Cooking with Beer: Beer Smothered Pork Chops

 Welcome to Cooking With Beer, where food and beer come together to make culinary coitus. If you think cooking with gas is cool, wait to you try cooking with beer.

This dish was prepared with Union Craft Brewing's Balt Alt, an absolutely delicious altbier made locally in Baltimore. I decided on Balt Alt because I was looking for a malty beer that would add a little sweetness to the gravy and I wanted a beer with caramel looking appearance to help add good color to the gravy. If you've never cooked with beer before, give this a try. It'll make a great plate to warm up with during these last few cold days of winter. 

Ingredients:

•  4 Bone-in Pork Chops (as thick as you can find up to an inch)
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 TBS Oil
• 2 TBS Butter
• 1 Medium sized onion (white or yellow)
• 1/2 of a Green Pepper
• 2 Stalks of Celery
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 3 TBS Flour
• 1 and 1/2 cups of Chicken broth
• 8 ounces of Beer
• 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
• 1 cup of sliced button mushrooms
• Hot Sauce (as much or as little as you'd like)
• You may or may not need a corn starch slurry

Instructions:

• Salt & Pepper Pork Chops. Add oil to cast iron pot or dutch oven. Brown on each side roughly 3 minutes. Place chops on a plate
• Melt butter and add onion, green pepper, celery and garlic. Cover and cook 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft
• Throw flour over the vegetables and stir around to cook the rawness out of the flour.
• Add Chicken broth and beer, bring to a simmer. When simmering add pork chops back in, simmer 20 minutes with lid on. When chops are done, remove them from the pot.
• Add cream, mushrooms and hot sauce. Simmer until it desired gravy consistency is achieved. Sometimes a little corn starch slurry is necessary to thicken it up enough but it's up to you.
• Plate your pork chops and smother them in the gravy. Serve with noodles, rice, or roasted potatoes. 

Recipes That Don't Suck: Beer Braised Chicken Thighs

Last week Deana and I were coming back from a run when she asked me what I wanted to do with the chicken thighs we had thawing. I knew I didn't want to stand outside over a grill for 20 or 30 minutes so I decided to cook something I've never attempted before. I pulled out the cast iron pot and made Beer Braised Chicken Thighs. 

Even though I had never previously braised anything, I had a general idea of how it should all came together. However, to make sure I was going to be able to pull everything off, I took a quick look at a recipe online and then made up my own based on the things I had in my house. The main ingredient in my braising liquid was a Dunkelweizen I brewed myself so I was extremely happy when the meal turned out well. One of my new culinary goals is to do a lot more cooking with beer. And when I can do it with a beer I made myself...well, all the better. If you're a locavore, you can't get any more local than something you made with your own hands. 

Anyway, on to the recipe. If you end up trying it out, let me know how you like it.

Ingredients:

• 4 Chicken Thighs
• 2 TBS Olive oil
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• 1 Onion
• 1 Celery Stock
• 2 Carrots
• Garlic Clove
• 2 TBS Flour
• 1 Bottle of Beer (I recommened something light on the hops)
• 1 Cup of Water
• Chicken Bouillon Cube

Instructions:

• Brown the Thighs in a pot. When browned, remove and set aside
• Cut up a small dice of Onion, Celery, Carrots, Garlic, and Rosemary
• Sweat the Veggies, Rosemary, and Thyme. Add Flour at the end of the sweat.
• Take a bottle of beer from the wall and add it to the pot. Add water and Bouillon cube. (You can always add a cup of stock or broth if you have that on hand)
• Add the chicken back to the liquid. Put the lid on the pot and simmer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lid and simmer for 45-60 minutes.
• Serve over rice or egg noodles. 

Recipes That Don't Suck: Goulash

Ready for another Recipe That Doesn't Suck? Good, because I've got one for you. One thing you'll probably notice as I post more and more recipes is that I like doing most of my cooking in a pot. Cut stuff up, throw it in a pot, come back and stare at it every once in awhile....that's my kind of cooking. I also like cooking with beer as an ingredient and this recipe combines those two things.

The recipe I'm sharing with you today was derived from a Wolfgang Puck recipe. In the past, he has cooked for the Grammy's. Obviously, he doesn't really know what he is doing so I decided to change it up a little bit and add some of my own flare to the mix.

Dish: Goulash

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 4 or 5 medium sized onions (4 cups)
• 1 TBS Sugar
• Garlic (few cloves)
• 1 TBS Cumin
• 2 TBS Paprika
• 1 TBS Marjoram (dry)
• 1 teaspoon of Thyme (dry)
• 1 Bay leaf
• 3 TBS Tomato Paste
• 2 TBS Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 Cups Chicken Stock
• 1 Beer (Lager/Pilsner)
• 2.5 lbs Stew Meat (big bite size)
• 1 Carrot
• 1 cup Mushrooms
• Salt
• Pepper

The changes I made to the recipe were pretty basic. The first thing I did was reduce the amount of chicken stock that was being called for by half and replaced it with a bottle of beer. This is more of a German/Austrian style Goulash and in that spirit I decided to go with a German beer. This time I chose Paulaner Original Munchner. It's a basic clean lager and I highly recommend that you stick to something in the Lager/Pilsner alley (doesn't have to be German). With that said, adding a Guinness in there, while it might be straying from the German theme, probably would taste pretty damn good. 

I also threw in some carrots and mushrooms just as a simple way to get some extra flavors and textures in there. That, and it's a really easy way to get a few extra vegetables into the system. 

Lastly, the original recipe called for caraway seeds. I don't find myself using them very often so I decided to pass on them and instead used cumin. It's up to you which way you go with that one, but I surely wasn't mad at the cumin. 

Instructions:

• Add oil and caramelize the onions and sugar. This can take anywhere from 10-20 minutes. 

• When caramelized, add garlic, cumin, paprika, marjoram, thyme, bay leave. Saute for a minute.
• Add tomato paste. Stir it around real quickly and then deglaze with vinegar, chicken stock, and beer.

• Add the meat, carrots, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer with lid off for 90 minutes to 2 hours (Note: If using mushrooms, wait until your last 45 minutes of cooking before adding.)

If you are a fan of stew, you're a fan of goulash. It's essentially a stew with a big tomato base. In this case, the vinegar adds a bit of a sour taste for a nice twist. Overall, I loved this recipe and I think you will too. There might only be a few more cold weekends so try it out. I can vouch that it doesn't suck. 

Recipes That Don't Suck: Chili

A few months back I posted my recipe for Sriracha Thai Chile Hot Wings. Since then, thanks to the power of the Internet and it's ability to snoop, I've found that quite a few people found their way to this blog via searches for Thai Hot Wings. Well, I like when people read what I write so I decided that I should add more recipes into the mix. So, without further adieu, welcome to Recipes That Don't Suck.

The first non-sucky recipe I'm sharing with you shall be none other than my almighty chili. I love chili. Over the years, I've messed with different recipes looking for things I like and adding my own twists to make them mine. This recipe in particular represents the straight forward spicy chili my tastebuds love so much with a little homage to the first chili recipe I ever used (my Grandma's).

Dish: Chili That Doesn't Suck

Serves: 4-6 Bowls depending on how big your bowls are. Mine are ginormous, so I usually get 4.5

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of Ground Beef
• 1 Onion
• Garlic (as much or as little as you'd like)
• 6 - 8 Tomatoes
• 1 Can of Campbell's Tomato Soup
• 2-3 Jalapenos
• 1 Can of Beans (Black, Kidney, Pinto. The choice is yours, but beans are NOT optional)
• 3-4 Tablespoons of Chili Powder
• 1 Tablespoon of Cumin

The thing to remember about this recipe is that it's completely up to your taste. If you like a lot of onion use a lot. If you like less, guess what, use less. As far as the tomatoes go, I wouldn't go less than 6 as the chili might end up becoming too thick. And if you go over 8 tomatoes you will probably end up with a chili that is a little too soupy. The key is to make the recipe your own. My special touch is the Cambell's Tomato Soup. You could easily just use a little tomato sauce or salsa instead, but the Tomato soup makes me think of my Grandma and the recipe she passed down to me a few years back. 

So, you're going to make this recipe yours, right? Well, I'm laying down the law on two very important items. First, Ground Turkey is not an acceptable substitute. It tastes and looks like the white dog crap that Will Ferrell licked in Step Brothers. If you want this to be a healthier meal (which I do as well), just buy lean ground beef and thank me later. Second, Beans are not optional. They taste good, add a nice texture, and my grandma and mom both used them in their recipes so you have to as well! So there! If you want to disagree with me, well, go and find the recipe for Chili That Sucks....cause this is Chili That Doesn't Suck.

Instructions:

• Chop up all your vegetables. Onions and Tomatoes in big 1 inch chunks. Jalapenos in rings.

• Brown Meat
• Add all ingredients to the pot with the browned meat except for the beans. Stir to mix it together.
• Pop the lid on and let simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.
• Add Beans. Simmer for 30 minutes.
• Eat and Rejoice

As you can see up above, the chili starts out looking VERY thick. The first time I made this I was worried it would end up a chunky chili. But fret not, my friends, for I come bearing gifts of delicious chili. Eventually, after all the simmering has done it's magic you'll have a chili that is flavorful, spicy, and best of all Doesn't Suck! Give it a try and let me know what you think!