Author: AJ

A Simple Onion Focaccia

by A.J. Coltrane

The current go-to focaccia. This is the one I make when I have three hours to prepare something — short notice by bread standards.

The Recipe:

1.  Finely slice 100g of onion. (Red onion, sweet onion, scallions, bunch onions — they all work.) Lightly saute the onion in 100g (7  TBP) of extra virgin olive oil. The idea is to remove the rawness from the onion and to impart that flavor into the oil. Let the oil cool for a few minutes, until the pan is no longer hot to the touch. 64g of the oil is used in the dough, below:

Ingredient Quantity Bakers %
Bread Flour 800g 100
Water 600g 75
Ex Virgin Olive Oil 64g 8
Kosher Salt 20g 2.50
Instant Yeast 2 tsp
Thinly Sliced Onion ~100g

2.  Combine all ingredients in a KitchenAid and mix with the dough hook, low speed for 15 minutes.

3.  Place parchment paper in a 13″ x 18″ sheet pan, leaving enough to go up the sides and hang over a little. Very lightly oil the parchment paper, then scrape the dough out onto the parchment.

4.  Oil your fingers and gently stretch the dough towards the edges of the sheet tray. It doesn’t have to go all the way to the edges. It will settle somewhat towards the edges on its own.

5.  Cover the dough for 1:45. At the 1:45 mark turn the oven to 425F. Oil your fingers again and dimple the dough. Spread the onion and remaining olive oil over the top of the dough.

6. When the oven is hot, bake the focaccia for 15 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake for another 15 minutes.

140128 focaccia

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Notes:

Halving the recipe will work. Reduce the pan size and the baking time to a total of about 24 minutes.

The crumb has a relatively fine texture, inspired by this Rose Levy Beranbaum recipe. The Beranbaum recipe calls for a very long mixing time (basically 20-30 minutes on medium speed) and an even larger amount of water.

One nice thing about making a focaccia for company rather than a leaner bread, is that the extra oil helps prevent staling while it’s sitting around.

..aaaand… Bonus Girl Cat Pic!

Everybody loves playing in packing paper
Everybody loves playing in packing paper

Beer of the Week: Elysian Dark O’ the Moon

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Every year I look forward to the early fall release of my favorite pumpkin beer – Elysian’s Dark O’ the Moon. I love the stout combined with the roasted pumpkin and just a hint of spice to balance and bring the beer to the next level. The best part of this beer is it is available both on tap and in bottles (about $7 for a 22 oz. one), so it is readily accessible. This review is for the beer I had on tap.

From the Elysian website:

TASTING NOTES
Pours dark as night with creamy tan head. A little smokiness on the nose with malty bittersweet chocolate and a little coffee with subtle earthy pumpkin and spices for an overall nice and creamy mouth.

MALTS
Great Western pale, Crisp 77° Crystal, Munich, Cara-Vienne, roasted, chocolate and Special B

HOPS
Bittered with Magnum and finished with Saaz and crushed cinnamon

SPECIAL
Pumpkin in the mash, kettle and fermenter

ABV: 6.5%

IBU: 20

dmThe beer pours jet black in color with copious amounts of roasted pumpkin, roasted malt and chocolate on the nose with background notes of allspice and cinnamon. Pumpkin dominates the palate early on before yielding to roast malt and grain with bits of pumpkin pie spice and finally finishing out with a rather intense and moderately long chocolate and cinnamon finish – intense dark chocolate and cocoa nibs (not at all sweet) and a strong burn of cinnamon, with just a hint of bitterness coupled with more pumpkin notes. The chocolate plays hide and seek on the tongue long after the sip, but is eventually overwhelmed by building cinnamon, especially as the beer warms, to the point where the cinnamon becomes the dominant flavor on the finish by the end of the pint. The 2013 version is definitely more cinnamon forward but the chocolate and pumpkin notes are still present and discernable, but the increase in the cinnamon intensity seems to throw the beer out of balance. Still delicious, but not as great as it has been in the past. I am wondering if the cinnamon needed a bit more time to mellow out and integrate into the rest of the beer.

Elysian Dark O’ the Moon draws blood with 3 Warren Zevons out of 5.

 

Chewy Chocolate Brownies

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I don’t generally like to bake, partially because I hate following recipes and partially because I usually end up eating too much of the finished product. However, when it comes to parties, it is nice to have something sweet on hand that can feed a large number of people easily, and brownies fit that bill very well. The better the chocolate used in these, the better the brownies will be. There are so few other ingredients that you will actually be able to taste the more subtle flavors that the chocolate will carry, so use one that you like the taste of when eating it on its own. The recipe is adapted from Cook’s Illustrated.

The Software

The Recipe

  1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Make a Foil Sling using the following steps: Cut 18-inch length foil and fold lengthwise to 8-inch width. Fit foil into length of 13 by 9-inch baking pan, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; allow excess to overhang pan edges. Cut 14-inch length foil and fit into width of pan in the same manner, perpendicular to the first sheet (if using extra-wide foil, fold second sheet lengthwise to 12-inch width). Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
  3. Whisk cocoa and boiling water together in large bowl until smooth. Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted. Whisk in melted butter and oil. (Mixture may look curdled.) Add eggs, yolks, and vanilla and continue to whisk until smooth and homogeneous. Whisk in sugar until fully incorporated. Add flour and salt and mix with rubber spatula until combined. Fold in bittersweet chocolate pieces. (this may seem like a bunch of steps, but it comes together very quickly)
  4.  Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and cool 1½ hours.
  5. Using foil overhang, lift brownies from pan. Return brownies to wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

 

Notes

This is a very easy recipe and makes a big pan of chewy, dense, intensely chocolaty brownies, just prep everything in advance. These are nice with a small sprinkle of sea salt on top, but really just work fine on their own. I like using chocolate in the 70-85% range for this (my preferred chocolate is Kallari), but the original recipe calls for 60%, so you can use that. I wouldn’t use chocolate under 60% (the brownies will be very sweet) or over 85% (never tried this, but I suspect that the chocolate chunks won’t end up melting enough). The notes from the Cook’s Illustrated recipe:

For the chewiest texture, it is important to let the brownies cool thoroughly before cutting. If your baking dish is glass, cool the brownies 10 minutes, then remove them promptly from the pan (otherwise, the superior heat retention of glass can lead to overbaking). While any high-quality chocolate can be used in this recipe, our preferred brands of bittersweet chocolate are Callebaut Intense Dark Chocolate L-60-40NV and Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Bar. Our preferred brand of unsweetened chocolate is Scharffen Berger. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Beer of the Week: Reuben’s Altbier

By Iron Chef Leftovers

It is strange that many of the European styles of beer have not carried over to the U.S. Sure, the popular ones like lager, pilsner and stout have well established followings, but there are some hyper-regional styles that have never really had a mass following in the U.S. Altbier is one of them. Sure, there are a few out there (I had a blurb about one of them a few years back here), but you have to do some digging if you want to find one. Altbier is in that grouping. Fortunately for us, the fine guys at Reuben’s were kind enough to brew one. The Reuben’s version comes in at 5.1% ABV and 32 IBU. What is Altbier you might ask? Well, from Wikipedia:

Altbier (German for ‘old beer’) is a style of beer originating in Germany. It was first brewed in the historical region of Westphalia and is a speciality of the city of Düsseldorf. Its name comes from its production using the technique of top fermentation, an older method than bottom fermentation, characteristic of lager styles of beer.

untitled2The beer pours dark tan in color with a milk white head. Notes of malt and dried fruit dominate the nose with mild hints of citrus supporting. The beer starts out on the palate light and crisp before moving to a quick hit of toffee and stone fruit before finishing mildly bitter but in a very pleasant way – not a hop bitterness, but a coffee like bitterness. Refreshing with a good level of complexity and depth, slightly stronger flavors than a mild, but not as rich and deep as a brown. My only complaint is how quickly the beer moved between its layers – they were delicious and complex and I found myself wanting them to hang around longer. Otherwise, this beer is very easy drinking and refreshing and you could easily sit down with 2 or 3 in a session.

Reuben’s Altbier invades with 4 blitzkriegs out of 5.

8-Bit Arcade Bar, Renton

by A.J. Coltrane

8-Bit Arcade Bar first opened on November 22, 2013. We hit it on Friday night. There was a good crowd, though the photos below don’t show it. Here’s what you see when you open the front door:

140124 8 bit entrance

Defender and Zaxxon on the right. BurgerTime on the immediate left. That’s Princess Peach on the door of the ladies room. The next picture shows maybe 1/2 (or less) of the pinball machines:

140124 8 bit pinball

They had a few very old games I’d never seen before. Pictured is Sea Devil. It’s a pre-video game really (1969-1970). You look through the periscope and use eight torpedos to try to sink as much tonnage of ships as possible. Here’s a YouTube link to somebody playing it.

140124 8 bit sea devil

There’s a nice selection of cocktail games too, including Q-bert, Joust, and Asteroids. Six cocktail tables in total.

140124 8 bit cocktail

There are four beers on tap and some of the usual suspects available in cans. The tap beer was $5. They also offer small pizzas that are on the spendy side.

The games all cost a quarter. We played Moon Patrol, Tempest, Q-bert, Gauntlet Dark Legacy, Galaga, Galaxian, Xevious (which was super hard), Dig-Dug, and a few others. If you’ve seen it in an old-school arcade then it’s probably at 8-Bit. The proprieter said that they’re working to add popular games to the mix — the grand opening was delayed, and it cost them dibs on a few machines. Right now there are maybe 50 video games and 25 pinball machines. It’s a good collection as it is.

So:  They have beer, the difficulty levels on the games are reasonable overall, there’s a good selection, and the games are in good condition as a group. And, to repeat, everything is 25 cents!

Awesome!

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8-Bit Bar Arcade Facebook link here.

Beer of the Week: Skookum Brewery Imperial Breakfast Stout

By Iron Chef Leftovers

skdSkookum is a funny sounding word, but I really solid (albeit small) brewery up in Arlington, WA. For the longest time, if you wanted their beers, you needed to make the trek up I-5 and wind your way through Arlington to get to their brewery, which kept inconsistent hours. Things have changed and their beers occasionally make the trip down to Seattle and show up on tap at various places. Seeing the Imperial Breakfast Stout on tap at Chuck’s, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to try it.

The beer pours jet black in color with a coffee colored head and shows off with lots of dark roasted malt and coffee – definitely reminded me of my morning cup of coffee. The beer starts out slightly sweet before moving on to its heavier flavors of toffee and dark chocolate with a hint of cocoa nibs before finishing with a light bitterness couple with black coffee and roasted grains. The bitterness is just enough to give it a little bite without being off-putting and really made it remind me of a good cup of black coffee (as far as I can tell, there is no actual coffee in the beer). Well balanced with deep and bold flavors, the Imperial Breakfast Stout is a great beer to have with your toast and morning paper instead of your regular cup of joe.

Skookum Brewery’s Imperial Breakfast Stout draws in with a strong 3 double espresso shots out of 5.

When the Mariners Traded Shin Soo Choo

By Blaidd Drwg

I love Rob Neyer. I think he is a great writer and we share many of the same opinions about the game of baseball. He recently wrote about the Shin Soo Choo for Ben Broussard disaster trade in 2006. One of the really cool things about the article is that he actually talked to Bill Bavasi about it. I was surprised by this comment from the former Mariners GM:

When I got there it was made REAL  clear they didn’t want any five-year plans … and  that I’d get a mulligan in 2004 but, from then on they’d expect  consistent improvement toward a postseason.  When I say “improvement” I  mean relative to our record. So even though we operated under some  pressure to tangibly improve on a regular basis, the  Choo and Cabrera trades were a product of my own stupidity and good  work by the Indians.

When was the last time that a GM admitted that a bad trade was his fault? I give Bavasi credit for laying the blame exactly where it is due. Now if Z would only realize the same thing about the moves he has made…

Keeping The Peazza

by A.J. Coltrane

Terrible pun, I know.

Somebody doesn’t think that pineapple belongs on a pizza.

Hint:  That someone is me.

140122 pizza

Note the pineapple well removed from the neutral zone.

Left side:  Pancetta, Chevre, Ham, Pineapple

Right side:  Pancetta, Chevre, Feta

Everybody’s happy.

Beer of the Week: NW Peaks Crooked IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

October bring fresh hop season in the beer world, which is fun since I love the freshies. The problem is that this year has led to a number of disappointing beers – beers that I have liked in the past just haven’t been as good. Maybe my tastes are changing or maybe I am just understanding more about how the beers are composed and seeing the flaws. Either way, NW Peaks gave us 2 fresh hop IPA’s in October. The first of the pair is the Crooked IPA. From the NW Peaks Website:

The name, freshies. We’ve been blessed with a wonderful summer this year and it’s continued into the fall. We hope you have been able to take advantage of the lengthened season! Sooner or later winter will be upon us and we’ll turn our thoughts to snowy adventures and finding all of the finest powder and “freshies” we can. One of the more popular places to go is Snoqualmie pass for the winter playground. Snoqualmie Mountain, the tallest mountain in the area, is a great mountain for non-aided winter recreation. Cave ridge is the standard climbing/snow shoe route up the ridge on the S, while the ‘Crooked’ couloir is a great back country ski down the mountain (note – rapel may be needed depending on conditions)

Crooked, fresh hop, IPA. Crooked IPA was made with amarillo fresh hops, imparting a distinct hop aroma/flavor in the beer. All of the fresh hops were added at the end of the boil (others varieties were used for flavor and bittering) and contribute almost exclusively to the aroma. There is a nice malt backbone and a full bodied IPA.

untitle8dThe beer pours hazy yellow in color – much more cloudy than I was expecting, with lots of hop character on the nose, supported by some grain and hints of pine and citrus. The beer starts off light with notes of grain before moving into bold hop notes – citrus, pine needles, resin and a very mild bitterness, before transitioning off into a pleasant juicy citrus peel finish with a hint of bitterness that seems to keep going in an incredibly long fade. Solid hop character with a nice malty background, really showcasing the hops with a great deal of depth. This beer is exactly everything that I love about fresh hop beers.

NW Peaks Crooked IPA tries to straighten out and fly right with a sneaky 5 juvenile delinquents out of 5.

Beer of the Week: Skagit River 404 IPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

srI love Skagit River Brewing, they are one of the most consistent breweries in Washington state and make some of my favorite beers, particularly IPA’s. A trip there in 2013 brought some excitement for me as there were a couple of beers on their tap list that I had not tried, particularly the 404 IPA. A new IPA, I am game. The 404 IPA is actually more of an imperial pilsner than an IPA (or at least should have been), but, having had a couple imperial pilsners that I loved, I decided that this was worth having.

The beer pours very pale yellow in color with light notes of grain, virtually no hop character and not much else. It didn’t get any better when I started drinking it – the beer has virtually IPA character with just a touch of hop bitterness to remind you that there are actually hops in this beer, but that is almost completely overwhelmed by the pilsner yeast just about immediately. The beer has just the one pilsner note, fades quickly and really wasn’t all that interesting. It would have been a solid beer if it was advertised as just a pilsner, but it was a complete failure as an IPA.

Skagit River 404 IPA disappoints and fails to connect with 1 “404 Not Found” Errors out of 5. (Which makes me wonder if the name is an inside joke).

Just a sidebar to this story – Mrs. Iron Chef ordered the pilsner when I ordered the 404. Initially I thought the waitress switched the beers because mine seemed too light and Mrs. wasn’t happy with hers because she thought it was too hoppy. The waitress got the right beers to the right people and we ended up switching, I drank a nicely hopped pilsner and the Mrs. drank an IPA. That may be the only time in history that scenario will happen.