Cooking with Beer

While the Beer Brotha is away, I thought I'd share some recipes with the readers of the blog. I often cook with beer, especially since the keggerator is still (somehow) in my dining room. We thought it might be fun to share some of the recipes that I've found, tweaked and created. I don't usually measure when I cook so it might take a while before you get an Isos original, but I have a few from my cookbooks and online. BTW, I have gathered about 100 recipes in a Tastebook that I have on the way to the house. Tastebook is a neat little site that lets you make your own cookbook, so I made one with nothing but foods made with beer!

The recipes below are from Sean Paxton, the Homebrew Chef. It's used in a brisket recipe (will share in the next post), but when I made it for Beer Brotha, we used a T-bone steak instead of brisket; the rub works well on any beef, I think.

Chocolate Ancho Rub

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.

1 CupCocoa Powder, like Valhrona
½ Cup Ancho Chili, ground
½ Cup Sugar, organic
½Cup Kosher Salt
¼Cup Black Pepper, freshly ground
¼Cup Cumin, ground

Yields: 3 Cups

Stout BBQ Sauce

2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 Each Yellow Onion, peeled and minced
1 TSP Kosher Salt
2 TBSP Chocolate Ancho Rub
¼ Cup Molasses, Black Strap if available
1 Each Stout Beer*, 12 oz. of your choice
¼ Cup Malt or Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Can Tomato Sauce, preferable organic
1 Shot Espresso

In a medium sized pan add olive oil, minced onion and salt (1). Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the onions are caramelized (2). Add the Chocolate Ancho Rub (3) and stir for about 30 seconds, to toast the spices. Add the molasses and stir another 15 seconds (4) to combine, deglazing with the stout beer (5); 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. Transfer the sauce to a pint size jar (6) and use with the Smoked Beef Brisket with Chocolate Ancho Rub (7).

* For beer: Stouts vary widely from beer to beer. For example, an Oatmeal Stout gives a nice creaminess, where the Dry Stout has a lighter body. A Milk Stout with its un-fermentable lactose will leave a residual feel in your mouth. Cooking with these beers will yield different results. I would recommend Anderson Valley’s Oatmeal Stout, Bison’s Chocolate Stout, Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, or Samuel Smiths Imperial Stout. Guinness could work too, if you don’t have a homebrewed Stout one on hand.

Yields: 4 Cups

Source: www.homebrewchef.com