Category Archives: Cooking with Beer

Beer Battered Cajun Crocodile Recipe (Dark Farmhouse – Microbrasserie Le Castor)

by Mike

A while back I found an amazing store that sold all kinds of weird and wild meats.  The place is called Hills Foods and it is located in Coquitlam BC.  While I was there I picked up some Crocodile but had no idea what to expect or how to cook it so it stayed in my freezer for some time.  Finally I found a recipe  on Cilantro Cooks that sounded like a great idea and I took the plunge and cooked it.

Ingredients List:

2lbs Crocodile sliced into strips
355ml of beer (Dark Farmhouse – Microbrasserie Le Castor)
1/2 Cup all purpose flour
1 Cup yellow corn meal
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp thyme powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
vegetable oil to fry crocodile

Cut your Crocodile into srips

Place cornmeal into a shallow dish.

In a different bowl add the beer and all of the spices together including salt and pepper.

Soak the crocodile in the beer and spice mixture and then cover in cornmeal by rolling meat in cornmeal.  Pace battered crocodile on wax paper.

In a large frying pan or skillet place 1/2 inch of oil into it and heat it up.  I set my element at medium-high.  Once oil hot place strips in.

Cook the crocodile until it is browned.  Then flip it over and fry it on that side.  Make sure meat is cooked to a good internal temperature.  Keep cooking the crocodile in small batches until you are done.

Once it is ready serve it wish a dipping sauce or salsa.  I used salsa.  I have to admit this is probably the weirdest thing I have every cooked but it ended up being really tasty.  Crocodile tastes similar to chicken.  This is the first time I have said that as usually I don’t agree with that sentiment.  The beer I used was not very fresh so I will not be reviewing it but it still tasted pretty good and using it to cook with it did not matter as much anyways.

Slow-Cooker Beef Stew with Stout (Darkling Oatmeal Stout – Cannery Brewing)

by Mike

With it being the season for St Patrick’s Day I decided I wanted to make a stew with a stout in an nod to Irish tradition.  I did a search and came up with this recipe from the Food Network as my source.

Ingredients List:

2 Pounds Yukon Gold Potatoes cut into 1 inch pieces unpeeled
1 Pound peeled carrots cut into 1 inch pieces
2 Large Onions finely chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
2 tablespoons parsley fresh
12oz of stout (Darkling Oatmeal Stout – Cannery Brewing)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
One 4 pound boneless beef chuck roast trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 cups chicken broth

In your slow cooker place the potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, parsley, stout, olive oil, brown sugar and tomato paste.

In a bowl mix flower, salt and pepper.

Take your cut steak and place it into the flour mix.  Coat them and shake off the excess.

In a medium sized skillet melt the butter and canola oil over medium to high heat.  Sear the batches of beef for aprox 2 minutes and place them into the crock pot.

Once all of the beef is all cooked add 1 cup of chicken broth into the skillet and scrape all of the leftovers and then drain it into the stew.

Next add the last two cups of chicken broth to the slow cooker and cover it.  Cook on high for 6 hours.

And here is the finished product.  This is a hearty stew for sure.

While I have probably had better stews this one did not take a ton of time to prepair and it was ready to eat when I got home.  I enjoyed it and I will all week!

Slow Cooked Kangaroo Curry (Hoppin’ Cretin IPA – Tofino Brewing Company)

by Mike

Its been quite some time since I cooked with beer and I have wanted to change that for some time.  Luckily recently I was given some inspiration by finding a store in Coquitlam that sells all sorts of interesting wild meat.  The store is called Hills Foods and is quite an amazing place.  Once I had my Kangaroo meat I searched for a good recipe and found the one on Gourmet Game out of Australia.

Ingredients List:

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800 grams Kangaroo steak diced
1/4 Cup flour
4 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Large onion diced
2 garlic cloves crushed
knob of ginger peeled and minced
2 small red chillies finely sliced
4 tbsp madras curry paste
300ml Condensed Coconut Milk
1 tsp reduced salt beef stock powder (I used OXO)
3/4 Cup IPA (Hoppin’ Cretin IPA – Tofino Brewing Company)
1 Cinnamon stick
1 dried bay leaf
5 baby potatoes halved
pinch salt and pepper

Dice up Kangaroo steak

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Place flour, salt and pepper into a ziplock bag.  Place portions of kangaroo into the bag and shake to coat.

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Heat half the oil in a pan on med-high heat.  Cook the meat in small batches for 2 to 3 minutes until they are browned.  I flipped them half way.  Make sure to not overcook.  Transfer them to the slow cooker.

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Dice up the garlic, ginger and onion.

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Before putting it in the frying pan add the last of the olive oil.  Cook at med-high heat for 4 minutes while stirring.  They should be sauteed and soft.

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Add the Madras curry paste and the red chillies and cook.  Stir for one minute.

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Next add coconut milk, beef stock powder and IPA.  Bring this to a boil.  Transfer this mix to the slow cooker.

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Add cinnamon stick, bay leaf and potatoes.  Mix all of the ingredients in the slow cooker.

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At this point I put the curry in the fridge overnight so that I could plug it in first thing in the morning for dinner.  You can just prep it first thing in the morning though.

Cook on LOW for 5-6 hours or as long as you  are at work.

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When you are ready to eat it serve it with rice and naan bread.  If you have trouble with spice then some yogurt on the side would not hurt.  Don’t forget to serve the meal with the beer you cooked it with also!

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I have never attempted making a curry and I have not every cooked Kangaroo.  I am quite happy to say that the meal was delicious even if I over baked my naan bread.

I did not even register the pun at play with this beer and meal until I finished this post.

 

 

 

Les Bourgeois Beef (Duchesse De Bourgogne – Brouwerij Verhaeghe)

by Mike

I have been meaning to do anouther cooking with beer post for some time but just have not found the time.  But the other night I was watching a show on Morel Mushrooms being picked in British Columbia and I decided I had to try the mushroom out for the first time.  The recipe I used came from MidwestLiving but called for a dry red wine.  I put a question out to twitter and to two Certified Cicerone’s I know and came up with the Duchesse De Bourgogne as a great replacement for the dry red wine.  Morel Mushrooms can be hard to find it seems but I found mine at Famous Foods in Vancouver.

Ingredients List:
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1/4 ounce dried Morel mushrooms (Chanterelles if you cant find them)
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped red onion
1 table spoon whole green peppercorns in brine, drained
2 teaspoons cracked black pepper
1 330ml bottle Duchesse De Bourgogne
2 cups whipping cream
1/2 condensed beef broth.
8 beef tenderloin steaks (or preferred steak)

First place the Morel mushrooms in a small bowl and cover with hot water.  let this sit for 20 minutes.  After mushrooms hydrated rinse under hot water and squeeze out excess water.  Chop mushrooms into small pieces.

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Dice up onions, measure out green peppers and black pepper.
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In a large skillet or frying pan melt butter over medium heatDuchesseSteaks-10 DuchesseSteaks-11

Add mushrooms, onion, green peppercorns and cracked black pepper and cook uncovered, over medium low heat for 15 minutes stirring often.
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Remove from heat.  Add the Duchesse De Bourgogne then return to heat.  Bring up to a boil then reduce heat.  Simmer, uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes or until the beer is reduced by half and mushroom mixture is thickened slightly.  Make sure to stir occasionally.
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Add the whipped cream and condensed beef broth.  Heat over medium heat until tiny bubbles appear around edges.  Reduce the heat to medium low heat and stir occasioanlly for 20 to 25 minutes or until mixture thickens to desired consistency.  Remove from heat and set aside.
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They reccomended making mashed potatoes as a side dish so I did that while I finished up the sauce.  I added some garlic, butter and milk while mashing the potatoes.
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The next step is to grill your meat.  I will leave this to you as depending on your size of steak, thickness and preference it will take different times to cook.  I use this website as a guide.
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Once the steaks are finished reheat the sauce and drizzle it over your steak.  I even put it on the potatoes and it tasted great!  This beer is an epic mildly sour Flanders Red Ale and added a nice light tart flavour that went well with the cream and the mild earth notes from the Morel mushrooms.  This might be the best meal I have ever cooked.  My personal opinion for sure.  Cheers.

Here are my full sized photos.

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Porter Marinated Ribs (Border Porter – White Rock Beach Beer Company)

by Mike

Porter Marinated Ribs

My inspiration for this recipe came from Tring Brewery out of of the UK but things have been altered to my personal preference.  This recipe must be started 24 hours before you plan on cooking the ribs.

Ingredients List:
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2 Racks of Pork Ribs
2 Pints of Dark Ale (Border Porter – White Rock Beach Beer Company)
1 Onion (Finely Chopped)
60g light brown sugar
1 tbs of salt
4 garlic cloves (finely chopped)
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp finely ground black pepper
8 tbs tomato ketchup

First Step chop up the onion and garlic.
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Mix all ingredents into a bowl excluding the ribs and ketchup.  make sure all ingredients are mixed thoroughly.
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Cut racks of ribs into two and place them into large baking pans.  Pour the marinade over ribs and cover with cling film and place into fridge for 24 hours.

 

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Pull ribs out of fridge 2 hours before you intend to BBQ them. This allows the ribs to come up to room temperature.  Strain the sauce through a sieve into a sauce pan.

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Reduce sauce sauce on stove by bringing to a boil but do not burn.  Reduce until the liquid turns into a syrup.

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Remove from heat and let the sauce come up to room temperature.  Once cool add the ketchup and mix thoroughly.

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Put the ribs on the BBQ and brush a coating of the sauce on both sides.  Cook ribs on the BBQ for 30-40 minutes flipping every 4 or 5 minutes and adding more sauce with a brush.

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Once fully cooked remove the ribs from the heat and let them cool for 5 minuets.

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I decided to fry up the solids from the marinade and serve them with the ribs.  The ribs were also served with garlic mashed potatoes.

 

 

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Sadly I had forgotten that I had the growler of this beer so the beer had gone flat so I can not give a good description of the beer as it would be totally unfair.  The Baltic Porter did come through in the marinade sauce with sweet malty notes as well as a hint of fruitiness.  Overall these ribs turned out really nice for the first ever ribs that I have cooked outside of a slow-cooker.