First time cooking with my own brew!!!!

I made a Stout beef stew today. I took about 7 bottles of my own irish stout, some beef, carrots, potatoes, celery, and some herbs. Let that stew for a few hours and .....BAM......that's one tasty stew. I tried that same recipe with Guiness once and that was really good but mine had a different, but good, flavor to it. Anyone else try cooking with their own brew?

all the time. I marinate meat in it overnight, boil sausages in it, and put it into stews, shepherd's pie, pot pies, gravy, etc, etc, etc.

-walker

i'd hate to "waste" it like that. I mean we spend so much time making it.... there again, I don't cook with alcohol much at all anyway....

i usually only 'waste' one bottle when I cook with it. seven bottles seems like a lot, and I would probably have issues with myself for doing it, but I can forgive myself for putting a 12 oz of homebrew into a meal.

-walker

A bottle goes into every batch of Chili that I make.

2nd Street Brewery said:

A bottle goes into every batch of Chili that I make.

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oh now thaty sounds interesting. a bottle of what exactly????

Just the empty bootle??

When simmering brats before grilling I use the cheapest beer I can find, usually some Miller or Michelob that someone brought over for a party and left. I'm not convinced I could tell the difference. However, for a stew or meat pie it might be a different story.

BeeGee said:

However, for a stew or meat pie it might be a different story.

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It is. Believe me, if you throw some good stout into a meat pie or stew, it adds quite a bit of character.

-walker

Sounds good. What kind of beer you putting in your chili, 2nd st?

The one bad batch I ever made (so far) was an extract porter. Too many tannins; it had a real bite and was just not drinkable. Rather than dump it, I kept it around for marinating, boiling, steaming - it was great for that. Just not so great for drinking. I took me several months to go through it all, but at least I got something out of it!

LupusUmbrus said:

Sounds good. What kind of beer you putting in your chili, 2nd st?

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I like going with a darker beer for more flavor. I prefer lagers, but they don't seem to add much. The last batch I made I used a strong English ale in. I use whole tomatoes and drain everything well so the extra liquid into the mix doesn't make it too watery.

2nd Street Brewery said:

I use whole tomatoes...

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IN CHILI? That is absolute heresy!

you can't argue with the soup nazi on that one....

-walker

You have to remember, I'm a Yankee I can promise you that what I call chili probably has no resemblence to what you consider chili in Texas. I've seen a couple of chili competitions on the food network and my chili ain't nothing like thiers. Probably shouldn't call it chili but what the heck, all my friends like it so that's what i get to make when we all get together for the races or football or whatever.

Chili's one of those funny things...get 200 people together and you'll get 1000 recipes for it.

Funny thing too is that chili is just the pepper, not the beans or the meat...hmmm, I wonder why we call it chili?

homebrewer_99 said:

Funny thing too is that chili is just the pepper, not the beans or the meat...hmmm, I wonder why we call it chili?

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I believe it was originally called "chili soup" but time has shortened the name.

-walker

homebrewer_99 said:

Chili's one of those funny things...get 200 people together and you'll get 1000 recipes for it.

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But only one of them will be the right recipe...mine.

You know I would love an authentic Texas chili recipe. What's it going to take to make you give it up?

2nd Street Brewery said:

You know I would love an authentic Texas chili recipe. What's it going to take to make you give it up?

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Here's a poorly formatted version. This is not exactly an authentic texas red, in that it uses whole peppers, onions, and garlic, as well as chili powder, but it's sure good. Takes 12 to 24 hours to cook, makes about 10 quarts IIRC.

Don't see anything did you attach it somehow? What's the difference between it and texas red?

Sorry, forgot the link...here tis

Thanks. looks great. Can't wait to try it. One of my buds is having Football Sunday at his house next week, think I'll try it then.

2nd Street Brewery said:

Don't see anything did you attach it somehow? What's the difference between it and texas red?

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First, there aren't any beans in Texas Chili. There sure ain't no whole tomatoes or celery in their either.

This recipe is close but not exactly what I would use. May I sugest the following:

Chili – Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Note: When this chili recipe reaches beta testing stage, it will be given an official chili recipe version number.

1 lb bacon ends
2 lbs ground pork
4 lbs ground beef – chili grind

(Meat block is good don't change a thing)

4 medium yellow onions - chopped
4 heaping tablespoons minced garlic

(Good here too, A touch more garlic wouldn't hurt )

3 anaheim peppers - chopped
2 green bell peppers- chopped
1 red bell pepper- chopped
2 poblano peppers – chopped
3 jalapeno peppers- chopped

(I'd scratch the bell peppers and put in another two poblano chilis)

½ cup red wine
4 serrano peppers

(God No! Red wine? Put 1/2 bottle of bock or dopplebock in there instead)

3 T sea salt
3 T cumin
6 T whole dried Mexican oregano

1¼ cup chili powder ( ¼ cup Chili Chipotle, ¼ cup hot chimayo chili powder, ¾ cup mild chimayo chili powder)

2 quarts beef broth

1 c. cornmeal

(Use Masa Harina instead of corn meal. This is important! You mix it into a slury and add it as a thinkening agent toward the end.)

Yield: about 4 quarts

This puppy is gonna be HOT! Make sure you've got plenty of beer to wash it down but keep a glass of ice cold milk close by for emergencies.

2nd Street Brewery said:

What's the difference between it and texas red?

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A traditional Texas Red is just cubed steak, chili powder, oregano, cumin, salt, and beef stock, with masa harina for thickening...just the powders carried on the chuck wagon added to today's slaughtered cull.

Just to see what all the fuss was about, I tried cooking with beer today. I used a bottle of Guiness that I'd been saving. Just for the record, Guiness scrambled eggs are not worth eating. Don't try it in pancakes, either.

Originally, cowboys made chili by slow cooking or boiling meat. The meat would have spices (like peppers) pounded into it to preserve it on the trip. A true chili should be nothing more than meat, peppers and water (and maybe masa).

I like to use a dark, sweet beer to counter the heat and some tomatos and onions. The absolute best chili I've ever tasted was a vegeterian cashew chili.

Yesterday was bottling day for my Irish Stout (Olde Town Stout). I used the 8 or so ounces left over and marinated some chicken breasts.
400 deg oven & WOW! It was great. Wife, kids and friends kids all loved it.
The broth was great over rice, would have make a great gravy too.

I recently had a siphon accident with my coffee stout and ended up with a pint sized 'sample'. I drank some of it, but still had about 10 oz left over. I couldn't bring myself to throw it away, so I left it in the fridge.

My wife saw it there Saturday, and ended up making Shepherds Pie that evening. Gooooooooooooooooood sh*t. I think the two of us together ate about 4 pounds of it in one sitting.

-walker

Funny thing too is that chili is just the pepper, not the beans or the meat...hmmm, I wonder why we call it chili?

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I'm pretty sure peppers are chile with an E, the stew is chili with an I.

NE Iowa is farm country and the chili here is loaded with tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, pork & beans and hambuger, most recipes call for one Tbs chili powder, salt and pepper, I call it tomato hamburger soup, it sure aint chili.