India Pale Ale seems to be a problem beer to make well, or at least to my (irritating) standards. There are two main IPA styles, English and American, and both are defined by the use of hops, which of course give beer aroma, flavor and bitterness. Overgeneralizing, IPAs brewed in the East tend to follow the English IPA model, which uses English hops that give a grassy, flowery, herbal character to the beer, and the hops are used more to balance the malt sweetness than to highlight the bitterness they impart. The problem I find is that too often, these beers are too balanced, or worse, malty with only a little bitterness, ruining the whole point of IPA. American IPAs, on the other hand, use… wait for it… American hops, like the standard-bearing Cascade, Centennial, and Columbus hops grown in the Pacific Northwest, known for their citrusy, even piney aroma and flavor. American IPAs tend to go wrong by brewing with buckets of hops dumped into the beer without worrying about a malt base, and the beer winds up astringent and mouth-puckeringly unpleasant.

Ithaca Flower Power IPA is definitely modeled in the American IPA style. When I first drank this beer, about six or seven years ago, it was far tamer than today, and frankly boring and forgettable. Brewmaster changes, and evolving recipes and palates apparently contributed to the emergence of this beer as one for the short list in a bar or beer store today. And at 7.5% alcohol by volume, it’s the right strength for the style but not so big that you can’t enjoy two or three in an evening.

Flower Power IPA pours a clear, light amber, and at first kicks up a tall, big-bubbled head, but that settles to a thin layer shortly, and sticks around till the end. The aroma is just beautiful — all hops, the hallmark of a good IPA, and in this case it’s a boatload of citrus and tropical fruits: grapefruit dominates, with sweeter orange and pineapple notes throughout.

Ithaca dry-hops Flower Power, which greatly increases these hop aromas for the better. Dry-hopping a beer just means that the brewer adds a pile of hops to the fermenter, after the beer has been brewed. The aromatic compounds in the hops are therefore not boiled off as they would be during brewing, while at the same time the bittering compounds don’t get broken down to the point where they can add bitterness. The beer just smells hoppier, which in the case of most IPAs, helps the finished product.

Naturally, these aromas carry through into the flavor of the beer, with oranges dominating the grapefruit rind, and a slight sweetness from the malt to counter the bracing hop bitterness is more pronounced. This beer is rather highly carbonated, and that prickliness only seems to accentuate the hop bitterness here. The rough bitterness that explodes all over the palate continues through the finish, drying out my throat in a most pleasant manner. Just a tasty, tasty beverage.

As with all things in life, Flower Power does have a flaw. I’ve noticed that this beer breaks down pretty quickly. After maybe 6-8 weeks after bottling, it kind of falls apart, with the hop aroma rather significantly faded and the body turning waaaay too balanced for my IPA tastes. So check your date code — the Best By date tends to be three months after bottling.

I purchased this at the brewery, as it’s a scenic twenty minute drive from Mom’s house; by the case it’s around $40.00 there, but six-packs, there and here (Whole Foods Bowery should pay me for these constant mentions, but they do not) are around $12. Two dollars a bottle isn’t much for the IPA I’d vote as the best the East Coast has to offer, and if you’ve been looking for a bracingly hoppy beer brewed in the state, you won’t do better than Flower Power IPA.

© BeerBoor for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: beer, IPA, Ithaca Brewing

Oh, what’s this?  Did Yvo try baking again?  Why yes, yes she did.  Well, not exactly.  It’s nice to have friends who are actually adept at things, who will, when she lends a cookbook to (that she won at Foodbuzz fest, actually) and subsequently begs them to bake something in the book and take pictures so she can blog it will not only do so willingly and gladly, but then will share the results with her so she can form her own opinion on the recipe. 

Awesome.  That’s what awesome friends do, right?  Right?! 

 Mmm, Savory Baking by Mary Cech (Chronicle Books, 2009) is chock-full of baked goods that aren’t sweet.  My kind of thing. 

With one glaring exception.  I didn’t think they were salty enough.  Salt is meant to enhance and bring out flavor in the items in which it is playing.  This needed a little more salt.  So, my one modification – if I were a more confident baker – would be to increase salt in the recipe.  Instead, if I make these myself (read: ask someone else to make them for me again), I would layer a half measure into the muffin cup, then sprinkle some sea salt, top with more batter, and then bake like that.  As it was, I just toasted them after slicing in half, then spread butter and sprinkled sea salt on that.  DELICIOUS with the extra salt!!

Recipe to follow in original form:

Savory Baking
Mary Cech
Chronicle Books, 2009

Sharp Cheddar and Cherry Muffins

1 cup dried cherries
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups (8 ounces) finely grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil

Preheat the over to 350 degrees F and butter and lightly flour the inside of 8 muffin cups. Put the cherries in a small bowl and pour enough hot water over them to cover the tops. Set aside for 10 minutes; then drain.

Put the flour, cheese, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and gently stir just to blend the ingredients. Whisk the cherries, milk, eggs, and oil together in a small bowl. Pour the milk mixture over the flour mixture and stir together just until a soft, wet dough forms.

Spoon the dough evenly into each muffin cup. Bake until the tops are lightly browned and spring back when gently touched in the center, about 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place on a cooling rack.

When the muffins are cool, turn the pan upside down and tap the corner of the pan on the countertop to release each muffin. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or refrigerate for 4 to 5 days. Warm the muffins by placing them in a preheated 300 degree oven for about 5 minutes or splitting them in half and putting them under a broiler until lightly browned.

Happy eating!!!

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baked goods, muffins

Cuties or Mandarin oranges.  I bought a 3lb bag for $3.99 from the Korean supermarket.  Yummy – thin skinned, easy to peel, and no seeds.  Not sure it gets better than that in terms of oranges.  Another mostly unremarkable day; I went to a taping of Emeril Lagasse’s new show, which was pretty boring to be honest… and then ate miso udon for dinner, per my usual MO.  Blissed out day of (semi) relaxation…  

What is Project 365?

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 365

A reader of mine alerted me to the opening of Dumpling Cafe in Forest Hills about a year ago, and I’ve been meaning to go check it out for a while.  I was a lil disappointed when I finally got over there and discovered it appeared to be little more than a take out Chinese place… with a few items of interest on the menu.  Unfortunately, being the silly girl I am, I didn’t manage to try those this first time. 

Being called the Dumpling Cafe, I of course ordered pork dumplings (fried).  This order of 8 was $4.95. 

They were remarkably juicy and I liked the black vinegar provided with the dumplings.  Tasty.  At the same time, though, I could get these in bags of 50 at the Chinese supermarket.  They weren’t amazing – but they were very good.  (I’m jaded because of my intense fascination with dumplings.) 

Dumpling Cafe has something I haven’t seen in years though – an under $5 lunch special!  I think the last time I saw that was when I was attending SUNY Albany, over 11 years ago.  Between 11am and 3:30pm, for $4.59 plus tax, you get vegetable fried rice or rice, choice of hot & sour soup, wonton soup or soda, and a main course.  I chose sesame chicken because I don’t have much experience with Chinese takeout, but when I did used to order it a bit, I used to love sesame chicken (basically, General Tso’s chicken, but not spicy, is what I was told).  They have a good selection for the main, though no dumplings, which kind of annoyed me.  One of the choices should be just dumplings!!!  They make an excellent meal on their own! 

The sesame chicken was flavorful, tender and not over-sauced.  Some pieces were a little bready, but not all of them, and the broccoli was still tender- which I love.  In fact, they put the broccoli on the bottom, almost as if to buoy the chicken over the sauce, to prevent sogginess.  I was happy with that. 

As for the wonton soup… I was interested when I saw bright green leaves floating in there, but couldn’t determine why they looked like torn basil but tasted like nothing. 

The wontons themselves were, as expected, pretty flat and flimsy. 

The broth was a lil lacking – maybe a dash of salt to liven it up?  But sufficient considering it came with the meal for $5.  I would imagine the hot & sour soup might be a better bet, though curiously, egg drop soup is not on the menu anywhere nor on the lunch special offerings. 

I’d ordered the vegetable fried rice with this, which was good as far as fried rice goes.  Of course, I’d have preferred pork fried rice, but for less than $5, I’m not complaining.  The veggie fried rice had a decent amount of veggies and traces of egg, which is a plus in my book.  Extra protein! 

Yvo says: The delivery range extends to me (though I’m not on the same side of Queens Boulevard, and I’m not THAT close), which is awesome.  The delivery minimum is $10… but any case, I’m glad to have Dumpling Cafe in the area for when I’m too lazy for (or have run out of) my frozen dumpling supply, because their dumplings are good, plus the lunch specials are SUPER cheap!  There are also two sections on the menu that I am totally interested in: “Noodle Soup” which may be worth checking out – $5.95 for wonton, pork dumpling, chicken dumpling, beef noodle, curry chicken… noodle soups… hmmm…. and “Snacks” which includes scallion pancakes for $1.75, Asian beef/chicken skewers for $3, that sort of thing interests me greatly.  I will definitely be ordering from them again sooner than later!  Yummy!  Welcome to the neighborhood, Dumpling Cafe!!!
recommended neighborhood eats/takeout/delivery

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dumplings

When in doubt, post a pic of the pup.  Staring at me, asking me again why I am not sleeping yet or petting her. 

Today was an ordinary day; school, school, school.  Home, right, work, etc.  I meant to take a pic of my dinner today – I have a break between two classes where I study and scarf down dinner – because today’s was the biggest yet.  Thin slices of pot roast on toasted potato bread spread with (still cold, still congealed) gravy that melted into the bread, omg SO GOOD…; 5 mini “cuties”/Mandarin oranges; stick of Monterey jack cheese from Trader Joe’s; bag of salt & pepper Pop chips; pretzels and hummus (individual size); and of course, a bottle of Diet Pepsi (I go to a Pepsi school).  Yum yum yum.  Awesome night of eating in class, hah. 

What is Project 365?

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Post tags: 365