Beer & Bones

Building a better BLT + New Holland Charkoota Rye

rdeutsche — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 00:29:38 +0000

The BLT is hands down one of the most perfect sandwiches known to man, elegant in its simplicity, yet full of flavor and open to variation. At its core you have five very simple ingredients, yet within those five ingredients you have limitless possibilities to explore and alter, which is what I decided to do one recent Thursday night while at home in the beer cave.

The basic BLT ingredients

I’d recently taken delivery of a half pound of Benton’s Hickory Smoked Country Bacon which is regarded by some as the Cadillac of bacons. No Oscar Mayer jive here, this bacon comes in strips over a foot long and is as thick as a stack of post it notes. Not a bad place to start my experimental sandwich. I also wanted to use this occasion to crack open a bottle of New Holland Brewing’s Charkoota Rye smoked doppelbock, which I brought back from a recent Chicago trip and has been waiting for an appropriate time to open that involved pork.

I assembled my basic ingredients, including the aforementioned bacon, a loaf of San Luis Sourdough, an heirloom tomato and some butter lettuce.

For the other basic ingredient, the mayo, I decided to do a variation on a remoulade, starting with about two spoonfuls of mayo, followed by a generous dash of balsamic vinegar and a dime sized dollop of creamed horseradish. The bacon itself is pretty smoky and rich and I felt that the sweetness of the vinegar would play well with it while not being too overpowering. I whisked it up for two minutes and ended up with something that looked halfway pretty.

Mayo mated with horseradish and balsamic vinegar

I fired up the cast iron griddle and let it heat for a good 5 minutes before I slapped four beautiful slabs of bacon onto it, filling the air with the essence of a Tennessee smokehouse. This stuff was thick, so it didn’t cook as quickly as your standard variety of bacon, so I figured 8-10 minutes should do the trick. While the bacon sizzled away, I halved some brussel sprouts and let them cook cut side down in the bacon grease. If you’ve never cooked brussel sprouts in bacon grease, it is one of life’s simple culinary pleasures. While this went on, I diced up the heirloom tomato and butter lettuce that would serve as the “L” and the “T” of the BLT.

Sprouts and bacon sizzling

As this was going on, I cracked my bomber of Charkoota Rye, figured that I don’t have to be eating to start enjoying this gem of a beer. I poured it into a snifter style glass to accentuate the aromas of this mighty doppelbock, which I liken to putting your head over the fire at a pig roast and inhaling deeply. The beer pours a very dark brown body with a subdued head that quickly disappears, not a lot of initial carbonation here. The flavor is, you guessed it, smokey! It also has a deep malty flavor with hints of wood, bacon, molasses, tobacco and even plum. Starts smooth, smokey and sweet but has a boozy kick towards the end. To some extent the initial flavors remind me a bit of Gouden Caroulis Classic, which while not even in the same family of beers, has strong characteristics of plums and booze and a similar sweet but heavy finish. Apparently for this one, New Holland used rye and four other malts, including barley that has been smoked over cherry wood. I believe it.

After a few sips of the good stuff I pulled the brussel sprouts off the griddle and threw them in a pan, doused them with a hit of Sriracha and some sea salt and set them on the burner. The bacon fat made a nice base for sauteing and the sriracha lent a much needed spice to the richness of the bacon fat.

A little sriracha to liven up the sprouts

I also pulled my bacon off, patted it dry and began to assemble the glorious BLT. Excitement and strong beer were in the air. While the bacon was delicious, the sandwich was good but nothing special. Sometimes you just can’t top the simple classics. The Charkoota Rye paired nicely with the bacon and brought out its, well, bacon-iness much better than a more standard beer would have. It truly is a beer meant to be enjoyed while eating part of a pig but it is by all means a heavy beer. I had trouble killing the bomber and would definitely not have more than one of these at a pub. The brussel sprouts were a little too soggy from the fat, but were golden and tasty nonetheless and gave a spicy kick to an otherwise pork coma inducing meal. What did I learn? That sometimes fancier ingredients does not mean better and that sometimes bacon, a perfect food, can even be made better with the right beer pairing.

The meal after everything came together

Steaks 101 + New Holland Dragon’s Milk

rdeutsche — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:44:27 +0000

I’ve been eating mostly vegetarian for the past two months, partially for health and wanting to drop a few pounds before school starts up, partially because I’m lazy and figured out that veggies are quicker and easier than cooking meat. I haven’t had a proper steak in over two months (gasp).

Dragon's Milk. Oak aged American Stout

I found myself at the local Pavilions earlier today picking up some veggies when I happened to walk by the meat counter and notice that they were running a special on their filet mignon steaks and like a child picking out a puppy, there was one steak in particular that seemed to be wagging its tail vying for my attention. It then became steak night officially and somewhere trumpets sounded.

Cooking a steak is one of the easiest things in the world to do, yet so many people still manage to get it wrong, covering a good cut of meat with unnecessary marinades and rubs. To cook a perfect steak, seared on the outside, juicy on the inside you need just things (in addition to a steak):

A cast iron pan
Sea salt and pepper
Time

For my little slice of steak heaven, I took it out of the fridge an hour before cooking, unwrapped it and gave it a generous coating of sea salt (I use grey sea salt from Esprit Du Sel but any coarse salt is good) and regular black pepper. This allows the meat to get closer to room temperature while the salt sucks out some of the moisture.

Salt the meat and let it sit for an hour before cooking.

While the meat was sitting, I prepped the asparagus by soaking it in water (I find that this helps it cook better on the grill) and sliced up the shiitake ‘shrooms. I also cracked the beer of the evening, one Dragon’s Milk which comes courtesy of New Holland Brewing that I brought back from my most recent trip to Chicago. This is an oak barrel aged American stout, the wood tones of which I thought would pair nicely with the meat and mushrooms.

After letting the meat sit for an hour, the first step towards steaky perfection is to put your cast iron pan on the burner and get it super hot. Crank the burner up to 7 or 8, sprinkle a little salt in the pan and wait. Waiting means beer time, so I poured a glass of the motor oil colored stout and took a whiff. Nose is pretty standard for a barrel aged stout, some hints of vanilla, caramel and yes oak. Upon tasting though, it becomes clear that this is some potent stuff. I tasted flavors of oak, strong malts, a hint of vanilla, a touch of prunes but mostly it tasted like bourbon, sweet sweet bourbon. In fact, it reminded me of one of my favorite bourbons, Woodford Reserve with its flavors and smooth oaky finish and I felt like this would be better enjoyed sipped slowly while wearing a seersucker suit. Definitely one of the more potent stouts and something best enjoyed over the course of an evening.

So back to the meat. After about 8 minutes on the burner, you have one very hot pan, which means it is steak time. Dash a little more salt in the pan and gently set your cut of meat in there. Now walk away and for God’s sake DO NOT TOUCH IT! I got the griddle going with my asparagus and mushrooms as well, keeping it simple, just garlic and olive oil for the mushrooms and smoked hickory salt for the asparagus.

How it all went down.

After 5-6 minutes on one side (my steak was thick, thinner ones need less time) go ahead and flip it and give it some more salt if that is your thing but again, do not touch it. Moving and flipping the steak as it cooks is how steaks get ruined. I cooked the other side for 6 minutes, seared the edges for a few seconds, then pulled it off the oven. Simple as can be. Next, you want to let your steak rest for a few minutes before serving. Keep in mind that even if you pull it off the grill, it is still cooking, which is why you want to let it rest, untouched for a few minutes before you serve it up. I gave mine about 8 minutes before serving it up with the nice, earthy shrooms and tasty tasty asparagus. Check out the results, seared to perfection on the outside, nice and juicy on the inside.

Dark on the outside, perfect on the inside, mmmmmm!

Now that the hard work is done, time to enjoy it with some beer, but unfortunately I found the beer way to potent to be enjoyed with the steak. The bourbon tones and strength of the beer (10%) simply overpowered the simple flavors of the steak. If I could do it again I’d pour this bad boy alongside some ribs or smoked dish, something with a little more spice to tame this monster of a stout.

Save Japan, drink beer! Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA

rdeutsche — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 20:44:41 +0000

Last summer, My girlfriend and I spent 2 of the happiest weeks of my life backpacking Japan armed with a rail pass, a few basic phrases of Japanese and enough pairs of boardshorts to make the miserable heat and humidity somewhat bearable.

Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA & a fan purchased in Kyoto

During those two weeks of being a complete outsider immersed in a foreign land, I was completely floored by the kindness and generosity of the Japanese people and the lengths to which one would go out of their way to make sure that our visit to their country was a positive one. We had complete strangers offer to walk us a half mile out of their way to the train station when we were lost, people on the street call restaurants that we were looking for to get directions for us, and when we went to a ball game, people came over to teach us the different team cheers, all so that our memories of Japan would be good ones. Even the little actions, such as helping me figure out a map or sharing a bit of yakitori with me made a lasting impression of the country and its people and I don’t ever expect to find a place quite like it again. When the tsunami struck in March it was tough to watch the news, as I kept thinking back to all of the kind people that we met and their families, hoping that they were safe from the destruction that was occurring. I wanted to do something, but other than donating to the Red Cross (which I did), I didn’t know what else I could do.

Stone Brewing, the craft brew behemoths out of North County San Diego, also wanted to do something about it. When you are one of the most badass breweries in the US, you also have one of the most badass rolodexes, so they got in touch with Baird Brewing Co out of Japan and Ishii Brewing out of Guam to make a one of a kind brew to help out Japan. While we don’t get a lot of Japanese craft brews stateside, the fact is that Japan has a large micro brewing scene and corresponding community, and some of the brews that I tasted while there were downright incredible. Combine this knowledge with Stone’s mastery of the IPA and we get Stone/ Baird/ Ishii Japanese Green Tea IPA, a limited collaboration release that I am fortunate enough to get here on the West Coast. This beer marked the first time Aramis hops were used in a brew, which can be read about here, as I’m here to talk about how it tastes

The beer pours a very light coppery color, with a haziness that indicates that it was in fact made with tea. I poured into a wine glass, as I was at my girlfriends place where I do not have my fancy beer glasses. The nose isn’t as powerful as some of Stone’s other IPAs, but it has the sort of floral, hops & citrus notes that are standard among some of the better IPAs out there. I also detected an aroma of apricots which was very pleasant, as well as a faint whiff of the green tea, but nothing super strong. The taste is hoppy and citrusy intitially, reminds me almost of a Port Brewing Wipeout IPA, but then a flavor of apricots kicks in, followed by the finish where the green tea flavors really hit your palate. It’s pretty subtle but you do notice. Reminds me of the sort of finish you’d get when you drink the cold green tea at a sushi joint, a little sweet & flowery & dry at the same time. In fact, I’ll need to try this with some sushi to see how it compliments the fish. For this particular tasting, we made some Grilled Eggplant and Tomato stacks which were pretty simple and perfect for the warm summer evening. I found that the basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar really complemented the hoppiness and green tea finish of the beer well and that the more mild flavors of the tomato, eggplant and mozzarella really allowed the beer to step forward and shine.

Grilled Eggplant & Tomato stacks go well with the Green Tea IPA

Overall, I recommend this Green Tea IPA as a nice complement to a summer evening meal. I paid only $3.99 for the bottles, so the price is right for this limited run brew. This wasn’t my favorite IPA that I’ve ever had but it was certainly an interesting one and I applaud the brewers for trying something new and making something tasty from the experiment. Get some take out sushi or make something at home that is generous with the olive oil, crank up a little Osamu Kitajima, get a little summer breeze blowing through the pad and relax. I have two more bottles of this that I plan on enjoying soon, dreaming of the day that I get to touch down in Tokyo once again for another Japanese adventure of my own. Kanpai!

Hello Hello!

rdeutsche — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:51:11 +0000

Thank you, dear reader, for stumbling upon this here blog of mine. I initially wanted a place to talk about cooking and to review all of the craft beers that I have accumulated over the past year, which have taken over a few cabinets and don’t seem to be disappearing on their own. I love pairing beer with food, more specifically, healthy fresh food that I make myself, as I find that nothing is quite as satisfying as a nice homemade meal and a craft brew after a hard day. I tend to be listening to music on the hi-fi when I do this so I’ll probably use this space as a confessional as to my record collecting habits as well, as I find that a lot of folks who are beer obsessed also dig on the rare grooves. Anyway, this is an experiment so if no one but myself ends up reading this, no worries. I’ll have the memories of brews gone by, a few cooking tips, and some solid tunes to boot. Skál!!!

A sampling of the beer collection