Beer & Bacon Tasting

Photo courtesy of Eleven Courses website

I'm a big fan of Groupon, I must say. One of the deals I've snagged recently is for a beer and bacon tasting. Hello!? Does it get any better than that? Well, when you kick in 3 friends for the ride it does! Here's their description of what's in store:

"In a 90-minute class, guides lead students through chef-curated tasting menus pairing five craft beers with bacon-based dishes. Bacon samples are determined by the chef, but they may include hickory-smoked bacon, candied stone-ground white grit cake, and chocolate-drizzle bacon."

The only date they're hosting in April is the 21st, and they just changed their status from sold out to limited availability. I'm in the process of trying to make reservations right now, but if that doesn't work out, I'm sure May or June will work. 

The best part? The 5-course tasting generally sells for $97 per person, therefore our total would be $388 for 4 of us. I purchased the Groupon for 4 for $79. Love, love, love!

Slow-Cooker Brisket Sammies

It all started with this recipe for slow-cooker brisket sandwiches. And for the record, I took a picture, but it was ugly and icky and not post-worthy. I digress.

I took the time last night to prep my marinade and sear the brisket for tonight's dinner so I could quickly throw it all together this morning before heading out the door for work. I was excited; things smelled great.

I called Buppy on my way to the gym to ask if he had tried it and find out how the house smelled. Word was that the house smelled fab and the brisket was yummy. It didn't hold together to slice, but heck, I can deal with shredded meat!

Then I arrived home . . . to disappointment. Well, Buppy had just sprayed down and wiped off the dinner table, so I couldn't smell the meat, just a lemony-piney-clean odor. Ok, fine, whatever; I can deal with that, too.

Then I tried a bite. Most of you dear readers would probably like this meat, but for me, it was way too sweet. Anyone who knows me knows I don't care for sweet meat at all, which means we almost never eat BBQ sauce (at least I don't). I should have known - the recipe called for tomato paste (I had to use sauce as I thought I had paste but turns out I was wrong) and brown sugar. Couple that with some Dijon mustard and red wine vinegar and you've got one overly sweet brisket folks!

Buppy liked it, and Tiny Tot #1 devoured his (so I'm told, I wasn't home to witness this). He ate almost all of it before touching his homemade fries! What I'm trying to say is that if you're a regular Joe and enjoy your BBQ, give this a try and you will probably enjoy it. Make sure to get some nice crusty rolls to pair with it - they were the saving grace for me. Thanks for picking up the rolls, Buppy! Also, I topped mine with dill pickle chips for some acidity in hopes of cutting the sweetness. It helped a little.

Now go, enjoy your sweet brisket. Me? I'm off to find a savory dry rub for my next go-round.

Cheese-Beer Soup

A few weeks back I hit a soup-making phase. I've always loved soups, but within a week or so I'd made a French onion & mushroom soup, cheese-beer soup, Southwestern chicken soup and another one that currently is escaping my memory. The Southwestern chicken soup was Buppy's new all-time favorite soup, but it came completely from my head and I (silly me!) didn't write down what went into it. Shame on me. He'll never get his favorite soup again. As for the French onion & mushroom soup . . . well, that kind of went the same way.

The cheese-beer soup recipe came from Recipe Girl and was quite tasty. Having grown up for a time in Wisco, we pretty much love all things beer, cheese and/or sausage. This had 2 of the 3, which is a good start. I won't go into great detail about the recipe as it can be found at her site, but I will say that my only modification was to sub in cornstarch for the flour. I've never been a flour-thickening person; never cooks out right for me, but to each their own. Oh, I also omitted the parsley because I never have that stuff on hand. Kind of a big 'why bother' in my opinion, but again, to each their own.The soup was good, although it was on the thin side. Great with crusty bread dunked in it, but not really substantial enough to hold up as a meal on it's own. Even with more cornstarch or flour, it would still be a rather brothy soup, which is fine with me as long as I have some good bread. We could definitely smell the beer in it when it was pulled from the fridge and as it was reheating. Mmmmm.

Anyone else try this or have an even better recipe for cheese-beer soup? Lemme know!

Beer. Cheese. Dip. 'Nuff said.

There’s beer. And cheese. In a dip. Need I say more? Well, I s’pose so, in case you want to know how to make this delicious concoction. Super simple. Four ingredients. Rock on.

This used to make appearances everywhere at parties and potlucks and shindigs [oh my!] when I was living in Wisco. Not surprising, since that state sure loves it’s cheese and beer. Since moving to MD, I haven’t seen, heard talk of or tasted this. Not to say MD people don’t make and devour this, it’s just not something I’ve come across here. Maybe I just don’t run in the right circles.

I made this last weekend for a housewarming party we were attending on Saturday afternoon. I’m not even sure what brought it to mind to make, as I’d originally planned to make a cold spinach dip. Who cares where the idea came from! Pretty much everyone [who tried it], myself included, loved it!!

Beer Cheese Dip
Adapted from allrecipes.com

2 pkg. 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, at room temp.
1 packet dry Ranch powder
2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese
½ - 2/3 c. beer [I used Ultra Amber since that’s what we happened to have in the fridge]

Beat cream cheese and Ranch powder together until smooth and creamy. Stir in the shredded cheese and beer. Chill overnight. Serve with crackers, pretzels, potato chips or in a bread bowl with accompanying bread. Yum!

Just a warning: this will seem thin when you first make it, but after you refrigerate it overnight, it magically thickens up, to the point where I was tempted to add more beer before heading to the party. I didn’t because I didn’t want it to get bitter if I added too much beer [some reviews said this happened to them], and it was perfect the way it was. Since it sat out on the counter at the housewarming party, it softened up a bit and became the perfect consistency. Enjoy!
Note: I'm linking this up to Miz Helen’s Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday for 1/27/11. For more great recipes/ideas, check it out!