Beef and Stout Stew

I worked in restaurants and bars for most of my 20’s and 30’s, as a waitress and bartender in my early 20’s and as a manager for many more years. St. Patrick’s night was always nuts, even at the white tablecloth McCormick & Schmick’s, which Bill McCormick once described as “a bar with a really good restaurant attached.”

Since leaving the restaurant business I don’t think I’ve ever gone out to celebrate St. Patrick’s. We used to call it amateur night, and put it in the same category as Valentine’s Day — torturous nights, but big money. This year, even though my association was having their monthly Thirsty Thursday at Natty Greene’s Brewing Company, I stayed in and prepared a superb Irish meal. I didn’t want to make corned beef and cabbage because that’s something that Jim makes throughout the year. I found this beef stew recipe on Elise Bauer’s Simply Recipes blog, and knew it would be good because, well, her recipes are always good. The only change I made was to add some mushrooms.

I had a whirlwind of a few hours as I got the stew and colcannon ready. Colcannon is a traditional Irish dish of mashed potatoes and greens. For a while I didn’t think I allowed enough time to bake Irish soda bread too, but I had a window while other things were cooking away, so I went for it. Sometimes cooking can almost feel like a workout, especially when you think you’re up against the clock. But it’s a fun workout, very in the moment and focused, but enjoyable – sort of like yoga!

This is a really delicious stew – one that I will keep in my repertoire. Carrying on my mother’s tradition, this will be my camping stew. My mother used to freeze her beef stew in ice cream containers and defrost it in time for our Columbus Day weekend camping (and apple-picking) trips in Vermont. We’d traditionally have it for dinner on our first night with a hardy wheat bread from the bakery.

I served the stew with a ‘modern’ version of colcannon and whole wheat Irish soda bread with raisins. Remember to buy enough Guinness for the stew and you!

photo by Emdot (flickr)

Beef and Stout Stew

You’ll need a large heavy pot or dutch-oven with a lid, tongs (if you have them, if not, a fork will do) and a large frying pan.

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 1/4 pounds well-marbled (not lean) beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 6 large garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups beef broth
• 1 cup stout — I used Guinness to keep in the spirit of things
  
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 7 cups)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 6 oz mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cups 1/2-inch pieces peeled carrots
• Salt and pepper

Heat oil in a heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Lightly salt the beef pieces. Working in batches, add the beef to the pot. Don’t crowd the pan or the meat will steam and not brown. Cook, without stirring, until browned on one side, then use tongs to turn the pieces over. Continue to cook in this manner until all sides are browned, about 5 minutes.

Add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Add beef broth, Guinness, red wine, tomato paste, sugar, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and bay leaves. Stir to combine. Bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

While the stew is simmering, melt butter in another large pan over medium heat. Add potatoes, onion, mushrooms and carrots. Sauté vegetables until golden, about 20 minutes. Set aside.

When the stew has simmered 1 hour, add the sautéed vegetables. Simmer uncovered until vegetables and beef are very tender, about 40 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Original recipe: Irish Beef Stew, Simply Recipes

Chipotle Beer Chili for a Blog’s Birthday

Happy Birthday to the Gusto! One year ago today I was in a blogging slump and started this second blog to get my mojo back. It worked! I even blog more here now, usually four times a week, than I do on my original Reid All About It blog.

I’m so grateful for all of you who come hear to read and comment and to those of you who share my posts on Twitter and Facebook. I get great pleasure from writing here, I’m so happy that others find my posts useful or interesting too.

Last year on January 12 I blogged about Saturday Night Football Chili. I didn’t give the recipe in the post, instead I wrote about the changes I made to the original Serious Eats recipe and provided a link.

I’ve tweaked that recipe since I posted it last year, changing the spices and adding a few additional ingredients. I think you’ll like it.

flickr photo by Shoshanah

 

Chipotle Beer Chili

• 2 pounds ground chuck — I’ve never made this with ground turkey or bison, but it probably works.
  
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, stemmed and chopped
• 2-3 (or more) garlic cloves, chopped
• 10 ounces doppelbock, porter or stout (and a few sips left over for the cook!) — I used Duck-Rabbit Porter.
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• 2 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp smoked paprika – I used sweet smoked paprika since I have a lot of heat going on here.
  
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, minced – I added an extra teaspoon because it was already minced.
  
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
• 1-1/2 cups corn (thawed if frozen)
  
• 1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained
• Salt and pepper
• Optional toppings – sour cream, sliced scallions, grated cheddar cheese, pickled jalapenos, chopped cilantro

Crumble up and cook the beef in your largest pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat until it’s no longer pink. I use a wooden spatula to stir and smoosh it around while it’s browning. Make sure you break up the meat into small crumbles, no large chunks. Remove the beef to a plate and, in a nod to your heart’s health, drain the fat.

Heat the canola oil in that same pot on medium-low to medium heat and add the onions, green bell pepper and jalapeno. Sauté, stirring often, until they soften. Add the garlic and sauté one minute more or until it starts to golden. A weird, perhaps, aside: When sautéeing garlic, I push the veggies to the sides of the pot, put the garlic in the middle, add a tiny bit of oil on top of it and sauté on low, so it gets golden but not burnt.

Add the beer and let it reduce while scraping the bottom of the pan to release any cooked bits clinging to the bottom. Then add the browned beef, cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, brown sugar, chipotles, tomatoes, corn and beans, and stir to mix. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let it simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper. Add your choice of toppings and serve with cornbread.

Original recipe: Beef and Dark Beer Chili, Serious Eats

Beer Brats, Red Cabbage and a Beef with an Antiquated Law

I’m still cooking with beer in the Grabbing the Gusto kitchen. Just like wine, broths, juices and vinegars, beer adds flavor to a dish. And with dozens of beer styles, you have a large selection of flavors to choose from. It’s a cooking ingredient as well as one of my favorite beverages.

That’s why I was so steamed up yesterday morning. Jim and I went to the supermarket around 9:00 am to buy the fixings for a few nights’ meals since we’re expecting an ice storm and, most likely, a power outage. I planned to make a pot of chili and he planned to make a roast chicken. If we lost power, we could heat meals up on our camp stove.

When we got to the cashier with our cart full of groceries, including dark beer for my chili, we were reminded that in North Carolina, you can’t buy beer (or any alcoholic beverage) before noon on Sundays. Arrggh! This has happened to me before when I tried to buy red wine for beef bourguignon. What an antiquated regulation! I’d have to make a special trip back to the store after 12 just to buy a bottle of beer.

I bitched on Facebook and Twitter and then sat down and wrote letters to my state senator and representative. If you live in North Carolina, please join me in letting our state policy-makers know that the silent majority is fed up with living in olden times. I’m not anti-church, I believe some churches are the best communities around, but I can’t be silent about their imposition of restrictions on the rest of us just because they’re afraid of secular competition. I posted my letter on Google docs in case you’d like some ideas for writing a letter of your own.

I realize that in many states you can’t buy any alcohol on Sundays or you can’t buy beer and wine in grocery stores. That stinks too, complain about it. I’ve heard the reasoning behind these blue laws and, frankly, none of it resonates with me. So I’m bitching and I’ll keep writing these letters every Sunday morning I forget that I can’t buy beer or wine.

Back to the brats. I served them with a green vegetable and Beer Cheese Soup. You can make the brats and cabbage in no time at all, a definite 30-minute meal.

photo by Jessie Terwilliger

Beer Brats

• 3 bratwursts
• 2/3 cup onion, chopped
• 1 bottle beer – whatever’s in the refrigerator, I used a pale ale

With a sharp knife or kitchen fork, prick each sausage several times. In a saucepan, combine 2/3 cup onion and 1 bottle of beer and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add the sausages and poach until almost cooked through, about 5 minutes or until they are done. Remove the sausages from the pan and set aside. Grill or pan-fry the sausages until cooked through and beginning to brown or char, about 5 minutes, turning to cook evenly on all sides.

Braised Red Cabbage

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 head of red cabbage, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• Pinch of crushed red pepper
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

In a large pan, heat the oil. Add the cabbage and cook over medium high heat, stirring, about 3 minutes. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until just tender, about 6 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and crushed red pepper. Season with salt and pepper.

Make ahead: The cabbage can be made up to 4 hours ahead. Warm up, stirring, over medium-low heat.

Original recipe: Braised Red Cabbage, Food & Wine

Shattering All Your Resolutions: Beer Cheese Soup

Yes, yes, it’s the first week of the new year and you all have resolutions about eating healthier, exercising and being the perfect you. However, sometimes you need to treat yourself, and those around you, to a warm comforting bowl of fat. Don’t worry, it has vegetables in it too!

Beer cheese soups have been taunting me for quite some time. I hit the jackpot by picking this one from Serious Eats. We enjoyed a big bowl for dinner along with beer brats and red cabbage (recipes coming Monday) before heading off to a hockey game. True confession: a late night craving forced me to dip pretzels into the cold soup. It was very very good.

I left my guy behind on Christmas morning (don’t judge!) and flew north to visit my family. While I was gone he made his way through the rest of the pot and said it got even better with age. He also reported that jalapeno corn crackers make an excellent topping.

It’s important to select the right beer for this soup. If you like light malty lagers (the industry giants) they will probably work well, but they won’t add much flavor. The recipe suggested Bass Ale, but I wanted to buy American so I chose Sam Adams Boston Ale. The soup was delicious but there was a slight bitterness in the background. Next time, I’ll probably use a dark malty beer like a porter or stout, or maybe a Scotch ale, and see how that works. I want to enjoy the flavor and depth of a good beer, without that hint of hoppiness or dryness in the background. I’d prefer a sweeter or maltier flavor to emerge.

Oh darn, it looks like I’ll have to make it again for experimentation purposes.

Beer Cheese Soup

• 1/2 stick unsalted butter – you could substitute oil for 2 of the tablespoons, but with four cups of cheese, will it really matter?
  
• 2 medium leeks, use only the white parts, diced – compost or save the green parts for homemade stock
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• ½ red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
• 2 celery ribs, diced
• 1-2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large bay leaf
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1-3/4 cups chicken broth – have more on hand if you wish to lighten the soup a bit when it’s done
• 12-oz bottle beer – something malty with deep flavor, avoid hoppy bitter beers
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
• 4 cups extra-sharp cheddar, grated
• Optional toppings – bacon, green onions, pickled jalapenos, jalapeno corn crackers or your choice of cracker flavor

Add butter to a large heavy pot or dutch oven set over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the leeks, carrots, red bell pepper, celery, garlic and bay leaf. Cook for 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Turn the heat to medium-low and sprinkle in the flour. Stir well and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Whisk in the milk, broth and beer in a slow stream. Turn heat to medium and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Add Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt, ground pepper and red pepper flakes. Stir well. Add a handful of cheese and stir until it melts. Continue adding cheese, stirring and waiting until one handful melts before you add the next. Make sure the soup doesn’t come to a boil; turn down the heat to low if necessary — I had to do that. You only want a light simmer.

When you’re ready to serve your soup, fish out and discard the bay leaf. Serve it plain or garnish it with chopped cooked bacon, chopped green onions, pickled jalapenos, jalapeno corn crackers or your choice of cracker flavor.

If you want to make the soup ahead of time, keep it warm (on the lowest setting) in a slow cooker. It does reheat well after refrigeration and a good stir.

It’s also good for dipping pretzels, sort of like a chile con queso. I can also imagine, oh this is evil, combining it with pasta for a turbo macaroni and cheese. Or is that gross? Now you know how I think.

Original recipe: Cheddar Beer Soup, Serious Eats

Update: I was just reminded by my friend Thomas Vincent that The Session, a monthly beer blogging event, is featuring Cooking with Beer posts this month. Check out my “cooking with beer” tag for even more recipes that include beer.

Serious Gingerbread

Gingerbread is the ideal counter cake. It sits on the counter and gets more and more delicious every day. Friends drop by during the holidays, you cut a few slices, and damn it’s good — intensely spiced, moist and tasty. It also goes really well with eggnog.

This recipe was developed by Claudia Fleming when she was the pastry chef at New York City’s Gramercy Tavern. The chef and the restaurant are respect-worthy. I have a penchant for cooking with beer so that’s another reason this recipe appealed to me.

When you inhale the aromas of the boiling beer and molasses, you know it’s going to be gingerbread unlike any other. It’s serious gingerbread. My choice of beer, a roasty and robust Highland Brewing’s Oatmeal Porter, gave a deep flavor to this hearty chewy cake. Pour a glass of nog or winter brew and enjoy!

photo by Natalie Herr at Oven Love

Serious Gingerbread

• 1 cup oatmeal stout or porter, or regular stout or porter, like Sierra Nevada or Anchor — try to find an American microbrew stout or porter, otherwise, there’s always Guinness!
  
• 1 cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 Tbsp ground ginger (yes, tablespoons!)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch (or more) of ground cardamom
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• Confectioners sugar for dusting
• Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for serving

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously, and I mean generously, butter a 10-inch (10- to 12-cup) bundt pan and dust it with flour, knocking out the excess. Removing a cake from a bundt pan can be a nightmare unless you’ve greased your pan extremely well. Even then, sometimes the pan won’t cooperate.

Bring stout and molasses to a boil in a large saucepan and remove it from the heat. The mixture will boil up once you whisk in the baking soda, so make sure your pan is large enough to prevent overflow. After you whisk in the baking soda, let it cool to room temperature.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and spices in a large bowl. Whisk together the eggs and sugars in another bowl. Whisk the oil into the eggs and sugars, then whisk in the molasses mixture. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and whisk until just combined.

Pour the batter into the bundt pan and rap the pan sharply on the counter to eliminate air bubbles. Bake in the middle of the oven until a tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs adhering, about 50 minutes. Cool the cake in its pan on a rack for 5 minutes. If you’re able, carefully loosen the cake from the sides of the pan with a slim knife or spatula. Turn out onto the rack and cool completely.

Serve the cake, dusted with confectioners sugar, with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. It’s even better if made a day ahead. The cake will keep three days, covered, at room temperature.

Original recipe: Gramercy Tavern Gingerbread, Gourmet, February 2000

Photo courtesy of Natalie Herr at Oven Love

Aschaffenburg Christmas market (flickr photo by herownjourney)

Halloween Meat Hand

There’s nothing worse than finding a dead hand in your mashed potatoes.

Appetizing, huh? Last year Meagan Reardon of the Not Martha blog shared this hideous creation. I knew as soon as I saw it that I had to have my own hand this year. She used a plastic hand mold to create it but I figured I could mold a hand easily enough.

I doubled my new fantastic meatloaf recipe, but this time I added garlic to the onion mix and used Highland Brewing Company‘s Oatmeal Porter from Asheville, NC.

Good dark beer bubbling away with the onions and garlic

What’s your favorite thing about making meatloaf? Is it when you get to do this?

I first made a meatloaf base so the fingers could rest on top of it and not overcook. Then I added more meat and sculpted a hand on top of the base, starting with the wrist and working my way over to the fingers, trying to make something resembling a hand. Once I had a decent hand, I added cut onion pieces as the nails and an onion end as the bone protruding through the wrist. Next I brushed ketchup over the whole thing. I was cracking myself up throughout this whole process. I had to kick a curious Jim out of the kitchen a few times as I made this so I could surprise him with this special Sunday dinner.

I cut up slices of provolone cheese to fit the tops of the fingers and hand. Ready for the oven! I baked it at the regular temperature for my meatloaf recipe (375) but it only took about 60-65 minutes instead of 80. Once it came out I had to drain off all the fat and other gunky stuff. Our dog likes that on his food — no waste!

As the meatloaf was baking, I made mashed potatoes. When the meatloaf and the potatoes were done, I spooned some potatoes into a plastic bag and cut a hole in one of the corners — all my pastry bags are in a box somewhere in storage, but this method works well. I carefully piped potatoes to fill the bottom of the pan and around the fingers, then I smoothed them down with a spatula. I wanted to hide the meatloaf base that connects the fingers so they stood out a bit.

It looks pretty hideous. I especially like the ketchup oozing from in between two of the fingers and out of the thumb nail base. The Hand has been on my mind for a few weeks and I’m very pleased with how ugly it turned out. How often do you say that about dinner? Now, time to use up one of the other ingredients.

Meatloaf Special: New & Improved!

With all the meatloaf recipes floating around out there, how do you choose just one to make? Most cooks probably have a stained and greasy index card from their mother or grandmother. If not, there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of recipes online, in addition to the ones stored in cookbooks. I was browsing through my huge folder of to-be-filed recipe clippings and found a page from an old Eating Well magazine — Meatloaf Tonight! A comfort-food classic updated.

I picked this one because the ingredients include:

• Both lean ground beef and turkey — Less beef fat makes it a bit healthier.
• Whole-wheat breadcrumbs instead of white — I prefer to use wheat in any recipe.
• And a bottle of dark or amber beer — I love cooking with beer. ‘Nuff said. Seriously, like wine, beer can add depth and richness to a dish, plus there are a variety of styles, each with its own flavor profile.

The meatloaf was moist and tasty. The beer-infused onions definitely added a punch of flavor. I will make this again, unless I find another intriguing recipe to try — my usual modus operandi. For once I didn’t veer from the original recipe at all. My only regret is that I was out of town for a week so didn’t get to have any leftover meatloaf sandwiches.

photo from Eating Well

Meatloaf

• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 medium sweet onion, chopped (2 cups)
• 1 12-oz bottle of dark or amber beer
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1-1/4# lean ground beef
• 1-1/4# lean ground turkey
• 1 cup fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs (about 2 slices)
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 375. Coat an 8-1/2” x 4-1/2” loaf pan with cooking spray. Trim crusts from bread, tear into pieces and process in a food processor until coarse crumbs form.

Saute onion in oil in large pan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often, until translucent and starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Pour in beer and increase heat to high. Bring to boil and cook until the liquid is quite syrupy and reduces to about ¾ cup, 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in thyme, mustard, salt and pepper. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Add beef, turkey, breadcrumbs, parsley, beaten egg and white to the onion mixture. Mix thoroughly with your hands (so mooshy, love this part!) and transfer to the prepared pan.

Bake until it reaches 160 on an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of the loaf, about 80 minutes (mine took 80 minutes exactly). Let it rest for 5 minutes. Drain any accumulated liquid from the pan – your dog will love you if you pour it over his dry food. Slice and serve!

Original recipe: Blue Ribbon Meatloaf, Eating Well, February/March 2005

Hot and Smoky Baked Beans

I might have a thing for baked beans, maybe because I grew up in Massachusetts where I swear we had franks, beans and brown bread every Saturday night. This recipe from Bon Appetit has been a winner twice in the last month or so, both times for family cook-outs. It has a bit of smoky heat from the chipotles (don’t they make everything better?), sweetness, bacon and beer — everything good beans need! I made it once in the oven and once in the crockpot. It’s a keeper.

If you don’t use all the chipotle and sauce in the can, save it, either for a little time in the refrigerator or in the freezer. Once you know you have it ready to go, you’ll be surprised at all the dishes you can add it to for some smoky background heat. Last night we had some in brown rice with a little onion, very tasty.

Hot and Smoky Baked Beans

• 

  photo by Steve Cohen for Bon Appetit

  6 bacon slices

• 1-1/2 cups chopped onion
• garlic, minced — my addition to recipe
• 1-1/4 cups barbecue sauce – I used Bull’s Eye
• 3/4 cup dark beer – I used oatmeal stout
• 1/4 cup light molasses
• 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3 Tbsp packed dark brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 4-6 tsp minced canned chipotle chiles (the amount will depend on your audience)
• 6 cans (15 oz) Great Northern beans, drained

Preheat oven to 350. Cook bacon in skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer to paper towels and drain. Transfer 2-1/2 Tbsp of the bacon fat to a large bowl. Chop bacon and add to bowl. Add onion to skillet and saute until just softening. Add garlic, sauteing until just turning golden — the original recipe didn’t call for sauteing onion but I like it that way. Add to bowl. Add barbecue sauce, beer, molasses, mustard, sugar, Worcestershire and soy sauce to bowl. Whisk to blend. Whisk in chipotles. Stir in beans. Transfer beans to 13×9 Pyrex baking dish and bake uncovered until liquid bubbles and thickens slightly, about 1 hour. Cool 10 minutes. Or cook in crockpot on setting desired until the beans look ready.

Original recipe – Hot and Smoky Baked Beans

Saturday Night Football Chili

There was one consolation on Saturday night when the Eagles lost their playoff bid – the chili I made during the Jets-Bengals game.

I grew up in Massachusetts, so I’m a Patriots fan, although I don’t like Tom Brady. I also have an affection for the Redskins based on living in the DC area for 25 years, and a slight allegiance to the Raiders since I lived in California for a while and one of my favorite pizza pubs is in my brother’s old neighborhood in Oakland. Nowadays I’m also cheering for the Panthers since I’m here in North Carolina. But my boyfriend grew up in southern New Jersey and is the loudest and most enthusiastic football fan in my life so I’ve become an Eagles fan by default. I have a lot of loyalties.

We’ve had chili many times this season but this version is by far the best. I made some changes to the recipe.

• Didn’t have the cumin and coriander seeds in his kitchen (my kitchen is a different story), so skipped that step and added cumin powder instead along with chili powder;
• Added a few cloves of garlic to the onion/pepper mix;
• Used one green bell pepper instead of two red;
• Doubled the chipotle pepper;
• Used Sierra Nevada Porter since I had it on hand as my dark beer;
• And topped my bowl with pickled jalapeno in addition to the garnishes listed.

During the game there were many refill trips back to the pot and unanimous consent that the chili was awesome. I think I found a winner.

Recipe – Serious Eats