Yeah, yeah, it's been awhile since the last post. Sorry, I got caught up in life. I have been doing some good cooking (and eating) though...
Let's talk about beer, shall we? If you don't know me well enough yet...I LOVE BEER. I love micro brews, and trying new beer. Unless you are a patient sort, never go beer shopping with me, because it takes a long time, as I stand staring at the cases of new and unusual beers. Summer is a great time for beer tasting. The summer brews are usually lighter and have some interesting flavors. I love to cook with beer, too, and that's where this is all heading.
So, a couple weeks ago, our beer rep from Victory Brewing Co. stopped by the restaurant to say hi. And as I always do, I accosted her for some beer samples. Victory is a small brewery located in Downingtown, PA, and they have some neat beers. Tracy gave me one called "Baltic Thunder", a rich, dark beer, and suggested I cook short ribs in it. Ok. I did. Yummers.
So, what I did was lightly flour and season the short ribs, and browned them on all sides in a pan with some vegetable oil. Once they were browned, I transferred them to a pan big enough to hold them all, but small enough that they pretty much touched each other. Then, I poured off the oil that had the burnt flour residue, added a bit more oil, and browned up some chopped up carrots, onions and garlic. Once that started to brown, I added a sprig of thyme, and then poured in the beer. Once that started to bubble, I poured it over the short ribs, and made sure there was enough liquid to come halfway up the meat. I actually added a bit of chicken broth (it's what I had in the pantry). Then, cover with foil, and cook in a 300 degree oven for about 3 hours, until the meat is practically falling off the bone. I transferred the ribs to another pan, then took the liquid, skimmed the fat off, and pushed it through a strainer, mushing the cooked veggies with the back of a ladle to give the gravy some consistency. Then I skimmed it again. (Short ribs is fatty little buggers.)
I served these guys over risotto, because that's what I had, but I'm thinking some creamy dreamy polenta would be nice, too. We had another Victory brew with the meal.
The moral of the story is, cook with beer. Steam mussels in Belgian ale, braise meat in dark beer, cook chicken in cherry lambic with fresh cherries...
As my dad always said, "Beer is Love."
Later, guys.
