Skip to main content

Beef/Pork

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.

 

Crock-PotExpress Crock Carnitas Sliders with Chipotle Sour Cream

Servings 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
 

  • Sprinkle the pork on all sides with 1 tablespoon salt.
  • In a small bowl stir together the beer, tomato paste, lime juice, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cayenne, and smoked paprika.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Cook for 5-8 minutes, stir and press again into a firm even layer.
  • 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.
  • Stir together the sour cream and chipotle peppers.
  • 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.

Beer and Bacon Short Rib Tacos

Beer and Bacon Short Rib Tacos. SO good, and really hard to screw up!

I couldn’t decide what this was. I was certain that it was short ribs cooked in bacon fat, that was the most important part. Serving specifics and other semantics could be worked out later.

This rarely happens. Usually, I have a very well thought out, well researched and obsessed over plan prior to cracking open the stock pot. But short ribs are different, they aren’t like your usually cooking adventure.

Short ribs are really hard to screw up. As long as you cook them long, slow and low they always give up a great meal. They aren’t like tenderloins, which can be the assholes of the meat world, drying out and lacking flavor and not living up to its pretentious price tag.

Short ribs also lend themselves well to just about any serving vehicle. Over pasta? Sure! Atop cheesy polenta? Of course! On pizza?! YES, PLEASE! But when my bacon-beer-short-ribs cooking adventure came to an end, and I lifted the top of my Dutch oven, it was clear. These were tacos.

I made these beer corn tortillas, and these pickled red onions, and sat down to decide if I’d made the right call. Where they tacos, or should I have pizza’d them? It turns out, they are tacos. And not just any tacos, completely fabulous and fantastic tacos.

Until the following day when I turned the leftovers into breakfast hash and topped them with an egg.

Beer and Bacon Short Rib Tacos

Servings 4 -6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2.5 lbs beef short ribs
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 12 oz bacon chopped
  • 1 cup about half of one large chopped white onion
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 2 cups 16 oz Belgian abbey ale beer
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
  • 6 ounces tomato paste
  • Tortillas pickled red onions and cilantro for serving

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 300°F.
  • Remove the short ribs from the fridge, sprinkle liberally on all sides with salt.
  • Allow to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes while you begin cooking the dish.
  • Add the bacon to a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook until the bacon becomes crispy.
  • Remove bacon with a slotted spoon, add to a plate covered with paper towels.
  • Pour off most of the bacon grease leaving only about 2 tablespoons still in the pot.
  • Return to heat, add the onions. Cook over medium high heat until starting to brown, about 8 minutes. Remove the onions with a slotted spoon, add to the pile of bacon.
  • Sprinkle the ribs on all sides with flour, rub to coat.
  • Increase the heat to high, add the ribs, searing until browned on all sides.
  • Pour off most of the fat that has accumulated.
  • Pour in the beer, scraping to deglaze the pan. Stir in the tomato past and the herbs.
  • Add the onions and the bacon back into the pot.
  • Cover and add to the oven, cook until the ribs fall off the bone and the meat is fork tender, 3 to 4 hours.
  • Remove the ribs, shred using too forks. Discard the bones and any large pieces of fat.
  • Return the meat to the pot, stir into the sauce (this helps the meat to be more flavorful and juicy).
  • Scoop the meat into a serving dish.
  • Serve with tortillas, onions and cilantro.

 

 

Super Juicy Grilled Pork Tenderloin (only 4 ingredients!)

Super Juicy Grilled Pork Tenderloin (only 4 ingredients!)

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Hoisin Glazed and Beer Brine. Just 4 ingredients to a perfectly juicy pork tenderloin!

This is for you. All of you who’ve ever avoided pork tenderloin because it’d dry. I feel you, I was you. In the wrong hands and with too much heat, these long and lean cuts of meat can do you wrong.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Getting a tender, juicy, flavorful hunk of pork comes down to this: get it drunk.  Not you, the meat. Or both, it’s your life.

Any lean white meat (I’m looking at you, chicken breasts) needs a good long soak in salt and beer. It’ll tenderize and falvorize (that’s totally a word, I swear) your meat in a way that cooking it right out of the package never can.

Don’t be shy with the brine, let that sucker sit in there for days! As soon as you get it home from the market, put it away in a salty soak and it’ll be ready when you are. poultry really only has about 24 hours in a brine before it starts to get mushy and mealy, but pork is tougher and can stay in a brine for days without issue.

Hoisin is the perfect glaze. It’s got the rich umami flavor as well as a great sweetness that caramelizes well on the grill. Not a hoisin fan? Feel free to glaze with your fav. Barbeque sauce works well, want to try it with this Stout Beer Barbecue sauce? You should. Let me know how it goes, tag me on Instagram, (it totally makes my day).

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Hoisin Glazed and Beer Brine

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs pork tenderloin
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 12 ounces pale ale pilsner or wheat beer
  • ¾ cup hoisin sauce

Instructions
 

  • Sprinkle the pork on all sides with salt. Add to a shallow dish or a large Ziploc bag. Pour the beer over the pork. Remove as much air as possible before sealing the bag (or cover dish with plastic wrap).
  • Brine for 24 hours and up to 3 days.
  • Remove from the brine, rinse well, pat dry.
  • Heat the grill to 500°F.
  • Brush the pork on all sides with hoisin, add to the grill. Grill on all sides until the internal temperature reads 145°F.
  • Remove from grill, allow to rest for 5 minutes. Slice and serve.

Notes

Don't over cook! The FDA recently lowered it's reccomended cooking temp for pork from 165°F to 145° probably because they were sick of their moms dry, overcooked ham.
You stil want a slight hint of pink in the center, not pure white and fiberous.

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.

Chinese Stout BBQ Pork Recipe (Char Siu)

Servings 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
 

  • 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.
  • In a small bowl stir together the remain ingredients, pour over the pork. Seal the bag removing as much air as possible.
  • Marinate for 24 to 48 hours.
  • Preheat the oven to 275°F.
  • Remove the pork from the marinade, add the marinade to a pot over medium heat, boil until thickened.
  • Add the pork to a wire rack over a baking sheet. Brush with the thickened marinade.
  • Cook, turning and basting ever 45 minutes, until tender, 3-4 hours.
  • 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.
  • Slice and serve.

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.

Honey Stout Glazed Flank Steak Lettuce Wraps

Servings 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
 

  • 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.

 

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!

 

Grilled Mongolian Stout Beef Skewers

Servings 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
 

  • Sprinkle the beef liberally with salt, allow to sit at room temperature while you prepare the sauce.  
  • Preheat a grill to medium-high.  
  • 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.  
  • Thread the beef cubes onto grill skewers. Brush liberally with sauce.  
  • Add the skewers to the grill. Turn every 2-3 minutes, brushing with glaze every time you turn.  
  • Cook until steak has grill marks and is firm to the touch, about 6-8 minutes.  
  • Add to a serving plate, sprinkle with green onions.  

 

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!

Sweet and Sticky Garlic Stout Beef

Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 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
 

  • Place the steak in the freezer for 15 minutes (this will make it easier to cut).
  • In a small bowl stir together the ginger, mustard, red pepper flakes, garlic, honey, black pepper, and 1 tablespoon soy sauce.
  • Remove the steak from the freezer, thinly slice against the grain then sprinkle on all sides with salt.
  • Place the cornstarch in a small bowl.
  • Stir together the beer and remaining soy sauce in a separate bowl.
  • Heat the sesame oil in a wok or skillet over medium high heat.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Lower heat to medium, cooking until sauce has thickened.
  • Add to a serving platter, sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onions. Serve with rice.

 

 

Mozzarella and Beer Pesto Stuffed Flank steak

Mozzarella and Beer Pesto Stuffed Flank steak

I was on top of a mountain last week and I saw a dinosaur. Not a real one, obviously, I’m not crazy. I’d taken a gondola ride up to the summit of Mount Rainier, the very top, no more left to climb.

There he was, right below the platform I stepped out onto. He was wearing a giant inflatable dinosaur costume as he clipped his boots into the bindings of his snowboard. Laughing, he threw a hang ten sign skyward as he started to rapidly glide towards the bottom of the mountain.

We. Were. On. The. Top. The literal top of the mountain, a 20° temperature drop from the bottom, steep downward trajectory on both sides of me. He didn’t just decide to snowboard down an entire mountain, but he was so confident in his abilities, he did so in a giant inflatable costume.

I want to be that confident in my abilities, in what I do. I want to be Dino-Confident (Confident-osauras?).  This is what I want. Because even if I CAN do dino-confident things, I still doubt myself.

Maybe THAT should be New Year’s goal. Let’s agree that we’ll try to believe in ourselves more, that we can find Inflatable Costume Confidence inside of us.

Mozzarella and Beer Pesto Stuffed Flank steak

Servings 6 -8 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs flank steak
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 12 ounces pilsner or pale ale
  • ½ cup pecan pieces
  • ¾ cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
  • ½ cup packed fresh basil leaves torn
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 large cloves garlic
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons pilsner
  • 1 6oz ball of fresh mozzarella, cut into 1 inch slices
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil vegetable, olive, safflower

Instructions
 

  • Add the flank steak to a large baking dish. Sprinkle on all sides with the salt.
  • Reserve 3 tablespoons of the pilsner for the pesto, pour the remaining beer over the steak. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
  • Add the pecan to a pan over high heat. Toss the pecans until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes (watch carefully, they burn quickly).
  • Add the pecans, Parmesan, basil, salt, pepper, and garlic to a food processor. Process until only small crumbs remain.
  • While the food processor is running, add the olive oil and reserved 3 tablespoons beer until well combined.
  • Add the flank steak to a flat surface, pat dry.
  • Cut the tapered ends of the flank steak to make a neat rectangle. Cover with parchment paper and pound with a meat mallet, heavy rolling pin or heavy pan until thin and even.
  • Spread the pesto evenly over the steak. Add a row of mozzarella lengthwise about 2 inches from the edge. Starting at the cheese edge, roll into a tight log.
  • Tie with kitchen twine.
  • Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook on all sides until well caramelized on the outside and the internal temp reaches 130° F.
  • Add steak to a cutting board, remove twine, slice into 2 inch circles. Serve immediately.

 

 

Pink Peppercorn Sous Vide Pork Loin + Win a PicoBrew Beer Maker and Sous Vide Machine!

Pink Peppercorn Crusted Sous Vide Pork Loin with Caramelized Pan Sauce

I need to tell you about this, and then I’m going to give it to you. Imagine a Keurig, or a bread machine, but it makes beer. PERFECT beer, with just a few steps. It can even make an exact clone of a beer you already love, with just about 30 minutes of your time.

I got to test drive a PicoBrew for the past few weeks and it’s pretty fun, for those who love to get their hands dirty but fear failure. It’s not for everyone, obviously, nothing is.

It’s not a great fit for a hardcore homebrewer, although breweries use them quite a bit to test flavor combos. It also may not be for some who just wants to buy their beer and has no interest in how the sausage is made.

But for someone who has an interest in the process of brewing, wants to get their feet wet (figuratively but not literally), this is a great little machine. It’s also a great way to have a keg in your fridge of a beer that you can’t get.

The PicoPacks (the stuff you use to make the beer) are pretty exact replicas of beers from all over the country. Such good clones, in fact, that the breweries themselves have to make the PicoPack, taste test, and sign off on the authenticity of the flavors. You can also make your own, if you are so inclined.

And it does more than brew beer, it’s also a sous vide machine. Because I’m me (and I have a fridge stocked full of free beer and a curiosity on all things food related), I was hooked on the sous vide feature.

So easy, just fill it with water and push a couple of buttons and I had (literally) the best steak I’ve ever made.

The awesome people over at PicoBrew are letting me give one away. For you or for that beer lover on your gift list, enter below. Good luck, this thing is a lot of fun!

(USA addresses only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pink Peppercorn Crusted Sous Vide Pork Loin with Caramelized Pan Sauce

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2 lbs pork loin
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • ¼ cup amber ale or Belgian ale
  • ¼ cup pink peppercorns
  • 2 tablespoons dried thyme
  • 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons butter

Instructions
 

  • Sprinkle the pork loin on all sides with salt. Add to a freezer safe Ziplock bag, add the beer. Seal the bag removing as much air as possible. This can be done by sealing the bag but leaving just the last inch unsealed and carefully rolling the bag and sealing as the liquid reaches to the top, or by sealing the bag but leaving just the last inch unsealed and slowly submerging the bag in water until the bag is submerged to just before the top, then sealing the last inch before remove from the water.
  • Sous Vide according to manufactures instructions at 147° F for at 1 ½ hours and up to 3 hours.
  • Remove loin from bag, reserve bag juices. Pat dry with paper towels or clean kitchen towels.
  • Add the peppercorns, thyme and paprika to a clean, dry, plastic bag. Using a rolling pin or heavy pan, crush the peppercorns, add to a large plate.
  • Roll the loin in the spices until well coated.
  • Heat oil in large skillet until close to smoking. Roll the loin in the pan until the well seared.
  • Remove the pan from heat, add the butter, stir until melted. Return to heat, add the liquid from the sous vide bag. Bring to a boil, boiling until thickened, stirring frequently. Strain the sauce into a pan, removing and discarding the solids.
  • Slice the loin into 1-inch medallions, drizzle with sauce. Serve immediately.

 

Beer Cheeseburger Pie with Dill Pickle Potato Chip Crust

Beer Cheeseburger Pie with Dill Pickle Potato Chip Crust

This was the first recipe I ever cooked. Well, a variation of this, devoid of beer and with the inclusion of Bisquick. I was 9 and my mom asked me to pick a recipe I wanted to cook. I had no idea where to start. I didn’t know anything about cooking; I’d never even turned on a stove, or picked up a measuring cup. But I did know that I liked cheeseburgers and I liked pie, that’s pretty much all I needed to know when I read the title. We served our mash-up dinner with potato chips, which were used as scoops towards the end of the meal. A flavor and texture combo that was a solid win.

 

There is something about the food you first fell in loved with that will never leave you: cheeseburgers, pie, potato chips, pickles. Those will always be food that will comfort in a soul-satisfying way that the foods we fell in love with as adults just can’t.

My obsession with the new flavors of Kettle Brand Chips was renewed when I found out that have a dill pickle flavor. DILL PICKLE POTATO CHIPS! This is not a drill! They’re exactly what you want them to be and it just so happens that they pair excellently with both cheeseburgers and beer.

DON’T FORGET to enter the Kettle Brand Chips Birthday Giveaway. These prizes are so much fun: and ultimate road trip ($7000 package), a killer BBQ prize pack ($7000 package), or just some straight up cash ($3,500). Enter here: kettlebrand.com/birthday

Beer Cheeseburger Pie with Dill Pickle Potato Chip Crust

Ingredients
  

Crust:

  • 1 8.5 oz bag of Kettle Brand Dill Pickle Potato Chips
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 3 tablespoons melted butter

Filling:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped yellow onion
  • 1 lbs ground beef
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • ½ cup pale ale
  • 1 cup diced tomatoes
  • 2 ½ cups cheddar cheese divided

Sauce:

  • ½ cup mayonnaise
  • ¼ cup ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons pickle relish
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon pale ale

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350F
  • In a food processor add the potato chips, process until just crumbs remain. Add the flour, processing until combined.
  • While the food processor is running, add the melted butter until well combined with the crumbs.
  • Press into a 9inch pie pan. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes.
  • While the crust is baking, make the filling.
  • Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions, cooking until softened and starting to brown. Add the beef, stirring and breaking up until starting to brown. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Stir in the beer.
  • Sprinkle with flour, stirring until thickened.
  • Add half a cup of cheese, stir until combined with the beef. Repeat with another half cup of cheese. Stir in the tomatoes.
  • Add the filling to the crust, sprinkle with the remaining 1 ½ cups cheese.
  • Put the pie in the oven just until the cheese has melted, about 3 minutes.
  • Stir together the sauce ingredients.
  • Serve the pie slices drizzled with sauce.

This post was sponsored by Kettle Chips. 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.

Kettle Brand Backyard Barbeque Chips Crusted Meatballs with Beer Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

Kettle Brand Backyard Barbeque Chips Crusted Meatballs with Beer Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce + a HUGE giveaway! 

There’s a question we ask in my circle, one that everyone has an almost instant answer to: “If you could pick one food that you could eat endlessly and the calories wouldn’t count, what would you pick?” For me, it’s chips.

Not just any chips, but Kettle Brand Jalapeno Potato Chips. Even though I haven’t been able to secure this “calories don’t count” deal, I will still eat an entire bag in one sitting, WITH NO SHAME! This love kicked off my obsession with all the new Kettle Brand flavors, and the brand itself.

The company has a pretty great history, It was started in a van in Oregon 35 years ago. As a way to celebrate this monumental birthday, they’ve decided a giveaway was in order, and a pretty spectacular one at that.

Kettle Brand Chips is giving away $35K worth of prizes in 35 days. Enter to win an awesome BBQ prize package right now, the sweepstakes ends on Nov. 5th!

This Barbeque prize pack looks amazing:

  • A GIANT Tundra 210 Cooler – the ultimate backyard drink station – plus reusable ice packs and Colster koozies courtesy of Yeti® (please tag Yeti somewhere in the content)
  • Charcoal grill and accessories
  • $500 worth of Painted Hills Natural Beef, shipped directly to you (please tag Painted Hills somewhere in the content)
  • Kegerator for icy cold beverages
  • Backyard theater system with screen, projector and speakers
  • Bluetooth enabled backyard speaker
  • Backyard furniture and yard games for the ultimate hands-on entertainment
  • $1,500 pre-paid gift card for supplies and food
  • Two cases of assorted Kettle Brand chips

 

Go enter and then come back and make these meatballs, they’re amazing and perfect for football season!

Kettle Brand Backyard Barbeque Chips Crusted Meatballs with Beer Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

Servings 6 -8 servings

Ingredients
  

Meatballs

  • 1 8.5oz bag Kettle Brand Backyard Barbeque Chips
  • 1 lbs ground beef 80/20 lean to fat ratio
  • 3 eggs divided
  • 1 cup plus ½ cup flour, divided
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil

Dipping Sauce:

  • ¼ cup raw honey
  • 1/3 cup sour cream
  • ¼ cup Dijon mustard
  • 3 tablespoons IPA beer

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400F.
  • Add the chips to a food processor, process until just crumbs remain.
  • Add the ground beef to a large bowl, add 1/3 cup of the chip crumbs to the beef, put the remaining chips into a separate bowl.
  • Gently combine the ground beef, one egg and the chip crumbs until well combined.
  • In the bowl with the remaining chip crumbs add ½ cup flour, toss to combine.
  • Add the remaining flour to a separate bowl.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining eggs and 3 tablespoons water.
  • Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out a small amount of meat mixture. Using wet hands, roll into a tight ball.
  • Toss in the flour, then coat with egg wash, then toss in the chip crumbs until well coated. Add to a baking sheet. Repeat until all meat is used.
  • Drizzle meatballs with olive oil.
  • Bake for 10 minutes, turn meatballs over, and bake for ten more minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through.
  • In a small bowl whisk together the dipping sauce ingredients (if the sauce has a hard time coming together, use an immersion blender to blend until smooth).
  • Serve meatballs with dipping sauce.

 

This post was sponsored by Kettle Chips. 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.

Stout Osso Buco Recipe

Stout Osso Buco  Recipe

It’s been eye-opening.

The way the past few months have unfolded has shaken me awake. I’ve had to face the things about myself that I kept hidden like jewels in a wall safe. What I do for attention and what I do to push people away, the masks I wear and the image I project.

There are times in your life when you come face to face to what you’ve been avoiding, like realizing you’ve inadvertently chained yourself to a rabid tiger, and you have a choice to make: it’s kill or be killed.

I’m learning to kill the tigers in my life, I’m trying to face them all regardless of what it stirs up from the dredges of an otherwise calm lake.

I’ve made a decision to put more focus and value on what I’m good at, what I want people to like me for in my head, rather than what my heart that’s still a damaged teenager wants. I want to write another book, another project I can throw myself into and hone the abilities I’ve curated in myself that remind me of that value of what I am, what I want people to see.

The first book revealed who I was, and what I was avoiding in myself. The night before it was due was one of the hardest of my life when I came face to face with a tiger who’d eaten throw his cage.

The second book was a life raft keeping me afloat as I dealt with the fall out from putting that tiger down. This book, the next one, won’t spring from trauma but growth, moving forward and becoming better.

In honor of this decision, I’m giving you the Osso Buco Recipe from my first book: The Craft Beer Cookbook. And I’m reminding you to slay some tigers this year, face it, kill it and become better. We can do it together.

Stout Osso Buco

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

For the Osso Bucco:

  • 4 slices thick cut bacon
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • ¼ cup flour
  • 2.5 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 chicken, vegetable, or beef will work

For the Gremolata:

  • ¼ cup fresh flat leaf parsley chopped
  • ½ teaspoon lemon zest
  • ½ teaspoon orange zest
  • 1 large clove garlic grated with a zester or microplane
  • polenta rice or mashed potatoes for serving

Instructions
 

  • 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, reserve pan and bacon fat.
  • Salt and pepper the beef shanks liberally.
  • Add flour to a bowl. One at a time dredge shanks in the flour until well coated.
  • Return the Dutch oven to heat, allow the bacon fat to get hot but not smoking.
  • Sear the shanks in bacon fat until browned on both sides. Remove shanks from pot.
  • Add olive oil to pot along with carrots, celery and onion. Cook until softened,
  • about 8 minutes.
  • Add the beer, scraping to deglaze the bottom. Stir in the tomato paste.
  • Return shanks and bacon to the pot. Pour in broth until shanks are ¾ of the way
  • covered.
  • Allow liquid to simmer but not boil for 3 to 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.
  • Combine all gremolata ingredients in a small bowl.
  • Serve with pan sauce, topped with gremolata, over polenta, rice or mashed potatoes.

This recipe is dedicated to Kel Shively, you will always be missed.

Grilled Stout Steak Sandwich with Charred Poblanos and Blue Cheese Sour Cream

Grilled Stout Steak Sandwich with Charred Poblanos and Blue Cheese Sour Cream. My new favorite sandwich!

Of all the things I love about this weird job I invented for myself, I have a favorite. A hands-down-favorite aspect of it all: the people. It sounds trite, saccharine, melodramatic, but it’s true. The people you meet in beer are the best kind of people: kind, open, creative, generous. These are people you want to root for.

Over pints a few weeks ago a group of Seattle Beer People and I decided it was about time we did a beer and food event. In part because we love beer, and we love food. But really because we want an excuse to hang out with more Seattle Beer People. We want to pour pints, eat some food (made by me!) and hang out all afternoon.

Join us, we want you there. So much that we made the ticket price for a pint and four small bites stupid crazy low.  Check it out: Beer & Food Tasting Event at Stoup Brewing

 

Grilled Stout Steak Sandwich with Charred Poblanos and Blue Cheese Sour Cream

Servings 6 sandwiches

Ingredients
  

  • 12 oz stout
  • 2 tablespoons 28g soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon 14g Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 large cloves garlic grated with a microplane
  • 2 lbs flank steak
  • 4 poblano chilies
  • 1 large sweet onion Vidalia, Maui, or Walla Walla, cut into ¼ inch rings
  • 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
  • Kosher salt
  • 1 cup 120g sour cream
  • 1/3 cup 35g crumbled blue cheese
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 6 hoagie rolls split
  • ¼ cup green onions chopped

Instructions
 

  • Stir together the stout, soy sauce, Worcestershire, and garlic in a large glass bowl or baking dish. Add the steak and allow to marinate at room temperature for 45 minutes or in the refrigerator for 3 to 6 hours.
  • Heat the grill to high.
  • Brush the peppers and onions with olive oil. Grill until the onions are soft and have prominent grill marks, and the skin on the peppers is charred and starting to peel away from the pepper.
  • Add the peppers to a brown paper bag, rolling to seal in the steam. Set aside while you grill the steak.
  • Remove the steak from marinade, pat dry, sprinkle liberally with salt.
  • Grill on both sides until medium rare, about 4 minutes per side. Remove from grill, allow to rest.
  • Remove the peppers from the bag, peel off the charred skin, cut the soft pepper into strips.
  • Thinly slice the steak.
  • Stir together the sour cream and the blue cheese.
  • Fill the rolls with steak, onions, peppers and cheddar cheese. Return to the grill, close the lid and cook just until the cheese melts (if the bun starts to burn, move the sandwiches to the upper rack of the grill).
  • Remove from grill, top with sour cream and green onions. Serve immediately.

Stout Smoked Ribs with Easy DIY Smoker

Stout Smoked Ribs with Easy DIY Smoker. Once you make ribs this way, you’ll never go back! 

I’m having one of those days. You have them too, I know you do.

When you feel like you’re failing at everything, like you aren’t where you’re supposed to be, like if people really knew you weren’t as sparkly as your Instagram feed suggest they may run away screaming. I don’t even think this feeling, these days, are necessarily bad. It’s just a reminder that we can do better, that the average days aren’t the summation of who we are, that we are capable of more. I heard this quote and decided to just be OK with these days:

"Only the mediocre are always at their best" –Jean Giraudoux

For some reason, this made me feel better. Being at a low just means that there is a high. We just need to figure out how to be more open about these days, instead of forcing all the focus on the highs and disappearing when the low hits. It’s OK. We are all here more often than we admit. I am, and I know you are, too. The highs are easier to share, the pictures take themselves. Let’s just learn how to share a bit of the average, just to make sure that we all see that we aren’t as different as we think we are.

You’ll need this Stout Beer Barbecue Sauce  for this recipe.

I used The Baroness from Fat Bottom Brewery, the name called to me for obvious reasons. I had enough left over to enjoy along side some chocolate stout cake for dessert. So good!

Stout Smoked Ribs with Easy DIY Smoker

Servings 4 -6 servings

Ingredients
  

DIY Smoker:

  • 2 cups smoker wood chips
  • 2 cups stout beer
  • Large baking sheet
  • Wire rack
  • Large disposable aluminum baking dish
  • Disposable grill pan make sure it fits into the baking dish

For the Ribs:

  • 3 lbs pork ribs
  • dry rub
  • Stout barbecue sauce recipe link above

Instructions
 

  • Add the wood chips to a large bowl. Cover with beer until completely covered. Wood chips will absorb beer, make sure they are fully covered at all times. Soak for 2 hours and up to 24.
  • Preheat a grill to the lowest setting (hopefully 250-350F).
  • Add the chips to the baking sheet in an even layer, add a few tablespoons of the smoking liquid. Cover with the wire rack.
  • Poke several holes in the sides (not the bottom) of the disposable baking dish. Put the grill pan on top of the baking dish.
  • Dry rub the ribs, place on top of the grill pan. Cover well with aluminum foil, making sure that there is no space for the smoke to escape.
  • Place the smoker on the grill, close the cover. Allow to cook until the meat is tender and falling off the bone, about 2 hours.
  • Remove from the grill, turn the grill on high. Brush the ribs with the Barbeque sauce, add the ribs directly to the grates, grilling for about 3 minutes per side.
  • Cut into individual ribs, serve immediately.

Notes

Depending on the size of your rib rack, you may need to construct two smokers.

Beer Cheese Burger with Onion Rings and Beer Pickled Jalapenos

Beer Cheese Burger with Onion Rings and Beer Pickled Jalapenos

Don’t make this. I’m warning you.

But here you are, still reading, contemplating making this. So let me tell you how this will go down. First, it’ll seem like a lot of steps, you’ll hesitate. Then you’ll realize that the jalapeños can be made weeks in advance (and they only take a few minutes to begin with), and the beer cheese sauce is made in ten minutes in the blender and you know that’s a pretty simple win for a burger, and you’ll decide to proceed.

Then you’ll make it, maybe when you have a few friends over. You’ll plate it like a boss, drizzling the cheese sauce from theatrical heights, to evoke the "OOOHHHHS!" from your friends-turned-audience-members. You’ll serve them all these gloriously, ridiculously drool-worthy burgers, and then the problems will start. You’ll ALWAYS be asked to make THAT burger. Your friends will give it a nickname, and you will never be able to go to another backyard cookout without the pleading eyes of your friends who want the cute-nicknamed-burger.

So, you’ve been warned. But if I know you, you’ll just do it anyway, consequences be damned.

I like your style.

For this recipe, you’ll need: Foolproof Beer Cheese Sauce  and IPA Pickled Jalapeños. 

Beer Cheese Burger with Onion Rings and Beer Pickled Jalapenos

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • Beer cheese sauce link above
  • Beer Pickled Jalapenos link above

For the onion rings:

  • 2 large yellow sweet onions Maui, Walla Walla, Vidalia sliced ½ inch thick
  • canola oil for baking
  • 2 cups flour divided in half
  • ½ tsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp brown sugar
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 tsp salt divided
  • 1 cup IPA or pale ale beer
  • 2 cups panko bread crumbs
  • 3 tbs melted butter

For the burger:

  • 1 lbs 80/20 ground chuck beef
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 teaspoons pepper
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 large tomato sliced
  • 4 kaiser rolls sliced

Instructions
 

Make the onion rings:

  • Preheat oven to 450F.
  • Slice the onion into ½ inch slices, separate the rings. Place in a large bowl of ice water. Allow to sit for at least 20 minutes (this will take the harsh “bite” out of the raw onion and help them cook better).
  • On two large baking sheets drizzle with about 1 tablespoon canola oil, set aside.
  • In a large bowl add 1 cup flour (reserve the other cup), chili powder, brown sugar, smoked paprika, and 1 teaspoon salt, stir to combine. Stir in the beer to make a smooth batter.
  • Add the remaining flour to a small bowl. Stir together the panko, remaining 1 teaspoon salt and melted butter in a separate bowl.
  • One at a time remove the onion slices from the water, dredge in flour until well coated, dip in the batter allowing excess batter to drip back into the bowl, then add to the panko to gently coat (if panko bowl becomes too saturated with the dip, toss it and fill the bowl with fresh panko).
  • Add to prepared sheets in an even layer, making sure the onion rings aren’t touching (smaller rings can be place inside large ones as long as they don’t touch).
  • Bake at 450F for 8 minutes flip, bake until golden brown on all sides, about 10 additional minutes.

Make the burgers:

  • Form the beef into 4 equal sized patties, wider than the bun (it will shrink as it cooks) and fairly thin. Add to a plate, refrigerate until very cold, about 1 hour (can be done up to 24 hours in advance).
  • Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Salt and pepper the patties liberally on all sides. Add to the skillet, cook on both sides until the meat is medium rare, about 3 minutes on each side.
  • Plate the burger with tomatoes, onion rings, jalapenos, and drizzle with beer cheese. Serve immediately.

Notes

There is more than 4 servings worth of jalapeños and cheese sauce, if you double the recipe, don't double those ingredients.

Grilled Beer Brined Filet Tips with Hoisin Glaze

Grilled Beer Brined Filet Tips with Hoisin Glaze, just 4  ingredients and SO good.

Grilled Beer Brined Filet Tips with Hoisin Glaze, just 4 ingredients and SO good.

I was once the host of a TV show. For a brief shining moment (6 days to be exact), before it was all canceled and the show was scrapped, I was able to travel from brewery to brewery, interviewing interesting people and cooking food that I’d infused with beer. But as these things go, far more often than not, it didn’t go any father than that.

It didn’t matter, I had a great time. Every early morning, and every “hurry up and wait” afternoon was more than worth it.

What turned out to be the last day of filming I found myself at an air show outside a brewery saddled with the task of making three dishes with the breweries beer. My limitations included: no kitchen, only one ice chest for refrigeration, only heat source was a small hibachi grill, no utensils for eating. On top of all of this, the food I was going to be serving to a group of air show pilots needed to be eaten standing up, while on camera.

My solution was to marinate some cubes of beef tenderloin in beer, stab it with skewers, slather it with a delicious sauce, and grill it. It worked out surprisingly well, until the pilots decided to enjoy their post-flight beers in rapid succession just before filming.

This made for a hilarious exchange that was just as inappropriate as it was un-airable. It’s probably a good thing that show never went to air, the more inappropriate the drunk pilots got, the more hilarious I thought it was and the less I was able to regain a semblance of anything we’d be able to package into network friendly airtime.

At least the skewers were good, and so was the beer. If I’m ever able to host another interview-drunk-people-TV-show, I’ll have to figure out how not to be so amused be them.

Grilled Beer Brined Filet Tips with Hoisin Glaze, just 4 ingredients and SO good.

Grilled Beer Brined Filet Tips with Hoisin Glaze

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lbs fillet tips or cubes of beef tenderloin
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 12 ounces beer stout, wheat beer, brown ale, pale lager, pilsner
  • 1 cup hoisin sauce

Instructions
 

  • Cut the beef into bite sized cubes, if necessary.
  • Add to a bowl, sprinkle with salt.
  • Pour beer over the beef, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour and up to 12.
  • Preheat a grill to medium high.
  • Remove from beer, pat dry.
  • Thread through heat safe skewers, brush liberally on all sides with hoisin sauce.
  • Grill until grill marks appear on all sides and beef is cooked to medium rare, re-brushing with hoisin sauce each time you turn the skewers.
  • Serve warm.

Grilled Beer Brined Filet Tips with Hoisin Glaze, just 4 ingredients and SO good.

Beer Braised Short Rib Sliders with Kettle Chip Crusted Onion Rings

beer-braised-short-rib-sliders-with-kettle-chip-crusted-onion-rings7

Football season is about more than just the game. It’s the communal cheering, the epic match-ups and the crowd of friends rooting for the home team. Of course, there is always that guy who’s on the wrong side of the cheering, upsetting the game-day-chi with his sad-face reaction to what everyone else is rooting for. But it wouldn’t be the same without him. Or without the people who are really just there for the food. It wouldn’t be any fun if everyone was overly-intense-don’t-talk-during-play-time guy, or at-least-that’s-good-for-my-fantasy-team guy. Someone has to be overly-obsessed-with-winning-at-game-day-food guy (Me. Always me). We need a strong healthy mix of people to bring together the perfect game watching experience.

beer-braised-short-rib-sliders-with-kettle-chip-crusted-onion-rings11

Healthy competition keeps it fun, and keeps the adrenaline pumping. Don’t stop at the game that’s going strong on the field, bring the action into your house.

I like to have a side bet, one that involves food and beer. One that pits pairings against pairings.

For the October 9th, 2016 NFL match-up of Washington vs Baltimore I recommend offering these pairings and having your guests decide which is the winner. Whatever team you’re rooting for, there are no losers in the game of chips and beer. There are only winners, and bigger winners. I have a hands down favorite, but I’m not going to tell you which one. You’re gonna have to try it out and let me know which one you picked.

 

For Baltimore I went with the spectacular Kettle Brand Korean Barbecue Chips, the chips come already rooting for the Ravens with their matching purple bag. I paired it with a Saison for the perfect balance of sweet and heat.

beer-braised-short-rib-sliders-with-kettle-chip-crusted-onion-rings16

I’m pitting the Korean Barbecue and Saison for Baltimore against this:

For Washington I went red. Kettle Brand Sriracha Chips are a crowd pleaser and easy to pair with an IPA, the bold flavors are a perfect pairing. It’s two big time flavor favorites that compliment each other beautifully.

beer-braised-short-rib-sliders-with-kettle-chip-crusted-onion-rings15

Pair them up, let your guests decide who the winner is, the refs have no say here.

This is a recipe that you can make with either chip, for football food that’s already cheering along side you, unlike that one guy that you always sort of regret inviting over.

beer-braised-short-rib-sliders-with-kettle-chip-crusted-onion-rings10

 

Beer Braised Short Rib Sliders with Kettle Chip Crusted Onion Rings

Servings 12 sliders

Ingredients
  

Short Ribs

  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 lbs bone in beef short ribs
  • 3 tablespoon flour
  • ½ teaspoon chili powder
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon cumin
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 ½ cups beef broth
  • 12 oz porter beer

Onion rings

  • 1 large yellow sweet onions Maui, Walla Walla, Vidalia sliced ½ inch thick
  • 1 bag 8.5 wt oz Kettle Brand Chips (Sriracha or Korean BBQ)
  • 3 tablespoon melted butter
  • 2 cups flour divided in half
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup IPA or pale ale beer
  • canola oil for baking

Sliders

  • 12 slider buns
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon Gochujang or Sriracha

Instructions
 

Make the short ribs:

  • Sprinkle the salt on all sides of the short ribs. In a small bowl stir together the flour, chili powder, black pepper, garlic powder, cumin and brown sugar. Sprinkle the ribs on all sides with the flour mixture.
  • Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add the short ribs, browning on all sides.
  • Add the broth and beer, bring to a low simmer. Add the lid at a vent, cooking until short ribs are tender and falling off the bone, about 2 ½ hours, remove from heat. Using two forks, shred while still in the pot. Allow to sit in braising liquid for ten minutes, remove from braising liquid (This can be made a day ahead, stored in the fridge in the braising liquid and re-heated for sliders).

Make the onion rings:

  • Preheat oven to 450.
  • Slice the onion into ½ inch slices, separate the rings. Place in a large bowl of ice water. Allow to sit for at least 20 minutes (this will take the harsh “bite” out of the raw onion and help them cook better).
  • Add the Kettle chips to a food processor, process until only crumbs remain. Transfer crumbs to a bowl, drizzle with melted butter, toss to coat.
  • Drizzle a large baking sheet with about 1 tablespoon canola oil, set aside.
  • In a large bowl add 1 cup flour (reserve the other cup) and 1 teaspoon salt, stir to combine. Stir in the beer to make a smooth batter.
  • Add the remaining flour to a small bowl.
  • One at a time remove the onion slices from the water, dredge in flour until well coated, dip in the batter allowing excess batter to drip back into the bowl, then add to the Kettle chip crumbs to gently coat.
  • Add to prepared baking sheet in an even layer, making sure the onion rings aren’t touching (smaller rings can be place inside large ones as long as they don’t touch) drizzle with canola oil.
  • Bake at 450 for 10 minutes, gently flip, bake until golden brown on all sides, about 8 additional minutes.

Assemble the sliders:

  • In a small bowl stir together the sour cream and Gochujang or Sriracha.
  • Fill the slider buns with short ribs, then about 1 tablespoon sour cream, then an onion ring. Serve immediately.
beer-braised-short-rib-sliders-with-kettle-chip-crusted-onion-rings1

 

This post was sponsored by Kettle Chips. 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

Porter Provolone Meatball Subs

Porter Provolone Meatball Subs

porter-provolone-meatball-subs1

 "I can’t believe you’re not here this weekend," The bartender at Cowiche Canyon in Yakima, Washington is shaming me for arriving —and leaving—just days before the biggest celebration of beer that this part of the world has to offer.

I don’t blame her, really. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to come to the site of Fresh Hop Fest, to a city in a pre-party-buzz frenzy and leave before the main event.

yakima-tourism-1

 But for once, I wasn’t there for the beer. The beer, which will be a celebration of the flicker of time that brewers are able to use fresh-from-the-bine-hops, isn’t why I came.

I came for the hops. I came to witness the harvest first hand. I came to see these beautiful little flowers, the rock star beer ingredient, go from field to brew. Harvest was completed mere hours after my arrival, days before the Fresh Hop Fest party-goers will arrive, harvest is over before they land in town. Every hop bine cut down, every hop flower resting peacefully in wait for it’s final fermentable destination.

yakima-tourism-7

 It was an experience I was grateful to witness, something that few beer lovers get to see first hand. It was worth skipping this years festivities in favor of what so few people are able to witness. It’s an experience I’ll tell you more about later, but for now I made you a sandwich.

yakima-tourism-18

For now, we can all roam our respective cities looking for fresh hop beers at our tap rooms, enjoying the view from afar.

But next year, it’ll be different. Next year I already have plans to return for the Festival, take part, drink the best that Yakima has to offer and tell you all about it.

porter-provolone-meatball-subs7

Porter Provolone Meatball Subs

To make this as an appetizer, substitute the 4 hoagie rolls with 12 slider buns.
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2.5 lbs ground pork
  • ¼ cup 28g breadcrumbs
  • 1 teaspoon 0.5g dried basil
  • ½ teaspoon 0.25g dried oregano
  • ½ teaspoon 3g salt
  • 2 teaspoon 6g garlic powder, divided
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup 140g chopped white onions
  • 2 tablespoons 28g olive oil
  • ½ cup 115mLporter or stout beer
  • ¼ cup tomato paste
  • 14.5 wt oz crushed tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon 3g black pepper
  • 4 hoagie rolls
  • 8 slices provolone cheese

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl add the pork breadcrumbs, basil, oregano, salt, 1 teaspoon garlic powder (reserve the other teaspoon), and egg. Mix with your hands until just combined.
  • Cover a plate with plastic wrap. Use a cookie scoop to make balls just smaller than golf balls. Place on the prepared plate. Place in the freezer for 15 minutes (this will help the meatballs retain shape during cooking).
  • Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the onions, cooking until onions have softened and started to brown, about 8 minutes.
  • Remove the onions from the pan, increase heat to high. Add the meatballs, pulling the pan back and forth to roll the meatballs around the pan until lightly browned.
  • Pour in the beer, then add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, black pepper, remaining 1 teaspoon garlic powder and the onions. Stir gently.
  • Reduce heat to medium, cover and allow to simmer until the meatballs are cooked through. Salt sauce to taste. *
  • Preheat the broiler. Slice the hoagie rolls and add the meatballs and sauce to the rolls. Place on a baking sheet. Top with two slices of cheese per sandwich.
  • Broil until the cheese is melted. Serve immediately.

Notes

*to make in advance, finish cooking the meatballs, then transfer to a storage container. Store in the fridge for up to three days. High slightly, add to hoagie rolls, top with cheese and broil until cheese is melted.

porter-provolone-meatball-subs5

Hops are gorgeous.

yakima-tourism-21