We stayed up in the Norrebro district of the city which is an up-and-coming area that seems to be run by nobody over the age of 35. It’s like this massive gritty hipster colony where colorful graffiti, craft beer, and skinny jeans on men are plentiful. I’m really glad our flat was in this area not only because Mikkeller and Friends was 23.5 seconds away, but also because I felt like we actually got to see the real Copenhagen. With the exception of the beer tourists, it seemed to be mostly locals only. And that’s just the way I like it.

Norrebro Mural

I briefly mentioned some of the food in Copenhagen in my last post, but it’s not like there’s much I could say about the city’s food scene that hasn’t already been said a million times before by other people a lot more credentialed than me. With that said, suffice it to say that the Danes have got seafood and hot dogs down pat.

I absolutely love seafood-based food cultures. To me there’s nothing better than some good fresh fish, shrimp, crab, lobster, mussels–you name it. Fortunately for us, the fruit of the sea is abundant in Copenhagen. Unfortunately for Hubs, they also put this mayonnaise-based remoulade on pretty much everything. And, in case you have forgotten, he tends to convulse like a junkie in rehab when even the slightest hint of anything white and creamy may so much as glance in the general direction of his eating-time foodstuffs.* I love it though.

Nyhavn, Copenhagen. Seafood galore!

The Danish remoulade can be made many different ways but I had a really nice version of one on a fish cake at the beer festival that consisted of mayonnaise, dill pickle relish, fresh dill, and curry powder. Since it’s Memorial Day weekend and there are going to be BBQ’s galore, I’m going to jazz mine up a bit and spread it on this delicious Scandinavian-style burger that I’m going to pack full of a nice Danish pale ale as well as grated carrot and zucchini (courgette to you in the UK.)

I used To øl Reperationsbajer American Pale Ale–a bold, bitter, spicy, and palate cleansing beer with that Nelson Sauvin earthy funk and Amarillo sweetness. This brewery hails from, well, everywhere–as the two head brewers–Tobias and Tore–have taken up the Danish tradition of being a gypsy brewery. Don’t let that scare you though; these two Danes really know what they’re doing with beer and can proudly carry the torch as being one of the world’s best (it helps when you’ve got Mr. Mikkeller himself as a friend.) We sampled quite a few of their beers while in Copenhagen and there’s a reason why precious suitcase space was allocated to their beers on the return trip back to the UK.

So, slap this sucker on the grill, baste with the beer, spread on the remoulade, and then enjoy your Memorial Day weekend! And while you’re at it, remember to thank a veteran, honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, and to keep in your thoughts all soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and their international comrades who are, worldwide, dutifully defending and preserving your rights, freedom, and safety.

To Øl Reperationsbajer American Pale Ale Scandinavian Beer Burger with Danish Remoulade

*Slight dramatization. But not really.

Scandinavian Beer Burger with Danish Remoulade

Yield: 4 burgers

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Total Time: 35 min

Rather drink the beer than put it in a burger? No problem, the beer just accentuates what's already there. Take it out and put directly into your belly.

Ingredients:

For the burgers

1lb (500g) lean ground beef (beef mince)
1 medium zucchini (courgette), finely grated
1 medium carrot, finely grated
2TB finely minced onion (white or yellow)
2TB finely minced garlic
2TB chopped fresh dill
1/2 cup (120ml) beer
1 egg, beaten
1tsp salt
1/2tsp red pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
4 whole wheat buns or rye rolls

Toppings:
Red onion
lettuce
tomato
remoulade

For the remoulade
1 cup mayonnaise
curry powder (to taste + color)
1/8 tsp. dry mustard
1TB fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
1/2-3/4 cup dill pickle relish
1/4 cup fresh dill, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
salt and white pepper (to taste)

Directions:

For the burgers
Prepare the grill. Cook the burgers directly over medium heat.

Wring out the grated zucchini and carrots with a paper towel to ensure that they are very dry.

Combine the beef, zucchini, carrots, onion, garlic, dill in a large bowl and mix lightly.

In a separate bowl, combine the beer, egg, salt, and red pepper flakes. Add this mixture to the beef and mix lightly.

Form the beef into four patties and season with the freshly ground black pepper.

Grill the burgers for 8-10 minutes, covered on the grill and turning just once and basting each side with the beer, or until finished to desired doneness.

For the remoulade
Combine the mayonnaise and the curry powder together until you have achieved a very slight yellow-green color. The version I had was slightly spicy so recognize that the curry powder is not exactly measured out--it is done to your likeness.

Once you have achieved what you are looking for with regards to color and taste, add the dry mustard powder. Stir to combine.

Then add in the rest of the ingredients except for the salt and pepper, reserving some of each of the chopped ingredients to ensure that you'll get the texture you're looking for: roughly the texture of a good oatmeal. Not too runny or chunky. (Of course, this is to your individual tastes but most remoulades are relatively creamy.)

Season with the salt and white pepper to taste.

Assemble the burgers to your liking, spread the remoulade on the bun, and...

Get Loaded!

http://toplessbread.blogspot.co.uk/2010/01/condimentpalg-remoulade.html
http://www.PILcookbooks.com

If you follow me on Facebook or on Twitter, you’ve been keeping up with some of my goings-on lately. But if you don’t, well first of all, SHAME. Shame on you and your family! Second of all, let me give you a run-down about why I’ve been saving you from the ennui of my written word on a blog hiatus for a month.

It all started with an awesome two-day Advanced Beer Course I attended with The Beer Academy down in London. It was a fabulous couple of days that consisted of drinking beer at 9am at The Bull Highgate, meeting some really awesome people (some of whom have e-mailed me recently and are due a response–sorry!) and learning a lot about beer. I went down by myself and just kind of twiddled around London for a couple of days. I kind of like living in a place where I can be all: “yeah, I’m going to London for a couple days. See you on Wednesday.”

Yeah. Not bad for a random Tuesday.

Admittedly a lot of the information given to us was stuff I already knew but it’s still good to have it reinforced. At the very least I was able to discover that I’m pretty good at detecting beer styles but I need some work on deciphering the ingredients. Ahh…the trials and tribulations of being a professional beer geek.

So, after my little trip down to London I had a couple days to recuperate before I went to a two-week cookery course at Betty’s Cookery School up here in Harrogate. It was such a fantastic experience but it was seriously all day, everyday. I learned so much; we were taught how to filet a whole fish to breadmaking to desserts to cooking the perfect steak to how I could never hack it as a chef. Everything they do and serve at Betty’s is top-notch. After getting to know how Betty’s runs its business and its dedicated attention to detail I can honestly say that I’m very proud to have honed and learned my skills with the fantastic crew at Betty’s. We’re very lucky to have the tea rooms, bakery, cookery school, and Taylor’s of Harrogate as a part of this community.

With that said, that cookery course is probably the biggest reason why I need to be running at 7am. Everyday. Every. Single. Day we’d go home with the likes of a large Victoria Sponge Cake. Or a hazelnut meringue. A massive carrot cake. And oh yeah, that’s after a full day of eating everything we made. From 9am to 7pm we ate food. Here are some shots:

Finally, as if all of that wasn’t enough, Hubs and I took a trip over to Copenhagen last week with our friends Hot Toddy and Hoppin’ Jon for the Copenhagen Beer Celebration. I would have to say that this was probably one of the best beer festivals I’ve ever been to, if not at the very least for the quality of beers that were there from all over the world: Three Floyds Brewing from Indiana, my very own home-state of Michigan’s Founders Brewing, Mountain Goat Beer from Australia (nice to have met you, Cam,) Baird Brewing Co. from Japan and Against the Grain from Kentucky–a brewery who named one of their beers “Sharty Pants.”  Of course there was a good presence of some awesome local beers from Mikkeller, Xbeeriment, and Amager Bryghus.

There was one brewery there from a state I used to live in and whose brewery I visited with my homebrew club not long after they opened. We were given a personal tour by the owner himself. However, he acted like a total prick at the festival so I won’t even give his beer a shout-out on my two-bit blog. It’s not like I expected to be showered with cash or anything but if you fly to Europe to present your beer the least you can do is act somewhat interested that there’s someone there who has visited your brewery on the other side of the world. You’re there to talk about your beer! Don’t blow your customers off–be a businessman/actor.

Anyways, fortunately, or unfortunately however you want to look at it, the flat that we rented together was located literally about 28 seconds away from one of the best beer bars in all of Copenhagen (if not Europe): Mikkeller and Friends. We were in there so often we got on a first-name basis with the bar staff (Hi Jonathan from Sweden–I hope your goddaughter’s baptism was nice!) and we started referencing their attached bottle shop as “the fridge.” (Honorable Mention for beer bars in Copenhagen: Fermentoren Cph. Great beer and a nice beer garden.)

We did get out and do some sightseeing, of course. I’m not a total lush. Copenhagen is a beautiful Scandinavian city but it’s also somewhat edgy because, well, it’s like a 30-something Hipsterville. Except for Christiania, a living, cannabis breathing, working hippie colony on the south side of the city.  We wandered around there one afternoon and it’s everything you’d imagined a hippie colony would be: massive recycling operation, pro-cannabis propaganda everywhere, and Bob Marley blaring. I don’t have any pictures to show you because apparently I would’ve gotten my ass kicked for taking pictures; something they warn you about everywhere you go. However, we did happen to run in to a massive pro-weed protest that marched from Christiania up to the City Hall Square, Rådhuspladsen.

Pro-Weed Protest on the Rådhuspladsen in Copenhagen. Can you see the truck with the huge smoking joint on top?

Besides, well, weed and beer Copenhagen has great food, super friendly people, and nice sights. Nyhavn offers up a ton of choices for the perfect place for lunch down on the canal (try Nyhavn 17–delicious shooting star smorrebrod) and a quick bike ride will take you to the likes of the Little Mermaid statue, the Palace, and restaurant after restaurant after restaurant. Although, the best food I had was from John’s Hotdog Deli at the beer festival.  Sorry noma.

So, enough of all that–I’m glad to be back to the blog and I hope you’re happy to have me back. I’d now like to present to you some tasting notes for–in my opinion–the best beer I had on the trip to Copenhagen: Mikkeller’s Simcoe Single Hop IPA. Cheers and Skål!

Mikkeller Simcoe Single Hop IPA.

TASTING NOTES:

Style: American IPA

ABV%:  6.9%

Serving: On draft into stemmed half-pint glass

Appearance: Amber color, nice foamy 2-finger off-white head. Nice dense lacing. Mostly clear but just the slightest bit of haze. Delicate carbonation bubbles.

Aroma: Malty grain, caramel, fresh hops, subtle grass and citrus

Flavor: Beautiful balanced malty sweetness with notes of juniper, resin, spicy, biscuity crackers, minty freshness and a nice lingering bitterness.

Mouthfeel: Medium body, slight prickliness from the carbonation and bitterness but overall a pretty smooth mouthfeel. Finishes semi-dry and lingers slightly spicy and bitter.

Overall: As I said, probably one of my favorite beers of the trip and definitely my favorite Mikkeller. It’s such a perfectly balanced beer with very nice flavor notes. This is definitely one I’d make a point of looking for whenever I’m beer shopping (which is actually going to be awhile because my collection has gotten a bit out of hand.

Pairing Idea: Would pair very nicely with spicy Indian curries, beef or pork carnitas tacos, and fried fresh fish. I could see this getting overwhelmed by big huge bold dishes like braised short ribs and the like. Also, unless you’re going for a pretty interesting contrast I would avoid pairing this with anything very sweet but it’s possible that it’d go well with a nice spiced carrot cake.

It’s just Hubs and I for Easter this year but we’re still going to do baskets for each other. His family tradition is to hide the basket. Therefore, I crawl around looking like a fool for the better part of an hour while he gleefully taunts: “Coooolder….coooolder…Warrrrmmerrr!!!” until I make him give me enough hints so I can find it. He picks really good hiding spots. Me, not so much.

I generally have no idea what to get a grown man for his Easter basket. One year he got bubbles and candy. Another year: shoe deodorizer and candy. This year’s will probably contain beer and candy. It’ll look so manly in the baskets he picked out this year:

Baskets with the fur…

Now, growing up, my mom always tried to have a nice Easter breakfast ready for us. We never ate it though. We were already packed full of jelly beans and cream eggs and marshmallow peeps. I wasn’t that old by the time we got warm strudel or cinnamon buns and orange juice. Just what we needed for church: more sugar.

This year I decided that I wanted to make a nice brunch for hubs and I. Considering it’s Easter and it’s time to re-fill our bodies full of the sugar we’ve been abstaining from during Lent (No? you didn’t either?) I thought a nice pound cake and strawberries would be nice. After putzing around the Internet for awhile, I discovered that some brilliant people out there were serving pound cake French-toast style.

I decided that would be perfect for Easter Brunch so I wanted to take it up a notch by making a chocolate stout pound cake using the delightfully chocolatey York Chocolate Stout from Rudgate Brewery.Rudgate is located just up the road around York. We’ve carried their malty and caramel-y sweet Ruby Mild at the pub so when I found their chocolate stout in the bottle, I knew it was going to go real nicely in the pound cake. It does add that certain extra depth of chocolate and sweetness that I don’t think would necessarily be there if you omitted it.

So, spoil your significant other and get the kids all riled up with an Easter Brunch and my Rudgate Brewery York Chocolate Stout French Toast Pound Cake. You don’t have to wait until summer to enjoy it!

Rudgate Brewery York Chocolate Stout French Toast Pound Cake

Chocolate Stout French Toast Pound Cake

Yield: 8 slices

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 50 min (but check after about 35)

Total Time: 1 hour 30 mins + cooling time for the cake

This rich and chocolatey treat would be perfect topped with macerated strawberries or a whiskey cream.

Ingredients:

For the pound cake

1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (120ml) stout beer
1/4 pound (120 g) dark chocolate, chopped
2 large eggs
1 cup (220g) dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup (60.5g) sour cream
1 1/4 cups (120g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (30g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the French toast

3 eggs
3/4 (175ml) cup milk
3TB (45g) unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚F

Prepare a loaf pan by buttering it. Then, add some parchment paper, butter that. Then dust with cocoa powder, shaking off the excess. Set aside until ready.

Combine the softened butter and the stout in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until butter has melted.

Add the chopped dark chocolate and stir until smooth. Set aside and allow to cool for 10 minutes or so.

In a large bowl, beat together the brown sugar and the eggs until light and fluffy.

Temper the eggs by swirling in, a tablespoon at a time, the chocolate mixture into the egg and brown sugar mixture. After about 4 or 5 tablespoons, slowly add the rest of the chocolate and then the sour cream. Mix until smooth and combined.

Whisk the remaining dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add to the chocolate mixture and stir to combine, being careful to not overmix.

Pour the mix into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until a fork inserted comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow to sit in the pan for about 5 minutes.
Remove from pan and parchment paper and allow to cool completely.

To make the French toast
Mix the eggs with the milk.

Slice the pound cake into desired slices.

Heat the unsalted butter in a large skillet over medium heat until the froth dies down. While waiting for the butter, dip the cake slices into the egg.

Cook in the pan, over medium heat, for about 2-3 minutes each side or until the egg mixture has been cooked through and the pound cake feels firmly toasted (not burnt!)

Top with strawberries, whiskey cream, or your desired topping. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Get Loaded!

http://tastefoodblog.com/2012/03/14/chocolate-stout-pound-cake-recipe/

Leeds Brewery Yorkshire Gold paired with Ye Olde Sun Inn Venezuelan Chocolate

Well, I’m a day late and a dollar short for Featured BrewsDay this week because I attended a fun event last night that I wanted to be able to share with you today. Admittedly, I could’ve written this post when I got home last night but I had a DVR waiting for me filled with such classics as The Geordie Shore (The UK’s answer to The Jersey Shore,) Catfish, and Girls. I secretly DVR these shows and watch them after Hubs goes to bed so he thinks I’m all intellectual and stuff. Or whatever.

But anyway, speaking of “girls” the event I attended last night was a lovely beer and chocolate pairing hosted by the organization Dea Latis: a group dedicated to educating and spreading the love of beer to women. I just recently discovered Dea Latis while cruising around Twitter one day and I’m super excited to have found it as–especially given my capacity as a pint-pusher at The Half Moon–I’ve noticed that there’s still the belief and consensus that beer is fattening, flat, and for old men. Thus, women tend to stick to wine or cups of tea and I tend to drink beer alone a lot when I’m out with the ladies. Which is all fine and good but there’s a big ol’ world of beer out there that should be appealing to women. And not just because Budweiser tells us we’d all be hot anorexics in bikinis if we drink it.

So, last night I attended a fabulous night of beer, chocolate, and ladies-who-love-beer and at The Brewery Tap Leeds with my friend Alisha–another American woman who loves beer and actually works and brews at one of my favorite local breweries that I’ve told you many times about: Roosters.

Blue Moon paired with Terry’s Chocolate Orange and Osset’s Treacle Stout paired with Dark Chocolate Caramels

We were presented with six different beers each paired with a (hopefully) complementary chocolate. Now, I know, I know, Blue Moon is on the list. And, being slightly snobby, I was a little skeptical myself when I saw it on the table when we came in. But, as you’ll see in my notes below–Alisha and I were both pleasantly surprised with the pairing. In fact, I was almost floored. Screw slices of orange in the beer, float one of these chocolate orange babies in it instead!

Brains Boilermaker Whiskey IPA paired with The Chocolate Alchemist Lemon and Dark Chocolate Parfait

Without further ado, I’ll give you all a rundown of last nights pairings and what I thought of them; some of them worked and others really didn’t. If you get a chance to pair any of these or something similar together, you be the judge.

Pairing One

Jacobsen Velvet Ale with Thornton’s Champagne Truffles

The Beer: A light, golden and delicate ale with a large frothy head that smelled of white wine, citrus, lemon, and malt (and maybe the tiniest hint of DMS/creamed corn.) Tasted much like it smelled with no bitterness. Velvety smooth with light effervescent bubbles reminiscent of a sparkling wine. Quite sweet, and would be ok for a fancy picnic. Not an overly fantastic beer but I was still happy I got to try it.

The Pairing: I could see why, in theory, the pairing would work: the beer’s quite velvety mouthfeel would complement the smooth chocolate with the hopes that the carbonation of the beer would act as a palate cleanser. In reality, the beer is overwhelmed by the chocolate and the flavor is lost. It just gets watery.

The Verdict: Didn’t work. Blah. 

Pairing Two

Leeds Brewery Yorkshire Gold with Ye Olde Sun Inn Venezuelan Chocolate

The Beer: A light golden bitter that has the aroma of malty sweetness and citrus. An interesting flavor of biscuits and spicy bitterness. Exceptionally more bitter than it is malty. The beer also has quite a thin and watery mouthfeel. Sorry guys but: Meh.

The Pairing: So, the attempt here was to use the bitterness of the beer as a palate cleanser for the chocolate–a dark chocolate little disc. It didn’t work. The beer killed the chocolate–I couldn’t even taste it anymore. I did eat like billions more of the little chocolates though. They were good.

The Verdict: Nope.

Pairing Three

Blue Moon with Terry’s Chocolate Orange

The Beer: Sorry, not trying to be a snob, but I’m not doing tasting notes for Blue Moon. Go buy one–they’re everywhere.

The Pairing: Umm. Wow. As I mentioned earlier, I was pleasantly surprised by this. Really a very good pairing. The carbonation and spicy characteristics from the beer were a nice palate cleanser but also really helped lift the orange of the chocolate up and match it up with the orange notes already in the beer. Since Blue Moon has a somewhat creamy mouthfeel, it matched really well with the chocolate. This would be a really nice treat on a nice warm spring day.

The Verdict: Spot on. Direct hit. Whatever you want to call it. Just really nice.

Pairing Four

Brains Craft Brewery Boilermaker IPA with The Chocolate Alchemist Lemon and Dark Chocolate Parfait

The Beer: Quite a mystery, this beer. It tastes virtually nothing like advertised but it’s a very good beer. Amber in color, no haze, and a slight head. Smells like vanilla, caramel, toffee, and malt. Smells beautiful. Tastes like a nice toasty malt and cinder toffee/sea foam candy with a nice balancing hops bitterness. I’m not getting any of the advertised whiskey or alcohol warmth but at 6.5% I’m sure it’s there. Very nice medium-bodied beer and despite it sounding quite sweet, it’s not. It’s very nicely balanced with interesting flavors.

The Pairing: Well, the chocolate was great. Nice and lemony and–from what I could tell the lemony flavor lifted some of the notes of the beer. Nothing seemed to really clash However, there was apparently a bit of a SNAFU with the chocolate and we were all only able to get just the tiniest of pieces so I wasn’t able to get a really good taste (pun intended) for the pairing.

The Verdict: I think it was good?

Pairing Five

Ossett Brewery Treacle Stout with Bon Bons of Leeds Dark Chocolate Caramels

The Beer: A beer that doesn’t taste like it smells but is award-winning for a reason: it’s delicious. Smells of molasses and lactose with malty sweetness and a hint of spice and coffee. Tastes of coffee, caramel, balanced bitterness so it’s not sickly and malty sweetness. It has a lovely full mouthfeel and is balanced with a semi-dry finish. I wouldn’t sing about it from a mountaintop or anything but it’s nice.

The Pairing: Well, the chocolate caramel was damn good. The chocolate was super gooey and I’m still finding it in between my fingers. I’d eat this by the truckload. The pairing was not good at all–not for me. The flavors and the ooey-gooeyness overwhelmed the beer’s flavors and rendered it not only useless but the flavor combination created this weird rubber-balloon taste in my mouth.

The Verdict: I didn’t like it, at all. Blech.

Pairing Six

Ilkley Brewery The Mayan Chocolate Chipotle Stout with Chocolate Covered Turkish Delight

The Beer: Wow. I am super impressed by this beer for a number of reasons. #1: It is actually spicy and you can actually taste/feel the chipotle peppers. #2: It actually smells and tastes of chocolate. #3: It was designed and brewed by a woman, Harriet. Just an overall fantastic beer. It smells like Hershey’s syrup and malt right off the bat–even Harriet acknowledged it as “sickly.” But just take a sip and the party has moved from my pan(t)s to my mouth. It starts off chocolatey with maybe a little spice and lactose-like sourness then, within seconds, you’re hit with the chili peppers and the spice. It lingers long, tingly, and spicy. I couldn’t drink a gallon of this in one sitting but I’d definitely keep some of this on hand routinely if I could. It would also be fantastic to cook with.

The Pairing: The chocolate-covered rose jelly Turkish delight surprised me by pairing so well with the beer. The flavors from each kind of danced with each other. I think it was the perfume rosiness from the chocolate that lifted up the spice from the chipotle peppers. Likewise, I think the chocolate from the candy and the beer helped act as sort of a support for the spice and just let it linger there a little longer. They both played nicely together and neither one overwhelmed the other, rather it was an interesting little dance going on between the two and the reason why it…

The Verdict: was chosen as the evening’s pairing winner! The Blue Moon/Chocolate Orange was a close second but Harriet, Ilkley Brewery and a Turkish delight reigned victorious over the evening. And deservedly so. The only thing that sucked about it was that this was the only one I forgot to take a picture of. I guess I was too excited.

Jacobsen Velvet Ale with Thornton’s Champagne Truffles

To be fair, though, the only losers on the evening were those of whom who didn’t buy a ticket and come to last night’s event. It was a really nice time. I enjoyed talking beer with other women, eating chocolate, and learning something new. If you’re a woman in the UK and you’re interested in beer, please spread the word of Dea Latis and maybe even consider joining. Hope to see you soon!

Some of the floor detail inside of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin

Ohhh…St. Patrick’s Day. One of the best days of the year. I’m a wee bit Irish so, of course, every March 17th I walk around lording over all of my friends of Italian/German/Polish/English descent with my long reddish hair, fair skin, and my huge Cat-in-the-Hat style green and white hat. I’m actually more of Scottish, English, and French heritage but St. Patrick’s Day tends to make us all Irish.

Just don’t tell that to actual Irish people. I remember getting a t-shirt several St. Patty’s Days ago at the bar we were hanging out in that said: “Cold Beer Makes You Irish” (I still have the shirt…) Well, that made our really-from-Ireland friend mad. “No it doesn’t,” I remember him saying curtly. Well, no shit. I’m still gonna round up my percentage of Irish blood I have in me to the nearest 75% today and eat loosely-related Irish food while drinking woefully inadequate beer though. It’s not St. Patrick’s Day in the USofA if I don’t.

Now, I’ve only been in the UK for one St. Patrick’s Day so far but I hadn’t really noticed it really being a “thing” here. Maybe a cursory mention here and there and a viable excuse for another night out at the pub, but nobody’s turning any rivers green here or walking around with shamrock-shaped sunglasses (except for me.) But that doesn’t mean that I won’t celebrate it here at home. It’s the perfect excuse to drink some of the beers we brought back from our recent trip to Ireland. I’m also going to make sure that I have some of this delicious Dublin Coddle on hand in place of the typical Irish-American food of corned beef and cabbage.

Dublin Coddle is a traditional poor-man’s dish of potatoes, bacon, and pork sausages that goes way back. Apparently the term “coddle” is used because the food is actually coddled, or simmered, for several hours in liquid. The great thing about this food is that it can be made with beer! I’ve read that using dark beer in a Dublin Coddle has fallen out of favor and that some people like to use a great Irish cider instead, which is cool with me. But, I’m going to use Carlow Brewing Co.’s malty, roasted, and subtly hoppy O’Hara’s Irish Red Ale. Feel free to add whichever beer or cider you’d like; I don’t see why you couldn’t use Guinness if you wanted to. Just remember that on St. Patrick’s Day cold beer, fair skin, and this Irish Red Dublin Coddle make you Irish. Sláinte!

Irish Red Ale Dublin Coddle

Yield: Serves 4

Prep Time: 20 min

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 20 mins

Pork sausages and potatoes slow simmered in a chicken-and-beer broth. Talk about the luck o' the Irish!

Feel free to substitute a plain cider, stout, or your favorite beer for the Irish Red Ale. Serve with soda bread or other crusty bread.

Ingredients:

2TB olive oil
1lb/500g good quality pork sausages
1/2lb/250g smoked streaky bacon or rashers, or just regular thick-cut smoked bacon, chopped into bite-size pieces
2 onions, sliced into half-moons
1lb/450g baby potatoes, halved
2 cups/500 ml chicken stock
1 cup/250ml beer
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a small bunch of fresh parsley, chopped

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Brown the sausages in the oil on all sides and then set aside.

Add the bacon and the onions to the pot and cook until the onions have softened and have somewhat browned or about 10 minutes.

Add the sausages back to the pot and then add the potatoes.

Cover with the stock and the beer. Throw in the thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Reduce heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 1-1 1/2 hours or until the potatoes are cooked through.

Adjust seasoning to taste (careful, it might not need any!)

Serve with chopped fresh parsley and nice crusty bread.

Get Loaded!

http://edible-ireland.com/

Needless to say, I wasn’t entirely adventurous when it came to what I liked as pizza toppings. When I was little, going to Pizza Hut was a big deal, even though I always got the same thing. With my Book-It! certificate firmly in hand, I never deviated from the pepperoni-and-green-olive personal pan pizza. It was all mine and my brothers couldn’t touch it.  I can remember sitting at school on a Friday wiggling like crazy because I knew my parents were going to take my brothers and I up to the sprawling metropolis of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to go to Pizza Hut.

But fast forward a few years and I actually discovered that food that wasn’t either bread, deep-fried, or pepperoni was actually pretty good. As a French major in my third year of college, I moved to France to study abroad. Obviously, I was kind of in a sink-or-swim situation but I discovered a whole new technicolor world of food and fell in love with a ton of different and new things. It also helped solidify the fact that I have and always will detest sweet bell peppers and mushrooms. So those never show up on my pizza. Ever. I would probably die.

Thanks to my semester in France, my tastes in food are all over the board. Now Hubs is the picky one (he insists he’s not, but that’s a big fat lie.) But fortunately for him, there’s no vinegar on this pizza. I made the pizza dough using Buxton Brewery‘s fruity and sweet Axe Edge IPA. Buxton is a brewery located in Derbyshire, England and a brewery that I’m quite quickly growing to love. They’re doing some interesting special reserve series beers like their Russian Imperial Stout, Tsar Bomba, that was crafted with Brettanomyces. I also really like several of their other bottle-conditioned beers like the India Red Ale, High Tor, and their American Rye pale amber ale. They’re some clever folks down there and I thought what’s better than to use some IPA for this dense but crunchy-on-the-outside pizza dough.

But seeing as how Pizza Hut is old news for me, I’ve kind of grown up beyond the personal pan pizza. Now I don’t mind sharing a pizza (but not with my brothers) and putting funny sounding things on top of it like hallooooooummi cheese with some in-season aruuuuuuuuugula pesto (or rrrrrrrrrocket, to the non-colonials) and a little fresh springtime funny fennel. The green olives will always make an appearance though. It’s not a pizza without ‘em.

Buxton Brewery Axe Edge IPA pizza with halloumi, fennel, and arugula pesto.

IPA Pizza with Halloumi, Fennel, and Arugula Pesto

Yield: 2 large pizzas

Prep Time: Overnight + 30 minutes

Cook Time: 15 min

Total Time: Overnight + 30 minutes

The pizza dough is rather dense, but still has some nice bubbles in it. Feel free to substitute any beer you like: a lot of beer pizza dough recipes call for a lager of some sort but have fun experimenting with IPAs, pale ales, or even a nice dry stout.

Ingredients:

For the IPA Pizza Dough
1/2 cup (120ml) beer, warmed to about 110˚F/43˚C
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups (295ml) beer, at room temperature
2TB extra-virgin olive oil
1 3/4 cup (210g) all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cup (250g) bread flour
1 1/2tsp kosher salt
Olive oil or non-stick cooking spray

For the Arugula (Rocket) Pesto
6 garlic cloves, unpeeled
1/2 cup (54g) shelled walnuts
2 cups arugula/rocket, stems removed
1/2 cup (120ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup (50g) grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Toppings
1 can of whole plum tomatoes, drained and crushed with your hands
250g Halloumi cheese, sliced
1 small fennel bulb, sliced into thin half-moons
Green olives, sliced
Grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Sprinkle the yeast over the warmed beer and let stand for about 5 minutes or until it is frothy and dissolved.
Add the room-temperature beer and the olive oil. Stir to combine. Set aside.

In a food processor, pulse together the flour and the salt.

Continue to pulse while adding the liquid but holding back a couple of tablespoons. Pulse in the processor until it becomes smooth and elastic and starts to form up into a ball. (If the dough doesn't start to form up, add the reserved couple of tablespoons of liquid.)

Remove from the food processor onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead a couple of times to smooth it out and form into a ball.

Grease a large bowl with the olive oil or cooking spray. Place the dough into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Let rise for about 2-2 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.

After the dough has risen, punch it down and reform it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or at least 8 hours.

When ready to prepare the pizza, preheat the oven to 425˚F/220˚C. If using a pizza stone, pop that in the oven at this time and let preheat for at least 30 minutes. Split the dough ball in half. Form each half into balls. (You can freeze the unused half by wrapping it in plastic wrap and then again in foil. Pop in the freezer for up to three months.)

Take the dough that you're using, and let it relax for about 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes.

Form the dough in the dimensions that you want--about 12" for a thicker crust pizza or 14" for a thinner crust and place it in your oiled pizza pan. (If using a pizza peel, dust that with cornmeal or semolina flour)

Now add the toppings by first spreading a generous amount of the arugula/rocket pesto as the base. Then add evenly the crushed tomatoes. Top with the Halloumi cheese, the fennel slices, and green olives. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake in the oven for about 8-12 minutes or until golden brown. (Transfer from the peel onto the preheated stone, if using.)

Slice and serve.

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To make the arugula pesto
Take the unpeeled garlic cloves and cook in a skillet over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes or until browned in spots. Allow to cool and then peel. Set aside.

Then, take the walnuts and toast them in the same skillet over medium heat until you start to smell a roasted flavor--about 2-3 minutes.

Combine the cleaned arugula, salt, walnuts and all of the garlic in a food processor. While pulsing, add in the olive oil. Once combined really well, pour the mixture into a bowl and add in the Parmesan cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2008/06/24/basic-pizza-dough/
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/arugula_pesto/

Yup. It’s almost spring!

Saturday was probably the nicest day of the year so far and the first real indication that spring was coming. So, Hubs and I took Layla out for a nice long walk to a place that’s locally known as “Doggie Heaven”–a nice walking path that opens up into two huge fields that our labradorable pup can’t get into any trouble in. Layla had a ball (literally and figuratively) and ran and ran for probably an hour straight. That’s roughly the amount of time it takes to get some actual slack in the leash when we put it back on her.

So, yeah, spring is knocking on the door and I couldn’t be happier. This winter was rather tough on me–the lack of daylight and sunshine really gets ya down and it’s one of the only things I dislike about England. But now that the sun is shining and it’s staying light out past 4pm, I’ve got an extra little spring (pun intended) in my step.

Hubs and I are already daydreaming about springtime bocce ball tournaments on The Stray and summertime BBQs. He recently brewed a pale ale and an IPA that’ll be perfect for a (kind of) warm weather party. I know some people like lagers in warm weather but I think nothing is more refreshing than a nice citrusy and bitter American pale ale or IPA. And now that the sun is gracing us with its presence, I’ve got a craving for that orange & grapefruit flavor with a lingering bitterness. Which brings me to today’s Featured Brew: Rocky Head Brewery’s Pale Ale.

Rocky Head Brewery is a new brewery (circa 2012) based out of London and is self-described as “probably the most ramshackle in the UK.” I was introduced to this American-craft-brewing-scene-inspired brewery by our pals at Ake and Humprhis here in Harrogate. They spot us Americans coming from a mile away and are great at introducing us to the hop-forward, intensely-flavored, high-quality styles that they know we like. Hence, Rocky Head’s Pale Ale.

TASTING NOTES:

Style: American Pale Ale

ABV%:  6.5%

Serving: From bottle into stemmed beer glass.

Appearance: Beautiful, dense 2-finger off-white head. Medium amber color. Hazy with some minimal clarity, delicate lacing and some carbonation.

Aroma: Citrus, orange, caramel, malty sweetness, some florals/grass, brown sugar

Flavor:  Hoppy bitterness from the start but as it warmed up the malt came through more and it became more well-balanced. Hops freshness, lemongrass, grapefruit, grass, brown sugar. Slight alcohol warmth as the beer warms.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light bodied, prickly from bitterness, alcohol, and slight carbonation, some smooth viscosity. Lingers long and bitter and finishes dry.

Overall: Great beer. Hop forward and bitter with the mouthfeel that I like. It’s refreshing and flavorful and one of those beers that you could sit and drink 3 or 4 in a session. The flavors only get better as it gets warmer. I wish the distribution was a little more widespread because I’m going to want to drink this beer all summer!

Pairing Idea: This beer could stand up to flavorful and bold foods like BBQ ribs, smoked meats and firm-flesh fish like salmon and tuna. Pizza, hamburgers, and picnic food. Chipotle flavors, Indian curries, and spicy Thai and Szechuan foods would complement the flavors of the beer well and the lingering bitterness would carry the spices in the food a long way. An interesting try could be pound cake served with macerated oranges. Avoid delicate flavored food like poached fish, cream of “veggie” or broth-based soups.

I’ve embarrassed myself a couple of times too–it’s bound to happen. When it’s loud in there I have to concentrate a little bit more because the accent can throw me for a loop sometimes. I’m always convinced I hear people order gin, even when all they’ve done is order a tonic water (whooo–fun night out at the pub with your diet tonic water over ice. Sheesh–I’ll make you a coffee!) Or the regular who orders a Rooster’s Buckeye and it sounds like he’s saying “Burka” and I have to ask him three times what he said. It also doesn’t help when people order a drink and I have no idea what it is. Like a “lager top.” A guy ordered that the other day and I just blinked at him and said “Sorry, I’m American and I have no idea what that is.” Or a “Whisky Mac.” Which is 1 part whisky and 2 parts ginger wine.

I’ve also confused the hell out of some people in there as well. I’ve learned that nobody here knows what I mean by a “twist” in their drink or that 6-even is not a number to them. I get giggles when I tell people it’s “last call” as opposed to “last orders.” And I guess saying “Sir” and “Ma’am” pegs me as an American. The “punters” (customers) seem taken-aback when I say it to them at first but then grow to quite like it. And who said the British had the monopoly on being polite? ‘Mericuh!!!

I’ve really come to like the pub culture–it’s not something we really have in the States. We made sure to seek out some pubs when we were in Ireland recently and–from a purely superficial point of view–it seems to have a similar feel to the pubs in the England. So, as a nod to our recent trip to Galway and to my new career as a Pint-Puller Extraordinaire I’d like to give you this Irish Pub Beer Pairing Menu. Hope you like it!

Irish Pub Beer Pairing Menu
Yellow Split Pea and Ham Soup Paired with Eight Degrees Brewing Sunburnt Irish Red Ale	Soup Yellow Split Pea and Ham Soup Paired with Eight Degrees Brewing Sunburnt Irish Red Ale

Smoked Salmon Fish Cakes Paired with Porterhouse Brewing Oyster Stout

Main Smoked Salmon Fish Cakes Paired with Porterhouse Brewing Co. Oyster Stout

Irish Apple Cake Paired with Galway Hooker Irish Pale Ale

Dessert Irish Apple Cake Paired with Galway Hooker Irish Pale Ale

Galway Hooker Irish Pale Ale

Hubs likes it when I do these beer pairing menus for the blog because he knows that it’s going to end up with a dessert. He lives and breathes for “cakes, cookies, pies” (his motto in life.) He has such a sweet tooth I think I’ve seen him drool over some of Layla’s doggie-chocolate-covered treats. It’s kind of sad really. When we go grocery shopping he always tells me that we “need” brownie mix. It always ends up in the cart despite my protests that nobody really “needs” brownie mix. I guess he does.

So, when I sent him to the store the other day asking for cooking apples and caster sugar, his eyes lit up like an cheerleader on speed. I could see his mind working: “cakes, cookies, pies…cakes, cookies, pies…” I told him that I was going to be making a homemade apple cake to pair with the Galway Hooker Irish Pale Ale that we brought home from Ireland with us.

I thought that the Galway Hooker would be a good pairing with the apple cake for a number of reasons: its medium-light body complements the light, moist, but not overly rich cake and its delicate carbonation, bitterness, and dry finish adds, what I think, is an interesting contrast to the dessert that is somehow able to lift up the flavor of the apples in the cake. There’s a decent malty backbone that complements the sweetness of the apples and streusel and the roasted caramel flavors go well with the bready, spicy, and slightly sweet cake. As I mentioned in my post last week about the Galway Hooker, there was a certain fruity ester like green raisin and apples that I find goes quite nicely with the tart-and-sweet apple slices in the dessert. Yum!

So, here ya go: my Irish Apple Cake. It satisfies one-third of the “cakes, cookies, pies” requirement.

Irish Apple Cake Paired with Galway Hooker Irish Pale Ale

Apple Cake

Yield: Serves 8

Prep Time: 45 min

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 45 min

This cake is moist and sweet but it couldn't hurt to add a homemade caramel drizzle over the top instead of dusting with powdered sugar.

Make sure you use cooking apples like Braeburns.

Ingredients:

450g/1lb cooking apples
175g/1 1/2 cups + 2tsp self-rising flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
115g/4oz/1 stick unsalted butter (+ extra for greasing the pan), softened
115g/ 1/2 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
2TB milk
confectioners sugar for dusting

For the streusel topping
115g/1 cup + 2tsp self-rising flour
85g/3oz unsalted butter, softened
85g/ 3/8cup caster sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F
Grease a 9-inch springform cake tin.

Core, peel, and thinly slice the apples. Put them in a bowl and cover them with water and a few drops of lemon juice to prevent browning while preparing the rest.

Prepare the streusel topping by sifting the flour into a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture is the consistency of breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and set aside.

Sift together the flour, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

Cream together the stick of butter and the caster sugar with an electric beater until light and fluffy in a separate large bowl. Gradually beat in the eggs.

Gently stir in half of the flour mixture. Then fold in the rest with the milk.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and smooth it out. Cover it with the sliced apples. Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the top.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour or until browned and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin before removing the sides. Dust the cake with the confectioners sugar and serve.

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The Porterhouse Brewing Co. Oyster Stout

When we took our recent trip over to Galway, one of the things I was most excited about was the seafood. I had been humming the traditional Irish song “Cockles and Mussels” for like three days and I was bound and determined to get some while we were there.

I wasn’t able to get any cockles but I did have mussels. And mackerel. And salmon. And cod. And sole. And seafood chowder. Come to think of it, I grew gills over our long weekend. And that is totally fine with me.

As most of you know but in case you didn’t, there’s something almost ethereal about pairing a classic Irish stout with seafood. We’re probably not going to make it but there’s the huge Galway International Oyster Festival that takes place over there every year. Now a stout tends to go best with certain seafood like mussels, crab, and calamari but it also complements and brings out certain flavors in mackerel, sardines, and smoked fish. Therefore, I paired this Porterhouse Brewing Co’s Oyster Stout with my smoky and fishy fish cakes. Fishy fish cakes. I like that.

The Oyster Stout is actually brewed with oysters that are thrown into the conditioning tank and it brings with it a certain salty brineyness (?) that is able to bring out the fresh fish flavors in the fishy fish cake. The stout also complements the smoked salmon flavors while the smooth mouthfeel and medium body goes well with the intensity of the fishcakes and allows them both to take center stage without competing with each other. The beer has an interesting “sea water” aspect to it that really kind of pulls out the sea flavors from the fish. The caramel malty notes complements the sweetness of the fish while the medium bitterness and roasted dryness provides a nice contrast to the relative richness of these Smoked Salmon Fish Cakes.

Smoked Salmon Fish Cakes Paired with Porterhouse Brewing Oyster Stout

Smoked Salmon Fish Cakes

Yield: 8 fish cakes

Prep Time: 40 min

Cook Time: 10 min

Total Time: 50 min

You can substitute any fish for the salmon--cod, haddock, smoked trout. You can also mix and match between smoked and fresh fish. If you make these with half smoked, half fresh fish the smoky flavor will be more subtle and that fresh fish flavor will come through.

Ingredients:

250g/8 oz or four medium sized potatoes, cooked and mashed
250g/1/2 lb smoked salmon, cooked, skinned, and flaked
250g/1/2 lb fresh salmon, cooked, skinned, and flaked
few drop Tabasco sauce
Juice of 1 lemon
2TB finely chopped parsley
1 large egg yolk, beaten
plain flour
2 large eggs, beaten
Plain white bread crumbs
olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions:

Cook and mash the potatoes and set aside allowing them to cool.
In the meantime, pan-fry the salmon filets. When finished, flake the salmon meat off the skin. Allow to cool.

Once cooled, mix together the mashed potatoes, salmon, the Tabasco, lemon, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.

Knead in the beaten egg yolk to bind.

Lightly flour a flat surface and form the mixture into cakes. Allow them to refrigerate for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 150˚C/300˚F

Dip the cakes into the beaten egg and then coat with breadcrumbs.

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat. Once heated, brown all sides of each cake--about 2-3 minutes per side.

Then bake the cakes in the oven for about 10 minutes or until heated all the way through.

Garnish with lemon wedges and serve.

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