(Food) Recipes from Extreme Brewing

I'm baching it for a few weekends this month, and I am planning on doing a lot of cooking and pairing with beer (SWMBO is celiac, so the only time I can do a lot of that is when she is out of town). I own a copy of Extreme Brewing, and I was taking a look at a few of the recipes. I was wondering if anyone out there had tried any of them, and if you recommend any in particular. At the very least, I will check back in on this thread from time to time this month with reviews of anything I have tried.

This weekend, I am definitely trying the steak ale marinade. The "Cowboy Sundae" with the chocolate sauce-stout reduction and brown sugar-pale ale reduction may also get a run.

Any other recipes that I must try?

Just made the ale soaked steamers. You sauté fennel and rosemary in butter, add a brown ale, bring it to a boil, and steam the clams.

Like the brewing recipes in the book, the food recipes leave some important details out. No indication of how high the burner should be.

The end result wasn't bad, but I would make some changes if I tried it again. The predominant flavor of the broth is burned rosemary. The 15 minute sauté was too much. Brown ale wasn't a bad pair, but I might try a lighter beer next time.

I made the steak ale sauce tonight. The recipe calls for shallots, garlic, and rosemary to be sautéed in olive oil. You then add part of a dark beer (Bock or Dubbel), and reduce. The stir in 1/2 cup balsamic, and simmer. Marinade steak in half the sauce, and serve the steak with the rest.

As soon as I saw the half cup balsamic, I knew that no beer was going to stand up to it. I still used a Dubbel, but it was one from New Belgium that I got as part of a mixed 6er; no way I was subjecting a Chimay to death by balsamic.

The sauce was not bad. They did measure the shallots and garlic by weight, which was a little weird; most chefs use volume for those kind of things. I was careful with the sauté time; the instructions as written are asking for burnt garlic and rosemary if prepared by inexperienced cooks. There was a slight hint of beer behind the balsamic, but only slight. I might try a similar sauce with a sour beer. But then if I buy a steak, I usually let it stand on its own. Not bad, but like the clams, nothing special.

Keep it up and I'm going to have to dig that book out of the closet!

Thanks for posting this, I had all but forgotten that book even had food recipes in it and these sound delish!

HerbieHowells said:

Like the brewing recipes in the book, the food recipes leave some important details out. No indication of how high the burner should be.

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By definition, a saute is a quick, high heat cooking method. Steaming is also done with high heat and usually fairly quick depending on the ingredient.

HerbieHowells said:

They did measure the shallots and garlic by weight, which was a little weird; most chefs use volume for those kind of things.

Click to expand...

Actually, most chefs go by instinct, or measure solid ingredients by weight. Liquids are measured via volume.

EyePeeA said:

By definition, a saute is a quick, high heat cooking method. Steaming is also done with high heat and usually fairly quick depending on the ingredient.

Click to expand...

Saute was actually my word; the actual recipe tells you to add the fennel and rosemary to the butter and "cook for 15 minutes, being sure not to burn the fennel." I proceeded as I would if slowly cooking sliced onions, but I thought a temperature indication would be helpful for someone with less cooking experience, and if I were to edit the recipe, I would add the rosemary much later in the process.

EyePeeA said:

Actually, most chefs go by instinct, or measure solid ingredients by weight. Liquids are measured via volume.

Click to expand...

Every cookbook I use calls for shallots or garlic by cloves, teaspoons, or cups. Even other recipes in this cookbook call for "two garlic cloves" or something along those lines. It really wasn't a huge deal, I just thought it was a little strange. Even weight isn't a great measure for garlic, as some cloves just pack more of a punch than others, so yes, instinct is important.

HerbieHowells said:

Saute was actually my word; the actual recipe tells you to add the fennel and rosemary to the butter and "cook for 15 minutes, being sure not to burn the fennel." I proceeded as I would if slowly cooking sliced onions, but I thought a temperature indication would be helpful for someone with less cooking experience, and if I were to edit the recipe, I would add the rosemary much later in the process.

Click to expand...

Cooking them without color until translucent and/or wilted... that would be sweating the vegetables over something like medium to medium-low heat, while occassionally stirring. Basically, you want to remove the water and concentrate the flavor without darkening the vegetables. Saute actually translates to "Jump". You occassionally jump the food in a scorching hot saute pan so that it cooks very quickly & evenly on all sides.

Rosemary is one of those hardy herbs (like thyme) that is best used in the beginning of the cooking process. Add it too late, and you'll have something so overpowering and not particularly layered with flavor.

HerbieHowells said:

Every cookbook I use calls for shallots or garlic by cloves, teaspoons, or cups. Even other recipes in this cookbook call for "two garlic cloves" or something along those lines. It really wasn't a huge deal, I just thought it was a little strange. Even weight isn't a great measure for garlic, as some cloves just pack more of a punch than others, so yes, instinct is important.

Click to expand...

True. However, the rules in traditional French cooking are a little different when making a sauce. You need to get some ingredients exact and realize how much is being boiled off while reducing for the perfect sauce. Grams are a very accurate unit of measurement to get a sauce tasting exactly the same if you make it 1,000 times. However, there comes a point where you don't need to measure anymore... you eyeball it.