In looking for brew recipes, I came across this website, The Homebrew Chef. There’s some great food recipes on here, using beer, which is something I appreciate in cooking. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any appropriate homebrews to use in these recipes, but I’m really happy about the food I made, as well as the one coup de grace that is in the works. Here’s the recipes, as written:
Makes 3 Cups
Ingredients:
1 Cup Cocoa Powder, like Valhrona
1/2 Cup Ancho Chili, ground
1/2 Cup Sugar, organic
1/2 Cup Kosher Salt
1/4 Cup Black Pepper, freshly ground
1/4 Cup Cumin, ground
Directions:
In a medium size bowl, add all the ingredients and mix with a whisk, until you have a uniform mixture. Add to a quart size jar and seal, until ready to use.
**My changes:
Ancho specific chile wasn’t available at the local shop, so I just used their general chile powder.
Also, there wasn’t anything that said ‘Valhrona’, so I used an unsweetened Cocoa Powder, non alkalai
Chocolate Stout BBQ Sauce:
Makes 4 Cups
Ingredients:
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 Yellow Onion, peeled and minced
1 TSP Kosher Salt
2 TBSP Chocolate Ancho Rub
1/4 Cup Molasses, Black Strap if available
1 Stout Beer, 12 oz. of your choice
1/4 Cup Malt or Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Can Tomato Sauce, preferably organic
1 Shot Espresso
In a medium sized pan add olive oil, minced onion and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the onions are caramelized. Add the Chocolate Ancho Rub and stir for about 30 seconds, to toast the spices. Add the molasses and stir another 15 seconds to combine, deglazing with the stout beer; stir well, helping lift off any of the fond on the bottom of the pan. Add malt or cider vinegar and tomato sauce, keeping the heat to medium, stirring while cooking for about 25 minutes.
The sauce should be thick, dark brown, but not burnt. Add the shot of espresso and transfer the sauce to the pitcher of a blender and puree for about 1 minute or until smooth.
**My changes:
I assumed that the lack of garlic and peppers were an oversight, so I added:
5 garlic cloves
1 Jalepeno pepper, seeded
1 Poblano Chile pepper, seeded
- All with the onions, at the beginning
I used 2 x Bison’s Chocolate Stout as the beer. It’s a tasty stout!
All of these are just lead-ins to the main course:
Garlic IPA Brine for Pork Shoulder
1 Cup Kosher Salt
1/2 Cup Sugar
2TBSP Black Peppercorns
4 Bay Leaves, torn
2 Cups Garlic, peeled
1 Quart Water
1 Quart IPA, or Beer of choice
2 Quarts Ice
1 Pork Shoulder/butt, rinsed
Directions:
In the pitcher of a blender, add salt, sugar, peppercorns, bay leaves and garlic. Add 2-3 cups of water and blend, until the garlic is pureed.
In a large stock pot or dutch oven, add remaining water (5-6 cups) and IPA along with the contains of the blender. Over medium high heat, bring mixture to a boil for 3-5 minutes; making sure the sugar and salt have completely dissolved. Remove from heat and add ice. Mix well and check temperature; should be about 36°F. Chill if the temp is warm. Once cool, add the pork shoulder and use a plate to weigh down the pork, so that it is full submerged. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 days; allowing the meat to cure in the brine.
Cooking Directions:
Preheat the oven to 225°
Take a sheet pan with sides and line with aluminum foil. Place a wire rack on top of the foil and add the brined pork shoulder/butt. Place in the center of the oven and cook for 8 hours. Check the meat the last hour, seeing if the meat has dried out at all (if the meat was smaller, it will take less time to cook and will dry out if overcooked). This low and slow method of cooking will render some of the fat out of the meat, break down the collogen causing the meat to be soft, tender and slightly sticky.
Remove from the oven and let rest for 15-30 minutes. Using a fork, pull on the meat, to flake it out into small strains of meat. Serve as is with tortillas or add Stout BBQ Sauce for Pulled Pork Sandwiches
**My Changes:
No Changes to the recipe. I used 1 x Bridgeport IPA and 2 x Fish Tale IPA for the beer in the brine
Tasting:
I used the Rub on some Turkey legs, which I grilled. Those came out great, with a nice crisp skin (the sugar in the rub maybe). It’s sort of a Chocolate Mole taste.
The BBQ sauce tasted good, but the Pork is still under brine, probably to be cooked this weekend, so I haven’t tried either of those in real eating situations.
I did, however, make enough Sauce to have my first canning experience.
