Beer-braised beans

Last night I made another beer-related dish that I thought I'd share with everyone. It is extremely easy, but preserves the flavor of the beer quite well!

This recipe for braised pinto beans is ridiculously simple, which really allows the beer to come through in the final product. I made the beans using my pressure cooker, but canned would do fine as well.

Smoke Your Beer, Not Your Butt!

In my efforts to keep up with the amount of beer I produce in comparison to the amount of beer I actually drink, often times a good amount of my home brew ends up in the food I cook. Some of my favorite food in the whole world is smoked pork and BBQ. Since my charcoal fired outdoor smoker has taken up residence in my parents garage, I decided to try and take a shortcut or two to produce some pulled pork sandwiches.

Dazed & Infused

If there’s anything I’ve learned in my time of being a homebrewer, it’s that our DIY interests rarely end at beer. Many folks also make wine, mead, cider and more culinary or health-based fermentables like kombucha or kimchi. I like to make infused liquors. Obviously, I don’t MAKE the liquor - I buy it at the liquor store (makes sense, right?). But I like to have fun affecting and infusing those liquors with different things.

Flavor through a prism

When it comes to the chemistry of flavor, our foods and drinks are much more connected than you'd think. Any experienced beer taster can pick out the banana notes in some Belgian beers and hefeweizens. What about when a beer reminds you of chocolate, grapefruit, or toasted bread? Well, sometimes that's because it actually is that. When you strip a complicated flavor down to its prominent elements, you'll find that many of them are identical to those found in other foods.

Vlaai met witbier

Cooking with beer can be a real challenge, due to the fact that beer is often one of the only sources of bitterness in a person's diet. Bitterness is a taste that is rarely considered desirable in cooking, as it tends to invoke a negative response on the palate. Part of the reason may come from the primal association of bitterness with poison. Conversely, many animals seek out sweetness, because sweetness often indicates fat, sugar, and protein - all the things we find desirable in our diets.

Seasonal Ingredient: Rainbow Chard

Almost every fruit and vegetable is available year-round. Buy in-season, however, and you get produce at its peak of flavor and nutrients. In January and February, rainbow chard is readily available. Other chard tend to be available during the summer months, but the flavors do not vary much.

Am I suggesting brewing with a green, leafy beet? Yup. Sure am. Forget the Reinheitsgebot! Below is a recipe for a beer that doesn't utilize hops, instead beckoning on bitterness extracted from chard stems in a small quantity of vodka that is added to wort post boil (just kidding: there is no boil).

Kinderweiße Cheese Fondue

Serves 8

Eat Your Beer Like A King

There are many ways to consume beer. Sometimes, we drink it out of a pint glass, other times a ram’s horn or a beer bong shaped like a skull. I, sometimes, consume beer out of food. Ever make a beer solely for eating with brats? I have. In Wisconsin, beer and brats go hand-in-hand. Or maybe brat in-bun-in-hand with beer in-the-other-hand.

New Year's Champagne Cake

Start the New Year right: with champagne cake!

NB MKE is 7 Dog Years old!

It was a Saturday in November and about 3,614 degrees warm at Northern Brewer Milwaukee...

Seared Strip Steak with Beer Braised Greens and Nut Brown Reduction

Serves 4 Entree Portions

Steamed Mussels with Saffron-Dubbel Broth

Serves four appetizer or two entree portions

Mmmm...... pork........mmmm...... beer....

I love food, and I love beer, and as a homebrewer I love to incorporate my homebrew into my food.

Cherry Chevapravatdumrong

So I have 25 lbs of cherries in my freezer... Well, I had 25 lbs of cherries until I took these 5 easy steps that put those little stone fruits to excellent use!

Here's what I recommend to those of you with 25 lbs of cherries to burn: