I really had no idea what to expect. We took off from Boston heading to Frankfurt, Germany for a quick layover on our way to Amsterdam. Amsterdam is where we begun our epic beer and boat cruise set up by Mike and Ruth Berman of Bon Beer Voyage. This journey would take us from Amsterdam to Bruge via a barge. I have never done any tourist group traveling before. Well, there was one time I did a beer writers trip to Bavaria, but that was so much work. Seven days worth of traveling and it felt like a month's worth. We were a little skeptical that this might turn out to be the same kind of deal with a lot of work to be done and little time for soaking it all in. That was so not the case.
I think the best way to approach these posts is to do it one day at a time. I used my iPhone for everything. Some pictures came out great and some came out a little blurry. But overall you will get the gist of this trip. It was pretty damn amazing. This is what happened to us for a day or pregaming before the boat cruise.
Ever since coming home from The Netherlands and Belgium and being on a fabulous beer boat cruise organized by Bon Beer Voyage, I have been craving the quiche the fine folks on the boat served us for lunch one day. It was a broccoli and cashew quiche with mushrooms and onions. There was a pumpkin one too, but I figured I would try that another day. They made the quiche with puff pastry dough and I thought that was a fabulous idea. Softer and flakier than the standard dense pie crust.
I am not used to quiche so I didn't know how good this was going to be. It's not something we made in our house when we were kids. There is nothing to it yet it always seemed a little hoity toity. I have had it before and wasn't really impressed with it as it was always solid egg mass in a pie crust. Now that I've had it in the puff pastry, I had to recreate it. And it was made with less egg, so all you could taste was cumin, cashews, mushrooms, onions, and broccoli.
The originals: Pumpkin and Broccoli and Cashew
Mine came out more eggy and more dense than theirs because I used a deeper glass baking dish for it. I had to compensate with more eggs and cream. The recipe I am posting will be for a regular pie pan. So, it will look like the recipe doesn't match some of the the pictures.
Recipe:
Frozen Puff Pastry Crust thawed
1 lbs blanched broccoli
2 tbls olive oil or butter, plus 1 tbls
10 large button mushrooms quartered
2 cloves garlic
1 large red or white onion, chopped
1 cup to 1 1/2 cups dry roasted, salted cashews
2 tsps cumin
4 large eggs
1 cup of cream or half and half
1 1/2 cups of young gouda, shredded
Salt
Pepper
Preheat oven to 350°. Chop broccoli into smaller flourettes. Blanche broccoli in a pot of salted boiling water for 2 minutes and then remove from water and set aside to cool.
Heat skillet on medium high heat with 2 tbls of olive oil or butter. Toss in onions, garlic and stir. Once the onions start becoming translucent, about 5 minutes, stir in the cashews and cumin until they get coated in the oil. Remove from heat.
In another skillet add one tbls of olive oil or butter and saute quartered mushrooms until they have shrunk by half and become tender. Remove from heat. Stir together with the onions and cashews.
**In the picture, I sauteed them together but the mushrooms produced a lot of water that did cook off but mellowed the cumin too much. Cook them separately and then add them together.
While the onions and mushrooms cook, roll out puff pastry and fit it inside a butered and floured pie pan with plenty of room left over for crust at the the tops. Take a fork and poke holes at the bottom of the pie pan a few times around the pan.
In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, cream, salt and pepper to taste, and shredded gouda. Leave some gouda on the side for the top of the quiche.
Take the cooled broccoli and place half of the flourettes in the bottom of the prepared pie pan. Top the broccoli with mushrooms and onions mixture. The cover with half of egg and cheese mixture. Repeat this process and take extra cheese reserved on the side and top the quiche. Pinch down the top of the crust in a wavy pattern and make sure egg mixture is not too high for the crust. Brush the top of the crust with one beaten egg and a tbls of water or milk.
Place in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. To be sure the quiche is done, you want to make sure the center is cooked at least until 165° or 170°.
Let the quiche sit and cool for about 15 minutes. Slice and serve.
And last but certainly not least, the final Things We Love Summer Of Beer dinner hosted by Toro.
This is how all beer dinners should be hosted. This dinner was quite possibly the best beer dinner we have ever hosted. Toro not only brought it, but they have set a bar that all restaurants should strive to follow or achieve for any beer dinner being hosted.
Jen Fields, the GM and I got together and sorted out a plan to host the final Things We Love Dinner for the summer. We wanted to go big on this dinner. Price was not an object and the size was to be very limited. I am not going to lie, it was once of our more pricey beer dinners. But once you see what it entailed, it was well worth it. If you have never been into Toro before, it's a very quaint and small restaurant. They have two large high tops in the center of the restaurant and we put them together for a limited 20 person engagement. We wanted it to be exactly what the restaurant is, super casual and super chill with some of the best food in the city being served to you. Again following the mantra of Things We Love, we chose beers and ciders that the everyone in the restaurant agreed on, and Sous Chef Mike Smith, created a wonderful menu to compliment the choices.
In my evil mind, I wanted people to feel sorry for themselves if they missed this dinner. I wanted them to feel bad about not jumping all over this opportunity. Toro is not only one of the best restaurants in Boston, but they treated this beer dinner so well, you should feel sorry for yourself if you missed it. And let it be a warning to you to never miss a beer event at Toro ever again.
I don't want to spend too much time hyping this up. I want to get right into this recap and waste no time getting to the glorious food.
Welcoming:
Bud Light Lime Margarita with tequila, elderflower, grapefruit, and lime.
B.L.L tempura rock shrimp with lime salt, shrimp mayo, and charred jalapenos.
I don't need to get into the controversy that we stirred up by backing Toro's decision to use BLL in a swanky beer dinner. I already did that in way too much detail here. We did it to be cheeky on purpose. We did it because it was a pricey dinner and we were there to have fun.
Needless to say, this is was an awesome choice. The BLL margarita was delicious. The rock shrimp and shrimp mayo were wonderful with slightly spicy charred jalapenos, nice crisp but light batter and creamy mayo. It was on both plate and in drink, sweet and tangy flavors.
So much going on here. What we did for this course was highlight the comparison of a Belgian Geuze to this terrific Spanish cider Toro carries that drinks just like a sour ale or a geuze. We were really surprised at how much the cider was like a gueze and how terrific it was. We wanted beer geeks to know that something like this existed.
When Jen mentioned cheeses and charcuterie for this course, I immediately agreed knowing how acids and sour beers are perfect for cheeses and fatty meats. What I didn't know was that huge trays of meat and cheese would be coming out in bulk portions. Each one of the cheese and meat boards was served to every four people at the table family-style. We had agreed that family-style was the best way to serve this dinner. We have been big fans of this since the Journeyman dinner. But this was impressive.
Now, you will have to forgive me because I did not write down every cheese or bit or charcuterie. There was so much going on with both plates. But I encourage you to click on each picture and enlarge them to see the details on the boards. I was most impressed with the crab apple butter on the meat board. The little pink dollop in the center of the board. It was a well rounded condiment for all the meats. So fun to explore and try the different condiments.
Realizing that I had everything for that sandwich in my pantry, I whipped up my own little copycat version. Granted the bread isn't some glorious rustic sourdough, and the cheese is just a mild shredded cheddar and not some awesomely aged, rustic farmhouse cheddar. It still did the trick. Served with a little leftover potato and leek soup I made few days ago.
Whole Foods 12 Grain Bread My Friend's Mustard Rye (Sixpoint Righteous Rye Beer) Applegate Farm Prosciutto Mild Shredded Cheddar Cheese Dried Turkish Figs Trappist Mango and peppr jam
This was our second go with a "Things We Love" concept at Hungry Mother. The idea of "Things We Love" is to not have such rigid guidelines for beer dinners anymore. No more themes, no more working with only one brewer, and no cheesy holiday schtick either.
It's about doing what we want do and featuring what we love at that moment. It allows us to encompass the best of a restaurant. In this case Hungry Mother. From the beers we love, to the food we love, and even a few cocktails.
This wasn't a dinner for lovers only. This was dinner for beer lovers, foodies, friends, and lovers alike. We wanted to host a dinner on Valentine's Day that wasn't your typical wine and fine dinning meal followed by ordinary sex, mediocre chocolates, and the obligatory red roses. No, our dinner was down and dirty, and about friends, beer, soul food, and awesomeness. If you were a couple at this dinner, I have no doubt you went back and had mind blowing, wake-the-neighbors kind of sex! Nothing ordinary about what we set out to accomplish with this dinner. That's how we roll.
I ran out of the house on my way to this dinner without my Nikon. These are iphone pics so please don't front about image quality.
Amuse Bouche: Vermont Cheddar Cheese Straws
Beer: Beer Cocktail: Vida Mezcal, grapefruit 'concentrate,' beer syrup, Miller High Life, salt.
These were small but tasty little snacks we were treated to as we sat down at out table. Awesomely rich cheddar cheese flavor and a High Life Beer cocktail. Ya betta ax somebody! You could imagine my great joy in seeing High Life 40's being poured from behind the bar to fill these glorious little beer cocktail treats. I loved it. It tasted great and worked really well the cheesy straws. A little snack but the exact right taste to the set the mood for the rest of the pairings to come.
First Course: Hoppin' John "Burger" with bacon, lemony mayo, b&b pickle, fingerling chips.
This was fun. A veggie burger with the consistency of a perfectly cooked medium rare burger. And it had bacon! I love sweet bread and butter pickles. This gave it the perfect hint of sweetness coupled with the malts from the beer. Some earthy flavors from the burger with the earthy micro greens and awesome little fingerling potato chips for a hit of salt. This was cool and fun. This beer was really good too and the perfect choice. When it comes to burgers you don't need to over think your beer. A good lager or a pale ale will suffice and this was perfectly malty and exactly what the earthy burger needed.
Second Course: Cornmeal fried Chesapeake Oyster with Virginia 'surryano' ham, pea tendrils, citrus-buttermilk vinaigrette.
Both of these were wonderful. Todd got the Oysters, but we ended up switching our courses midway through. I really liked the oysters course the best with My Antonia. That is a phenomenal beer from Dogfish Head. It's a beautiful Imperial Pilsner.
The oysters were big and plump and perfectly coated in cornmeal. The dry and crisp flavor of the beer helped balance the fatty creaminess of the oysters and buttermilk dressing. The citrus in the salad and the citrus flavors on the beer helped round out this course.
The duck course was rich and flavorful. Awesome cracklins' on the side for a play of textures. I did think maybe the hominy could have been a bit softer, but this course was rich and fatty and delicious. The beer was not my personal favorite, but how it paired with the course was dead on. It was funky, extremely bread-y, citrus, and peppery. A nice choice to help off set or cut though some of the rich fattiness of the duck. Nice big chunks of duck meat as well.
Third Course: Pineland Farms Boneless Beef Shortrib Steak with Maine shrimp, Tasso ham, and creamy grits.
Or
Barnegat Light Sea Scallops with crispy pork belly confit, escarole, red onion jam, lemon brown butter.
These scallops were unbelievable!!! So succulent and sweet with a gorgeous sweet and tangy sauce. My friend Paul and I, ordered the same thing and both of our faces lit up with the first bite. These scallops and that brown butter and onion jam were so good. The pork belly was perfectly cooked. That crispy top was fantastic and the pork belly was soft, rich, meaty, and fabulous. I thought I had died and gone to heaven with this course.
The Sculpin was great for this pairing. So many times with seafood, especially scallops, people think to pair lighter beers, less hops. Saisons and other boring repeated choices. The rich sweet scallops held their own and the pork belly was an added bonus.
The steak course was just as awesome. Perfectly cooked as you can see in the picture above. Creamy grits is a specialty of Hungry Mother. They do southern food so well. The richly spiced shrimp with IPA's are a no brainer, and of course steak and IPA's are great together too. The hops and the spiced shrimp really pulled it all together though. I only had a few bites so I didn't have enough time with this dish to fully evaluate it, but the few bites Todd slipped me were outstanding.
Dessert: Flourless Taza Chocolate Cake with sorghum marshmallow and peanut butter creme anglaise and spiced tuille.
Lawd have mercy! That chocolate cake with peanut butter sauce and oozing sorghum marshmallow cream was effing amazing! It was the exact right thing with that very robust porter. I am not a Taza chocolate fan at all, but twice now, Hungry Mother has not only made me enjoy their chocolate desserts, but they have slapped me in the face with their Taza desserts and made me love them. This porter is full-bodied, chocolatel-y roasted, and delicious. To make that chocolate stand out more, peanut butter creme anglaise completely made that porter show its full roasted quality and allow the chocolate notes to come full forward. Normally if you pair chocolate on chocolate one will over take the other and allow other characteristics to appear. In this case the chocolate cake did not interfere with the beers chocolate character thanks to the peanut butter. Amazingly rich, and fabulous dessert.
Sex on a plate! Fo real!
The cheese course was right up Todd's alley. I found the cheese to be a bit too funky, and the beer too funky and lemony for me. But once again, for someone like Todd, whom loves the funk, this was a spot on pairing. The beer was heavily lemony, sour, mildly carbonated, and a bit earthy underneath all that lemon. Citrus cutting though that creamy and funky cheese. This is one of those times where similar flavors paired together work well. Funk on funk is a good thing. Grassy, lemony, creamy, earthy, beer and cheese.
And a little parting treat with our check, handmade truffles.
The black truffles were a feature on the cheese plate, but it was also offered shaved on the main courses. They are Tennessee grown black truffles from friend of Hungry Mother's, Tom Michaels. First commercial scale black truffles grown in the US.
Something to take note of. I always, always offer a vegetarian menu for my beer dinners. The menus may not always be posted because to me the meat courses just really bring it home for people, but you can always attend my beers and find amazingly paired vegetarian courses.
Vegetarians were treated to:
First Course: HOPPIN’ JOHN ‘BURGER’ lemony mayo, b&b pickle, brioche bun, fingerling chips Cottrell Brewing Company ‘Old Yankee Ale’: american pale ale (5%), Pawcatuck, CT
Second Course: WILD MUSHROOM & HOMINY STEW delicata squash, vidalias, poached ‘flying dutchman’ egg Hill Farmstead Brewery ‘Arthur’: barrell aged saison (5%), Greensboro Bend, VT
Third Course: SMOKED MAINE TOFU ‘SCALLOPS’ A LA PLANCHA white sweet potatoes, escarole, lemon brown butter Ballast Point ‘Sculpin’: india pale ale (7%), San Diego, CA
The same desserts were offered.
This dinner was amazing. It really is Hungry Mother + BeerAdvocate = 4 eva!
They really now how to make comfort food elegant and flavorful and truly wonderful. They respect beer and really get it. Their waitstaff is friendly and patient. They consistently blow me away and prove time and time again that they are whats up in this town.
Just wanted to post some fun food pics taken from my phone. Yeah, yeah. Some of these were taken with my old phone. Okay most of them were. But I have long since retired that phone. Bare with me as we go back into last summer with some of these pics.
Buttermilk fried chicken with mashed potatoes, sawmill pan gravy, and peas and corn. Look at those huge breasts in that first pic! Shit was banging yo!
Green Street: Fry of the day of Queso Fresco Taco and the Charcuterie of the day Pork Rillette.
I was sick and tired of beer dinners. Sick and tired of trying to come up with concepts for beer dinners. I had hosted a series of cool beer dinners in the past like the Aztec Beer Dinner, or Soul Food Brunch pairings, chocolate beer dinners, Russian beer dinners, even the now infamous Gallia Belgica.
All of those events were cool. No scratch that, they were amazing. But I now I am done with concepts or themes. I am done working with one sole brewer and only their line up of beers for beer dinners, and I am done with beer dinners that serve amazing food, but all anyone walks away with is, did they get enough of the geekiest beer being served that night.
I am through with coming up with beer dinners for beer geeks. A lot of them will never be satisfied and only want dinners that include full pours of Allagash Gargamel or something equally rare, they want the finest food to be served with it, and only want to pay $45 dollars max to be served like and eat like kings.
Sorry beer geeks, it's simply not about you anymore.
It's also not about the uber foodie either. I am frankly sick of them too. They don't have any idea about good craft beer (some of them anyway, not all of them), and they still turn their noses up at the idea that beer can be and is amazing with food.
Of course I am completely generalizing here, but you get the idea.
No Mas! No more creating dinners to suit other peoples needs. I wanted to create a series of dinners that highlight the things we love. From the restaurants, the chefs, the waitstaff, the style of food, and various beers. It may also include a wine versus beer tasting, a beer cocktail or spirit served with the meal, or even a beer battle itself!
The idea is to elevate the foodie to beer, and bring the beer geeks back down to reality with good solid beer and food offerings.
We had been discussing a possible beer dinner with Hungry Mother in Cambridge. A favorite restaurant who hadn't hosted a beer dinner before but was really contemplating the idea of working with us. I decided this was the right place to launch such an idea. Anyone who is local around here already knows Hungry Mother and how awesome they are. If you don't, drop whatever it is you are doing, shut your mouth, and go over there and have dinner immediately.
Their style is Appalachian-style southern food with local ingredients, and French techniques.
** When I say Appalachian, I mean App-il-lay-chin. The fine folks at HM will disagree with me until we are all blue in the face, but actually being from Virginia, and more the Appalachian Mountain chain extending way up into New England, I am right! Only in the deep corners of the south and the Blue Ridge Mountains do you call it "App-a-Latch-chan."
This is the kind of place that will serve you cheesy grits and bacon that will make your mama cry. They will serve it with a Hickory Dickel (Gingerale, George Dickel, a tiny hint of liquid smoke, and a bacon lardoon garnish. They will serve you a gorgeous country-style gnocchi with peas, mushrooms, and bacon, but serve you a Genesee Cream Ale with it. This is exactly our kind of place.
Together with Todd and Jason, myself, Alon and Rachel Munzer, Barry Maiden, John Kessen, and the various waitstaff and barkeeps, we created a fun menu to showcase the fun stuff Hungry Mother likes to create, and we all had a hand in picking our favorite beers for this menu. Beers that WE loved and it didn't have anything to do with whether they were super rare or super generic. It's all about what we love and what we wanted to share with our friends and patrons.
I want to highlight that at the very bottom of the menu listed all the things Hungry Mother loves.
Things We Love: BeerAdvocate, Deep Ellum, The Gallows, Carolina Chocolate Drops, East by Northeast, pizza, opera, Dylan & Mira, our lawyer, Jamison Farm, Tetris, Anson Mills, Eastern Standard, Muddy Pond sorghum, bourbon, hot dogs, Ridgeway Blue, rainbows and puppydogs, Kanye, days off, snood, golf, ukuleles, drinking, Strangeways Here We Come, (ex) data synapse, Joe-Joe's, Brazil, Hulu, bonfires on Wiborgs Beach, boo ya later.
We welcomed everyone to dinner with southern specialties of house made dilly beans, boiled peanuts, and homemade chips.
*Click to enlarge any image.
Great social foods to pick at and get introduced to your table. We sat a lot of people together in groups. The Dilly beans were spicy and tangy, the chips were crisp and addicting. I will take the word from everyone at the table that said the boiled peanuts were fantastic. They ate them all! I am a southerner who who doesn't care for boiled peanuts. I know, it's pure blasphemy. But it's a classic none the less and perfect for the table.
We also opened up with a beer cocktail of Campari, sorghum syrup, and Smuttynose Star Island single.
First course:
Miss Lewis' Tomato Aspic with Deviled Quail Egg and Bacon.
Beer: Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project American Darling, 7% abv
I think this was my favorite course. The aspic was soft and extremely flavorful with tomatoes. The deviled quails egg was cute and packed just the right amount of pop of creamy texture and flavor contrast for the beer. The bacon was just an awesome hint for the plate that tied every thing together. Really, who can deny a lovely piece of bacon? They should have had a piece of bacon on every course served for this dinner.
The beer was perfectly fresh, crisp, and delicious. Just a tad too hoppy for the aspic though. Not enough to clash, but while pilsners and lagers are excellent for tomatoes, the added hop bite of American darling, almost proved to be to much. But as a hop head, I never mind big hops.
HM always offers a pork plate of some sort. This was the perfect portion size for wonder flavors and two different variations of pork. Paired with the most classic beer for pork, Schlenkerla Marzen larger. Smoked beers are made for pork dishes. It's a simple pairing but packed full of flavor and proved during this dinner why we love it.
Third Course:
Catfish Caveach picholines, capers, poblanos.
Beer: Allagash White, 5.2% abv
Caveach is basically a method of pickling fish. It was fantastic catfish too. It had a lovely earthy rustic taste to it and the Allagash White really went perfectly with it. The tangy capers and vinegars tastes were smoothed out by the lovely and soft flavors of the wit bier. The soft texture and hearty flavors of the catfish were fantastic.
Fourth Course:
Shrimp and Grits with HM tasso, cornbread croutons, and rosemary.
Beer: Cape Ann Fishermans IPA, 5.5% abv
You can't have a real southern meal with out grits. HM always has a grit offering in some way. Shrimp and grits are a classic southern, soul food offering. These grits were slow cooked, creamy and deliciously buttery. The shrimp and sauce was extremely flavorful and worked well with the malty IPA. Malty and hops are good for rich sauces like this. I really didn't want this course to end.
Fifth Course:
Fried chicken picnic with "kohlslaw", compressed watermelon, and Texas Pete.
Beer: Narragansett vs. Genny Cream Ale
Yes! Yes, we did go there with fried chicken and cheap beer at a fancy beer dinner. Genny Cream Ale is a favorite of the HM staff, and Narragansett is a Todd favorite. We thought, why not battle them out and see which cheap beer is the favorite among crowd?
The best part of this was serving the chicken in paper baskets and the beer served in cans with paper cups on the tables. As soon as the beers were delivered, the cracking noises in sync around the room from the cans was amazing. It was super fun and had everyone engaged. I have never seen that many smiles for cheap beer in a long time. It goes to show you that there is a time and a lace for every beer. Only one person wasn't really thrilled with the cheap beer choices because he prefers Budweiser for his cheap beer of choice. I am a PBR girl myself, but I didn't let that stop me.
Before I announce the winner, lets talk about the food. Compressed watermelon? Yep vacuumed sealed so that all the juices compressed further into the melon. Sprinkled with salt to give it an awesome contrast to the insanely sweet and delicious melon. The "kohlslaw" was light and creamy and packed a delicate hit of flavors.
The fried chicken was perfectly southern. Juicy and that right bit of nearly burnt skin flavor. It tasted just like my mom's pan fried chicken and no one beats my mom's chicken! I was surprised to find out it was not pan fried. Close enough though. They deep fried it in a deep fryer but set the chicken high in the fryer like it was pan frying.
Winner: Narragansett!
But winner by a slim margin. The way it worked for me and a lot of people tended to agree was that the Genny Cream Ale was perfect right after the grits and worked extremely well with the "kohlslaw." But it was the 'Gansett that over took every thing by working perfectly with the watermelon and fried chicken.
Very fun course.
Sixth Course:
Pulled Jamison Lamb with hominy tortilla, corn and tomato chow chow.
Beer: Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye, 8% abv
Wonderfully tender lamb. Flavor explosion with the southwest-style flavors perfectly matched with the malty and bitter Hop Rod Rye. This was one of the best matched courses with the beer. Unfortunately this was also the course where we all realized that this we may have been in over our heads. We still had desserts and cheese coming!
Seventh Course:
Meadow Creek Grayson with green tomato and sour cherry jam, crystal malt, and house made beer bread.
Originally we had planned for the beer to be Cerise from Founders. The reason being is that that beer tastes exactly like cherry pie filling! Something so southern, and cherries were in perfect season. However, there was none available and I think it worked out for the better.
Cisco Cherry Woods was available. It too had a delicious cherry pie filling taste, but with a much more crisp and delightfully sour bite to it. Not too sour where it burns your throat going down. It was very enjoyable and delicious. I am not usually a fan of sour ales, but this is one I very much enjoyed and could drink more than one glass of.
The sour notes and carbonation cut right through the cow's milk cheese allowing for an excellent pairing.
The beer bread was homemade and soft and the sour cherry jam was actually pretty mild. I think most people were expecting more of a cherry pop to the jam, but it was soft and mild because of the green tomatoes. If if had been more sour, the beer and jam would have over powered the pairing. I really enjoyed the sweet little accent of the crystal malt sprinkled on the plate as well.
Eighth Course:
Chocolate cake, sorghum buttercream, Benne brittle.
Beer: Left Hand Milk Stout 5.2% abv
Yes!! Chocolate cake covered in chocolate. A sesame seed brittle on top and Left Hand Milk Stout served in coffee cups. I loved that detail. HM has such cool flare.
This cake was rich and balanced by a lovely sorghum buttercream filling. It was very reminiscent of a New England whoopie pie. Rich chocolate flavors, butter sesame brittle, and rich, bitter, chocolate-y beer.
When we realized we were in trouble with the lamb course, this surely sent us all over the edge. And we still had one more to go.
Taza is a local favorite of HM as it is with many local shops and restaurants. It's a natural fit for those shops and restaurants who keep it local and source ingredient from their area and local producers. I am personally not a huge fan of Taza Chocolate, but just for this once I didn't mind it. The cookies were soft, buttery, and had that perfect balance of salt by being topped with sea salt. Sweet and salty always works. The cookie dough covered up the flaws I normally find in Taza Chocolate.
The cocktail was a nice way to end the night. We were all so full and in full on food coma mode. The cocktail was soothing and settled our full bellies.
And there you have it. Hungry Mother's first beer dinner showcasing their favorite things with a combination of our favorite beers. From the details of the paper in the fired chicken course, to the mini mason jars filled with gorgeous tomato aspic, to the coffee cups filled with milk stout, they really knocked this one out of the park. For their first ever beer dinner, they really seemed to get it. Look for more events with BeerAdvocae and Hungry Mother in the future. I know I certainly can't wait to work with them again.
The idea that having a fun and a well received beer dinner without serving the most rare and geekiest of beers was made abundantly clear with the super fun fried chicken course. A successful event that proves we need to listen to ourselves more. Trust our own ideas and go with what we know works and what we love. It's up to you to come with us or not. As you can see, if you don't, you might be missing out on some really amazing food and some real good times.
After the Knighting ceremony of Todd and Jason Alstrom, Charlie Papazian, and Greg Koch by theKnighthood of the Brewers' Mash Staff (Belgian Brewers' Guild), we were invited to have lunch with Michel Moortgat of Duvel, the next day. We were told meet at a certain cafe and have some beers and then lunch.
We didn't know lunch was going to be such a fancy ordeal. I certainly didn't know as I showed up in capri pants with Chuck Taylor's on and no socks! My version causal and European casual should be explained in the fine print of all events we're invited to.
Also, in not being prepared for such an exquisite meal, this post is full of lame quality iPhone images. Had I known what we were in for, I surely would have brought my big camera with me. I did manage to get some fairly decent shots however. Enough that you will still be jealous and you will understand the general idea of how fantastic the meal really was.
We were then taken from the cafe to this gorgeous restaurant called Comme chez Soi.
It all began in 1926 when Georges Cuvelier, a brave inhabitant of the
southern Belgian Borinage region escaped the coal mines to open a small
restaurant in Brussels. A regular customer told him each visit : "Georges, in your restaurant we eat like at home." It did not take long for him to come up with the name "Comme chez Soi".
When the restaurant moved to its present location on Place Rouppe,
Georges Cuvelier's daughter married Louis Wynants, a pork-butcher from
the Flemish town of Tienen. Louis Wynants took the quality of the
kitchen to higher levels.
Their son was Pierre Wynants.
He studied at famous restaurants throughout Europe and met
Marie-Thérèse. From this union came two daughters, Laurence and
Véronique.
Laurence, the eldest, has married Lionel Rigolet, a young culinary talent who rapidly became a key element for the thouse.
The couple now has little Jessica and Loïc, a fifth generation...
They opened their famed private dining room to us, set in their kitchen to watch the chefs prepare the food and then serve it to us. On the walls were autographed placards from Leonardo DiCaprio, Catherine Deneuve, and Woody Allen to name a few.
We were given printed menus with the chef's signature on it. The lunch prepared for us was a sample from their regular menu only tweaked with beer.
We opened the lunch with pours of beers from Liefmans Kriek, and a new sweeter, fruitier, yet still tart Lambic from Liefmans. As well as being serves shrimp bites and mille-feuille of salmon.
Tiny, little shrimps rested in the center of these crispy rings. For such tiny shrimps, they packed quite a bit of flavor. Nice little decadent noshes with a very rich and fruity beer to kick things off.
Then we were served a trio of tastes. Melon sorbet, kriek gelatin, topped with Jamon Serrano or Jamon de Iberico. Don't quote me on the ham. It was a cured Jamon of some kind, but I didn't write down the exact name. Delicious non the less.
The center was a cool gazpacho with a prawn and cabbage topping. And the last taste was a cabbage roll with lamb. All fantastic with the Liefmans Kriek and the newer sweeter Kriek.
First course:
Marckerel fillet marinated with yuzu, squid salad with olive oil, and a coulis of sweet peppers.
Second Course:
Catfish with lemongrass, butternut mash, and baby carrot coulis.
Third Course:
Grilled chicken stuffed with shitake and tarragon and a Maredsous sauce.
Fourth Course:
Selection of Belgian and French cheeses with a beer glaze garnish. (Look at the detail in the beer glaze.)
Dessert Course:
Fruit Consomme with mint, and Kriek sorbet. (Kriek sorbet in a bath of fruit consomme with mint, a molding of fruit and gelatin with fruit leather on top, and a praline garnish.)
And last but not least, we were treated to "Delicacies" of Pate de Fruit, Chocolate filled with a soft passion fruit filling, housemade nougat, Macaroons, white chocolate, and filled micro pastries.
I would only be able to top a meal like this if I could return the favor for Michel Moortgat if I were to take him to Craigie on Main here in my neck of the woods. That's saying a lot.
Our first night hanging out in Brooklyn with good friends Shane Welch, owner and Brewmaster of Sixpoint Craft Ales. And Cathy Erway, food writer and author of The Art of Eating In. See her blog here. Not Eating Out In New York. Cathy spent two years of cooking at home and learning more about local foods and wrote a wonderful book about her experience. It must have taken incredible dedication considering the caliber restaurants of New York and the ones they took us to over the weekend.
Cathy stopped by a market to get cheese, crackers, dips, and fresh cherries. As well as some fresh raisin Challah bread to wake up to. Delicious snacks with some beers while Shane geeked out on music.
We also got to try some handmade paté de fruit from some good friends of Cathy. She has the hook up on all the good secrets of Brooklyn.
A few libations for the evening. It's not Westvleteren, just the glass wear.
That Sierra Nevada Torpedo behind these beers, then gets horribly disrespected. I cracked it open before I saw the other beers being poured. I said, "no problem I will stick it in the freezer for few while I drink this one." Of course you know, I completely forgot about it.
I cleaned it up, but it felt bad to waste a good beer.
Then I took some random shots playing
around with my new camera. I got a Nikon D5000. It's a fierce camera,
but I literally got it 2 days before Brooklyn. I think it will take me a
long time before I fully understand how to use it. still, I liked this
messed up images anyway. We had a chill night with great friends.
And I don't to forget my new best friend, Barley the dog. Shane adopted Barley from a shelter. It took a bit of her getting used to us, but by the end, she loved us as much as we loved her.
I spent a great evening last night with the fine ladies of Cambridge Common who threw a wonderful beer dinner featuring Stoudts Brewing Co. and special guest Carol Stoudt.
Carol Stoudt is an amazing lady with lot's of history that all in the beer industry are envious of. She was there before most of the craft brewers on the scene today. Not only was she brewing beer when there was hardly anyone else out there doing it, but she was woman brewing beer when there were virtually no women on the scene!
She is pretty much an icon and idol, and listening to her talk about beer and talk about the industry from where it was to where it is now, was definitely inspiring.
Kate Baker and Suzanne Schalow making the introductions.
Check out Carol, what a fox. She is just awesome!
The menu and welcoming beer. Stoudt's Gold, a Munich-style Helles, 5% abv.
I am not usually one to throw back a nice cold lager. I haven't really progressed to them yet. I know that sounds funny, but my palate started backwards. From big sweet Belgians, to super malty double IPA's. Now I want everything dry and crisp. So when I drank this beer last night it was a nice welcomed change to the normal range of beers I drink. It was fresh, clean and delicious. A great way to start this dinner.
First Course: Ploughman's Platter with Grafton aged cheddar, homemade pickles, peppadew peppers, peach chutney, and rustic bread.
Beer: American Pale Ale, 5%
This was a great pairing. The acidity on the pickles was tamed by the peach chutney, the peppers gave off a bit of heat, and the cheddar added a creamy texture and sharp taste. The beer with it's sweeter malts rounded everything out. A simple offering with a lot going on on the palate.
Second Course: Gorgonzola and chive deviled eggs.
Beer: Double IPA, 10%
Don't be fooled by this pairing. Sounds like a simple course, except this one really hit home for nearly everyone at this dinner. Double IPA's and creamy blue cheese such as gorgonzola work based on the alpha acids in the hops cutting through the creamy fatty texture. The steel-y malts interact with the taste of the blue cheese. Adding creamy whipped up yolks to the equation and now the malts of this beer made the offering more like a sweet nectar and not overly bitter.
Everyone pretty much said we should have been sat with a huge platters of these deviled eggs and started off with the DIPA. A little bit of a blurry beer pic, but then again I am not that great of a photographer.
The American Pale Ale also worked out well with these eggs. I still had some left over and tried it. The carbonation acts the same way as the acids in hops. Cuts right through and then the sweet malts do the rest.
Third Course: Choice of Half roasted chicken with white asparagus and warm German potato salad.
Beer: Heifer-in-Wheat, 5%
Or
Pork medallions with a mustard cream sauce and scalloped cauliflower and potato casserole.
Beer: Scarlet Lady ESB, 5%
I went with the Pork but I did get a picture of the chicken as well.
This was so good. The pork was juicy and rich with the mustard cream sauce. The scalloped potatoes and cauliflower were creamy and awesome. It worked out really well with the ESB. At first sip of the ESB it seemed pretty tame and mild. That's because the beer before was a big DIPA. But then with the food it really brought out the hop character and also nutty malts. This was comfort food and certainly was big, filling, and very tasty. I loved it.
Fourth Course: Chocolate bread pudding with vanilla bean sauce.
Beer: Fat Dog Stout, 9%
This was just too much!! The entree course had already sent quite a number of us over the edge, and then this thing came out. I was feeling okay after the entree, and when they sat this in front of me, without thinking I systematically ate it all. And then I hit the wall with food coma.
The sweet sauce was like a frosting you put on cinnamon rolls. It was sticky and delicious. The bread pudding was nice and soft and chocolate-y. Of course chocolate and vanilla are both made for stouts. The first sip of the stout was sweet and rich, and then with a bite of the very sweet bread pudding, the bitter qualities and rich roasted notes came through making it another amazingly delicious pairing.
Simple comfort foods and fantastic beers from Stoudt's really knocked this dinner out of the park. I live a good life where I am fortunate to be invited to events like this. Where I get to imbibe on great beer and delicious food and hang out with some amazing people in the beer industry. As Suzanne Schalow always says; "I am living the dream baby!"
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