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Sriracha Beer Butter Grilled Corn

 

Sriracha Beer Butter Grilled Corn-P

I was once invited to leave The Viper Room when the guy I’d been chatting with escalated past douche bag right up into unignorably obnoxious territory and I was swept up in his wake.

I not so subtly parted ways with him to cross the street towards The Roxy when he escalated further,"You’re leaving?! I pulled out my best stuff for you!" I had no idea that he’d been trying to get somewhere with his meaningless rambling.

Oh, you mean the uber-impressive story about having lunch with Alan Thicke last week? Or telling me that your ex-girlfriend was a sexsomniac?

Or bragging about stealing wifi from your neighbor? Because it was all gold, so clearly I have no reason to leave with this depth of conversational wealth that’s being offered to me.

Sriracha Beer Butter Grilled Corn3

Sometimes, people just try too hard when what they really want is to impress. We can do the equivalent of Over-Sharing-Drunk-Viper-Room-Guy with food. We can try too hard, do too many things, and make a mess of it all.

Keep it simple this summer, some grilled produce, good ingredients, real butter and great beer.

And save the stories of your ex-girlfriend for your guy friends and only after they’re too drunk to object.

Sriracha Beer Butter Grilled Corn

Sriracha Beer Butter Grilled Corn

Prep Time 7 minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup unsalted butter chopped into cubes
  • 3 tbs IPA beer
  • 1 tsp sriracha
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt
  • 6 ears fresh corn shucked
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • ¼ cup chopped cilantro

Instructions
 

  • In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat the butter until light and fluffy.
  • Add the beer, sriracha, garlic and salt. Beat until well combined.
  • Add the butter to a piece of plastic wrap, roll tightly into a log. Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour.
  • Preheat the grill.
  • Brush the corn with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  • Grill on all sides until lightly charred and tender, 8-10 minutes.
  • Add the corn to pieces of aluminum foil, top with several slices of butter, sprinkle with cilantro.

 

Salted Beer Caramel Corn

Salted Beer Caramel Corn

Today is the day.

Today, September 18th,  the book I spent months creating, turning myself into a figurative nightmare, pouring blood, sweat, tears and beer into each recipe, hits mailboxes and store shelves across the land. While I should be feeling excessively accomplished now that I can officially slap a Publish Author tittle after my name, there is also a thin film of vulnerability draped over today. Because more than I want it sell like Funfetti Cronuts, I want it to be well received, I want you to love it. I wish all the recipes to be Home Runs, every step to make sense to ever cook, and every Amazon reviews to be glowing.

What you think matters to me, probably more than it should. So if you buy this little book of mine, The Craft Beer Cookbook (affiliate link), and you have a question about a recipe, email me: [email protected]. If you make a recipe and love it, tweet a picture to me @TheBeeroness. If you make a recipe on your own blog, share it on my Facebook page. I want to know what you think (let’s be honest) especially if it’s good.

While I spent the weekend worried about the release of cookbook, and working out the details of the book tour, I decided it was a great idea to stress eat caramel corn. I even made two batches.  The first batch I used a hoppy brown ale, which gave the caramel a mild beer flavor that was a bit lost once it coated the corn. The next batch I used an imperial stout, a big bold beer with enough monster taste to give the caramel corn notes of beer in every bite.

Caramel corn and a cookbook, not a bad Wednesday.

Salted Beer Caramel Corn

Salted Beer Caramel Corn

Ingredients
  

  • 1/3 cup corn kernels
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbs light corn syrup
  • ½ cup imperial stout plus 2 tbs, divided
  • 4 tbs butter
  • 1 tsp coarse sea salt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 250.
  • Place the corn kernels in a brown paper bag. Fold the top over. Place in the microwave (long side down), microwave on high for 4 minutes. When the popping starts to slow to about one pop per one second, remove from microwave. Measure out 7 cups of popcorn (if there is less than 7 cups, pop additional kernels in the same manner, if there are more than 7 cups, reserve the remaining popped corn for another use).
  • Spray a large baking pan with cooking spray.
  • Add the corn kernels to the baking sheet in an even layer, place in the oven until the caramel sauce is ready.
  • Add the brown sugar, light corn syrup, ½ cup stout and butter to a saucepan over high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, stop stirring. Allow to boil for 7 minutes, without stirring. Remove from heat, immediately stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons stout.
  • Spray a silicon spatula with cooking spray (except the handle).
  • Gently pour the caramel sauce over the corn, stirring to coat.
  • Bake for 20 minutes at 250, stir, and bake for an additional 20 minutes.
  • Remove from oven and spread evenly onto a sheet of parchment or wax paper, sprinkle immediately with salt. Allow to cool, until hardened. Store in an air-tight container.

 

Salted Beer Caramel Corn 2

 

Beer Brined Scallops over Smokey Corn Puree and Stout Molasses Sauce

 

Beer Brined Scallops over Smokey Corn Puree and Stout Molasses Sauce

While flavor may be a great go-to reason to cook with beer, don’t overlook the more practical applications of beer cooking. One of the cornerstones of Practical Beer Cooking is the inherent meat tenderizing properties of beer, making it the perfect brining liquid. While infusing the meat with flavor and uping the juiciness factor, beer also lends it’s powers to giving you extra tender meat. While land dwelling meat is often the target of brining, most scallops need a good long soak in a hoppy brine.

Beer Brined Scallops over Smokey Corn Puree and Stout Molasses Sauce

Scallops are a deceptive beast. For the most part, these sweet and mild little sea treats look simple to prepare. But a few minor issues could be robbing you of that restaurant quality greatness. The first, and most damaging issue is that the majority of grocery store scallops will come soaked in a phosphate solution that, while whitening and preserving, infuses the scallop with a soapy taste. This phosphate solution also permeates the meat, leaking out during cooking and preventing you from getting a good sear. So, really, you need to flush the beast to get a great meal out of it. The phosphate soaked scallops are generally referred to as "wet" scallops and those that are not soaked in anything are referred to as "dry" scallops. While dry scallops are still available, they are harder to come by, more expensive, and much more rare the farther you get from the water. If your scallop is white and sitting in a pool of milky liquid, it’s a wet guy. If it isn’t labeled "dry packed" you can bet your dinner that your new found culinary delight has been hanging out in phosphates for a while.

The cure to this is really simple, and relying on those meat tenderizing properties of beer will give you a great wash to get your scallop back to a dry pack quality. Allowing the scallops to brine will work the phosphates out, giving you the ability to sear those beautiful scallops without that nasty milky liquid seeping out in the pan, ruining that beautiful sear you want. Make sure to allow them to dry really well before searing to get that great golden crust that always drives us crazy.

For this recipe I used a smokey stout for the sauce (the Sauce of Dreams, that I sort of want to take a bath in), the slight notes of smoke are really beautiful and add a bit of a Texas Barbecue flavor to these nicely seared scallops. I used Still Life by Beachwood Brewing, a really nice stout, with beautifully layered flavors. Look for a stout or a porter (both dark beers that are interchangeable when cooking) that have notes of smoke or espresso.

Beer Brined Scallops over Smokey Corn Puree and Stout Molasses Sauce

Beer Brined Scallops over Smokey Corn Puree and Stout Molasses Sauce

Ingredients
  

For the Scallops:

  • 12 ounces pale ale
  • 2 tbs salt
  • 1 cup water
  • ¼ cup lemon juice
  • 12 jumbo scallops
  • 2 tbs unsalted butter
  • 2 tbs olive oil

For the Corn Puree

  • 4 ears of corn
  • 5 tbs butter
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 cup cream or half and half

For the Sauce

  • 1 cup stout
  • 1 tbs molasses don't use Blackstrap
  • 3 tbs balsamic
  • 1 tbs soy

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl stir together the pale ale, salt, water and lemon juice.
  • Add the scallops, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  • While the scallops brine, make the puree. Cut the kernels off the corn cob, set aside.
  • In a saucepan over medium high heat, melt the butter. Add the kernels, salt, pepper, smoked paprika and cream. Allow to simmer until corn has softened, about 8 minutes. Add to a blender or food process and process until smooth, about 5 minutes. Pass through a fine mesh strainer or chinois (this will remove any fibers and give you a really creamy puree).
  • Make the sauce: Add the stout, molasses, balsamic and soy to a sauce pan over high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to maintain a strong simmer, cooking until reduced and slightly thickened, about 10 minutes (should easily coat a spoon). Sauce can be made three days ahead of time and stored in the fridge, but with thicken as it cools. Heat slightly to thin.
  • Remove the scallops from fridge and place on top of a stack of 4-5 paper towels. Add another layer of paper towels and allow to drain and dry for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with pepper on both sides.
  • Add the butter and olive oil to a pan over high heat. Allow the butter to melt and get very hot, nearly smoking.
  • Add the scallops, flat side down, and allow to cook until a dark golden brown crust forms on the bottom, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook until seared on the opposite side. Remove from pan when a slight hint of translucent pink still remains at the center, don’t over cook.

Beer Brined Scallops over Smokey Corn Puree and Stout Molasses Sauce

Grilled Corn with Sriracha Scallion Butter

Grilled Corn with Sriracha Scallion Butter I’m can’t decide what I’m more excited about, the best grilled vegetable recipes I’ve made in years, or this awesome giveaway.

Lets talk about this corn for a second. Of course the original purpose of the corn itself was merely as a vehicle for the Sriracha butter, which I adapted from The Sriracha Cookbook (you should buy it, and the Veggie Lovers version), but the sweetness of the grilled corn with the spicy butter made me forget that I had acctually made other things for dinner. This is a meal all by itself. I would also recommend serving it American State Fair style in bed of aluminum foil so that you don’t miss all that fabulous butter that will melt away. And don’t be shy about adding it to your other grilled foods, shrimp and zucchini would love to take a dip in this stuff.

Grilled Corn with Sriracha Scallion Butter

Now, we can chat about this little giveaway. I’ve teamed up with some other awesome bloggers to give one lucky reader a shiny new iPad:

Enter to win an iPad!

 

Give them a visit, enter to win and GOOD LUCK! And if you don’t win, you can always console yourself with some tasty, spicy, grilled corn.

Grilled Corn with Sriracha Scallion Butter

Ingredients

  • 1 stick butter, softened
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • ¼ cup scallions, chopped
  • 2 tsp sriracha
  • 6 ears corn
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Place butter in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or a small food processor) along with garlic, scallions and sriracha. Process until all ingredients are well combined.
  2. Scrape onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Roll into a log shape, refridgerate until chilled and firm, about 1 hour. Can be made up to 3 days in advance.
  3. Remove the husks and the silk from the corn, leave stalk on, if still attached. Rub corn with olive oil, salt and pepper all sides.
  4. Cook on a preheated grill for 15-20 minutes, rotating every 3-5 minutes.
  5. Place grilled corn on a sheet of aluminum foil, top with a few slices of sriracha butter, fold foil around corn.

Grilled Corn with Sriracha Scallion Butter3

Beer Battered Mini Corn Dogs with Chipotle Ketchup

 

This my friends, is how you do Football Food.

It meets all of the requirements to earn a spot on the Football Food Table.

These vague and unenforceable requirements include qualities like: fun, as high calorie as possible, no utensils or plates needed, ability to sit at room temperature for hours, AND there are always bonus points for including beer.

 I also want to tell you a little bit about Chipotle Ketchup. Corn dogs need to be dipped, and if we are all willing to adhere to the good 'ole American tradition of dunking fried stuff in ketchup, I want to doctor it up a bit. Although you can make ketchup from scratch, and don’t think I haven’t filed that idea away in my mental recipe stockpile, I just used store bought. Chipotle is a lovely flavor, one of my favorites.

The smokiness is beautiful. If you just want smoke and no heat, just add 1 tsp of smoked paprika to 1 cup of ketchup and stir to make yourself a little smokey ketchup to go along with your fancied up deep-fried treats.

Beer Battered Mini Corn Dogs with Chipotle Ketchup

Servings 24 mini corndogs

Ingredients
  

  • canola or peanut oil for frying
  • 1 cup flour plus 1/4 cup, divided
  • 2/3 cup corn meal
  • 1 tbs brown sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tbs beer I used an IPA
  • 24 mini hot dogs
  • 24, 4 inch wooden skewers or toothpicks

For the Ketchup

  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 1 chipotle peper in adobo sauce
  • 1 tsp adobo sauce

Instructions
 

  • Pour oil into a pot, about 3-4 inches deep. Clip a cooking thermometer onto the side. Heat over medium high heat until the oil reaches between 350 and 375, adjust heat to stay in this temperature range.
  • In a bowl, combine 1 cup flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, stir to combine. Add the egg and the beer, stir until combined.
  • Pour the batter into a tall coffee mug, this will make dipping the corn dogs easier.
  • Skewer all of the mini corn dogs with wooden skewers. Put remaining 1/4 cup flour in a bowl. Roll the hot dogs in the flour, then brush off any excess flour.
  • Holding the skewer, dip the hot dog into the batter until submerged and coated. Slowly place the battered hot dog into the oil. Allow to fry in the oil until a dark brown, about 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a stack of paper towels to drain.
  • To make the ketchup, place all ketchup ingredients in a small food processor or blender and process until smooth.

I used these bamboo skewers.

Jalapeno Corn Waffles With Sriracha Maple Syrup & How To Survive Online Bullies

Don’t Feed The Trolls: How to Survive Online Bullies

In the age of living online, the greatest gift are the people you meet. The biggest drawback? The people you meet. Once a skeptic of online friendships, I’ve felt the connections made across the globe from one screen to another. A richness lent to my world through knowing people who live in such far off places, we never could have connected, seen our similarities, shared our thoughts and support, had it not been for two lap tops with internet connections. I’ve also seen the dark side of the vail that the computer brings, an entire society of online bullies waiting with snark and nastiness to prey on anyone with a voice. 

The blog comments I’ve seen from online bullies rage wildly from strange with a twist of insanity, to angry and hateful. The following is a list of comments I’ve seen posted to online blogs, to people who get paid little or nothing for the recipes that they post:

"I hope your baby dies. I hate you"

"Ugh, I can’t stand this girl. Will you just shut up already?!"

"This recipe sucks, it’s probably why your husband left you."

"I bet you just adopted that baby so you could get more blog hits."

"This is the most disgusting recipe I’ve ever made in my life. I substituted [lists 3 major substitutions] and it was horrible! Think before you blog, you stupid B—-!"

"It’s no wonder her husband died if she cooks like this! She pretty much killed him herself, is she trying to kill my husband too?"

I know. Horrifying. People fail to realize that another human, possibly a stay at home Mom looking for a connection to the outside world, a widow, an introvert with crippling agoraphobia, or just and average joe, will read that and be incredibly hurt. We all remember the worst comment that was ever posted to our blogs, the sting from a complete stranger who’s hate has invaded our world. I’ve recently seen two celebrities melt down on Twitter, responding to the nasty comments, defending themselves, lashing out, retweeting insults, indulging those Trolls who seek to disperse hate. 

Celebrity, blogger, or just an average mom with a twitter following, here are some rules to help us all cope:

Five Rules to Survive Online Bullies

1. Don’t Feed the Trolls. Don’t respond, engage or even post comments made out of sheer hate and anger. If a comment is just made to hurt, there is no reason to post it and you have no moral or civic obligation to do so. Delete the comment and shake the thought of it from your head. 

2. Find Power In Silence. To stay silent and to be silenced are not the same thing. There is powder in silence, feel it. There is no response to a bully or a nasty comment that makes you look cool or superior, you are only wallowing in the mud by responding. 

3. Feel Pity. Child Actor turned writer, Mara Wilson said on her blog recently:  "Very few intelligent, successful, attractive, confident, happy people spend their time bashing people they have never met. Just be glad you are not that person." A comment a stranger makes about you says a lot more about them then it will ever say about you. 

4. Strangers Will Defend You. More often than not, when I see a nasty comment posted on a blog, I watch others rush to the aid of the blogger. People who don’t know that blogger or the commenter, but who do know right from wrong, and are quick to rush to your defense. 

5. Feel Important. No one throws rocks at Tiny Tim. If you are a blogger or a celebrity, the negative comments you receive will rise in direct proportion to how important people think you are. If they didn’t think of you as successful, they wouldn’t even bother. Negative comments are a direct result of doing something right, try to think of it that way. 

I try to follow these rules on both this blog, as well as my other blog, The Beeroness, which has garnered a much higher level of praise as well as exponentially higher level of nastiness. With the good comes the bad, finding your own inner filter will help you enjoy more of the experience. 

In a completely unrelated note, these Jalapeno Corn Waffles are perfect for brunch, or to serve with Fried Chicken. And you’ll want to drink the Sriracha Maple syrup on it’s own. 

Jalapeno Corn Waffles with Sriracha Maple Syrup

Waffles:

1 cup fine yellow corn meal

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup corn kernels 

1 large jalapeno, chopped, stem and seeds removed

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup cheddar cheese

1 tbs brown sugar

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup whole milk

1 tbs canola oil

1 egg

For the Syrup:

1/4 cup real maple syrup

1 tsp sriracha chili sauce

(Makes 4-6)

Preheat your waffle iron. 

In a bowl, combine the corn meal, flour, baking powder, corn, jalapeno, salt, cheese, and brown sugar, mix. In a separate bowl, add the melted butter, milk, oil and the egg, beat until well combined. Make a well in the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients and mix until just barely combined. Spray waffle iron with cooking spray if recommended, cook in waffle iron according to manufactures specifications. 

Mix the maple syrup and sriracha and serve with the waffles. 


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