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.
After talking to the awesome staff at Aquitaine for a small Q&A and tasting with beer, Todd and I stayed for dinner. We were invited to do a small tasting and talk to the staff about beer to help answer any questions the staff had in preparation for the Things We Love Summer Of Beer dinner series being hosted at Aquitaine. Life is so hard drinking beer and talking about it with awesome people. We worked up quite an appetite.
** I chose this image in doing a search for Aquitaine's logo. This is an awesome picture due to the fact that not only does Aquitaine support the community in the South End of Boston, but because that flag is still up.
Appetizers:
Summer corn and clam chowder.
Rich and divine summer corn chowder with fresh locally sourced corn and clams. Fantastic and filling. Good balance of cream and wine. And as you can see, meaty clams.
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.
I just got back on Sunday from an amazing trip to Belgium. It was a quick trip all about beer and business. My husband Todd and his brother Jason were knighted by the Knighthood of the Brewers' Mash Staff (Belgian Brewers' Guild) and kicked off the Belgian Beer Weekend.
These are just some random iPhone images snapped through out the weekend.
Chocolate shops were everywhere in Belgium. Not all of them were great and most were very touristy. But still chocolate, chocolate, chocolate, everywhere you look a chocolate shop. This place was right next to my hotel in the Center of Brussels. Also, some random mural. Seemed interesting amidst all the classic and old buildings.
Then we went over to the Grand Place where the festival was being held over the weekend. We just got into Brussels and were hungry and needed a beer. We went to a tourist restaurant called La Roy. It was a good choice. Fresh Duvel's with beautiful pours, rabbit in kriek sauce with cherries on the side and frites, and yes even pig bladder balloons everywhere for some weird tradition.
Beers at Moeder Lambic. Best beer bar in Brussels hands down we went back several times over the course of a few days. Val-Dieu Tripel, Cantillon Kriek, Val-Dieu Grand Cru, De Ranke XX. Grand plat de fruits de mer. Jean Hummler sent over massive plates of seafood.
Jean is also the kindest man in Belgium. Not only was he incredibly generous, but he recommended an amazing chocolate maker in Belgium named Laurent Gerbaud. He even scored some of that chocolate for me when I had no time to get over to the shop myself.
Beers at A La Mort Sabite. Jason got a Rochefort, and I got a large Duvel. Basically two Duvel's in one big glass. Super delicious.
After many beers, a trip back to Moeder Lambic, and a few whiskey-cola's, we then went to a bar called Cafe Bizon on Tom Peters of Monk's Cafe's advice.
After Todd and Jason were Knighted, the next day, we spent a glorious afternoon at Comme Chez Soi with Michel Moortgat of Duvel. We were seated in the kitchen for a private lunch cooked just for use using beer. Those pictures are for another blog post.
We then said our good-byes as the business part of the trip was over. We headed back to the Moeder Lambic for a few beers. Jean kindly treated me to a delicious cup of hot chocolate where he uses a light raw cows milk and 45% cocoa for a super rich and fantastic cup of hot chocolate.
Jean was a little mad at me for not being able to finish it all, but if he had seen the 6 course meal we had just had for lunch, then he would understand.
Some lame couple then ordered a Lou Pepe from Cantillon and decided after two sips they didn't like it. Jean brought the bottle to us. Plus he brought us an Oud Bruin made with chocolate malts and aged in apricot schnapps barrels. Too sour for me to appreciate, but Todd and Jason loved it.
And one last quick snap from my iPhone in Germany at the Frankfurt airport. Frankfurters and potato salad. A delicious snack with whiskey-colas to wash it all down.
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!"
I love chocolate, I love Bourbon, and I love cupcakes. Why not combine all three? This is what happens when I have cravings at midnight and I have to do something about it right away.
This won't be another one of my tl;dr (too long, didn't read) posts. Just a simple recipe with a few a additions and viola, Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Cupcakes.
First thing you need to to know is that this is the very best chocolate cake recipe of all time. I don't mean fancy fuck-all cakes that have no flour, added coffee, or blah, blah, blah added to them. This is for straight up chocolate cake. Now, I did tweak the recipe for the cupcakes, but you need to know that this recipe is makes simply the best chocolate cake in the world. Super moist, and super chocolate-y.
2 cups sugar 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour 3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 2 eggs 1 cup of milk 1/2 vegetable oil 2 tsp vanilla extract *1 cup boiling water
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2.
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt
in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of
mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour
batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until
wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove
from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY
CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.
VARIATIONS: ONE-PAN
CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely.
Frost.
THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round
baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake
30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool
completely. Frost.
BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt
pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55
minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool
completely. Frost.
CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in
diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full
with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30
cupcakes.
What a Hershey's recipe? Yes! Hershey's unsweetened cocoa is actually world class. Only snobs will shun it because it's from Hershey's. Eff them! You don't have to use Hershey's if you don't want to, but certainly follow this recipe. I used Droste because it was on sale when I bought it. You know how expensive Whole Foods is and when they put stuff on sale, it's a jump at moment.
What I did to change the recipe was, I added one cup of chopped pecans to the cake batter. I found that after they were baked they tasted amazing, but next time I will probably roll the frosted cupcakes in chopped pecans instead. It's up to you. Either way its still delicious.
Instead of boiling water, I heated 1 cup +2 tbls Buffalo Trace Bourbon. Add one cup to a sauce pan and heat. Add the 2 tbls of bourbon to the batter itself. Do Not let it boil. Just heat it up to the point before it boils and add it to the batter.
Bake as recipe calls for.
For the frosting I just tweaked another classic recipe I found for a chocolate butter cream that calls for hot fudge.
Cream together the butter or margarine with the shortening.
Sift the cocoa with the confectioners' sugar and add to the creamed
mixture. Mix together adding 1 tablespoon at a time of milk to keep
mixture smooth. Don't add more than 1/4 cup of milk.
Add the hot fudge topping and the vanilla extract. Blend until smooth and creamy.
I simply subbed the milk for the Buffalo Trace Bourbon. I added little bits more at a time if the frosting was too thick.
And there you have it. Super moist, very decadent, bourbon-y, deliciousness in the guise of a simple cupcake.
I didn't have time to go through and take step-by-step pictures of all the foods I made for Christmas. But I did get some good pictures of the foods I made. Enough for a food porn post.
The first thing I made were truffles. I followed this awesome recipe for Cookie Dough Truffles from a FoodBuzz friend Kristen King or user KrisKishere.
Then I made a batch of Bourbon Pecan Truffles. I put so much Buffalo Trace bourbon in them, I thought the ganache wouldn't set enough for me to form in to balls and dip in chocolate. But I learned a good lesson that you can never use too much bourbon. A recipe that called for 2 tbls. of bourbon was amped up with nearly a full cup!
Then I made the stuffing. Originally I was going to make smoked oyster stuffing. But when I went to make the Sweet Potato and turkey bacon stuffing, it yielded me two large and very full 9x13 pans worth. Naturally I nixed the oyster stuffing. The stuffing was awesome. It originally called for bacon, but they folks I was making the stuffing for, the head of household doesn't eat bacon. But she is quite fond of turkey bacon. No problem at all in substituting. I also added fresh sage to go with the fresh thyme the recipe called for.
And lastly, I made Pfeffernusse. A German black pepper spice cookie. These are so yummy and fabulous they should be made all year round. I even had them a few days after Christmas with hot mulled cider with rum. They are wonderful. There are many variations to this cookie. I have used this recipe several times now and it's just fine.
And that was my contribution to Christmas. The only thing missing were chocolate cupcakes. The head of household requested a chocolate cake of some sort. As I went to make them, I discovered I had no more cocoa powder. Had plenty of hot fudge for frosting, but no cocoa powder for the cupcakes.
I was in San Francisco for the 1st Annual FoodBuzz Bloggers Festival. I have decided to begin my San Francisco recaps with the end of the trip at the Life & Limb beer dinner at Ana Mandara which I was lucky enough to have attended.
My
good friend Sam Calagione, owner of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery in
Delaware collaborated with Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada in California to create two
new craft beers. Life & Limb and Limb & Life.
A brief description of the beers from press release for the dinner at Ana Mandara.
Life & Limb is a collaborative effort, the brainchild of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
and Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. Life & Limb is a 10% ABV strong,
dark beer that defies style
characteristics— brewed with pure maple syrup from the Calagione family
farm in Massachusetts and estate barley grown on the Grossman “farm” at
the brewery in Chico, CA. The beer is alive with yeast—a blend of both
breweries’ house strains—bottle conditioned for added complexity and
shelf life, and naturally carbonated with birch syrup fresh from Alaska.
Life & Limb is dedicated to the family of beer drinkers and
enthusiasts worldwide who continue to support the little guys,
iconoclasts, entrepreneurs, and pioneers who risk life and limb to
shape the vibrant craft-brewing community.
Limb & Lifeis a companion to the big beer It is a 5% ABV small
beer--a low-gravity beer made using the residual sugar as "second
runnings" from the first larger brew, fortified with American hops.
This is a session beer. Its big brother is a sipper. Limb & Life
will be a limited draft-only product, a prelude to the bigger beer,
available draft only in select bars and restaurants.
After
a long weekend of nonstop imbibing on good food and good beers from
around the city, this was a great way to end my trip. I left from this
dinner to the airport for a red eye back to Boston. It ended up working
out perfectly though. After the food and beers I was so tired and
exhausted but I caught my flight with an emergency row, isle seat and
no one in the middle. Lots of room, full belly, and a slight buzz.
Content and ready for a nap.
Let's get to the food!
I
arrived at Ana Mandara just in time to drop my 60 pound luggage off
with the hostess stand. I made my way up stairs and talked to Ken
Grossman and Bill Manley of Sierra Nevada for a few minutes before it
was time to ceremoniously tap the firkens.
Ken Grossman tapping Limb & Life.
Sam Calagione tapping Life & Limb.
For the record, it only took Ken one or two good whacks at it to tap it. Sam took 3 or 4 girly taps. I am just saying....
Sam and Ken gathered everyone to talk about the collaboration and welcome everyone to the event and dinner.
We were
treated to passed appetizers and Limb & Life. Crispy Lobster
Ravioli with Mango-Coconut Sauce. Apparently there was supposed to be
or there was and I never saw it, Seared Rare Beef with Tamarind. Didn't
matter anyway as the Lobster Raviolis were pretty excellent on their
own. They paired really well with the Limb & Life.
*I didn't geek out and write down notes for the new beers. It was a social engagement with many people I have never met before. I would much rather sit back and relax and enjoy them with new company rather than be anti-social with my head in a note pad. So you will have to excuse my lack of character description on these beers.
Then it was time for the sit down dinner. I has happy to be seated next to Jay Brooks of Brookston Beer Bulletin and another cool guy named Jay (whose last name escapes me) who used to work for the Rogues Gallery which created the beer Squall IPA with Dogfish Head. The first collaboration of beer and fashion.
Jay now works for Levis which couldn't have been more perfect as my nick name for pretty boy Sam is Levis. He used to be a model for Levis and now I tell everyone to say what's up to Levis over at DFH! I thought Sam was kidding with me when put me next to Jay. Or maybe Sam just forgot I am evil. Either there was great joy and laughter at the dinner. And Jay is a fantastic guy.
As we were seated, we were greeted with Seared Rare Ahi Tuna with Hearts of Palm, Jicama Salsa, and Orange Vinaigrette.
This was paired in tandem with DFH Festina Pêche. A 4.5% sour, peach "Neo-Berliner Weissbier." And the Kellerweis by Sierra Nevada. A 4.8% abv Hefeweizen.
The beer in the wine glass in this picture was the Life & Limb. Sam got me a pour of it before the dinner started.
This was a tough call as to which beer worked better. At first I thought the festina Pêche was the clear winner with flavor profiles and complexities but as the course went on the Kellerweis really stood out too. The Kellerweis needed to open up a bit and warm up to reveal all of her secrets. The Festina Pêche was crisp, tart, and refreshing whereas the Kellerweis was soft and subdued. Both good pairings. Both stood up to the tuna while allowing the hearts of palm and jicama salsa to be present as well and not be trumped by the sour notes of the Festina Pêche or the cloudy wheat characters of the Kellerweis.
Up next was the Five-Spiced Crispy Skin Poussin, Sugar Snap Peas, White Corn Pilaf, and Sweet and Sour Sauce.
This was paired with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Midas Touch from DFH.
The SNPA being the countries most recognizable and most classic Americanized hoppy pale ales. Cascade hops with a 5.6% abv.
The Midas Touch is a big 9.0%. From the DFh website:
This recipe is the actual oldest-known fermented beverage in the world!
It is an ancient Turkish recipe using the original ingredients from the
2700 year old drinking vessels discovered in the tomb of King Midas.
Somewhere between wine & mead; this smooth, sweet, yet dry ale will
please the Chardonnay of beer drinker alike.
I have to say that the Midas Touch was too big for the pairing. Too strong. When you taste nothing but alcohol with your pairing, it's obviously the wrong match. Sadly this happened with the Midas Touch. Although Midas Touch is recommended for Asian and Pan-Asian dishes, I think the big, giant, sweet alcoholic characters and malts in this beer needed to be paired with something spicy and hot.
The Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on the other hand was excellent for this course. The hops and sugar snap peas gave for an interesting lingering taste on the palate. Bitter and sweet yet fresh all rolled into one.
The second main course was Wokked Tournedos of Beef Tenderloin, Sweet Onions, and Peppery Cress served with steamed white rice.
This course was paired with SN Celebration Ale and Palo Santo Marron from DFH.
Palo Santo is a big old 12% abv brown ale aged in wooden brewing vessels. Big caramel and vanilla notes.
SN Celebration is an American IPA about 6.8% abv but has the notes of Christmas on this beer. Citrus, piney resins, and spices.
This is a reverse case of the first main course. Where the SN worked better than the DFH. The Palo Santo from DFH worked much better in this case than the SN. Celebration Ale is a big holiday ham kind of beer. Think of all the rich foods at Christmas time and then you will understand where to go with pairing Celebration.
The Palo Santo almost didn't work either. It's giant 12% abv was borderline. But the rich brown ale notes pulled this together with the meat. Despite being 12%, it is the kind of 12% that you don't really notice. You end surprised when you find out just how big it really it. But with the white rice served with meal cleaning the palate constantly, you are reminded a bit more than you probably would be. The earthy greens also helped keep this pairing in line.
Lastly, dessert. A choice of desserts was presented. Valhrona Dark Chocolate Semifredo, or Flourless Coconut Rum Cake.
This was paired with the Life & Limb. I do not have a fantastic shot of the beer that ended the night. But you can see it with the beers in the first pairing, the Seared Ahi Tuna course.
I clearly chose wrong for this course. I went with the Flourless coconut cake. It was delicious and delicate on the coconut, but the beer was a tad too big. I only chose it because everyone went for the chocolate dessert. It was very rich and cocoa-y. It held up a lot better with the Life & Limb.
And lastly Sam and Ken wrapped up our evening with some final thoughts and a toast.
Thank you to Bill Manley for setting this dinner up and working really hard on these pairings. And working to get me in on this dinner. Thanks to Ana Mandara for a really great meal. The restaurant is gorgeous and the hospitality was fantastic.
This was exactly the right way to end my long weekend in San Francisco. A long weekend of food pairings and beer. More on the weekend to come. I was able to get home nice and comfortable and not have to buy shitty airline food.
Over all I liked the Limb & Life better. I am not sure if that was because I needed a session beer after the hard weekend of 21st Amendment's Back In Black IPA and Pliny The Elder from Russian River. Both Life & Limb and Limb & Life were pretty amazing. The Life & Limb will no doubt be the hit of the party when they make their rounds. Especially when it gets to the Extreme Beer Festival in Boston Barrel Aged!!
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