Beer Mussels With Bacon and Potatoes

I love mussels. Rich broth, tasty little morsels, and some good crusty bread to soak up that broth. There’s not much quite like it. So damn good. Beer steamed mussels are great for several reasons…they’re inexpensive, their ease of cooking, and their time to cook. All in all, you can have a badass meal in 20-30 minutes. Beer mussels with bacon. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I’d stop reading at mussels, beer, and bacon, and just get right to cooking it.

Mussels are easy and fool proof. Tap on them, to make sure they close. The ones that don’t close, you toss in trash. Scrub to clean. Cook. The ones that don’t open after cooking, you toss in the trash. Done.

There’s many types of broth you can make for this dish; many with beer, many with wine, sake, seafood stock, etc. Of course, I chose beer. And the beer, in fact, that I chose is a Gose style ale from Choc Beer Company out of Krebs, OK. A gose ale is not a highly brewed beer. I mean, it’s a pretty tough beer to get. Thankfully, we have Choc brewing it right here in Oklahoma. It’s a wheat beer brewed with coriander, and has a saltiness to it as well as a tartness. A cooling refresher. I love this beer. Their Signature Series, which includes this Gose, is top notch.

This Gose is perfect with fish, shellfish, and other seafood. A quencher with a faint salty background, citrus and bready spice through-out, and a great tartness. With mussels, it’s wonderful.

I think you’ll enjoy this dish. It’s very hearty and warm and perfect for winter. I used what I had in the fridge and it just turned out great. This recipe calls for a half bottle of the beer. Which, actually, the bottle comes in 750ml size which is 25-26oz. So, measure out a little more than half, and drink the rest! It’s a win-win situation! And if you can’t find a gose in your area, find a beer with similar qualities.

Ingredients:
2-3 lbs of mussels, scrubbed and debearded
15-18oz of Gose ale (or other style of citrusy wheat beer)
3-5 slices of bacon, chopped
1/2 lb of new potatoes, small diced (about 1/2in bite-size pieces)
1 fennel bulb, core cut out and thin sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp of chile sauce (sriracha or other)
1 red chile, finely diced
Sea salt
Fresh cracked black pepper
Blanched green beans (optional)
Some quality crusty bread

Yield: 2 for entree or 4 for appetizer

* First and foremost, when storing mussels, get a large bowl. Toss in some ice cubes and a little water. Put mussels in bowl and cover with a damp kitchen towel until ready to use.

Ok….here’s the tedious part…

When preparing your mussels, you’re going to toss several in the trash. You buy 2 lbs worth, and when all is said and done, you’re really going to end up with about 1 1/2 lbs worth. You have to inspect every mussel. With some cold running water, and a small knife or spoon or something, tap on each mussel. It should close up. If it doesn’t close completely, then toss in trash. Also, if the shells are cracked or broken, then toss in the trash.

Hold mussel under the running water and scrub with a sponge or whatever. If there are beards, then use your knife and thumb and cut them off. Set the good mussels aside in another bowl until all are inspected, cleaned, and ready.

Now, the easy part!

In a large pan, over medium heat, add in the chopped bacon. Cook for about 10minutes until the bacon starts to become crispy. Then add in the fennel and potatoes, and a few pinches of salt and pepper. Cook another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in the garlic and cook for about a minute.

Push everything to the side of the pan and pour in the beer. Scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Mix well. Then turn the heat to high. Add in the chile sauce. When the beer starts to boil, turned heat back down to medium and add in the mussels. Add in the blanched green beans as well if you have them (I figure potatoes and green beans go well together). Cover and toss a few times. Cook for 4-5 minutes until all mussels have opened. 

Take off heat. The mussels that haven’t opened, toss in the trash. Spoon everything else into large bowls immediately and pour broth over everything in the bowls. Garnish with the diced red chile. Serve with a nice side of crusty bread like sourdough. Mop up that broth with the bread! It’s so fantastic!

Hearty and filling. Pair this meal with a gose or gueze. Even a stout, such as an Irish stout or oatmeal stout or oyster stout, would work well with this dish too, I would think.

Oktoberfest Pork Chops

I've posted these before, but hey, it's the season for it. Oktoberfest. An awesome time full of beer and food and dancing and silly music. Speaking of beer and food....Marshall's Oktoberfest is one of my favorites and it has a natural affinity for pork. So, lets brine some tasty chops with it!

Ingredients:
4 bone-in pork rib chops (1 to 1 1/4 inches thick)
2 cups of warm water
2 cups of cold oktoberfest/marzen beer (plus 1/4 cup for later use)
1/4 cup of kosher salt
1/4 cup of brown sugar

Fresh sage leaves
Fontina cheese (thin sliced)
2-4tbsp of olive oil
1/4 cup of oktoberfest/marzen for deglazing
2tbs of butter
Juice of half a lemon
kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Yield: 4

As simple as it sounds….Put the rib chops in a large plastic bag. Mix the salt, sugar, and warm water in a bowl and mix well until the sugar and salt dissolved. Then add in the cold beer. The cold beer will obviously drop the temp and prevent it from cooking or raising the temp of the pork. Pour all over the pork. Seal and toss in the fridge for 4 hours. May need to flip the bag one time. Simple as that.

When done, take the chops out of the fridge. Rinse them off and pat them dry. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place a large cast iron skillet, or other oven proof skillet, on a burner on med-high.

Cut a small pocket in the chops and stuff them with the cheese and 1-2 leaves of fresh sage. Add olive oil into the pan. Sprinkle chops with a tad bit of salt and pepper on both sides. Pan sear one side for 2 minutes. Flip the chops over in the pan and place in oven. Continue cooking for another 5-6minutes.

When done, take out of the oven. Place chops on a plate and let rest for 5 minutes. Put skillet back on stove. Deglaze with the beer and scrape bottom of the pan. Add in the butter and lemon juice. Let reduce a bit and pour over the pork chops. Serve with some wilted greens to be simple. Or maybe a big hunk of mashed taters to sop up those juices. 

Pair this dish with your favorite Oktoberfest brew.

Pale Ale Drunken Drumsticks

People say chicken is boring. I say they don’t know what they’re talking about…..or they’re doing it wrong. There's literally thousands of ways to do chicken. Take, for example, this recipe. Summer time. People are using their grills. Pale ales in hand. One of the best examples of the style....Marshall Brewing's "Arrowhead" pale ale. Citrusy, fruity, hoppy, grassy, awesome. Great with grilled meats. Today though, we're going to make a spicy, peppy glaze to go on some drumsticks.

Ingredients: (serves 4-6)
1 lg pkg of chicken drumsticks (12-16)
1 12oz bottle of pale ale
1/2 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice
Juice of 1 lime
2 chipotle chile en adobo
3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp cilantro
2/3 cup ketchup
1 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp honey
Pinch of ground allspice
Pinch of cayenne
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

FYI, my grill is busted. So, I'm doing this in the oven this time.

Preheat oven to 450. Grease baking sheets. Salt and pepper the chicken. Bake for 40 min.

For the glaze....add the beer, OJ, lime, chile, garlic, and cilantro in a blender. Puree till smooth.

Pour the puree in a pan. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk well. Bring to a quick boil, then reduce to medium-low and let reduce for 30 minutes (roughly same time the chicken will be done). Taste and adjust with salt and pepper.

Note- Reducing intensifies flavors. Reducing pale ales and IPAs will bring out more bitter hoppiness, which isn’t necessarily good. If the sauce is too bitter, then add some more honey to balance it out.

When chicken is done, take out of oven, and turn on the broiler. Dip chicken into the sauce and get nice and coated. Place chicken back on the baking sheets and into the oven. Broil for just a couple minutes until dark brown and done.

The skin is citrusy, spicy, smoky, and has a faint hoppy background to it. It’s scrumptious! Pair this dish with the same pale ale. The hops will draw out the heat, the carbonation will lift the skin and fat off the palate, and the maltiness of the beer will play nicely with the meat itself. Serve a zesty black bean and corn salad on the side if you want too.