Beer for Dinner

• 50 chicken wings, wing tips removed (save for future soup stock, if desired)
• 2 (12-ounce) bottles beer
• 1 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup prepared mustard
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
• 1 to 2 lemons, sliced thin, for garnish

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a large roasting pan with foil.

Cut chicken wings in half at the joint and place wings evenly in roasting pan.

In a large, heavy saucepan, combine the beer, molasses, peanut butter, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt, and chili powder.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer over low heat about 15 minutes until sauce has reduced and thickened.

Pour sauce over chicken wings, tossing to coat each wing. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes.

Place wings on a large platter, and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Garnish with lemon slices and serve.

Yield: 15 to 20 servings

Thanks to Peggy Trowbridge

Labels: chicken, chilipowder, lemon, molasses, mustard, parsley, peanutbutter, wings, worcestershiresauce

Posted by Steve at 9:03 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

• 1/4 pound bacon
• 5 pounds chuck roast (have butcher cut into 1-pound portions and net or tie
• with butcher's twine)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1-1/2 cups chopped carrot
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 quart water
• 2 (12-ounce) bottles Guinness Stout
• 2 (12-ounce) bottles high quality lager (such as Beck's or Samuel Adams)
• 1/8 cup beef bouillon granules or paste
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
• 3/4 cup molasses
• 6 sprigs fresh sage
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme
• 4 sprigs fresh parsley

Blanching Vegetables:

• 1-1/2 pounds turnips, cut in large dice
• 1-1/2 pounds carrots, cut in large dice
• 1-1/2 pounds rutabagas, cut in large dice
• 2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into large dice
• Garnish: Fresh rosemary, thyme and sage sprigs

Cook bacon over medium heat in large oven-proof pot until fat has rendered,
3 to 5 minutes. Remove bacon, chop and set aside.

In a separate pan, brown roast on all sides in the vegetable oil.

To the rendered bacon fat in the pan add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic.
Cook until wilted and lightly browned. To the cooked vegetables, add water,
beers, bouillon, mustard, molasses, sage, thyme, and parsley. Bring to a
boil and place meat in pot with vegetables. Cut a piece of parchment paper
to fit over the pot and place it on top of mixture. Cover pan tightly with
foil.

Roast in oven at 375 degrees F. for 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Allow to cool then
skim fat. Remove roast and set aside. Simmer vegetables in cooking liquid
until crisp tender.

Garnish and serve with horseradish sauce.

Yield: 5 servings

Thanks to Robert

Labels: bacon, beef, carrot, celery, garlic, molasses, mustard, onions, potatoes, rutabagas, turnips

Posted by Steve at 9:54 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

• 1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar (packed)
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup brown ale beer (porter beer may be substituted)
• 1 cup mild molasses
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup boiling water
• 1 (9-inch) ready-to-use refrigerated pie crust (or frozen 9-inch pie shell, thawed)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In bowl of a food processor, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Pulse to mix. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Remove 1/2 cup of the crumb mixture and set aside.

In large bowl, beat egg until well blended. Add beer and molasses; stir until just combined. In small cup, dissolve baking soda in boiling water. Stir into molasses mixture; add crumb mixture from food processor bowl. Stir mixture until well blended.

Pour mixture into pie shell. Top with reserved 1/2 cup crumb mixture. Bake in oven 35 minutes, or until filling is puffed and just set, and crumb mixture is lightly golden. Cool completely.

Serves 8.

Nutrition Information, Per Serving: 410 calories; 12 g fat; 4.5 g saturated fat; 73 g carbohydrate

– National Beer Wholesaler’s Association and NWHerald.com

Labels: bakingsoda, brownsugar, butter, cinnamon, eggs, flour, molasses, pie

Posted by Steve at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

• 5 cups Guinness stout
• 1 cup dried cherries
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable or extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 (5 1/2-pound) pork shoulder roast
• Coarse sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 large red onions, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed black pepper
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 5 whole allspice, crushed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 3 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
• 2 pounds sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and roughly chopped

PREPARATION: Bring the stout, cherries and vinegar to a simmer in a saucepan. Transfer to a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let sit for at least 1 hour, or refrigerate it overnight.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Warm the oil in a Dutch oven over high heat. Season the pork shoulder with salt and ground black pepper and sear on all sides until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the pork shoulder to a platter. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the fat in the pot.

Add the onion and black pepper to the pot and saute for 7 minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking until the onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2 to 3 minutes longer. Add the pork shoulder, the marinated cherries and liquid, allspice, bay leaves, molasses, brown sugar, 1 teaspoon salt and 2 cups water. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover the pot, transfer it to the oven and braise for 1 hour, turning the pork once during cooking. Add the sweet potatoes and continue to braise for 2 more hours, turning two more times. If the sauce is too thin or is not flavored intensely enough, ladle most of it off into another pot and simmer it until it thickens and intensifies. Then add it back to the first pot. Slice the pork and serve with the sauce on top.

Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 905 calories, 31 grams fat, 78 grams protein, 63 grams carbohydrate, 6 grams fiber, 259 milligrams cholesterol, 569 milligrams sodium.
Source: "Braise: A Journey Through International Cuisine" by Daniel Boulud with Melissa Clark (HarperCollins Publishers, $32.50)

Link

Labels: brownsugar, cherries, garlic, molasses, pork, potatoes, vinegar, yams

Posted by Steve at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

• 1 large bunch fresh collard greens – you could also use turnip greens or other braising greens
• 1 onion
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. Bragg’s amino acids
• 1 T molasses
• 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 bottle of dark beer
• 2-4 c. of vegetable broth

Clean the collard greens thoroughly; they take much more washing than you would expect. Any dirt you miss will be very gritty in the final product. Some people say to put them in a bowl of water and swish the dirt off, dump that water out, and then repeat that several times. I’m always surprised by how dirt clings to them so stubbornly. I honestly might have given up on making them (or at least would have relegated them to a weekend-only food) if we hadn’t been able to start getting pre-washed collard greens at our farmer’s market on Saturdays.

Chop your greens into smaller pieces.

Chop the onion.

Put the olive oil in the bottom of a very large, preferably non-stick pot. (I use our biggest pot, because the greens take up so much space before they are cooked.) Heat on medium-high heat until the oil is hot; then cook the onion pieces in the oil until they soften some. Turn the heat down to medium.

Toss in the chili powder, Bragg’s, Worcestershire sauce, and molasses, and stir around. Pour in the dark beer, and stir it all together. Stir the collard greens into the pot, and then add broth until the greens are just barely (or even mostly) covered. Turn the heat down to medium-low and let them simmer, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Labels: chili, collard greens, hot, molasses, onion

Posted by Steve at 9:43 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post