BPBC PUMPKIN ALE ICE CREAM
Difficulty: Moderate
Time: 45 minutes (mixture must sit 3-8 hours before being processed in the ice cream maker for 40 minutes)
Beer Style: Pumpkin Ale
Seasonality: Fall to Winter
Serves: 1 quart
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
5 egg yolks
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup pumpkin beer
Directions
In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, combine 1 cup of cream and 1/2 cup of the brown sugar. Warm over medium heat, until small bubbles form at the edges of the mixture for about 5 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine the egg yolks, ginger, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup cream, and the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar. Whisk until smooth.Remove cream mixture from heat. Very slowly add about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the egg yolk mixture into the sauce pan. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon (if you run your finger through the mixture on the spoon, it should leave a clean trail). Do not let the custard boil.
In a bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 8 hours. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a medium bowl. Cool custard mixture over an ice bath.When cool, whisk the pumpkin, vanilla, and pumpkin beer into the custard. Cover with plastic wrap, placing the plastic directly on the custard’s surface (this will prevent a skin from forming). Refrigerate until chilled—preferably overnight.
Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.
ALAN’S SOUR CHERRY IMPERIAL STOUT
BRAISED BEEF SHORT RIBS
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 4+ hours
Beer Style: Imperial Stout
Seasonality: Any time
Serves: 6
Rub Ingredients
1 tsp dried sweet orange peel
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tsp curry powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried mustard powder
Rub Ingredients
4 ¼ lbs beef short ribs
3 tsp vegetable oil
3 ribs celery cut to 1 inch pieces
1 onion rough chopped
2 leeks rough chopped
2 bay leaves
2 cloves garlic smashed
2 cups beef broth
1 cup cherry juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
22 oz Blue Point Sour Cherry Imperial stout
½ c dried tart cherries
1 cinnamon stick
Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Mix all rub ingredients together and rub ribs entirely, refrigerate one hour. Heat oil in large pot, brown beef all sides, remove beef. Sauté veggies and bay leaves in same pot on low for 3 minutes, add garlic and go 1 minute more. Add cinnamon stick and cherries and sauté 1 minute. Add beer, broth, cherry and lemon juice, vanilla, and ribs, bring to boil. Braise covered in a 350 degree oven for 3 hours, then remove beef and simmer sauce on medium to reduce by half. Remove cinnamon and bay leaves and simmer 5 more minutes. Taste and season if needed. Thicken with corn starch if needed. Serve ribs on rice covered in sauce.
BPBC PUMPKIN ALE SOUP
As Thanksgiving approaches a nice warm bowl of soup is a great meal or afternoon snack. Even better is having the time to cook it with a crock pot so the tastes explode as it slow cooks. Butternut Squash are in plentiful supply in the New York-New England area and they make for great soup. To help make the soup even more interesting, enjoyable and festive, some Pumpkin Ale is a great way to add flavor and kick. The Blue Point Brewing Company makes my personal favorite Pumpkin Ale for this style soup and it’s widely available locally during this season.
Difficulty: Hard
Time: 8+ Hours
Equipment: Food Processor and Crock Pot
Beer Style: Pumpkin Ale
Seasonality: Fall to Winter
Serves: 3 quarts (cook to order)
Ingredients
8-12oz of BPBC Pumpkin Ale
3-1/2 cups of Chicken broth
3 – Butternut Squash
Bell Peppers
Carrots
Onions
Celery
Ginger
Garlic
1 – 8oz package of Cream Cheese
Spices: clove, nutmeg, pepper, basil, paprika and celery salt
1 package of premium Soup Crackers
Directions
For the soup, prepare the butternut squash by baking three of them cut in half on a baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and then cook the squash for an hour or until visibly soft. While doing this prepare some onion, carrots, celery, ginger and a few cloves of garlic by chopping them. It’s recommended you add these and other vegetables, perhaps some bell peppers, to your taste specifications. Set these aside in a bowl until the squash is done baking.
After the squash has cooled for about 15-20 minutes, cut off the skin and chop the squash into small cubes. Place this and the vegetables into a blender (or a food processor) along with a half cup of chicken broth (substitute vegetable broth) and puree until well-mixed. It’s helpful to do this in a few batches to get a good consistency. Place the mix into the slow cooker, slowly add-in spices to taste. We on occasion include some clove, nutmeg, pepper, basil, paprika and celery salt. Also use a total of about 3 1/2 cups of broth. Now add the BPBC Pumpkin Ale and allow this mixture to cook for about 6 hours on low. After the sixth hour, add-in an eight ounce package of cream cheese. This helps make the soup extra creamy. Let this cook for the final 45 minutes to an hour.
Serve with some crackers and an ice-cold BPBC beer to match and ironically not another BPBC Pumpkin Ale, because drinking one with the soup is not a very good pair because of the sheer amount of “pumpkin flavor” already in the soup, so here we want to contrast it with yet another delicious one of their seasonals, BPBC Oktoberfest or a BPBC Hoptical Illusion (I love looking at that colorful packaging when I eat soup).
OATMEAL STOUT VEGAN BROWNIES
Difficulty: Moderate
Time: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
Beer Style: Stout
Seasonality: Winter
Serves: 36 – 48 brownies depending on cut size
Ingredients
1 cup flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp margerine, cut into cubes
8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup vegan chocolate chips
2 bananas, mashed or other egg substitute equivalent to 4 eggs
1 cup sugar
10 ounces (1 1/4 cups) oatmeal stout beer
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 F and grease a 9 x13″ baking pan. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cocoa and salt together until evenly combined then set aside. In a small sauce pan over low heat, melt the margerine and chocolates, stirring constantly and being careful not to burn or scortch the chocolate. Once fully melted, remove from heat immediately and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, using electric beaters or spatula, combine bananas (or other egg replacement) and sugar. Add in chocolate mixture and continue to beat until evenly combined. Add dry mixture in batches, stirring until it’s clumping, then slowly pour in beer, stirring only until just combined. Pour into prepared baking dish, bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
MISS AMYS LAGERJAM CREPES
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 1 Hour
Beer Style: Lager
Seasonality: Anytime
Serves: 12-15 Crepes
Ingredients
3 large eggs
1 to 1-1/2 cups Whole Milk (don’t use 1%, 2% or skim milk or batter will be too thin)
1 cup Blue Point Brewing Toasted Lager
1-3/4 flour
a pinch of salt
2 tbsp of vegetable oil
1/2 stick of salted butter
Miss Amy’s Preserves – any flavor you choose (we prefer Atlantic Red Raspberry)
Fresh squeezed lemon juice
Sugar, for serving
Directions
Whisk eggs until they’re totally combined. Then whisk in 1 cup of milk with 1 cup of Blue Point Toasted Lager. Add the flour to the liquid by sprinkling it over the surface, whisking it thorough to avoid lumps. Now add the salt and the oil and whisk the batter vigorously for about 3 minutes or until all the ingredients are well incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour or even overnight.
Heat a 10″ skillet (non-stick if available) over medium-high heat until a drop of water sizzles in the pan. Rub the pan with a little butter and then pour about 1/3 of the batter into the center of the pan immediately tilting and rotating the pan to cover the bottom as thinly and evenly as possible.
Lightly-brown the first side for 1-2 minutes then gently flip the Crepe over and brown the other side for about 30 seconds up to a minute. Transfer the Crepe to a plate and keep warm by covering with foil. Continue this process to all of the batter is used. If the Crepes are thicker then you normally like, thin the batter by whisking in a tablespoon or so of additional milk, whisk until the consistency is the way you prefer. Be careful not to make the Crepe batter too thin or they will not form or quickly burn.
The Crepe may now be covered and kept at room temperature or refrigerated for up to 2 days. To reheat the Crepes, place in a covered baking dish and place in a 400?F oven until heated thoroughly. To serve, spread warm Crepes with butter and jam. Optional: drizzle with a little lemon juice and sprinkle with sugar. Fold into quarters and serve immediately, pairs well with BPBC Toasted Lager and Winter Ale.
