A few days ago a good friend reminded me that it's braising season. Time to get out the dutch oven and slow cook some goodness. I started off with a recipe from Cooking Light for beer braised beef stew since it covered the two major food groups in the title. It called for root veggies; carrots, onions, garlic, and turnips, some beef broth and 1 dark beer. I headed off to my LBS (local beer store) and was delighted to find Anchor's Porter. I hadn't tried their porter but I am a big fan of their seasonal Christmas Ale so I grabbed a sixer.
Let me say that I love a good dark beer. To make it creamy, rich, and thick while going down light and smooth is an art form. A good porter has that mix of hoppy bitter and chocolaty sweetness that makes you want to poor it on ice cream. I was not disappointed by the Anchor Porter, not overly sweet with just the right amount of hops made this a perfect beer for braising, and drinking for that matter. As the weather turns cold grab some and drink it slowly, you won't regret it. It's even good at room temperature.
Bottom line: Highly Recommended.
Bottom line: Highly Recommended.
Buy it if you like good beer with complexity and you have a bowl of stew in front of you.
Don't buy it if you don't like porter.
Don't buy it if you don't like porter.
So when am I invited to come eat some of this mouth watering beer enhanced num nums? say tonight? tomorrow.. please man, PLEASE
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your reference in the first paragraph to "the dutch oven" and "slow cooking some goodness."
ReplyDeleteI had a bit of a cooking lesson myself last night, however the results were perhaps not as savory as your beer braise experiment. My recipe called for quite a lot of beans.