Love Good Beer

Beer Battered Fries

Thursday, October 1st, 2009 | Food and Recipes | 3 Comments

On to round three of what is now a world renowned beer dinner, Beer Battered Fries.  We considered baking our beer battered fries, but then what’s the fun in that?  We lost our deep frying virginity that night and it was good.

Our beer battered potatoes in the deep fryer

We didn’t exactly make fries so much as we cut little potatoes in half.  We (again, we more refers to the talented cooks in the kitchen) first baked our potatoes drizzled with oil in the oven for 15 minutes to mostly cook the potatoes.  We then prepared out batter and put the pot of canola oil on the stove to heat up.  To tell when your oil is hot enough, drop a little piece of bread in and see if it quickly starts sizzling and turns brown.  If you get that good sizzle and your bread fries up nicely, you are good to go (eat the bread, it’ll be tasty).  Our beer batter recipe was originally meant for fish and came from here.  We used Central City’s Red Racer Pale Ale again, mostly because we bought a six pack.  Here are the ingredients we mixed together for our batter:

• 1 egg
• 1 cup Central City Red Racer Pale Ale
• 1 1/8 tsp. baking powder
• 1 c. flour
• 2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. garlic salt

We battered our mostly cooked potatoes and dropped them into the pool.  Watch out, the oil is freaking hot!  I splashed myself and it hurt a lot.  Cook until the batter turns a nice golden brown and looks crispy.  Remove the potatoes with a small collinder of sorts and let the potatoes dry on a paper towel.

Scoop them out with a small collinder and be careful!

We were probably the most skeptical of how successful we would be with our beer battered fries, but they were delicious!  They were perfectly cooked and wonderfully crispy.  Combined with the soup, it was a very heavy meal.  The salad provided a very refreshing contrast to the rest of the dishes.  Despite the heaviness, dinner was excellent.  I recommend deep frying to you adventurous sorts.

The salad balanced out the fries and the soup

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: beer battered fries, canola oil, Central City Brewing, deep frier, deep fry, potatoes, Red Racer Pale Ale

Beer Cheddar Soup

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 | Food and Recipes | 2 Comments

Dish number two in my famed beer dinner series is Beer Cheddar Soup.  I hadn’t had too many, if any, Beer Cheddar Soups before, but I was excited to give it a try because beer and cheese are two of my favorite things.  The combination sounded mouth wateringly magical to me.

Our soup simmering on the stove

We used a five year old sharp cheddar and, again, Central City’s Red Racer Pale Ale.  The recipe we started with was found online here, but we (those actually cooking, not me) made some alterations.  We meant to add bacon, but ended up forgetting it.  We also left out the leeks, mostly because we didn’t have any.  Here is the recipe that we used:

Ingredients

• 2 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)
• 2 celery ribs, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
• 1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (14 fl oz)
• 1 (12-oz) can of Central City Red Racer Pale Ale
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 lb 5 year aged Cheddar, grated (4 cups)

Preparation

Cook carrots, celery, garlic, and bay leaf in butter in a 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to moderately low and sprinkle flour over vegetables, then cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Add milk, broth, and beer in a stream, whisking, then simmer, whisking occasionally, 5 minutes. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt, and pepper.

Add cheese by handfuls, stirring constantly, and cook until cheese is melted, 3 to 4 minutes (do not boil). Discard bay leaf.

Our soup was very delicious, you could really pickup the sharpness of the aged cheddar, which balanced out the richness of all the added fats.  The flavor of the beer was also apparent, contributing positively to the soup.  Our gracious host thought our soup compared favorably to the one he regularly orders from Big Ridge, success!

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: aged cheddar, beer cheddar soup, big ridge brewing, Central City Brewing, Red Racer Pale Ale, sharp cheddar

Beer Can Chicken

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 | Food and Recipes | No Comments

Some friends and I conglomerated on a beer themed dinner last weekend.  We made beer can chicken, beer cheddar soup, beer battered fries, salad (lame), and beer floats.  By “we made”, I mean that I mostly stood around and watched while others with more skill actually cooked, although I did get the token easy job here and there.

This week I’m going to blog about each dish (except for the salad) and share with you the recipe we used.  First up, Beer Can Chicken…

Our cooked beer butt chicken, so tasty...

Personally, I prefer the name Beer Butt Chicken over Beer Can Chicken, but that isn’t really very important.  I’ve previously blogged about beer and chickens, so we used the same recipe I’d previously posted.  Why mess with success, right?  If executed correctly, this recipe produces a wonderfully moist chicken that almost falls off the bone; the skin will also be delightfully crisp and tasty.  This is a very easy recipe, but be careful not to miss the crucial step of drinking one and half beers before getting started.  We used Central City’s Red Racer Pale Ale as our beer stuffing/stand because it is both cheap and delicious.  One pitfall to avoid would be dumping the beer into the drippings when attempting to remove the beer can from the chicken.  I did this and the gravy we made from the drippings ended up being more bitter than the beer itself.  Luckily, our chicken was so good that we didn’t need the ruined gravy.

As for the recipe itself, you should try it because it is really easy, very tasty, and it seems impressive.  Here it is:

1. Season the whole chicken (skin on) with salt and pepper.  Chop some rosemary and thyme and rub it on the dry chicken.  Take a few rosemary springs and shove it under the breast skin.
2. Drink one and a half beers (minimum) – leave half of one beer in the can and put some of the fresh herbs used in the rub into the can.
3. Get a chicken stand and put the beer can into it.  Shove the stand with the can in it into the chicken’s butt.
4. Turn one side of your BBQ on and leave the other side off – you want a convection oven effect. Once up to 350F put the bird on the off side of the grill.  Cook for one and a half hours or when you hit 165F internal temperature.  Rotate the bird once or twice during the cooking process.
5. Once done, wrap the chicken in foil and let is rest for 2o minutes or so before carving.

It should be noted that we didn’t use a chicken stand.  We stood the can holding the chicken on a pan to catch the drippings for gravy purposes, which worked just fine.  I wouldn’t put a can right onto the BBQ for stability reasons.

Cheers,

Chris

Tags: beer butt chicken, beer can chicken, beer dinner, Central City Brewing, gravy, recipe, Red Racer Pale Ale

Review: Hells Gate Pale Ale

Monday, January 12th, 2009 | Beer, Review | 5 Comments

I have fallen in love with Central City’s Red Racer Pale Ale. This modestly priced brew retails for $10.40 in BC liquor stores, although often times I find it on sale for $8.95 – a few dollars below most BC craft beer. As a result of finding this hidden gem tucked away beside a range of under appreciated beer, I have begun a quest in search of the best “value priced” beer in BC. Over the next few weeks I will purchase, drink, and review all “value priced” Pale Ale available in BC – any beer over $10.40 will be excluded. If you have any beer recommendations please let me know.

Pale Ale is one of my favourite styles of beer, but only when brewed to style. Pale ale should be pleasantly malty with a mild sweetness that is balanced by a noticeable hop flavour and aroma. Most serious brewers offer a version of pale ale, although this style typically varies a great deal – as long as the brew is pale and ale it may be correctly, or incorrectly labeled pale ale. Choosing pale ale also helps to eliminate the large contingent of over proof lagers brewed for the sole purpose of drunken tomfoolery. I want to review beer that is brewed to taste great – with plenty of room for tomfoolery on the side. Pale ale is the perfect style of beer for this challenge.

First up for review is Hells Gate Brewing Pale Ale, coming in at a whopping $8.95 for six cans. Hells Gate Brewing is owned by the Mark Anthony Group, the owners of Mission Hill Winery and a range of spirituous beverages. Hells Gate is a new brewer in the Vancouver region, and has launched this new brand with a small teaser campaign. This means their website contains only a small description of their two new brews and an online postcard from their Brewmaster. I hate teaser campaigns.

I bought this beer thinking it was pale ale; after all it is labeled pale ale, but their website claims otherwise describing it as Canadian Style Amber Ale. Adding to the confusion, the text on the can states, we cold age our beer to lock in the flavour. I’m not sure what this means. Cold aging sounds a lot like the lagering processes, but I have no idea what lagering has to do with locking in flavour and why the Brewmaster would lager ale? But this is about beer, not my distain for Hells Gate’s confusing communication strategy.

This beer pours a light copper, not quite amber, with a small white head that dissipates quickly. Don’t look at head retention too much here; my glass may have been improperly rinsed after washing with soap. The hop aroma is almost impossible to find, but I’m sure it is there somewhere. This pale ale has a somewhat sour aroma with a hint of toasted bread. The flavour is on the sweet side and is poorly balanced – again the hop flavour is hard to find. There is a subtle toasted bread almost dough like flavour – this was a pleasant surprise. This beer finished with a lingering sour note. Overall, this beer tasted more like a cross between cream ale and light amber ale, not pale ale.

I can’t say this beer is a winner, but it is better than most overpriced macrobrewed beer. In time, I’m sure Hells Gate will work out the kinks in their system and offer great beer – its just not there yet.

Erik

Tags: Central City Brewing, Hells Gate Brewing, Mark Anthony Group, Mission Hill Winery, Pale Ale, Red Racer Pale Ale, Value Priced Beer

Pizza and Beer: Did they just become best friends!

Thursday, January 8th, 2009 | Beer, Food and Recipes | 1 Comment

Sourdough Pizza and Red Racer Pale Ale

Pizza and beer, when put together create something magical. I know that pizza and beer paired together is nothing new, but every time I have the two I am blown away by how well they complement each other. Typically when I get excited about a meal, I pump my fists in the air like I just won some sort of medal – my wife thinks this behavior is abnormal, I think people don’t appreciate their food enough. Proper pizza and good beer typically get a two handed fist pump in my house.

Good pale ale, which I think is perfect with pizza, has a noticeable, but not overpowering hop flavour and a mildly sweet, sometimes fruity malt flavour. Good pizza is made with good quality hand made dough, fresh tomato sauce, and should adhere to the less is more principle when it comes to toppings. The more toppings placed on pizza, the worse it gets – a few quality ingredients is all it takes. Most pizza is over topped, hiding the flavour from the crust and sauce. The sweetness and bitter hop flavour from pale ale complements the sweetness and fresh herb flavour that a tomato sauce should have – if it doesn’t have those flavours it is not proper pizza. Beer and bread is a natural combination that should always go well together and carbonation helps cut through the greasiness from the cheese. This is a perfect combination.

For anyone in BC, I highly recommend Central City Brewing Red Racer Pale Ale; it has a great hop kick and a good malt flavour, plus it is one of the cheapest six packs available in a BC liquor store. For the pizza, I suggest visiting Jamie Oliver’s website for a great pizza dough recipe. If you want a great pizza dough, follow Jamie Oliver’s recipe, but use a sourdough starter instead of commercial yeast. As far as toppings go, always remember to keep it simple and that less is probably better than more.

Like myself, I am sure most of you have tried pizza and beer together; they are best friends after all. Next time you enjoy this combo, take a minute to appreciate how special this amazing combination is. And do not feel any shame in celebrating with loud cheers and fist pumps; I believe this too be normal behavior, it would be almost weird not too.

Erik

Tags: BC Liqour Store, Beer, Central City Brewing, Jamie Oliver, Pizza, Red Racer Pale Ale