Here is a quick and easy dinner to make on a weekday night.You will find the recipe for the honey beer sauce below. The ingredients are pretty common and because it is a pan sauce you can have some fun experimenting with other ingredients. This chicken goes well with sauteed spinach and wild rice especially if you put some whole grain mustard in with the sauteed spinach. Enjoy!
This past weekend I went down to Baltimore with my roommates from college for our annual crab feast. The past few years we have gone to a crab house but this year we decided to buy the crabs from a seafood market and have them at our buddy’s house. We got the crabs from The Crab Depot, The crabs were steamed perfectly and the crabs were all quite sizable.
To go with the crabs we grilled up some corn and other veggies then put down the newspaper and started the feast. It turned into an epic battle of man versus the sea and lasted over 3 hours. It turned out to be a great weekend full of good food, good beer, lots of beer, and good friends. I can’t wait till next year!
This post is short and sweet. My dad loves bacon, so for Father’s Day I made him candied bacon. The recipe is very simple and adds a nice sweet touch to salty flavor of the bacon. This works well as a side with breakfast or as a nice party appetizer. Enjoy!
This week has unofficially turned into shellfish week. I was in the grocery store and saw littleneck clams for sale and figured I’d give them a go. This is my first time ever cooking littleneck clams. I was debating on whether to cook them on the grill but in the end I decided to steam them. I used beer, garlic, lemon, Old Bay, and parsley to make a broth then steamed the clams in this mixture. I was surprised at how easy the clams were to prepare. You just throw them into the pot then check to see when the shells have popped open. These clams would go great with a beer on a relaxing weekend. Enjoy!
On Saturday I went into Philadelphia for the home brewing contest at Triumph Brew Pub in Old City. The contest was organized by beer type then the top two beers of each style advanced to the final tasting. Our friend Jerry Caruso brewed a fig Belgian beer that I thought should have won best of it’s category but the judges didn’t see it that way.
After the judging rounds everyone was able to go around and taste all the various beers that were in the contest. After Triumph we moved over to Fado’s Irish Pub for a few drinks.
After Fado’s we went over to The Dandelion. I love The Dandelion for their cask ale selection. Saturday was no different. They had three on cask that were delicious. However it was a session ale by Victory Brewing that turned out to be the highlight of Philly Beer Week for me. The beer was called Melon Session Ale, it had a sweet start but finished like a good pale ale.
After talking to our bartender Chris we learned the unfortunate news that Victory may not make this beer again. If you have had the pleasure to try this beer, or if you have not but would like to try in please shoot Victory and email at brewmaster@victorybeer.com and let them know you would like them to keep making this great summer beer.
Last night I went to Isaac Newton’s in Newtown, PA for the Founders Brewing Company tap takeover. They had 5 or 6 Founders beers on tap. Unfortunately the kicked the keg of Kentucky Breakfast Stout within the first 30 minutes of the tap take over which was disappointing yet also quite impressive. I tried three beers at this event.
The first was the Double Trouble IPA, This Imperial IPA was very similar to the Dogfish Head 120 but with a much nicer finish. This is a great sipping beer and went well with the pork chop I ordered.
The second beer I tried was the Curmudgeon Old Ale. I was very surprised by this beer. It was very smooth and finished like a mellow scotch. This oak aged ale is a great easy drinking beer but be warned it has a 9.8% Abv.
The last beer I had was Founders All Day IPA this beer has become my recent go to anytime I see it on tap. It is a very easy drinking IPA and is not overly hoppy. A great beer to drink during the summer when you are just hanging with some friends.
On Friday night I went over to the Dogfish Head tap takeover at Uno’s Chicago Grill in Bensalem, PA. I ordered one flight and one 120 minute IPA. The flight contained four beers. Sixty-one, Black and Blue, Burton Baton, and Palo Santo Marron. The Sixty one is twist from the 60 minute ipa and uses the same ingredients plus the addition of Syrah grape must. I enjoyed this beer, it was very easy to drink and had great flavor throughout. The second beer in the flight was the Black and Blue. The Black and Blue is a Belgian-style golden ale fermented with black raspberries and blueberries. This beer was a little too sweet for my tastes. The third beer was the Burton Baton, an oak aged English old ale Imperial IPA hybrid. This was my favorite beer of the flight. It had a great hoppy taste and nice accents from the oak barrel. The final beer of the flight was the Palo Santo Marron brown ale. This beer is a great winter beer so the fact that it was 90+ degrees when I was drinking this took away a bit of the enjoyment but overall it was a good ale with hints of vanilla and caramel.
Along with the flights I also ordered a 120 minute IPA
I’m probably going to get torn apart for this but I was not the biggest fan of the 120. The first sip is good with a great IPA flavor but I feel the aftertaste kills the beer. I find it tastes like someone dropped a shot into the beer. I know this is a high alcohol content beer but I’m just not a fan of the after taste. Overall I enjoyed the my first event of Philly Beer Week and look forward to the next one.
Philly Beer Week starts today and runs through June 9th. During this time you will be able to sample all types of beers at different venues throughout the city and surrounding suburbs. You can find the full schedule for Philly Beer Week Here. I have only lightly glanced over the calender of events but there are a few that I am trying to make. On June 6th at Issac Newton’s in Newtown, PA the is a Founders tap takeover. Founders makes some great brews, two of my favorite are their all day IPA and their Kentucky breakfast stout. As I attend Philly Beer Week events I will write posts about the beers and the breweries. This should be a fun week and I can’t wait to try some new beers.
This dish is a very quick and easy chicken dish with a simple pan reduction. I used Double White from the Southampton Publick House to make the reduction. The wheat beer and honey pair well together and make the sauce’s consistency more of a glaze. From start to finish this meal takes about 30 minutes to prepare and uses ingredients that are staples in a pantry. If you do not have shallots you can substitute with onions. Give this recipe a shot and as always, Enjoy!
Inspired by St. Patrick’s Day I worked on perfecting the Guinness pan sauce that I made a few weeks ago. Before cooking the steaks I took 4 cups of beef stock, carrots, celery, garlic, and onions and placed them in a saucepan; I then reduced the broth by half to build more flavor in the stock. After fortifying the stock I cooked the steaks in the pan. I sauteed half a shallot then deglazed the pan with 1/2 cup of Guinness. I reduced the Guinness by 2/3 then added the fortified beef broth. I simmered the sauce for ~2 min then added 1tsp dijon mustard, 1 tbs soy sauce, salt, and chopped fresh parsley. I let the sauce simmer for another 2 min then added 1 tbs unsalted butter and 1/2 tsp truffle butter. I then did a final taste to get the salt level right. I then served the sauce over the steak.
To cook the shrimp I took a cast iron skillet and cooked 4 pieces of bacon. I then added the shrimp, which I seasoned with Old Bay and cooked them in the bacon grease.
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