Looking for the original Bar Towel blog? You can find it at www.thebartowel.com.
We have a trivia question in order to register to prevent bots. If you have any issues with answering, contact us at cass@bartowel.com for help.
Introducing Light Mode! If you would like a Bar Towel social experience that isn't the traditional blue, you can now select Light Mode. Go to the User Control Panel and then Board Preferences, and select "Day Drinking" (Light Mode) from the My Board Style drop-down menu. You can always switch back to "Night Drinking" (Dark Mode). Enjoy!
tuqueboy wrote:a colleague of mine chucked a bison brisket, some onions, garlic and herbs into a slow cooker along with 2 bottles of brooklyn black chocolate stout and a little bit of stock. melt in your mouth.
^^^
Everything you need to know about braising. It's SIMPLE.
Funny, I was thinking about suggesting a thread for beer and food recipes, Belgian must be psychic!
Here is one of my favourite dishes based on an old Estonian peasant dish. Variations exist all over North-Eastern Europe. The best way to approach this is as a list of ingredients, but don't get hung up on the quantities, just throw them together in the quantities you feel like and then you will have your own variation. Almost impossible to screw up.
Sauerkraut and barley soup/stew:
Good quality sauerkraut. I look for low sodium, (I know it's a bit of an oxymoron) optionally, give it a quick rinse. If it's too salty or sour it can overwhelm the dish.
Pot or pearl barley
Pork blade or other flavourful pork stewing cut
Onions
Garlic
Carrots
Potatoes
Bay leaf
Black pepper
Additional salt is optional but usually the sauerkraut offers enough.
Beer. I find a strong ale or peculiar to be a good addition to the liquid. Some Imperial stouts work, but I find Irish and oatmeal stouts leave a bitter finish. You're looking for the beer to enhance the caramel and malty flavours.
Cut the vegetables into chunks, the long cooking will break them down. Throw everything in a pot, cover with beer and water. A slow cooker is the best vessel to make this in. The longer you simmer this the more the ingredients caramelize. The goal is a rather thick and hearty soup. If you cook it until it's almost brown the flavour is amazing.
This is the number one most effective hangover cure and it does double duty as a perfect dish while you are busy causing the hangover!
Brands are for cattle.
Fans are cash cows.
The herd will consume until consumed.
icemachine wrote:I'm doing a beef brisket today with Trois Pistoles
So how'd it go?
Not a beer recipe but I made Coq au Vin with a dry BC Pinot Noir. It's easy stuff, like most braising I guess - enjoyed it very much these past few days.
Here's Coq Au Biere, I bet Trois Pistoles or Hockley Dark would work for it. Some recipes you read on the Web are fussy as hell, but mine's simple. I rely mainly on shallots onions garlic and herbs to help create the flavors. Just butter and oil to brown ingredients. Big flavor regardless!
I think chicken thighs work well. Especially for a Vin recipe I might prefer to take the skin off (so the meat absorbls the deep colors and flavors of the cooking liquid.) The skin maybe adds to the 'stock' but is not very appetizing - could also add it separately & remove before serving. Nicely done Coq au Vin has a beautiful red 'crust' of color over the white meat.
Made the beef stew recipe from the latest issue of Cooks Illustrated, and replaced the red wine with Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. It was decadently good!
icemachine wrote:I'm doing a beef brisket today with Trois Pistoles
So how'd it go?
Quite well, left it to go for a few hours and it infused a lot of the dark fruit flavours of the Trois Pistoles. I had rubbed the meat with Chinese 5 spice so it made for a nice contrast.
SteelbackGuy wrote:I made a roast leg of Yak braised with sinha stout and added garlic bulbs and whole onions.
I also want to make some mutton, but cannot find a good way to make it.
It's mature animal meat? Tougher connective material binding the muscle fibers.
With very long, slow braising the collagen eventually breaks down and runs out leaving the meat fork-tender, while adding density to the sauce. (Chowhound.) I wonder, maybe Sinha Stout with sea salt rosemary and garlic would work for your mutton? Or Hirsch Doppelbock? Westmalle Dubbel?
I did a Coq using the enameled cast iron the first time, would like to try braising tougher meats because Coq is like falling down stairs its so easy.
SteelbackGuy wrote:I made a roast leg of Yak braised with sinha stout and added garlic bulbs and whole onions.
I also want to make some mutton, but cannot find a good way to make it.
It's mature animal meat? Tougher connective material binding the muscle fibers.
With very long, slow braising the collagen eventually breaks down and runs out leaving the meat fork-tender, while adding density to the sauce. (Chowhound.) I wonder, maybe Sinha Stout with sea salt rosemary and garlic would work for your mutton? Or Hirsch Doppelbock? Westmalle Dubbel?
I did a Coq using the enameled cast iron the first time, would like to try braising tougher meats because Coq is like falling down stairs its so easy.
I made a BBQ sauce on the weekend using Mill Street Coffee Porter. I haven't made BBQ sauce from scratch ever and I wasn't following any recipe, but I think it turned out really well.
In a food processor I put:
- 2 tomatoes (took out seeds)
- half a red pepper
- large white onion
- fresh parsley, rosemary & thyme
Once that was pretty ground up, I heated a frying pan and added duck fat that I had saved from cooking duck breast previously. I poured everything in from the food processor, then added:
- lots of fresh ground pepper
- some red chili flakes
- a bit of salt
- a tablespoon of jalapeno hot sauce
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- a few tablespoons of red wine vinegar
- a bunch of worchester sauce (maybe 1/5-1/4 of the bottle)
- a full bottle of Mill Street Coffee Porter
I let that get up to a boil and I realized it was too lumpy. So I put everything into a blender until it was a uniform consistency. Moved back to frying pan and it was too liquidy so I added some honey and butter to thicken it a bit. Brought back to a boil, then turned down heat and let simmer for 20-30 minutes.
I first had the sauce that day on ribs to test it out and I loved it. The reason I made the sauce was for pulled pork and I made that on Monday.
El Pinguino wrote:Have a big leg of lamb to cook up this weekend.
First - never cooked one before. Any tips?
Second - any beer recipe ideas or pairings?
Lamb`s really gamey, so you`ll need something assertive to stand up to it. I`d go for a roasty stout or a nice porter.
My biggest tip for roasting is to get an probe thermometer (if you don`t already have one). Removes all the guesswork out of the process.
I`m still trying to finish up my last beer-related cooking adventure. I made a Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout Dark Chocolate Cheesecake. I first had the recipe at ritzkiss`place, and I think he used Green Flash. I figured Brooklyn would fit well, and it did. Not food to slim with.
