Beer of the Week: Hale’s Rudyard’s Rare Barley Wine – 2006 Vintage

By Iron Chef Leftovers

2004016509 — Photo Credit: KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES

I am not usually much of a barley wine fan, there are a small handful of them that I like, but generally I tend to stay away from them since they are expensive and not high up on my list of beers I enjoy. Recently, I was at a friend’s place and he has a nice stash of vintage barley wine which he was kind enough to share some with me. One of the bottles that we opened was a 2006 Rudyard’s from Hale’s Brewing. This was poured from a 12 oz. bottle and comes in at around 10% ABV. We served it room temp to get the full effect of the beer.
The beer pours almost black like a porter with a small amount of carbonation and a fair amount of sediment at the bottom of the glass. Subtle hints of smoke and wood with a slightly musty smell permeates from this beer – it almost smell like a campfire that has been put out for an hour or so, nothing overpowering, but you know it was there. On the palate, this was a very different beer. Chocolate and malt dominate the tongue, with the some molasses there, but not in a cloying way. The beer finishes very long, fading into stone fruit (we thought cherry) and cocoa nibs at the end.

I did a little digging to find a review of what this beer was like upon release and I stumbled across this from beeradvocate.com’s rating board written in March 2007:

Poured from a 12oz bottle marked Dec 2006, so I’m drinking it relatively fresh. Pours with a thin mocha colored head that dissipates quickly. Very dark, color reminds me of molasses. Smells faintly sweet, of vanilla perhaps? Tastes of toasted malt. Very smooth, very nice. Hard to believe it’s almost 10% abv… VERY easy to drink… Retired? Hmm….if that’s truly the case then i guess i should consider myself lucky to have found this.

It surprises me that so much of what was in the original tasting notes, we tasted in the beer. I didn’t get any real vanilla, but that is probably where the campfire smell came from.

This was an overall amazing beer for being 6 years old and is easily on my list of beers that I wish I could have again but probably never will. It seems the key for me might be to buy a barley wine and stash it away in the cellar for 5 or 6 years.
Rudyard’s Rare manages to swing in with a stellar 5 Jungle Books out of 5 on the literary scale.

I really want to thank Bill D. for sharing his last bottle of this amazing beer with me.

Leftover Calzone Ingredients? More Pizza!

by A.J. Coltrane

I just liked the way this one looked… It reminded me of the pizza that I loved when I was small.

It’s the leftover calzone ingredients from the other night: sausage, bacon, sauteed onion, sauteed red pepper, “pizza sauce” with additional oregano and roasted tomato flakes, and mozz.

And a bonus picture of the princess.

Calzones On The Grill

by A.J. Coltrane

It’s too hot to turn on the oven, so… Calzones On The Grill!

The dough recipe: 1-1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup water, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp instant yeast, and 1-1/2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil. (Essentially the Smitten Kitchen pizza dough recipe, goosing the yeast slightly.) An Allrecipes.com recipe calls for brushing the calzones with melted butter before baking, and that 350F is a good target for the grill temperature.

That all sounds reasonable. And reasonably easy. So here’s my first attempt at grilled calzones, or any calzones, really — I think it’s remarkable that it’s taken me this long to fold pizza in half before baking.

The dough was given a bulk rise for almost two hours, then divided in half. Each half was rolled into balls and allowed to rest for about 20 minutes. During that time I browned off some mild italian sausage, then cooked the rawness out of a diced red pepper and some yellow onion in the sausage fat.

The dough balls were rolled out and topped with a streak of red sauce and some grated mozz. The sausage, red pepper, onion, and some crumbled leftover pepper bacon were added, then topped with more sauce and mozz.

The packages were folded over and crimped, brushed with melted butter, and slit with a knife.

I turned on the left of the three grill burners and carefully placed the calzones over direct heat for a few minutes, then moved the packages to the far right of the grill — far away from the direct heat.

All that was left at that point was to cook the calzones for about 30-35 minutes. Naturally this involved drinking a beverage while periodically checking to make sure the thermometer said something like 350F.

The interior. (The last two photos were taken in direct sunlight. I rolled out a bit of a roll of paper towels and filtered the sunlight through the white towels. A paper towel improvised light diffuser! *I* thought it was pretty clever.)

In retrospect, I might have added a little sugar or honey to the dough to promote more browning. I didn’t do that because I was concerned about the end result being too brown. It worked out ok though — I may have to figure out more stuff to grill.

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Late edit: CSE’s 500th published post! Woof!

A Simple Spice Rub

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I like spice rubs, but I tend not to buy ones in the store since they are mostly salt and very expensive and you can actually make the same thing at home for a fraction of the price. I have a default spice rub that I use for chicken, fish or pork when I am not really sure what I am in the mood for. It is quick and easy to make a spice rub with the spices you have on hand and they will keep in an airtight container for 6 months (which is as long as you should be keeping spices around anyway), but I usually just make them on the fly since they take less than a minute to put together. For this recipe, I will give the ratios in parts and you can use whatever measuring device you want.

The Software
2 parts smoked paprika
2 parts powdered garlic
2 parts cumin
2 parts dried oregano
1 part ground adobe
1 part ground black pepper
1 part salt

The Recipe
Take all of the ingredients and add them to a container with a lid. Close the lid tight and shake until well combined. Spread on your protein or veggies of choice. Cook and you are done.

Notes
If the rub is not salty enough for you, add more salt. It is easier to add more than it is to remove it after you have put everything together. The ratios are really just suggestions, add and subtract whatever you would like and feel free to substitute sweet paprika for smoked and to take anything out. This recipe was developed with what I had on hand, you can pretty much make your own by combining spices and herbs and trying them out.

Extreme Lengths for Extreme Beer

DSCN0401 — What the bottle actually look like…You can keep your Pliny the Younger (and Elder), and a Dogfish Head (120 Minute IPA)’s absurd, me I want to go down in a BrewDog drunken stupor…oh hell, you try coming up with something that even remotely works in the place of “Silver Thunderbird”.

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Soon I will be preparing to Sink the Bismarck with a Tactical Nuclear Penguin (that sounds like a great T-shirt). I present to you, the world’s most expensive 6 pack – 4 bottles of Tactical Nuclear Penguin, 2 bottles of Sink the Bismarck, shipped from BrewDog in Scotland. These are generally not available in North America due to the way they are produced, but I guess that you can ship them – just be warned, shipping on this package was about $65 US, which is roughly what this beer cost a bottle. Soon there will be a tasting and if you are very lucky, I might invite you to partake. <Insert evil laugh here>

BTW – you are reading correctly. Those beers are 32 and 41 % ABV respectively.

DSCN0400 — The bounty, wrapped in classy brown paper and with the lovely art depicting which ones are the Tactical Nuclear Penguin. I wish they had done some art on the Bismarck also.

The Great Cheese Steak Search: Tat’s Deli

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Tat’s Deli, located in Pioneer Square is heralded as the best “authentic” Philly cheese steak in the city. The great cheese steak search brings us to this busy hole in the wall to see for ourselves.

Tat’s is generally pretty crowded, so even going on a Tuesday after 1 PM yielded a wait for a seat. Fortunately, service is quick although the staff is not always quick to wipe down the tables. I put in my standard order – cheese steak, with cheese wiz, no onions and cheese fries, which at Tat’s is about $12.

Everything came out on one platter, which presented an issue. The fries, with nothing to contain them, released a greasy mess onto the platter, which meant that it ended up in contact with half of the sandwich. As a result, eating the cheese steak was like eating 2 different sandwiches – one half was a soggy mess where the bread practically fell apart; the other the bread maintained its integrity and was actually pretty good of containing the sandwich itself. The meat was pretty pedestrian – they typical chopped steak, seasoned with enough salt but too much pepper (I love pepper, so for me to say it was too much, says something), to the point of it being the dominant flavor on the sandwich. The amount of cheese wiz also seemed a bit lacking, causing the sandwich to seem drier than it was. On the plus side, the sandwich itself was not overly greasy, which made for a more pleasant eating experience. It was still a messy sandwich to eat, but you did not fell like you needed a shower afterwards,

The fries were a standout, crispy and hot, even after a cheese wiz bath and Tat’s gets bonus points for carrying Tasty Cake products, an east coast favorite.

Overall, the cheese steak was pretty pedestrian, but on a great roll. If you go, stick to the regular sandwiches, which they do really well and save the cheese steak for when you are having a craving and find yourself in Pioneer Square.

Tat’s cheese steak gets 3 Liberty Bells out of 5.

Top Chef:Seattle

By Iron Chef Leftovers

If there was any question if Top Chef was filming in Seattle, there has been a Padma sighting at Mistral and the entire crew at Walrus and Carpenter.

Since it is official that they will start filming next week, some challenges I would love to see:

Geoduck – It’s a clam that looks like a large penis and is damn tasty. Would make a great quick fire.

Bring them out to a shellfish farm, have them dig the oysters/clams/mussels and then have them prepare them.

Bring them out to a farm like Skagit River Ranch and make one hell of a BBQ with sustainable produce.

Coffee!

They should do at least one challenge where they are pairing food with beer and or wine.

I am sure there will be some sort of tie-in with the folks at Modernist Cuisine.

To me, these are no brainers.

On a related note, there were some not so flattering comments on eater.com about Seattle being the location for the next Top Chef:

Too bad if true. There isn’t anything exciting happening in Seattle especially in food. Portland would’ve been a much better choice.

Great, the trendy hellhole known as the Pacific Northwest. Culinary graveyard.

Eh, Seattle shines in a few areas, but not many.

All of these posters were anonymous, and didn’t have the balls to actually post their real names, so no real surprise there. My guess is they are all from Boston and are unhappy that the culinary wasteland that is Boston didn’t get Top Chef (or Portlander who think they should have hosted). Are we NY, LA or Chicago, no, but we are only a city of about 600,000 and I think we are as good, if not better than SF and Austin, 2 previously featured cities on Top Chef.

The KitchenAid Stand Mixer Repair: Leaking Oil/ Grease “Missing Step”

by A.J. Coltrane

The KitchenAid Stand Mixer started dropping grease over the last couple of weeks. The grease had broken down. Most likely this happened because the unit ran hot by getting overworked, or the blinds didn’t get closed and it wound up sitting in the sun. (This also happens if the unit isn’t run frequently, which is never an issue around here.)

From what I can tell, there aren’t any free manuals available that discuss assembly/disassembly. Calling KitchenAid was no help, the customer service person said that they “weren’t in the DIY business”. I found this video, which was great, except when it comes to the step at the 3:15 mark:

“Remove the four screws”

The unit that he’s working on is pretty old — they don’t manufacture them like that anymore, or at least *mine’s* not like that! (Mine also lacks the tilt-back head.) On mine there are two visible screws. To access the other two screws it was necessary to remove the four very large screws that hold the entire top assembly onto the base. (One or two of those “large screws” were really stiff.) This revealed the two screws that needed to be removed so that the top housing could be separated from everything else. See the pic:

kitchenaid — The two screws sticking up on the right are the “hidden” offenders.

Hopefully someone will find this post and it’ll save them some time. I chose to remove the “four large screws” only after a phone call and some time-sink internet digging didn’t turn up any other useful info. Overall though the repair is really not too painful, and the unit now sounds better than before I opened it up. It probably needed it anyway.

Gumbo File

By Iron Chef Leftovers

I love gumbo but it can be really hard to find one with a good balance of flavor and heat in a restaurant. Most of the ones that I have had around Seattle have been too soupy or bland, so I decided to make one recently that was basically a modification of Alton Brown’s recipe from Good Eats.

The biggest problem with making gumbo is getting the roux dark enough – the roux is the foundation for the flavor of the dish and traditionally it requires at least an hour of cooking on the stovetop with constant stirring. Alton Brown devised a short cut method, which does not reduce the cooking time, but it does reduce the need to stir it constantly by cooking the roux in the oven instead of on the stove top. The other thing I like about this recipe is that it uses file powder instead of okra. I am not a fan of okra, but you need it to thicken the dish. File powder does this.

The Software
* 4 ounces vegetable oil
* 4 ounces all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 pounds raw, unpeeled medium-sized (31-50 count) shrimp
* 2 quarts water
* 3 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in (Optional)
* 3/4 cup chicken stock (if not using the chicken in the dish)
* 1 cup diced onion
* 1/2 cup diced celery
* 1/2 cup diced green peppers
* 2 tablespoons minced garlic
* 1/2 cup peeled, seeded and chopped tomato
* 1 tablespoon kosher salt
* 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
* 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 2 bay leaves
* 1/2 pound andouille sausage, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and browned
* 1 tablespoon file powder

The Recipe

The Roux
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the vegetable oil and flour into a 5 to 6-quart Dutch oven and whisk together to combine. Place on the middle shelf of the oven, uncovered, and bake for 1 1/2 hours, whisking 2 to 3 times throughout the cooking process. The roux will come out dark brown, almost brick red when it is done.

The Stock
While the roux is baking, de-head, peel and devein the shrimp. Place the shrimp in a bowl and set in the refrigerator. Place the heads and shells in a 4-quart saucepan along with the 2 quarts of water, set over high heat and bring to a boil. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 1 hour or until the liquid has reduced to 1-quart. Remove from the heat and strain the liquid into a container, discarding the solids.

If including the chicken – In a separate pot add 2 cups of cold water, a pinch of salt and the chicken. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium-low and cover. Cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until very tender. Remove the chicken to a plate to let cool and de-fat the cooking liquid in a fat separator, reserving 3/4 cup. Removed the chicken and shred when it is cool enough to handle.

The Gumbo
Brown the sausage on both sides over medium-high heat and remove to a bowl. Add the shrimp and cook for about 1 on each side (don’t worry about cooking them completely, they will finish cooking in the gumbo). Deglaze the pan with the reserved cooking liquid from the chicken or the chicken stock, scraping up the brown bits. Once the brown bits are scrape up, add the liquid to the shrimp stock.

Once the roux is done, carefully remove it from the oven and set over medium-high heat. Gently add the onions, celery, green peppers and garlic and cook, moving constantly for 7 to 8 minutes or until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the tomatoes, salt, black pepper, thyme, cayenne pepper, and bay leaves and stir to combine. Gradually add the shrimp broth and chicken stock while whisking continually. Decrease the heat to low, cover and cook for 35 minutes. Turn off the heat, add the shrimp, chicken and sausage and stir to combine. Add the file powder while stirring constantly. Cover and allow to sit for 10 minutes prior to serving. Serve over rice to a happy public.

If the gumbo is not thick enough for your liking, you can add additional file powder after serving.

Notes
The recipe is really hands off compared to most other ones I have seen. You can eliminate the chicken and chicken stock and replace it with vegetable stock if you are so inclined, but I am not sure if there is a way to make this vegetarian. The heat is pretty tame in this recipe, if you like more heat, increase the cayanne, or just add some hot sauce when serving. Traditionally this is served with rice, but would also work with pasta. You can also add more or less of the meats in it, depending on what your preferences are.

File powder can be found at any good spice shop and most mega marts.

Beer of the Week: Fort George Sunrise OPA

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Fort George Brewery is a brewery out of Astoria, Oregon. Their Sunrise OPA (Oatmeal Pale Ale) is a session pale ale made with rainier and cascade hops, chocolate malt and 50 lbs of oatmeal in each batch. It is easy drinking at 5.5% and 45 IBU.

The beer pours golden in color with a fizzy white head. Hop forward on the nose, with citrus undertones, but really no hint of the oatmeal is anywhere to be found. The initial taste is crisp and clean with a slight fruitiness as the beer lingers, fading into a pleasant hop bitterness that disappears quickly. This beer has a great hop balance that will remind you they are there, but not smack you upside the head with hoppiness. As the beer warms, there is a more pronounced lemon flavor on the palate. My only complaint – where is the oatmeal? There is a very slight oatmeal like mouth feel to this beer, but so little that you probably wouldn’t know it was there if you were not told that there was oatmeal in the beer. Any oat flavor (or even the use of chocolate malt) was completely overwhelmed by the hops in this beer. It is not a bad thing, but the beer could have been much more interesting with those as the dominant flavors.

Overall it was a pleasant drinking experience and a very refreshing beer if I am looking for something hoppy that I can drink more than one of, but not looking for a hop bomb.

Fort George gets a 3 gun salute out of 5.