, looked at the row of shops and cafes adjacent to the water, the glorious views of the surrounding mountains, the outstanding breweries, and said, “well, look at that! We’re adorable.”

I’d HEARD of Hood River, Oregon. I’d even stopped in once on a road trip because I NEEDED to visit Pfriem. But I’d never been there long enough to look around, long enough to really see it.

Then, I was there. A Monday night, alone except for this beast, and my gypsy soul decided to stay the night. Chatting with locals for a while, drinking the beer, and realizing why I moved to Seattle in the first place. You just stumble into these little towns that make you feel like you’re a lifetime away from the place you started.

Then I realized that it’s been almost 5 years since I moved here, packed my little car and my bulldog and headed north. I realized how lucky I am to live here, to have the people in my life that currently occupy space in my surroundings, and how even when your life feels like it’s accidentally happening to you, even when things feel haphazard, you can one day wake up and realize how great they really are.

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5 from 1 vote

Stout Braised Short Ribs over Creamy Pale Ale Polenta

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

For the Short Ribs

  • Kosher salt
  • 3 lbs beef short ribs
  • ¼ cup cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 large carrots diced
  • 2 ribs celery diced
  • 1 cup diced white onion
  • 12 ounces stout beer
  • 1 cup beef broth
  • 1 sprig thyme
  • 1 sprig rosemary

For the polenta

  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup pale ale
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 3/4 cup dry polenta
  • 3/4 cup fresh grated parmesan reggiano
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

Make the ribs:

  • 1. Preheat the oven to 325° F.
    2. Generously sprinkle salt on all sides of the ribs.
    3. Add the cornstarch to a wide bowl, toss the ribs in the cornstarch until well coated.
    4. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sear the ribs on all sides, remove from the pan, set aside.
    5. Add the carrots, celery and onions, cook until browned and starting to caramelized, about 15 minutes.
    6. Pour in the beer, scraping to deglaze the pan. Stir in the broth.
    7. Add the ribs into the pot, add the thyme and rosemary, add the lid onto the pot.
    8. Place the pot in the oven, cooking until the ribs are very tender and easily pull away from the bone, 3 to 4 hours. 
    9. Remove the ribs. Strain the sauce into a pot, removing the solids and any large pieces of fat, discard the fat.
    10. Separate the fat from the sauce, either spoon it off (it’s lighter color and will sit on top), or if making in advance, add to the fridge and allow to cool, peel the fat layer off the top and discard.
    11. Add the broth and ribs to a serving platter (add the carrots and celery to the serving platter, if desired). 

Make the polenta:

  • 1. In a pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the beer and milk, bring to a simmer.
    2. Whisk in the polenta. Simmer until polenta is tender and thickened, whisking occasionally, about 25 minutes.
    3. Stir in the parmesan, salt and pepper

Stout Osso Buco Sliders with Gremolata Sour Cream

Stout Osso Buco Sliders with Gremolata Sour Cream

We’ve made it. Made the turn into the New Year and survived to tell the tale. January is about breathing, stepping back, reflecting and fireplaces. Stouts are also a January thing, even when you’ve resolved to be healthy so you can run faster and jump higher.

One won’t hurt. Maybe just buy one for the fridge to look at and remind yourself of the reward you have coming once your goal has been met. Don’t forget about Football, it’s another January thing. An even-if-you-don’t-like-sports thing, because it’s a how we get out of the house and see other humans in the depths of winter thing.

Maybe, if you’re not ready to jump into football appetizer like food yet, just pin it for later. A mental prep for February (just as dark as January but graciously shorter) when we will break our diets to eat all the things and watch the Big Game with other people who will mostly be rooting against one team or another. This is important, we need things to look forward to right now as we’ve rounded the corner out of all the look-forward-to things portion of the year and we’re not sure what to do with ourselves.

Just make some Osso Buco Sliders, they’re tiny. How much damage can one really do?

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Stout Osso Buco Sliders with Gremolata Sour Cream

Yield: 12 sliders

Ingredients

  • 4 slices thick cut bacon
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • ¼ cup flour
  • 3 lbs beef shanks (4 to 5)
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 ½ cups carrots, peeled and sliced (about 2 large)
  • 2 ribs celery, chopped
  • 1 cup white onions, chopped
  • 1 cup porter or stout beer
  • 3 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 3 cups broth
  • ¼ cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
  • ½ teaspoon lemon zest
  • ½ teaspoon orange zest
  • 2 large cloves garlic, grated with a zester or microplane
  • 1 ½ cups sour cream
  • 12 slider buns

Instructions

  1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until most of the fat has rendered and the bacon starts to crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon, set aside. Leave about 2 tablespoons of bacon fat in the pan, discard the rest.
  2. Salt and pepper the beef shanks liberally.
  3. Add flour to a bowl. One at a time dredge shanks in the flour until well coated.
  4. Return the Dutch oven to heat, allow the bacon fat to get hot but not smoking.
  5. Sear the shanks in bacon fat until browned on both sides. Remove shanks from pot.
  6. Add olive oil to pot along with carrots, celery and onion. Cook until softened, about 8 minutes.
  7. Add the beer, scraping to deglaze the bottom. Stir in the tomato paste.
  8. Return shanks and bacon to the pot. Pour in broth until shanks are ¾ of the way covered.
  9. Allow liquid to simmer but not boil for 3 ½ hours or until meat is tender and falling off the bone. While shanks are cooking, turn over every 30 to 45 minutes. Add additional broth to maintain a liquid level that is about ¾ of the way up the side of the shanks.
  10. Once tender, remove the meat and bones. Discard the bones and any large pieces of fat. Pull the meat into small pieces using two forks, return to the pot, stir to combine with the sauce.
  11. Spoon the meat mixture into slider buns.
  12. Combine the parsley, lemon zest, orange zest, garlic and sour cream in a small bowl.
  13. Top the meat with a spoonful of sour cream mixture before putting the top of the bun on the slider. Serve immediately.
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Chewy Gingerbread People with Chocolate Stout Pants

Gingerbread People with Chocolate Stout Pants

Leave it to me to booze up a holiday classic. I do that sort of thing this time of year. I also have very specific ideas about gingerbread and cookie making in general I want to tell you about. I can be opinionated about small things far more than big things, but cookies need rules.

First, soft and chewy will always be preferable to crispy and hard. You can keep your mouth scraping sugar cardboard, I’ll take mine soft and chewy because I don’t hate myself.

Also, while I find intricately decorated royal icing covered masterpieces impressive and beautiful, I don’t want any part in making them. My rule is: it must take more time to eat them than it takes to decorate them, or you’re spending too much time on the wrong part of enjoying the cookie. Keep it simple.

Also, when it comes to gingerbread, the ginger shouldn’t be the loudest of the flavors. I firmly believe that the cinnamon, molasses, and ginger should all have equal voices. Which is why I should change the name to Gingolassamon cookies but that’s just too much to explain. And you can disagree with me and make your own cookie rules, you do you.

Also, cookies shouldn’t have a gender because that makes me think of putting genitals into the mouths of people whom I’ve baked cookies for and that makes me uncomfortable. I don’t want to be responsible for making that sort of choice for another person. Therefore, my gingolassamon cookies aren’t men, they’re genderless people. With pants.

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Chewy Gingerbread People with Chocolate Stout Pants

Yield: 12 large, or 24 small

Ingredients

    For the cookies:
  • 3 ¼ cups (390g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 ¼ cup (250g) dark brown sugar, packed
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ cup (172g) unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup (180g) molasses (not blackstrap)
  • 2 tablespoons stout beer
    • For the Chocolate Pants:
  • 10oz bittersweet chocolate
  • ¼ cup stout beer

Instructions

  1. Add the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir to combine.
  2. Add the softened butter, molasses and beer, stir on low speed until combined.
  3. Transfer to a long sheet of plastic wrap, form into a flat disk, wrap tightly.
  4. Refrigerate for 2 hours and up to 2 days.
  5. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface until just under ½ inch in thickness.
  6. Cut out gingerbread people, add to 2 baking sheets that have been covered with parchment paper.
  7. Freeze for 20 minutes (this will help prevent spreading).
  8. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  9. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, pull the parchment paper off the sheets and onto a flat surface. Allow to cool.
  10. In the top of a double boiler set over lightly simmering water, add the chocolate and beer. Stir constantly until most of the chocolate has been melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until all the chocolate has melted.
  11. Using a spatula or butter knife, spread chocolate onto the cookies. Decorate as desired.
  12. Allow to cool until chocolate has set before serving.

Notes

Blackstrap molasses is what happens when you boil cane juice three times, removing nearly all the sugar resulting in a black, bitter sludge. Dark, light or unsulphured are all fairly interchangeable and pleasantly sweet. Make sure never to use Blackstrap when a recipe calls for molasses unless it’s specifically called for.

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Pressure Cooker Stout Pho (AKA-The best and easiest way to feed a group)

Pressure Cooker Stout Pho (AKA-The best and easiest way to feed a group)

I have a confession. You won’t be surprised, it’s very typical of who I am. The last THREE times I’ve had people over for dinner, this is what I made. All three times. And then I acted like it was creative and inspired when I really just wanted to eat this again.

Luckily, these three groups of people don’t know each other and won’t be able to compare notes and realize that I’m not as creative as I pretend to be. I also have a large pot of this in my freezer, just in case I need to feed more people at the last minute. Or in case I just want to feed my own face at the last minute.

The thing about this Pressure Cooker Stout Pho, is that it’s the easiest way to get that broth, and we all know that Pho is all about the broth, once you have that handled, the rest is quick. You can even make it in a huge batch, then freeze it for when you know you’ll have to pull this off in less than 30 minutes, it’s completely doable. And you’ll look like a rock star, even if you do it three times in a row.

Just serve it with good beer and no one will say a word.

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Pressure Cooker Stout Pho (AKA-The best and easiest way to feed a group)

Serving Size: serves 6

Ingredients

    For the broth:
  • 2 pounds marrow or knuckle beef bones
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil, divided
  • 1 pound oxtails
  • 1 cup stout beer
  • 1 knob of unpeeled ginger, about 4 inches long
  • 1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 whole star anise
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
  • 8 cups water
  • 2 teaspoons salt
    • For serving:
  • 1 pound flank steak
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 lbs rice noodles 1 lime, cut into wedges
  • 4 Thai peppers, thinly sliced
  • 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 1 bunch fresh Thai basil, chopped
  • 1 bunch fresh mint, chopped
  • 2 cups bean sprouts
  • Sriracha sauce
  • Sesame chili oil

Instructions

  1. Add the beef bones to a stock pot, cover with salted water. Bring to a boil for ten minutes, discard the water, rinse the bones, set aside (this is the only way to get rid of the scum that happens when making beef broth).
  2. Turn the Instant pot or Multi-Cooker to sauté (this can also be done in a pan on the stove top), add 1 tablespoon olive oil. Once hot, add the oxtails, cooking until browned on all sides.
  3. While the oxtails cook, char the ginger. Slice the ginger lengthwise into 4 strips, add to a baking sheet along with the quartered onions.
  4. Using a kitchen torch, char ginger and onions on all sides until blackened. You can also add the baking sheet to an oven with a pre-heated broiler, broiling until blackened, turning the ginger and onion pieces to make sure they char on all sides.
  5. Once the oxtails have cooked, add the beer, stirring to deglaze the bottom of the pot.
  6. Add the charred onions and ginger, beef bones, the fish sauce, soy sauce, anise, coriander, cinnamon, water and 2 teaspoons salt.
  7. Add the lid tightly to the pressure cooker. Set the pressure cooker to cook for 60 minutes. Once the cooking has finished, vent to release pressure then remove the lid. Drain, removing the solids and saving the broth (broth freezes well, it can be made in advance and frozen for up to a month).
  8. While the broth cooks, make the steak and noodles.
  9. Dry the steak well on all sides with paper towels. Sprinkle liberally with salt. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes.
  10. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  11. Add the remaining olive oil to a cast iron skillet or other oven-safe pan over high heat until just before smoking. Add the steak, cooking for 2 minutes on each side. Add pan to the oven, cooking in the oven for 6 minutes. Remove the steak, add to a cutting board, allow to rest for 5 minutes. Slice very thinly, add to a serving plate.
  12. Cook the rice noodles in boiling salted water until al dente, drain and add to a large bowl. Toss with oil to prevent sticking (store noodles separate from the broth to prevent over cooking).
  13. Serve broth along side the steak, herbs, sprouts, limes, peppers and sauces, allowing all guests to build their own bowls.
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Easy Chocolate Beer Pretzel Truffles

Easy Chocolate Beer Pretzel Truffles, 4 ingredients, and just a few steps!

I have a problem, the sort that will probably be solved with beer-infused chocolate, as most minor problems usually are. My problem (one of many, I’m sure you already know) is that I almost always assume that people—upon first meeting me—don’t like me. For one reason or another, this is what I default to: “I don’t think she likes me. Sure, she’s being nice, but that’s just because she’s a nice person.” This does not, however, stop me from being chattier than said new person would probably like.

I know, it’s ridiculously insecure and eye-rolly. I know this. But it’s my default mode, thinking I have to earn it, like most things I have in my life. Then I do things like make chocolate truffles and bacon cupcakes and give them away hoping to earn peoples likes. Also: don’t do that. I don’t recommend it. But I’m far better at giving advice than I am at taking it. I’m an excellent advice giver, just ask. I’ll kick some wisdom at you.

I don’t take the advice, I just give it away. Unless that advice is about what beer to cook with or how to infuse chocolate with booze, those nuggets of wisdom I keep close. Also, if you want advice about what beer to pair with your dinner, or what city to visit on a whim, I’m your girl. How to navigate the intricacies of unknown humans? Maybe ask someone else. I’ll just be over here with these truffles trying to make friends with the new UPS guys.

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Easy Chocolate Beer Pretzel Truffles

Yield: 24 truffles

Ingredients

  • 8 weight oz dark chocolate (60%)
  • ¼ cup heavy cream
  • ¼ cup stout beer
  • 1 cup crushed pretzels

Instructions

  1. Add the chocolate, heavy cream and beer to the top of a double boiler set over gently simmering water.
  2. Stir until just before all of the chocolate has melted. Remove from heat, continue to stir until the chocolate has melted.
  3. Allow the chocolate to cool until set (add to the refrigerator to speed up setting).
  4. Add the pretzels to a shallow bowl.
  5. Once the chocolate has set use a melon baller to pull out a ball about the size of a large marble. Roll in your hands until even and round.
  6. Add the chocolate ball to the pretzels, roll until well coated. Add to a sheet of wax paper. Repeat for the remaining chocolate.
  7. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
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Bourbon County Beer Marshmallows

Bourbon County Beer Marshmallows

Bourbon County Marshmallows

When you count the seasons by what’s available in the bottle shops, you see the months pass in a different way. Right now we’re just leaving Fresh Hop Season and moving into Barrel Aged Beer season, one of the best beer seasons of the year.

It’s also the time of year when beer releases hit a fevered pitch and people wait in line for hours hoping to score a bottle or two of a beer that’s been aging in a wooden barrel that formerly housed liquor. It’s worth it, even if just for the bragging rights and the perfect cellarable beer. Beers that you always want two of, one for now and one to save for later. Stored properly they can be even better years later.

Bourbon County is the Godfather of the bourbon barrel aged beer. Goose Island is widely credited as being the first people to take a discarded bourbon barrel, load it up with stout, store it for nearly a year and then drink it just to see what would happen. This, more than anything, is a commentary on the heart of true brewer.  Curious, courageously experimental, and unafraid to think outside the bottle.

It was a move that would have cultural repercussions beyond their wildest dreams. Starting a movement so strong and widely adopted it caused spent liquor barrels to go from a nuisance that distilleries had to deal with to a sought-after commodity that caused a shortage.

The face of beer is undeniably altered for the better because of the curiosity that caused Greg Hall to fill 6 bourbon barrels with stout in the early 1990s. In the name of that experimentation and curiosity, I decided that I’d like to figure out what would happen if you put a beer — one that had spent time cohabitating in a wooden barrel with the remnants of bourbon — into a marshmallow. Turns out, it’s pretty fantastic.

 

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Bourbon County Beer Marshmallows

Yield: 24 marshmallows

Ingredients

  • Powdered sugar
  • 3 envelopes unflavored gelatin (such as Knox)
  • ½ cup barrel aged beer, such as Bourbon County (flat and cold)*
  • ½ cup water (or beer)
  • 2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light corn syrup
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Grease a 9x13 baking pan, sprinkle with powdered sugar until well coated, set aside.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer add ½ cup cold, flat beer. Sprinkle with gelatin. Allow to stand while the sugar is being prepared.
  3. In a large saucepan (mixture will bubble up) over medium heat, add the water, 2 cups sugar and corn syrup. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
  4. Raise heat to high and allow to boil until the mixture reads 240F on a candy thermometer (about 6-8 minutes).
  5. Once the temperature has been reached, turn off heat.
  6. Turn the mixer on low and slowly pour the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin. Once all the sugar has been added turn the mixer on high until light and fluffy and tripled in volume, this can take up to 10 minutes.
  7. While the mixer is running, prepare the egg whites. Add the egg whites to a bowl with the salt. Beat on high with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, beat until stiff peaks return.
  8. Gently fold the egg whites and vanilla extract into the stand mixer ingredients until just combined.
  9. Pour the marshmallows into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Allow to set at room temperature until set, about 2 hours. Remove from pan, cut into squares. Toss with additional powdered sugar to prevent from sticking together.

Notes

*Open the beer at least two hours before you plan to make the marshmallows, and up to several days in advance. Pour ½ cup into an open container. Loosely cover and refrigerate. Enjoy the reaming beer, since you HAD to open the beer it’s your job to finish the rest.

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Darth Vader Stout Beer Fudge

Darth Vader Stout Beer Fudge

This is ridiculous. I know what you’re thinking: why can’t you just make fudge like a normal person? But I found this silicon Darth Vader mold from that time I made Star Wars cupcakes and you can’t honestly think that I could just put it away and forget about it? Of course not.

And since we’re just entering Barrel-Aged-Beer-Season, as well as Fudge-Making -Season, it just makes sense. If you don’t have a Darth Vader silicon mold (but really, why not? You totally should) you can use any silicone mold. Because fudge is great, but it’s not as fun as Dark Side Fudge, right?

Plus, there’s beer in there. And since Barrel Aged beers come in large bottles and I’m only asking you to pour out 1/4 cup for the homies, I mean for the fudge, then you get to drink the rest. Have I talked you into this yet? Do I need to hone my Jedi Mind Trick skills? How about you make some fudge and we can talk about it.

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Darth Vader Stout Beer Fudge

Yield: 12-14 peices

Ingredients

  • 16 wt oz dark chocolate (60% cocoa content)
  • 1/3 cup (102g) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
  • ¼ tsp (.5g) vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup (2oz) barrel aged beer
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Add the chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, beer and salt to the top of a double boiler (or a metal bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water).
  2. Stir over medium-low heat (make sure the water does not boil) until most of the chocolate has melted. Remove from heat, continue to stir until all the chocolate has melted.
  3. Pour into silicone molds, chill until set.
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Ridiculously Good Stout Vegan Brownies (with no weird ingredients)

 

Ridiculously Good Stout Vegan Brownies (with no weird ingredients), just some things you probably already have in your pantry. And these brownies are legit!

It’s not so much that flax-eggs are wierd. Or guar gum. Or agar agar. It’s not the “weirdness” of the ingredients I kept seeing in vegan brownie recipes, but rather the fact that I don’t own them. And outside of an online shopping trip, I have no idea where to procure such things in my neighborhood. I’m more of a vegan food enthusiast rather than an actual vegan.

What I really needed was a brownie recipe using just what I had in my pantry, because there is a good chance you’ll also have the same things in your pantry. They also needed to be actual brownies, not shiny-top cake squares (an issue with some recipes that don’t include eggs and butter).

I have a few rules and requirements when it comes to brownies: the absolute necessity of the crunchy top, they need to be chewy, and only psychopaths put nuts in a brownie. I like a fudgy, dense, chocolatey, chewy, crispy top brownie.

I tested the recipe over and over, making minor tweaks to fix the things I didn’t love, until it came out exactly the way I like my vegan food: shockingly vegan. As in, “serve it to meat eaters and astound them”. Or “Bring them to a dinner party and people ask for the recipe because they have no idea what it does not contain.”

It’s also a great recipe for those of us who always want to bake right before we realize that we are out of everything and don’t want to go to the store.

Want to check and see if your beer is vegan? Branivore can help.

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Ridiculously Good Stout Vegan Brownies (with no weird ingredients)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (200g) sugar
  • ¼ cup (56g) coconut oil (not melted)
  • 2 tablespoons (30mL) vegetable oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3 cup (74g) stout beer
  • ½ cup (60g) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 ¼ cup (150g) bread flour
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons espresso powder

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F
  2. Add the sugar and coconut oil to a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium until well combined. Slowly add the oil and vanilla, beating on high until the mixture resembles frosting.
  3. Add the baking soda and vinegar, beat again until well combined.
  4. Stir in the beer.
  5. In a mixing bowl stir together the cocoa powder, flour, cornstarch, salt, and espresso powder.
  6. Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined, mixture will be thick.
  7. Add in an even layer to a greased 8x8 pan, press flat.
  8. Bake for 22 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting into squares.
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Crock-Pot Express Crock Multi-Cooker Carnitas Sliders with Chipotle Sour Cream

 

This post was sponsored by Crock-Pot. Partnerships with The Beeroness and outside companies are rare and only occur when the company’s products are ones I use and enjoy myself. All ideas and opinions are my  own.

I’m still sort of in shock. If you’re a long time carnitas lover, you’ll know what I’m talking about. The best part of this delicious slow-cooked meat dish is the lovely caramelization you get on some of the end bits. It’s really not the same without that.

What shocks me is that I was able to get the perfect seared caramelization in a Crock-Pot! If you’d have told me that was possible, I might have fought you, bet you several pitchers of good beer that it wasn’t possible. And now here I am. I’d owe you quite a few beers, and I’d have gladly paid up, these carnitas were the best I’ve made and that sear is perfect! (Yes, it’s SUPER nerdy that I’m THIS excited about it. But I can’t even try to care, I’m so excited!)

 

The new Crock-Pot Express Crock Multi-Cooker is a game changer. It has eight different functions that encompass all the functions you would achieve from using multiple different kitchen appliances from slow cooking to pressure cooking and sautéing to searing. The Crock-Pot Express Crock Multi-Cooker is also available in NEW 4-Quart and 8-Quart Models.

I was a bit skeptical that the brown/sauté setting would work as well as a stovetop pot. It’s a good thing I didn’t have a bet going, it was perfect. Also, SO much easier. I didn’t have to use anything but the Multi-Cooker. I’m usually someone who digs the traditional Dutch ovens for such endeavors, but these carnitas came out so well, I’ll never go back.

So, if you want to win yourself a couple beers, just bet someone that you can’t make a Crock-Pot sear. Or pressure cook. You’ll never have to buy beer again.

 

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Crock-PotExpress Crock Carnitas Sliders with Chipotle Sour Cream

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 4.5 lbs pork shoulder, cut into cubes
  • 1 tablespoon salt, plus ½ teaspoon divided
  • 12 ounces stout beer
  • 6 ounces tomato paste
  • Juice from 1 large lime
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • ½ teaspoon cayenne powder
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon chopped chipotle peppers in adobo
  • 24 slider buns
  • chopped cilantro

Instructions

  1. Sprinkle the pork on all sides with 1 tablespoon salt.
  2. In a small bowl stir together the beer, tomato paste, lime juice, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cayenne, and smoked paprika.
  3. Add the pork and the sauce to a Crock-Pot Express Crock Multi-Cooker, add the lid (make sure the lid to the Multi-Cooker is locked but the steam value is open to “release” mode). Cook on high for 6 hours, or low for 8 hours.
  4. Remove the inner bowl of the Crock-Pot, pouring off the liquid (leave a small amount, about 2 tablespoons, the amount doesn’t need to be exact), place the bowl back in the Crockpot.
  5. Turn the multi-cooker to the “brown/sauté” setting on high. Shred the pork, in the cooker with two forks while the pot heats up in sauté mode. Press meat firmly down with a wooden spoon into a firm even layer.
  6. Cook for 5-8 minutes, stir and press again into a firm even layer.
  7. Once the remaining liquid is gone and there are pieces of meat that have been nicely caramelized, remove from the pot and add to a serving bowl, toss with the remaining ½ teaspoon salt.
  8. Stir together the sour cream and chipotle peppers.
  9. Add the carnitas to the slider buns, top with sour cream and sprinkle with cilantro.

Notes

*If you plan to make the meat in advance, save about ½ cup of the cooking liquid and add the storage container. It will help to keep the meat moist once you reheat.

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Sweet Potato Stout Shepard’s Pie (Meatless)

Sweet Potato Stout Shepard’s Pie (Meatless). Vegan, full of warm deliciousness, and freezer friendly. 

Some days just making it to dinner feels like an accomplishment. After rage-cleaning your house because you spent too much time reading the news. After seriously considering faking an illness to stay in bed. After realizing that the hint of gray that’s peeking through the windows at noon is all the sun you’re gonna get today, and maybe for quite a while longer.

Baking helps, I promise. You get to feel like you did something, made something, provided something. You get to lose yourself in the task of it and force those other rage-inducing thoughts to the back of the shelf for a bit.

You also get to eat, and that’s always a win.

Today I decided to beer-ify a childhood favorite, that just seemed to be appropriate. I decided to make it vegan, because if I have beer, sweet potatoes, and caramelized leeks I don’t need much else. Also, it makes me feel healthy and that makes me less likely to want to stay in bed all day tomorrow.

This also freezes well, so that you can make a double batch and maybe bring it to someone who may need a little warm, beerified comfort. Because we’re all in this together.

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Sweet Potato Stout Shepard’s Pie (Meatless)

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

    For the topping:
  • 3 lbs sweet potatoes
  • ¼ cup almond milk (or sour cream of choice)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
    • For the filling:
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 large leeks, sliced (white and light green parts only
  • 1 large carrot, diced
  • 1 rib celery, diced
  • 1 lbs (16 oz) sliced mushrooms
  • 2 teaspoons sage leaf, minced
  • 1 teaspoon rosemary, minced
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • ½ cup stout beer
  • 1 cup corn kernels
  • 1 cup vegetable broth

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
  2. Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into chunks, add to a large pot of salted boiling water. Cook until fork tender, drain and return to pot.
  3. Add the almond milk, salt, and garlic powder. Mash until well combined.
  4. Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Add the leeks, carrots and celery, cooking until softened.
  5. Add the mushrooms, cook until darkened and softened.
  6. Stir in the sage, rosemary, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder. Sprinkle with flour, stir until the flour has been moistened. Pour in the beer, scraping to deglaze the pan.
  7. Stir in the corn and vegetable broth. Simmer until thickened.
  8. Pour into am 8x8 pan. Spread the sweet potatoes over the top of the pan.
  9. Bake until filling is bubbly, about 15 minutes.
  10. Serve warm.
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Chocolate Stout Brownie Waffles

Chocolate Stout Brownie Waffles, beer for breakfast! 

This is a PSA. In the light of everything else that will fly at you from your computer this week, all the sad-terrible-no-good-very-bad-news that will be inflicted on you, I’ve got some good news. Waffles aren’t just for breakfast. Breakfast has just been hoarding them.

Breakfast can be a selfish jerk sometimes, claiming coffee, doughnuts, pancakes and pajamas as it’s own. That’s not true, don’t listen. Of course, we love breakfast, it’s our adorable little brother of meals. But it’s about time we stand up for dinner and put on some pajamas at 6 pm and make some waffles.

You can also drink a coffee stout instead of just regular coffee with those Brownie Waffles and taunt breakfast with it. You and dinner will be very happy this weekend.

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Chocolate Stout Brownie Waffles

Yield: 8 waffles

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs, separated
  • 150ml (5 oz) stout beer
  • 360ml (12 0z) milk
  • ½ cup (114g) butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 cups (360g) all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup (40g) cocoa powder
  • 3 tablespoon (27g) cornstarch
  • 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (200g) sugar, plus 2 tablespoon for egg whites

Instructions

  1. Set out three mixing bowls.
  2. Add the egg whites to one bowl, yolks to another.
  3. Add the beer, milk, melted butter, and vanilla to the yolks, beat until well combined, light and fluffy.
  4. In the third bowl (make sure this is the largest bowl, all ingredients will end up in this bowl) stir together the flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt and 1 cup sugar.
  5. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, beat in the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
  6. Make a well in the dry ingredients, add the yolk mixture, stir until well combined.
  7. Gently fold in the egg whites. Cook in your waffle iron according to manufactures specifications (make sure to use cooking spray or melted butter if indicated).
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Salted Caramel Stout Apple Bars

Salted Caramel Stout Apple Bars

I’ve been chasing the light around my new house for the past three months. I haven’t found it, not in any real way. It’s an occupational hazard, really.

Every time I move, I have to find it. I have to find that place in my house where I can set up shop and shoot what I need to photograph. I’m not an artificial light girl, possibly because I can’t really wrap my brain around the nuances of that medium. So I chase the sunlight, hoping each new spot, new time of day, new month of the year, will be when I find it.

I’ve lived in 5 houses since I started this journey with the very strange objective of getting paid for cooking with beer and taking pictures of it. I’ve always found the spot—where the light is just right—in every house that has served as my work-from-home office. The kitchen, the garage, behind the couch in my living room, the bedroom. You never really know where it’ll be.

Every house I move into, I have an idea of where I WANT to shoot, where I want to set up and settle in and start photographing. But the light, just like the rest of this world, doesn’t really bend to your whims the way you want it to.

Today, on round three of testing this recipe, I settled into a new location. Maybe because I shot this photograph there and decided I loved it. Maybe because it was easier to sit down in this spot and polish off a few of these before I cleaned up. Either way, I might just stay a while and see if the light will cooperate if I keep baking things covered in salted caramel frosting.

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Salted Caramel Stout Apple Bars

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

    For the cake:
  • ½ cup (114g) butter, softened
  • 1 cup (220g) light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 egg
  • 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ¼ cup stout beer
  • 1 ½ (180g) cups AP flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 medium tart apple (i.e. Granny Smith), peeled and small diced (about 1 cup)
    • For the frosting:
  • ¼ cup (57g) softened butter
  • 1 cup (220g) packed light brown sugar
  • ¼ cup (60mL) heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups (180g) confectioner's sugar
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt, plus ¼ teaspoon, divided

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Add the butter and brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on high until light and fluffy. Add the egg, oil and vanilla extract, beating until it resembles frosting.
  3. Stir in the beer (it will curdle).
  4. Sprinkle with flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and apples. Stir until just combined. Pour into an 8x8 baking dish that has been greased and floured.
  5. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the top has puffed and springs back when lightly touched.
  6. Add the powdered sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer (or a mixing bowl, and use an electric hand mixer).
  7. Melt the butter in a pot over high heat. Add the brown sugar, cream and vanilla, stir until just combined. Boil over high heat for two minutes.
  8. Pour the caramel over the powdered sugar, beat until well combined. Pour the frosting over the apple bars in an even layer, sprinkle with remaining ¼ teaspoon salt, allow to cool. Cut into squares.
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Chinese Stout BBQ Pork Recipe (Char Siu)

Chinese Stout BBQ Pork Recipe (Char Siu)

I really think the reason Chinese BBQ Pork is so appealing is because it’s shiny. This probably makes us all giant infants on some primitive level, but it’s true. It’s hard to resist something that catches the light the way this does. It’s like a gemstone.

A slow cooked, juicy, flavorful, deep red meaty gemstone. This isn’t anything like the grocery store dish, that one tightly wrapped in clear plastic, red ringed and dry. Overly sweet but without much flavor beyond that. This version is sticky, shiny, juicy and full of flavor.

Maybe it’s the beer that gives it this extra boost, maybe it’s the long marinade time or even the pickling salt. Most likely, it’s the magical combination of all those elements.

Although it does take some time, the active time is really low. It’s the perfect way to end a lazy weekend.

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Chinese Stout BBQ Pork Recipe (Char Siu)

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs pork shoulder roast
  • 1 teaspoon (6g) pickling salt
  • ¼ cup (80g) hoisin sauce
  • 2 tablespoons (24g) brown sugar, packed
  • 1 tablespoon (15g) cooking sherry
  • ¼ cup (2oz) stout beer
  • 2 tablespoons (30g) soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon (2g) Chinese 5 spice powder
  • 2 large cloves garlic, grated with microplane

Instructions

  1. Cut the pork roast into strips that are the length of the roast and about 2 inches wide, sprinkle with pickling salt, put into a large Ziplock bag.
  2. In a small bowl stir together the remain ingredients, pour over the pork. Seal the bag removing as much air as possible.
  3. Marinate for 24 to 48 hours.
  4. Preheat the oven to 275°F.
  5. Remove the pork from the marinade, add the marinade to a pot over medium heat, boil until thickened.
  6. Add the pork to a wire rack over a baking sheet. Brush with the thickened marinade.
  7. Cook, turning and basting ever 45 minutes, until tender, 3-4 hours.
  8. Although the pork is ready to eat now, I finished this on a preheated grill. To do so, preheat a grill to about 500°F. Add the pork, cook on each side until slightly charred, about 3 mintues perside.
  9. Slice and serve.
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Chocolate Stout Cake with Cherries: Fudgy and Flourless!

 Chocolate Stout Cake with Cherries: Fudgy and Flourless!

Chocolate Stout Cake with Cherries: Fudgy & Flourless!

Chocolate stout cake is the perfect way to get back into your life after getting lost in writing a book. It’s like asking for forgiveness for your comprehensive neglect without actually apologizing for fear of reminding everyone how absent you’ve been as you waded through 30,000 words.

It’s also a reminder that flour is unnecessary in chocolate cake, it’s so much better without. So rich, dense and delicious it doesn’t even need frosting. As if the cake is above frosting, outgrown the need for it.

I would never dissuade you from a frosting related endeavor, live your truth. But if I WAS to frost this magical chocolatey beerified treat, it would be with something just as profanely mature, and wide-eye inducing.

I’ll give you some examples, just in case you are, in fact, contemplating topping this cake with something: salted caramel whipped cream, espresso ganache, bourbon mascarpone frosting.

Or, just get a pint of ice cream (salted caramel? espresso rum? horchata?) and make it a ridiculous sundae. Just make sure to serve it with a stout.

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Chocolate Stout Cake with Cherries: Fudgy and Flourless!

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

  • 6 oz dark chocolate (60%), chopped
  • 1/3 (3oz) cup stout
  • ½ cup (114g) butter, chopped
  • 1 ¼ (250g) cups granulated sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 3 tablespoons (45g) vegetable oil
  • ¾ cup (88g) cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon (6g) salt
  • 2 tablespoons (16g) cornstarch
  • 1 cup (160g) pitted dark cherries

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. In the top of a double boiler over a simmering water add the chocolate, beer and the butter. Stir until the butter is almost melted, turn off heat and continue to stir until butter is melted, remove from heat.
  3. In a mixing bowl whisk together the sugar and eggs until well combined. Stir in the oil. Sprinkle with cocoa powder, salt and cornstarch, whisk until well combined.
  4. Stir in the chocolate and the cherries until combined.
  5. Place a round of parchment paper inside a 10-inch spring form pan, rub the inside of the pan and the parchment paper with butter.
  6. Pour the batter inside the prepared pan in an even layer.
  7. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top is puffed and no longer looks wet, don’t over bake of cake will be dry. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for 10-20 minutes. Transfer to a serving plate.
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Honey Stout Glazed Flank Steak Lettuce Wraps

Honey Stout Glazed Flank Steak Lettuce Wraps

This post was sponsored by PCC Community Markets and Oregon Country Beef. Partnerships with The Beeroness and outside companies are rare and only occur when the company’s products are ones I use and enjoy myself. All ideas and opinions are my  own.

Honey Stout Glazed Flank Steak Wraps

It took three planes and 30 hours to get me home from Brazil, and a few hours later I had the keys to my new Seattle house in my grubby little hands. I moved. I painted (ugh, red walls in ALL the rooms?!). I packed. I cleaned. I ignored my email. And my friends. I unpacked. WHEN WILL IT ALL BE OVER?!

It’s over, mostly. I didn’t want to do anything, go anywhere, buy anything. Not one thing. But just three days into living in my new house I broke down and bought the one thing I couldn’t live without.

Honey Stout Glazed Flank Steak Lettuce Wraps

My old, trusty, moved-it-up-from-LA, grill didn’t survive the move. I got itchy to cook over open flames in my new backyard and set out to fill the void in my yard, and in my ability to cook with flames.

Grilling isn’t just about the way the smoke and the char of the flames make your food taste, it’s about community. You don’t text a handful of your nearest and dearest with the phrase, “Come over, I’m going to fire up the oven!”

No. Nope. GRILL. That’s what people will drive across town for. What they’ll brave the Mariners traffic, and the accident on the 405 for: to sit in your backyard, drink beer from your well-curated beer tub and eat what you grilled for them.

Honey Stout Glazed Flank Steak Lettuce Wraps

As you may know, I curate my meat selection even more rigorously than my beer selection. The origins of your meat matters in profound ways, ways that have always mattered to me.

Finding and supporting organizations, like Oregon Country Beef, whose 80 family-owned ranchers treat their animals, employees, and land with respect and humanity, giving you top quality meat that’s free of antibiotics and added hormones, isn’t just a small way to make our world better –  it’s a BIG way.

Sprinkle the flank steak liberally with salt, place in a resalable gallon sized plastic bag, or in a large container with an air-tight lid. Stir together the Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons honey and ½ cup stout beer. Pour the mixture over the steak, seal (remove as much air as you can from the bag, if using), and refrigerate for 12-24 hours. In a small bowl stir together the remaining honey and stout beer, warm slightly if the mixture is having a difficult time coming together, set aside. Remove the steak from the marinade, pat dry. Preheat the grill to medium high. Cut the peppers into slices, making sure they are too large to fall between the grates in your grill (you can always slice them thinner after grilling). Brush the steak on all sides with honey glaze before adding to the grill. Grill for 3-5 minutes on each side before turning, re-brushing with glaze every time you flip the steak. Grill until the internal temperate of the steak reaches 135F, remove from grill and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Grill the peppers until softened, about 4 minutes. Serve steak and peppers along side butter lettuce leaves, green onions and sriracha sauce, allow guests to assemble as desired.

You vote with your dollars every day, and shopping at community-owned stores like PCC Community Markets(for those in the Seattle area!) helps me to continue to make a difference by supporting those who are putting fresh, organic and sustainable ingredients at the top of the list.

This was the first recipe on the new grill, and the first of many times I’ll be firing it up for friends and neighbors, throwing on some Oregon Country Beef and drinking some beer. It’s going to be a great summer.

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Honey Stout Glazed Flank Steak Lettuce Wraps

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • Honey Stout Glazed Flank Steak Lettuce Wraps
  • 2 lbs flank steak
  • 1 tablespoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • ¼ cup honey, divided
  • ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons stout beer, divided
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1 yellow bell pepper
  • ¼ cup chopped green onions
  • 1 head butter lettuce
  • Sriracha sauce for serving, if desired

Instructions

  1. Sprinkle the flank steak liberally with salt, place in a resalable gallon sized plastic bag, or in a large container with an air-tight lid.
  2. Stir together the Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons honey and ½ cup stout beer. Pour the mixture over the steak, seal (remove as much air as you can from the bag, if using), and refrigerate for 12-24 hours.
  3. In a small bowl stir together the remaining honey and stout beer, warm slightly if the mixture is having a difficult time coming together, set aside.
  4. Remove the steak from the marinade, pat dry.
  5. Preheat the grill to medium high.
  6. Cut the peppers into slices, making sure they are too large to fall between the grates in your grill (you can always slice them thinner after grilling).
  7. Brush the steak on all sides with honey glaze before adding to the grill. Grill for 3-5 minutes on each side before turning, re-brushing with glaze every time you flip the steak. Grill until the internal temperate of the steak reaches 135F, remove from grill and allow to rest for 5 minutes. Grill the peppers until softened, about 4 minutes.
  8. Serve steak and peppers along side butter lettuce leaves, green onions and sriracha sauce, allow guests to assemble as desired.
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Grilled Mongolian Stout Beef Skewers

Grilled Mongolian Stout Beef Skewers

This post was sponsored by PCC Community Markets and Oregon Country Beef. Partnerships with The Beeroness and outside companies are rare and only occur when the company’s products are ones I use and enjoy myself. All ideas and opinions are my own. 

 

When I was just days away from turning into a middle schooler my parents decided to buy a farm in Eastern Washington and move us away from the small beach town in Central California to grow alfalfa, livestock and ride horses.  

During my time there, we raised pigs for our own consumption and it had the most profound effect on me. Learning how the sausage is made (literally) changes the way you see food, for better or for worse.  

 

It turned me into a vegetarian for years, pushed me deep into a love of produce and taught me that where your food comes from is important. Although I now eat meat, I eat meat like a vegetarian.

What does that even mean?! 

First off, I don’t eat meat because I need it, I eat it when I want it. Secondly, I really care about where it comes from. I want to know that the ranch it’s from is ethical and humane – not just to their animals but to their employees, too. 

I’ll bargain shop for almost anything, but meat isn’t one of those things. I decided years ago that I’d rather eat less, but better-quality meat, than more of something cheap, and I’m willing to spend a little more to support those who work harder and work better.  

 

When I stopped being a vegetarian, finding meat that matched these standards was hard. We just didn’t have time to research every brand that came our way, especially when we were just trying to get through the grocery shopping list.

To make it a little easier, I made myself a cheat-sheet of the brands that I knew I could trust and where I could get them.  

 That all changed when I moved to Seattle and found PCC Community Markets, where I discovered that they care as much as I do about supporting small family farms and local growers producing fresh and organic food—instantly doubling the size of my cheat sheet.

For those of you who don’t know, PCC is the nations largest community-owned food market committed to making the best meals from scratch using only real ingredients.

 

As for the meat? Oregon Country Beef was an easy addition to my cheat sheet. It’s the free range, no added hormones and antibiotic-free sort that I was searching for. I let their 80 family-owned ranches worry about the hard but important stuff – GAP certification and Non-GMO Project verification – and I just keep looking for their packages at PCC. 

 One less thing to worry about, and one more reason to fire up the grill!

 

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Grilled Mongolian Stout Beef Skewers

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lb tri-tip or rib-eye steak, cut into cubes 
  • 2 teaspoons salt  
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch 
  • ½ teaspoon ginger, grated with a microplane 
  • 3 cloves garlic, grated with a microplane 
  • ¼ cup soy sauce 
  • 2/3 cup stout beer 
  • ½ cup dark brown sugar 
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil  
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper  
  • 2 tablespoons chopped green onions 
  •  

Instructions

  1. Sprinkle the beef liberally with salt, allow to sit at room temperature while you prepare the sauce.  
  2. Preheat a grill to medium-high.  
  3. In a saucepan whisk together the cornstarch, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, beer, brown sugar, sesame oil and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Allow to boil, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 5 minutes.  
  4. Thread the beef cubes onto grill skewers. Brush liberally with sauce.  
  5. Add the skewers to the grill. Turn every 2-3 minutes, brushing with glaze every time you turn.  
  6. Cook until steak has grill marks and is firm to the touch, about 6-8 minutes.  
  7. Add to a serving plate, sprinkle with green onions.  
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Drunk Diablo: Chocolate Stout Devils Food Cake with Mexican Hot Chocolate Frosting

Drunk Diablo: Chocolate Stout Devils Food Cake with Mexican Hot Chocolate Frosting

Drunk Diablo: Chocolate Stout Devils Food Cake with Mexican Hot Chocolate Frosting

When you have a weird job, there are two categories of projects you work on. The first types are the reasons you got into this in the first place. The love projects. The creative soul projects. The goosebumps and fevered excitement projects.

Those are the ones that keep you going. The second type, are the ones that pay the bills. The ones that you still like, the ones you’re grateful for, the ones that you still throw your heart and gypsy soul into, but in your heart of hearts, you know you’re only doing them because you like electricity and groceries and being able to pay those bills affords you such luxuries.

Drunk Diablo: Chocolate Stout Devils Food Cake with Mexican Hot Chocolate Frosting

If you’re lucky, there is a huge Venn diagram overlap between the two. Most of what you do is —to one degree or another— both. I very rarely do projects that are just to pay the bills, but I very frequently find myself immersed in a passion project that will probably never result in any type of bill-paying.

I’m ok with this, it’s how I know I’ve chased my career down the right rabbit holes.

Right now I’m trying to turn my number one passion project into something that’s more in the center of that diagram. It’s a website I started about a year ago, a project I’ve been trying to move forward and I’m really in love with it.

It’s  Craft Beer Photography, it’s stock photos, it’s prints, it’s “please hire me to photograph your brewery because that sounds really fun and I want to do it.”

It’s also one of my favorite parts of this weird job I’m trying to invent for myself. Because no one has ever really done this and I’m still trying to figure out what it looks like.

For now, let’s eat some cake and drink some beer and figure the rest out later.


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Drunk Diablo: Chocolate Stout Devils Food Cake with Mexican Hot Chocolate Frosting

Yield: 10-12 servings

Ingredients

    For cake:
  • 3 ounces bitter sweet chocolate
  • ½ cups (4oz) hot brewed coffee
  • 1 cup (8oz) stout beer
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 ½ cups (375g) sugar
  • ¾ cup (180mL) vegetable oil
  • 1 ½ cups (360mL) sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 ½ cups (300g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 ¾ cups (168g) unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons (10g) baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
  • 1 teaspoons (6g) salt
    • For the frosting:
  • 1 ½ cup (342g) butter, softened
  • 2 cups (386g) vegetable shortening*
  • ¼ cup (24g) cocoa powder
  • 3 cups (390g) powdered sugar (plus additional to taste)
  • ¼ teaspoon (0.5g) cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon (4g) cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon (2g) chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • For the ganache:
  • 10 wt oz dark chocolate (60% cacao)
  • ¾ cup (180mL)heavy cream
  • ¼ cup (60mL) stout beer

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
  2. Add the chocolate, coffee and beer to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until melted (this can also be done in a double boiler).
  3. Add the eggs and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer, beat on high until light in color and well combined. Add the vegetable oil, sour cream and vanilla, beat until well combined. Mix in the chocolate mixture.
  4. In a separate bowl stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
  5. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients, stir until just combined.
  6. Divide evenly between three 9-inch cake pans that have been greased and floured.
  7. Bake for 35 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched.
  8. Add the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer, beat on high until light and fluffy. Add the shortening, beat until well combined. Add the remaining frosting ingredients, beating until well combined. Frost the cake, with frosting between all the layers. Refrigerate while you prepare the ganache.
  9. Add all the ganache ingredients to the top of a double boiler set over simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is almost all melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until the chocolate is completely melted.
  10. Pour the ganache over the cake, spread in an even layer, or allow to drip down the sides.

Notes

*Just use the shortening. It’s a texture thing, and it’s totally worth getting over the fact that shortening skeeves you out. It makes the most amazing frosting, trust me, just do it!

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Sweet and Sticky Garlic Stout Beef

Sweet and Sticky Garlic Stout Beef, 20 minutes and it’s so good!

Sweet and Sticky Garlic Stout Beef, 20 minutes and it's so good!

I’m on an airplane, somewhere over South America, between Panama and Huston, Texas. I’m trying to remember waking up this morning, but sleeping the night before I leave a trip is always impossible.

My brain is processing what I’m leaving, the sunburn I’m bringing home from Costa Rica, the days I spent teaching a new menu to a group of South American cooks, the rum bar that has become my favorite in the world, the cocktails, the people who had to endure my hideous Spanish skills, and even the small moments that have embedded themselves into my soul.

Sweet and Sticky Garlic Stout Beef, 20 minutes and it's so good!

I spent two weeks in Panama City, Panama creating menus for two brands, two brands that I love and was incredibly grateful to get to work with.  La Rana Dorada, the hands-down best beer in Central America, has one of the most beautiful pubs in Casco Viejo, Panama.

At the end of the week, after sweaty hours and dozens of dishes, the head chef learned enough English to say to me, “You cook like magic. Thank you for making my cooking better. Thank you for making my kitchen better.” That exchange is my favorite souvenir I’ve brought home from a trip.

I also worked on The Pub, an Irish pub in Bogota, Colombia. A place so perfectly crafted, you feel like you’ve stumbled into Dublin.

A week of perfecting Fish ‘N Chips, modernizing Bangers and Mash, and creating Colombian takes on Irish dishes, I’m proud of what we did. The cook who flew down from Bogota to learn the menu asked me on the last day, “Why food? You photograph and write, you could do that with anything. Why food?”

Why food? Because it’s the same in every language. Everyone, throughout the history of time, has sat down to a meal with the ones they love.

Everyone shares food as a way to bond. Everyone wants to eat dinner with the people closest to them, or the people they want to be close to. Nothing levels the playing field like food.

Sweet and Sticky Garlic Stout Beef, 20 minutes and it's so good!

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Sweet and Sticky Garlic Stout Beef

Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 lb flank steak
  • 1 teaspoon (6g) salt
  • ½ teaspoon ginger, grated with a microplane
  • 1 teaspoon hot Chinese mustard
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 2 large cloves garlic, grated with a microplane
  • ¼ cup (85g) honey
  • ½ teaspoon (2g) black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons (45mL) soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons (45mL) stout beer
  • ¼ cup cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
  • 2 tablespoons chopped green onions
  • rice for serving

Instructions

  1. Place the steak in the freezer for 15 minutes (this will make it easier to cut).
  2. In a small bowl stir together the ginger, mustard, red pepper flakes, garlic, honey, black pepper, and 1 tablespoon soy sauce.
  3. Remove the steak from the freezer, thinly slice against the grain then sprinkle on all sides with salt.
  4. Place the cornstarch in a small bowl.
  5. Stir together the beer and remaining soy sauce in a separate bowl.
  6. Heat the sesame oil in a wok or skillet over medium high heat.
  7. A few at a time, add the beef strips to the cornstarch, then add to the soy/beer mixture, then add to the skillet. Repeat for all beef.
  8. Once the beef has started to brown, add the honey mixture as well as any of the beer mixture that may remain from the steak dredge, to the skillet.
  9. Lower heat to medium, cooking until sauce has thickened.
  10. Add to a serving platter, sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions. Serve with rice.
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