Hops and Chops

Of Growlers

2009-03-12T03:37:00.007-04:00

Now that we are "keg people" Mr. Chops and I tend to show up at social gatherings with jugs of beer instead of six packs. These 1/2 gallon glass jugs are known as "growlers". Many people in CT are unaccustomed to them, mainly due to our state's strict adherence to "blue laws". Blue laws, for those of you who live in modern, progressive states- are a mysterious group of laws created by our Puritan ancestors to prevent early Americans from having fun. For some reason, even though most states have yanked these ridiculous laws because they were sick of not being able to buy beer on Sunday or they tired of being arrested for holding hands in a public places- CT seems to rejoice their existence as an addition to the state's already very un-fun image. This being said, in many states, you can stroll down the street to your local bar or brew pub with a jug (!!!!!) and fill it up with a half-gallon of beer (!!!!!) go home and drink it in the privacy of your own home! I know! I know! The horror! Just think of what might happen?

Inevitably, when we refer to half gallon jugs as "growlers", someone asks how they got that name. Beer snobs are apparently supposed to know the answer to this question, so I looked it up. What I found was a whole bunch of unsubstantiated claims having to do with the sound a jug made when you filled it up, or something to do with drinking beer to make your stomach stop growling. But mostly, it just sounded like B.S. so I think I'm just going to make up my own story that sounds better. I encourage you to do the same. Also, I am sure that my sister, Lady Pilsner, queen of all internet research, will find the real answer for me because I am too busy knitting. There, I said it.

Speaking of Lady Pilsner, I might add that in the Czech Republic you can stumble into your local village bar and fill up any water-tight vessel with beer and bring it home. A plastic liter water bottle, rubber boot, watering can, flower pot, whatever! And somehow, even in spite of this, society prevails and chaos has not ensued. Now that's my kind of place.

Food Snob Alert!

2009-02-24T16:15:00.006-05:00

When I was a kid my sister and I read the New york Times Magazine religiously. Mainly the fashion and food sections. But, really, what else is there, right? Although, it would be hard to tell now how much time I spent studying haute couture as a kid (I wear a navy blue uniform to work in my real life) But I think I have finally achieved a level of elitist foodie-ness to best the Times. Let me explain- if any of you out there ever read the food section of the New York Times, you know that it specializes in very chic glossy photos of meals, the ingredients of which you would never be able to find- much less afford- or be able to prepare without specialized equipment. This was indescribably maddening, as a young foodie and budding cook. It was sort of like getting a piece of furniture from Ikea and not being able to put it together because one of those ridiculous wooden pegs is missing. I wanted so badly to recreate the exotic looking meals featured in this glossy erudite magazine. But I never had panko bread crumbs, kobe beef, or the equipment to make lobster flavored foam, seaweed-flavored gelato, or whatever. Anyway, you get the idea. It was as if the editors always put in one really eccentric ingredient as if to say "Ha! You see? You are not a rich yuppie from Manhattan and you never will be! Ha, ha, ha!" Well you food snobs feast your eyes on this! This winter we made goose confit, and late last fall we made our first home-made sausages. This was the recipe I came up with to showcase both hard to come by ingredients.

Cassoulet with Home Made Venison Sausage and Goose Confit

Note: Although this recipe calls for Venison Sausage and Confit I am not snobby enough to pretend it wouldn't be equally delicious with substitutions such as a portion of leftover duck or turkey and whatever store bought sausage you want.

Soak 1/2 pkg. dry white beans over night (If you don't have time, or forgot to soak them overnight just soak as long as possible)

1 Onion (chopped finely)
2 Carrots (chopped finely)
2 large Celery Ribs (chopped finely)
2 cloves garlic (chopped finely)

1 1/2 lbs Venison Sausage (or any mild flavored sausage)
2 Jars shredded confit (1 1/2 lb shredded poultry- preferably turkey, duck, or dark meat chicken)
2-3 TB Reserved fat from confit, or 2-3 strips of bacon
1 large can chopped tomatoes
Chicken stock
2-3 Cups bread crumbs
Handful of chopped fresh parsley
Handful of Parmesan
Bay leaf

Drain soaked beans, rinse, and submerge in well flavored chicken stock. Cook until tender replenishing stock as needed. Heat oven to 350 F. Brown sausages in large dutch oven or heavy casserole on top of stove. If you happen to be using confit, make sure to reserve some fat from the jar to brown the sausages and veggies. If you are not using confit, cook a couple strips of bacon and use the fat for cooking. Reserve the strips for later. Brown sausages well in fat. While this is going on, chop onion, celery, carrot, and garlic. When sausages are done, transfer them to a plate. Add veggies (except garlic) to pan, brown well, scraping all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Just before they are done, add garlic and saute for a few moments but avoid burning it. When beans are tender, add them and the remaining vegetable stock into the casserole with the veggies. Return sausages, crumbled bacon (if using), confit (or other poultry) to pan. Add crushed tomatoes and their liquid and a fresh bay leaf. Put in oven. Cook at 350 until most of the liquid in the pot has been absorbed (40 minutes or so) While you are waiting for the cassoulet to be done, brown bread crumbs in a pan with some butter over medium heat and set aside. When most of the liquid has been absorbed from the cassoulet, sprinkle the top of it with a thin layer of fresh chopped parsley, bread crumbs, and Parmesan. Put back in oven until top is crisp and brown (10 minutes)

Serve cassoulet in bowls with a tossed salad and crusty bread, and of course, a good beer. Saison Dupont would be nice with this...........

A Valentine Beer for...

2009-02-13T19:18:00.010-05:00

Dear Mr. President,

I'm not a celebrity hound. I could give a crap about the rich, powerful, and famous. Further more, even if I could- I would never invite people of that sort over for a drink. But frankly, I think you are F**cking awesome. And, I wish you could come over for a beer. There, I said it. Oh, and by the way- those suits you're drinking with in this particular photo look like a bunch of weenies.

But your new Secretary of State looks like a much better drinking partner.

Looks like staff meetings could get pretty lively...and who's this looser in the front left corner toasting with a glass of milk anyway?

Powerthirst

2009-02-08T10:23:00.003-05:00

Forget drinking beer- get powerthirst instead! I hope you find this as amusing as I do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-3qncy5Qfk

Bacon

2009-02-03T20:23:00.007-05:00

A while back (yes I am still catching up on things from this summer) Mr. Chops and I went on a bacon field trip to Nodine's. I had heard reviews of this much revered smokehouse on TV and on the radio and since it was only 45 minutes from Chopsland, I figured, why not? Although Nodine's runs a huge mail order business and supplies smoked meat to some of the fanciest food stores in Manhattan, I figured I could get a better feel for things if I went up and saw the operation for myself. Truth be told, Nodine's retail store is, how shall we say this...modest? It's pretty much a shack filled with meat, really delicious smoked meat. Which, is totally fine with me, but I was picturing, especially after all the rave reviews, I don't know- maybe something a little more grand. More like a meat mecca. So if you were looking for some smoked meat abience by visiting the quaint store in Goshen, CT- better to skip the trip and just order in.

Despite the humble appearances, we did manage to scurry back to the car with six pounds of bacon and a really wonderful ham. We got Juniper Bacon, Breakfast Strips (Nitrate Free), and double smoked bacon. The juniper bacon was thin and in a one pound slab. The other two varieties were thick cut, and in a smaller package. They were all extremely tastey, but I have to say my favorite was the juniper bacon. I'm won't to lie to you and say I could really taste the juniper, but it was just straight up yummy.

Some of you die-hard readers might be wondering how Nodine's compares with the Amish bacon I reviewed last year and I have got to say, although Nodine's might be a natural choice for bacon connoisseurs or people with lots of disposable income (Nodine's is on the spendy side) Stoltzfus bacon is a probably a better value and every bit as good, especially for everyday bacon eating. That's right, I said everyday bacon eating. No, I do not own stock in the company that makes lipitor, but I probably should.

Bad Beer Continued

2009-01-30T09:54:00.004-05:00

When life hands you bad beer, make malt vinegar! When our first beer flopped at the end of this summer, I decided to try my hand at making vinegar. It didn't seem hard, just pour your failed alcoholic beverage into an open container (stainless steel or ceramic), cover with cheese cloth and wait. If you are lucky, vinegar-making bacteria will come and live on it. Take a peek every couple of weeks, and you will eventually see a layer of mold covering the top of your liquid. This is mother-of-vinegar, the magical beasty that makes vinegar sour. In my case, after about 4 months, this finally happened and now I have some pretty damn' delicious malt vinegar! When you think it's acid enough for your taste, filter it through some cheese cloth and bottle it. I knew mine was ready when Mr. Chops (the Golden Nose) started complaining that our office smelled like cheese. I was keeping my pot of vinegar under the desk because it was too cold in the cellar. What? Not everybody does this? Whatever....Apparently, you can also make vinegar with all those unfinished dregs of wine bottles you might have just lying around. Just keep on pouring them into a crock (under your desk/table/bed), and with a little patience (and some funky smells), wine vinegar! It will undoubtedly be tastier, and better quality than the everyday swill in the grocery store.

From the Brew Room: A Cautionary Tale

2009-01-23T09:58:00.000-05:00

Brewing can be easy and fun- if you begin like normal people would, not like type A, beer-snob control-freaks. That being said- we decided to cut some corners in the venerable process of learning to brew and went straight to brewing all-grain. With our noses high in the air after our first successful brew (most of this success we really owed to our brewing tutor, the Naughty Nurse) we went straight to brewing all-grain Belgian beer recipes. This, if you know anything about brewing, is laughable. So our second brew- a saisson-style beer failed, our third beer a Belgian golden did too. At this point, we cried/whined for many hours. It was only after we seriously considered a conspiracy theory where Terry Boyd (of Mountview Plaza Wines and Liquors) secretly infected our basement with rampant funky yeast strains that rendered us incapable of brewing so we would be forced to only buy kegs from him- that we snapped out of it and decided to get some answers. So we headed to our local bar and unofficial Beer Nerd headquarters, My Place, to accost our wiser, and unwitting brewing colleagues with a most regrettable taste test. Here's how our critique sessions started off:

Mark: (Takes a whiff) "Hmmmmm...doesn't smell infected. (Tastes) Oh my god! Band aids! "

Crapper: "Wow...phenolic bomb...I taste clove, banana, cleanser, chlorine?"

The Nurse: "Christ! There's something good under the phenols but I mostly taste throat lozenges. You know the fake lemony ones?"

Phil: "Smells pretty good really- but the taste....soapy"

Crapper: "Yeah, I'm done tasting that. (gags, pushing the glass to a safe distance)"

After much helpful consideration here are the theories on how we went wrong:

Crapper- "It's the plastic primary fermenter! That's your problem! Jesus! Just man up and buy a glass carboy"

Nurse- "I've used the same plastic bucket for 15 years! I think it's the water..."

Crapper- (to the Nurse) "You're wrong, just so wrong!" (To us) "Don't listen to him..." (back to the Nurse) "How would you know anyway? How many brewing awards have you won?"

Nurse: "I don't need awards, I save them for people like you, who have to constantly bolster their own egos"

Mark: "Well, it could be the water, it could be your racking cane, the temperature you brewed at, the plastic....we need to get rid of some variables."

Crapper: "Start by getting the Nurse's brewing equipment out of your basement! That's your real problem."

And there you have it- back to the drawing table. And what of our failed beers? Well, I was unable to let go of the first failure so it became Eisbock ( beer that's frozen to concentrate the alcohol) This actually came out really good- although the yield was pretty low, only a couple of bottles. The rest of that batch went to making malt vinegar. Also pretty good so far (still fermenting) Our second, most recent beer failure is being combined with a lactic yeast strain, mixed with fruit, and left, hopefully to breath off its phenol band-aids and magically become lambic..........it's a long shot but I hate to waste anything especially, $70 worth of brewing ingredients (ouch!) and a days worth of labor. I am left thinking about our friend and fellow beer enthusiast, Jan's response when we asked whether or not he brews beer. His answer, which echoes in my brain, was "Brew beer? Why? There are so many delicious beers I can just go out and buy!" Hurumph!!!

Christmas The Whole Year Through

2009-01-13T14:04:00.005-05:00

If you are anything like me, Christmas = Delicious Food and Drink. Some holiday items, like Christmas cookies, fruit cake, or your crazy uncle Eddie- no one wants to revisit throughout the year, but Christmas beers are a different story. There are many holiday beers still in stores right now that are worth stocking up on. Many holiday beers are dark, rich, spicy, and very alcoholic. These beers are great as a nite cap or instead of dessert, but some defy the normal range of everyday drinkability. This Pere Noel however, is different. Made by De Ranke Bewery in Belgium, this beer has a crisp refreshing champagne like character. It is also rather generously hopped for a Belgian ale and not too high in alcohol. Although it is indeed festive enough for the holidays, it is also a good candidate for year-round drinking. I suspect Pere Noel is actually the same recipe as one of my all time favorite beers by De Ranke, Double X bitter. However, it is richer, more heavily spiced and aged longer (perhaps in oak?) than the Double X to make it special for the holidays. Although I am sure it would go well with food, I think it is perfectly delicious all on its own. I happened to noticed a couple of liquor stores in the area were still stocking this beer. So pick up a bottle or two and like the Santa on the lable, you too will be hugging your glass.

Get Your Krauch on!

2009-01-07T11:05:00.000-05:00

When we first decided to go to Nova Scotia this summer we hit the tour books hard. Yes, there was lovely scenery, places to go kayaking, blah, blah, blah- but what about the food? Skipping through the photos in the middle section of one of the tour guides we both stopped cold. There it was: a photo of a modest looking young man, leaning lovingly over a gigantic tray of salmon being smoked. The caption said something inane like "Nova Scotia has wonderful fresh seafood, like smoked salmon". Yes, but where? Where was this man and his delicious looking smoked salmon? Sadly, there was no mention. No matter! We would just have to find it ourselves.

Now, flash to the Chops Nova Scotia vacation 2008. We had been on the road for many hours. It was getting dark and we were anticipating the final arrival at our cottage in the-middle-of-nowhere. We were tired, and as always, hungry. Then, on the otherwise deserted road- we see a most interesting sign. It reads "J. Willy Krauch's Smoked Fish- Salmon, Mackerel, Trout and Eel, 2.5 km ahead". What an amazing coincidence! Could this be the smoked fish shop of our dreams?? Mr. Chops and I both immediately think, 'boy smoked fish would be great right now, but no way they are open at 5:57 PM on a Saturday evening'. But then, the next sign says "Krauch's Smoked Fish: Open Daily 8-6". Hallelujah! But, I am still skeptical, we haven't even seen another car in hours. We turn off the road, as directed by the next sign, into a small common dirt drive with a very dark looking house and a very closed looking smokehouse next door that- gasp!- has an open sign affixed to it! Now, out of the car, and lured by the seductive scent of smoking fish in the air and push open the door. All of a sudden we are standing in what appears to be a mini-automat with a smiling young lady in a hair net sitting behind the counter. Have I mentioned we haven't see a living thing in over an hour? And yet, here is this young lady, apparently just waiting patiently for us to show up. We reach into the cooler with the mini automat-style doors and greedily grab cold smoked salmon, hot smoked lemon pepper mackerel, and smoked eel. Stunned by our good luck and ever increasing hunger, we drive another mile down the road and discover that our cottage is but minutes from Krauch headquarters! One quick look at the breathtaking view from our cottage window and we were sweeping the dust off the kitchen table. Surrounded by all our camping stuff piled on the floor, we polish off the whole lot of Krauch's smoked goodies, straight up, with crackers, and a beer out of the cooler.

However, dear readers, I must confess, the smoked fish feeding frenzy did not end here. Unabashed, we were back the very next day, and again, and again! We even began using the name Krauch in everyday conversation. As in- "It's Krauch-o'clock", "Krauch-time", "Krauch-tastic", and "Are you ready to get your Krauch on?" So frequently, did we go to Krauch's, that the girl with the hair net, Jaimie, knew us by our first names. She was even kind enough to give us a tour of the place and tell us more about the fish-smoking virtuoso, Willy J. Krauch. He immigrated from Denmark to Nova Scotia with his wife in the 1950's, and started a fish smoking business. He and his wife raised 10 kids- 5 girls and 5 boys. The boys still run the business, as Mr. Krauch has sadly passed on. But Mrs. Krauch still lives right across the road in the family homestead. There is no doubt that the photo we saw in our guide book is in fact one of the Krauch's tending their fish. You see, Krauch's smoked fish is a legend of sorts. The smoke shop is lined with articles heralding the many pleasures of eating Krauch's fish. In fact, people come from all over Nova Scotia to buy fish from Krauch and Sons. Jaimie informed us that people actually make a weekend out of driving out to Tangier to the smokehouse just buy smoked fish. We confirmed this rumor while at the counter one day when we spoke to a delivery man standing in line who said that all the drivers where he works fight for the route that goes by Krauch's smokehouse. At first, this may seem strange until you try the fish and then you, too will be willing to drive 8 hours to pick some up for yourself (Just make sure you have plenty of gas, a spare tire, and cold beer made somewhere other than Nova Scotia on hand).

Luckily, if this isn't your idea of a good time- you could just order it, like the Queen of England does, by simply picking up the phone. Here's the info:

J. Willy Krauch & Sons Ltd.
Highway 7, Halifax Co.,
Box 81 Tangier, Nova Scotia
Canada B0J 3
Phone 1-902-772-2188
Toll Free: 1-800-758-4412
Email: willykrauch@ns.sympatico.ca
Contact: Max Krauch
Established: 1956

Krauch's cold smoked salmon is truly out of this world and my (and the Queen's) personal favorite. We can also recommend the smoked eel, although not for the faint of heart- it comes with head and skin still attached. In addition, the hot smoked salmon was delicious. From talking to the many other folks at the counter, the hot smoked salmon seems to be the local favorite. I am not usually a fan of hot smoked salmon- it's generally too dry w/ not enough flavor. But Krauch's was delicious, smokey and moist. The lemon pepper mackerel was excellent too and Mr. Chops really liked the herring. So go ahead and get your Krauch on- you won't be sorry!

Confit

2009-01-02T09:52:00.005-05:00

Too much goose and goose fat lying around after the holidays? Me too! Everybody should have these sorts of problems. I can't believe it has been over a year since our first goose butchering escapade at farmer Kate's- but goose D-day has come and gone. We have cooked our Christmas goose (a bona-fide young goose this time- thank god!), and had an extra goose and plenty of goose fat left over so we made confit!

A while back, at a party, I was given an excellent recipe for confit by a young aspiring chef named Anthony. He is a very patient man. Because he is a chef, and we are completely obsessed with food, every time we see him, we gather around him and bombard him with culinary questions. I am sure he would rather be drinking his beer in peace, but he is always nice enough to indulge us with all sorts of useful tidbits of knowledge. I am not sure what poor Tony gets out of it, perhaps semi-entertaining stories about us elbow deep in goose guts? Who knows.

Anyhow, here's his recipe for Conft. Because we now have an annual arrangement with our farmer friend for fresh geese, we use goose for this recipe, although, traditionally, it's made with duck. You are probably thinking that you would never try this, but believe me, it's worth it. And I know that if you are still reading Hops and Chops your are not a fat-a-phobe. The fat used here, is mostly just to preserve the meat while it's aging. The meat comes out super silky, with an intensely rich flavor that gets better the longer you let it hangout in the frige. It's great straight up, in cassoulets, or even on a sandwich! Feel free to fry up some slices of potato in with all your extra goose fat when re-heating the confit. Add some salad and you've got an easy (and oh-so-fancy) dinner

Basic Confit:

Break down your poultry eight-ways ( leg, thigh, wing, breast )
Put the breasts aside for another use, weigh and toss the rest of the cuts in the following:

1/4 oz (or 1/2 Tblspn) kosher salt PER POUND

1 clove garlic, smashed PER POUND

2 springs fresh thyme PER POUND

...toss together, place in oven-proof pan, cover, and refrigerate overnight.The next day remove the pieces and rinse all the salt off and place back into pan with aromatics. Just cover the meat with rendered duck (or goose fat) , cover with foil, and place in 325F over for 2 - 3 hours until overtly fork tender. Allow to cool a bit, place meat in a seal-able container, strain the fat, and cover the meat with the now strained fat. This can be placed in the fridge and kept for months! Just pull it out and heat it in a little of the fat when ready to eat.

We have tried this recipe twice. Once, successfully, the other not. The problem that occurred was an error on our part. When packing confit you absolutely must leave a nice thick layer of fat on top of your last layer of meat or else it will get moldy, and not age gracefully as directed. !

Confessions of a Wayward Blogger

2008-11-06T08:12:00.009-05:00

In the spirit of the new year I have looked deeply inside myself and realized these truths about my blog: 1) I possess subconscious, deep-seeded guilt about not blogging 2) I am much better at blogging in the winter, preferably when crippled. 3)I actually need my blog because otherwise, I have no idea what the hell I did last year.

So, since being crippled isn't an attractive option, my New Year's resolution will be to bank my blog entries when I have the time (winter) and distribute them evenly throughout the year so as not to frustrate my Mom and the very few other regular readers who have not forsaken me. Also, while I am confessing- I actually promised to persist with Hops and Chops because I sold my soul to Miss Yum Yum for this box of free Dove chocolates.

I do feel that the key to having a guilt-free blog means maintaining consistency. I feel readers should expect something at least every week. Therefore, I will try to make one weekly post, perhaps more. This should not be too difficult considering there is so much to tell. This would be a lot easier as well if some of you lurkers would come out of the shadows and help me like I asked.

At the risk of sounding like my boss- I really have been very busy. Although, unlike my boss who uses this phrase as a euphemism for "I have to go to the yacht club and put my boat in the water" I really do have a lot of stuff to blog about.

The Naughty Nurse is responsible for much of this new found content of interest.

If you had a Hops and Chops time line you would see that the same time we met the Naughty Nurse directly corresponds with the egregious lack of blog entries. This is because our new found friend is not only a very knowledgeable home brewer, but also a very serious task-master. As a result, we have had a very full beer schedule in 2008. The good news is- Mr. Chops and I have been learning to brew beer! We attended home brew beer meetings, and home brew competitions, and learned to brew beer using all grain. We have also been introduced to the wonderful world of making hard cider. Not only this- but the Nurse has also showed us to how to roast coffee at home! All this, of course, would keep any normal people busy, but not us! We have also made our first confit, venison sausage, malt vinegar, gone on a smoked meat pilgrimage and discovered goose bacon.

There is one bit of bad news- I still can't bring myself to eat a squirrel. But perhaps, if Mr. Goodbar and Ms. Yum Yum had called us when they had six of them living in their house, we could have crossed that one of our list and had a delicious dinner to boot!

Blame Canada

2008-08-20T09:47:00.002-04:00

Hello again! No, I didn't enter the witness protection program- I just went on vacation and forgot to tell anyone. Or perhaps that was on purpose so no one would raid the kegerator while we were gone. But as consolation for all those long weeks with out any new H&C, I have tales from Nova Scotia to serve up soon as I figure out how to pay all these bills that piled up while I was away. But first- I have to warn all those unsuspecting folk out there who might be packing up for Nova Scotia: Pack your own beer friends! So what if the Canadian Government says you can only bring one case into the country without penalty! Trust me- whatever the penalty is- it is not nearly as grim as having to drink Nova Scotian beer!

Clams and Beer

2008-07-27T11:01:00.003-04:00

In the summertime, we eat a lot of clams, and, as you may already know- beer goes well with clams. Especially nice is this Hazed and Infused Ale from Boulder Brewing. You may remember this brew from my post about really hoppy beers. It is a consummate summer beer; low in alcohol, high in refreshing hops, and very finely carbonated. It is brewed with chinook, willamette, and cascade hops and then dry hopped with crystal and centennial hops. We like it so much we bought a keg of it so we could have it on tap.

As I have stated previously, there are few redeeming qualities to living in CT when it comes to beer and beer culture. However, we are lucky enough to have easy access to fresh clams at wholesale prices. We buy cherry stones, right off the boat, one hundred count at a time, and leave them in our beer fridge where they stay fresh and delicious for two weeks or more (as long as you keep them dry, no ice or salted water please!). Mr. Chops likes them raw, straight up. But we both like them grilled. We throw a whole bunch on the grill, cover them until they start to open up, ripping the empty side of the shell off so the clam side sits flat on the grill. Then douse the side with the clam in mixture of garlic simmered in butter, lemon, hot sauce, and parsley. We pull them off as the butter starts to simmer inside the shell. Of course, there are many variations to be had on this according to taste. If I feel like going all out, I put little pieces of crispy bacon in too. Yum! These make a really easy appetizer too. My usual ratio is 1 stick of butter, 2 cloves of garlic, juices of half a lemon, a handful of parsley and a couple teaspoons of hot sauce. Sometimes I put the mixture in a squeezy bottle to make it easier to squirt in the clams shells, but recently I have just been using a spoon with a long handle and scooping a little of the mix into each shell. Hazed and Infused is the perfect foil for briny clams and the richness of the garlic and butter.

Sake Update

2008-07-24T12:47:00.000-04:00

A few of you have asked how the sake is coming along. Well, things are actually pretty good.

After some serious self doubt, I have concluded that the whole process went pretty well for a first try at fermenting. So far, here's what I have learned:

First: Sake definitely is easier to make if you start it in colder months like I was instructed, but then foolishly ignored

Second: I now know that you need something finer than cheese cloth to strain your sake, I had way too much solid in my finished product which wasted as much as a half gallon of sake overall.

Third: Bob Taylor, the sake guru, is a most patient and helpful man. I would have been pretty lost if not for his constant cooperation in my endeavor. Cheers to him and his excellent blog. Thanks Bob!

Fourth: I think the most enjoyable sake was the unpasteurized sake right out of the fermenter. It had a very light fresh taste with hints of vanilla, coconut, and flowers. After it was pasteurized, the fresh flowery taste disappeared.

Fifth: Now, my sake seems to be better if it is opened and allowed to breath for a day before drinking. The flavor mellows a bit and loses its sharper overtones. It is very full-flavored robust sake. It has a dry finish which I like, but there's fruity, almost acid quality I am not so sure about. Perhaps I should age it some more? Bob, any thoughts on this?

So there you have it! I think I am going to take a bottle and save it for a couple more months to see if the taste improves any. Perhaps by then, Geof and Carla will be brave enough to revisit Sue's sake and give me another review? Perhaps they could even come up with a name for it like those really fancy sakes have like, "Misty Maiden's Folly" or perhaps "Wandering Lunatic" or even "Drunken Deer". But seriously, I really enjoyed making sake, and would recommend it to anyone who has an interest.

More From Lady Pilsner on Walnut Liqueur

2008-07-22T08:40:00.004-04:00

My sister sent me an unusual contra-band present this year for xmas. It was a very mysterious unlabeled glass bottle full of inky liquid wrapped entirely in clear packing tape to prevent spillage in its 1500 mile journey from central Europe to the States. There was a small handwritten note explaining that this was nocino, or walnut liqueur, and that baby Jesus wanted us to have some. We figured that if baby Jesus wanted us to have it we better damn' well try some. After examining it for a good long while, shaking it, sniffing it, and staring at it in a glass we finally got up enough courage to try it. It was earthy, nutty, sweet, spicy and mmm mmm good! Perfect for the holidays. We also tried it in coffee and hot chocolate with favorable results. So now, my sis, the L o' P, has been good enough to share with us how nocino is made...

I had almost forgotten about Nocino or, in Czech, Orechovka or in plain English, walnut liqueur. My friend (also American, also here in E. Bohemia but with years in Italy behind her) reminded me of it when I was at her house last week, but I forgot about it until today, a good 2+ weeks late. The trick to Nocino is to catch the walnuts when they are still soft enough to eat after being saturated for 2 months in alcohol. Warning! This is not a treat for the faint of heart! I wasn't able to manage perfect timing this year, but I'm sure the Nocino will be fine, though I'm trying to forget this image I have of me gnawing away on those boozy nuts amidst Christmas festivities....

Nocino
1.5 L vodka or slivovice (plum brandy) in my case
30 green walnuts – ideally picked at the end of June – between the 24th and 25th to be precise
2 cinnamon sticks
10 cloves
the cut up rind of one lemon in strips
3 cups of sugar
Quarter the nuts and mix them in a mason jar with all the remaining ingredients. Place the mason jar in a warm place and let sit for 2 months. Filter and bottle. Age for 6 months in a cool dark place.
The Czech recipe I found is surprisingly similar – they substitute “5 circles of orange rind in sugar” for the lemon rind and halve the amount of cloves and cinnamon. As to the taste – maybe Ms. Chops can describe it better (she got a bottle for Christmas last year ) – it is definitely not a walnut liqueur on the lines of amaretto. The liqueur is strong and (as I recall) somewhat herbal, and there's definitely bitter mixed in with the sweet. Right now, two days in, my nocino is this inky green tourmaline color, but it turns nearly black with time.
I can't say last year's batch made it past Christmas, so much for the aging 6 months. By its rate of disappearance, it seemed that last year's batch – my first – was a success. I think the toughest customer was a friend's father (and a court psychiatrist at that) who is a strict follower of the Czech/Moravian cult of slivovice. The look of disdain on his face when offered this walnut liqueur was daunting, but after being assured that it was no weak girly drink and was indeed based on slivovice, he managed to down a good couple shots of the stuff.

Not too hot to bake!

2008-07-19T12:12:00.007-04:00

Today it is 95 in the shade. Definitely not the kind of day you'd want to be baking bread. But, I confess dear readers, this is what I am up to. Remember way back when I told you all about the 5 minute artisan bread recipe? Well, I am still baking bread- in fact, I can't stop! It is a personal crusade of mine to not buy bread from the store if I can help it. But since it's so hot, I have discovered that I can bake bread in my grill with the top down. This, I actually discovered this past winter when, I broke the stove. How do you break a stove, you ask? Well, you take it apart so well you can't get it back together again! This left us with no stove for over two weeks while we waited for our new one to arrive. It was an interesting psychological experiment though because, having no stove, it turns out, instantly transforms me into a raving lunatic. The minute I didn't have a working oven all I could think of to eat were things that had to be baked, broiled, or roasted. One day, in a moment of desperation, I just threw the baking stone on a medium high grill and when it heated up to about 450, I put the bread in and cooked until done! Surprisingly enough, it turned out great. This method is now my preferred way to bake bread in the summer so I don't have to heat up the house with 450 degree oven. So far, I have had good results with the white/wheat french loaf, oat bran bread, rolls, and even challah (in a loaf pan)!

More about Elderflowers

2008-07-11T11:53:00.003-04:00

I was intrigued by the thought of elderflower soda, so I did some research on elderflowers and came up with a bunch of factoids. First, I will answer my own question- Elderflowers taste, not like elders, but slightly like anisette as best I can guess. St. Germaine liqueur is made out of elderflower. Though Sambuca, which is named after elder (the species name for elder is Sambucus) is not made out of elder. In Hungary they make an elderflower wine and apparently Europeans employ elderflowers and elderberries in many other applications such as tea, syrups, sodas (Fanta makes an elder flavored soda believe it or not). Who knew? Secondly, wiccan folklore has it that if you remove an eldertree from your land, a spirit called an "elder mother" will seek revenge upon you. Third, the woodear fungus made famous by Asian cuisine, prefers elder trees as its host. Fourth, biblical legend has it that Judas hanged himself from an eldertree so woodear fungus is also called judas ear fungus. Sounds delicious, right? So there you go! I also think I found a variety of elder growing on my own property, although it doesn't taste very good. Too bad! Now I have to do some more research to see if American Elder is good for anything...

H&C Tea Totals- And Just In Time For Summer!

2008-07-08T07:28:00.008-04:00

Well, thank goodness for Lady Pilsner- that's all I gotta say! She is out there in central Europe innovating in the kitchen while I toil like a migrant farm hand here on the other side of the pond. Although I, Ms. Chops, have no real intention of actually quitting my beer habit- this time of year it is good to have other alternative refreshments on hand. Especially if you sweat as much as me, and it's before noon.

Anyhow, Lady Pilsner has decided to brew some ginger beer and share her experience. Which is kind of a coincidence, because just the other day our friend/beer brewing guru told me he takes water, mixes it with lime juice and powdered ginger and then puts it into a keg, carbonates it w/ CO2 and has it on tap in his kitchen. How cool is that? Perhaps someone will come up with a way to merge these two similar and refreshing beverages into one?

"Brewing Ginger Beer" by Lady Pilsner

I've been fascinated by non-alcoholic fermented beverages for a while, and finally managed to inspire myself to make a "traditional" ginger beer. Maybe it was my friend (whose grandmother is an herbalist) mentioning that she makes this type of beverage from elder flower each year when they are in season, maybe it was that I finally had the idea at the same time I had the available ingredients. Anyway, I decided to save my dried elder flowers for tea, and dug into my Nourishing Traditions cookbook for the ginger ale recipe:

3 / 4 c. ginger peeled and finely chopped or grated
1 / 2 c. fresh lime juice
1 /4 – 1 / 2 c. sucanat (I used regular sugar)
2 tsp. sea salt
1 / 4 c. whey
2 qts. filtered water

Combine, cover tightly, and leave at room temperature for 2 days. Filter and serve 1:1 with sparkling water.

Combine, cover tightly, and leave at room temperature for 2 days. Filter and serve 1:1 with sparkling water.
I ended up making approx. 2/3 the recipe b/c it fits nicely into our 1.5 L drink bottles, using a little less ginger (reason - husband) and lime juice (reason – no more limes) than recommended. It was ready today and, even though I didn't have the sparkling water, I was surprised that you do get to taste the fizz even 1:1 with tap water.
Czech beverage manufacturers, who have recently introduced "gently carbonated" waters would be jealous of my ginger beer. It definitely had more of a "buzz" or "fizz" than actual harsh bubbles. I might lessen the salt next time, but, even with the weird saltiness, I quite liked it. And just think how utterly healthy it is! As I understand it, the whey and salt change the type of fermentation from the traditional alcohol-producing one to a lactic-acid producing one, so without them, the drink would be slightly alcoholic. Next time, I may try it without the salt.
After leaving it a few more days I think the salt flavor subsided as the drink "aged" - Now, a few days later, the taste is better than it was the first day.

I've also been trying to find a tried and true Czech recipe for the elderflower drink, but had to resort to the internet because my two sources haven't come through yet. I haven't tried this recipe myself, though I may try it with my dried elder flowers or just wait for next year.

Elder Flower "Soda"

4 quarts water
4 elder flower florets
1 lemon
350-400 g sugar
1 / 2 tsp. yeast (this is pressed cake yeast, I think it would be about 1/3 tsp. dry yeast)

Boil the water, pour into a 5 quart container, mix the sugar into the hot water, squeeze the lemon into the container, then cut up the rest of the lemon into rings and add to the mix. When the water is luke warm, add the yeast and flowers and mix well. After 24 hrs, filter into bottles and refrigerate.

And P.S.-
I just have one last question for the illustrious Lady Pilsner. What in tarnation does an elder flower taste like? Hopefully not elders....

Please Stand By....

2008-07-01T11:48:00.003-04:00

I have been horribly negligent in posting. I hope my three readers forgive me. The problem is, I just can't stop planting things. This time of year, it seems I am only capable of doing two things- sweating constantly, and digging holes. Every winter, when it's cold, grey, and miserable and I curl up next to the wood stove and think- 'wouldn't it be great to have 40 more delphiniums, and 40 more echinaceas, and grow lots more herbs, and try planting some husk cherrys...and...and...and'. And before I know it it's the 4th of July and all my 200 seedlings are crying to get out of their cell packs and I have no more space in my present gardens. And the sweating, and digging, and cussing of rocks begins. I promise I'll be back soon...lots more fun to come.

Found: New Bar and Beer

2008-06-24T22:03:00.006-04:00

Mr. Chops and I met up with my cousin Sally and her husband Jan for a beer at a new Belgian- style beer bar in Portland ME called Novare Res. Our usual haunt in Portland is the Great Lost Bear, which, although it has an impressive beer line up (4o taps)- it has a very sports bar/ collegey feel to it. It's a dark, boisterous, chicken wing kind of place that sometimes plays excruciating butt-rock. So Novare Res was a nice change of pace. The bar is a basement level brick lined "cave" with what appeared to be three separate rooms. The main taproom has long common tables with benches, which seems like a fun idea. There was an outside area too, but sadly, they had not gotten any umbrellas for the tables yet, so me and my pigment-deprived skin had to stick with the inside seating. The menu was sparse, meat and cheese a la carte, an olive and bread plate, beef carpaccio, a salad, and a sandwich special. The food was delicious, and fresh with an emphasis on artisanal quality and local suppliers. The beer menu offered 25 beers on tap and an extensive selection of 200 + bottles. They also try to offer two cask selections (not available when we we there). The pick of the afternoon was the Leipzinger gose beer (on tap)that Neil and Jan ordered. It was spritzy, refreshingly acidic, but still very much like a weiss beer. It was so unusual and tasty I had to look into it further. Of course, it is imported by enterprising people at B. United. Here's what they have to say about it
"Leipziger Gose is a top-fermenting wheat beer {60% wheat, 40% barley malt} with coriander, salt, and lactic acid bacteria added in the boil. It is a 4.5% alc/vol eclectic beer whose name evokes a close relationship to the renowned Lambic/Geuze breweries in the Valley Senne nearby Brussels, Belgium."
Sounds good huh? Apparently this particular beer had been extinct since from the mid 1960's up until 2000 when it was mercifully ressurected by an enterprising German by the name of Schneider (no relation to the other brewing Schneiders).

Portland has always been a great place for good beer. The Portland area is also home to a number of popular breweries including Stone Coast (now owned by Shipyard), Shipyard, Allagash, Gritty's and the list goes on. Recently, Portland has added a few new bars dedicated solely to beer. Aside from Novare Res, we stopped at some another German-themed place which had opened just that weekend featuring quite a few taps which, I am embarrassed to say, I forget the name of. This may be a blessing in disguise because they were still working out the kinks in their routine so it would have been unfair to pass judgement yet. However, I am sure, even with the glitches, it will attract a loyal male clientele considering they dress their female waitresses in outfits that are an unfortunate cross between traditional Bavarian barmaid and cheap dime-store hooker. And no, I am not including a picture!

A Hops and Chops Night Out

2008-06-21T10:27:00.006-04:00

Guess what??? Last week Mr. Chops and I were invited to a regularly scheduled meeting of the oldest beer club in New England! Many beer brewing heavy hitters were there. The night was peppered with lively banter, biting sarcasm, sharp wit and many insightful observations on beer. We tasted a bunch of different beers, mostly brewed by people in attendance. It was fascinating to compare beers of the same style brewed with different yeasts or the same beer brewed by two different people or under slightly different conditions. There was also a very lively discussion regarding the Brooklyn-Schneider hopfen weiss, the Schneider-Brooklyn hopfen weiss, and the clone brew brewed by an attendee designed after the same recipe. I am sure Hans-Peter Drexler's and Garret Oliver's ears were burning! In the end, I can't decide what was more fun- meeting all the characters present, or getting a chance to discuss beer with such a knowledgeable and accomplished group of beer enthusiasts.

The Good Things In Life

2008-06-16T22:34:00.009-04:00

I had an outrageously bad day at work. It was just one of those days where everything went wrong, including a rip in the seat of my new uniform pants and a painful sunburn. When I got home, I promptly spilled a full glass of beer all over the carpet. Needless to say I was pretty cranked up. But just when things could have gotten worse, they didn't! Mr. Chops informed me that we had received two lovely gifts! Gerry stopped by with freshly home-roasted coffee beans AND Farmer Kate had passed along some wonderful chicken manure tea for my tomato plants! Nothing brightens a day like coffee and poop! Now, if only someone would drop by with some extra skin pigment I'd be all set!

I Have Become That Person!

2008-06-12T06:51:00.004-04:00

When I started thinking about learning to brew, one of the first things I became afraid of was being that person. You know, the person that is so proud that they fermented anything, that they can't tell whether or not it's any good? That person who gives you a bottle of home-made wine as a serious gift, like it was from a famous chateau in France. Inevitably, they ask you how it was and you smile and promptly begin lying. I remember a certain instance where a man wanted to thank my father-in-law (who doesn't drink) for helping him build a porch by giving him a case of homemade wine. Well, guess who got stuck w/ a majority of those bottles? Needless to say, it was terrible. The label said "Merlot" but it tasted like grape juice mixed with moonshine.

Anyhow, the other day I finally siphoned off the sake I'm making into their secondary fermenters! When this is done, I choose to save a little and drink it fresh as nigorizake. I took about two pints, pasteurized them, and chilled them. I was so excited!!! I tasted it, and I swear to you- it wasn't the pride talking- it really did taste good. Cautiously, I had Mr. Chops taste it, and he confirmed that it was drinkable and actually pretty good. Then, the next thing that popped into my head was, I needed a third opinion! So, I immediately thought of Geof and Carla. They are nice enough to read my blog, so I thought they wouldn't mind being guinea pigs. I called them up and they procured a sample. I felt pretty good about this because, well, I had tasted it, and it seemed pretty much on the mark. They both have excellent taste, so I told them to be honest, and that if it sucked I wanted to know. Fortunately, I spared them the interrogation and ended up answering my own question.

I opened another jar of the fresh sake last night and to my horror, it tasted slightly off and the smell was definitely off. I guess I must have done something wrong. Which is strange, because the jar I had tasted first was prepared exactly the same way and tasted pretty good. Oh dear, I am that person! Sorry Geof and Carla! At least I didn't send over a case.

Squirrels, Poised and Ready For Attack

2008-06-09T16:30:00.009-04:00

Recently, I have been doing a little soul-searching regarding alternate sources of protein. This started when I noticed an unnatural abundance of squirrels in our yard. They delight in digging in my vegetable garden. Not to eat, which would be understandable, but just to dig up whatever seedlings I just planted. People don't believe me, but I am convinced these little buggers suffer from serious passive aggressive streak. I once had a squirrel bring a perfectly ripe melon onto my porch, take one large bite out of it, and leave it there so I would be sure to see it. There are just so many things wrong with rodents exhibiting this sort of behavior.

For a while, I prayed for more predators in my back yard. Nature has a way of taking care of itself, right? Surely, I wasn't the only one to notice the abundance, of fat juicy squirrels. Amazingly, my prayers were answered and since this winter we have gained a resident pair of red shouldered hawks, a very large coyote, and most recently, a family of red foxes. Unfortunately, they just can't keep up, because, as my friend Mike observed; you could swing a cat and hit five or six of them!

But wait! Aren't humans predators? Shouldn't I be helping balance the rodent to predator ratio too? How many times do I get the opportunity to solve a problem by eating it? Killing two squirrels with one stone so to speak.

The real question here is, do I actually want to consume a rodent? Is a "tree rat" a little too close to a regular rat? But the truth is, as much as I hesitate, secretly I am also rather curious as to what these little grey annoyances taste like. I imagine them tasting like rabbit, although an article I read suggested they taste more like duck. Mmmm...furry duck, that has potential.

Cautiously, I have begun seeking out recipes. I started with the only preparation I had ever heard about for squirrel- Brunswick stew. Sounds pretty benign and almost sophisticated until you read the ingredients. This is a stew made with, gasp- okra (one of the very few foods I will not eat), corn, lima beans, large quantities of KETCHUP, Worcestershire sauce, stewed tomatoes, chicken broth. Ketchup in stew? A resounding blech! Oh, and like burgoo, the type of meat you choose for this culinary disaster is optional. It could be squirrel, but could also include everything from chicken, rabbit, opossum, raccoon, woodchuck etc. etc. Oh, the horror! Eating on the lower side of the food chain seems like a very slippery slope.

Then, a well-timed article from Ms. Yum Yum came to the rescue. It was a story about how in Britain, a natural food store can't keep their free range squirrel meat from selling out. It included a recipe for squirrel meat pie that really buoyed my enthusiasm. Truthfully, it made me feel a whole lot better knowing that there were people, other than straving toothless red necks with unexplained extra appendages, that ate squirrels. Then came another recipe for squirrels with cream sauce! And finally, squirrel and sausage gumbo. Hussah! This is a little more like it. Now that I am armed with some solid culinary guidance all I need is a couple of squirrels. Waste not, want not and cue up that theme music from Jaws....

Don't Be So Bitter

2008-06-04T17:21:00.007-04:00

I have been talking with people about IPA's and the trend towards ultra- hoppy beers. In my impromptu survey, it seems that more men than women are into this phenomenon. An acquaintance who runs a bar remarked to me that women almost never order IPA's but the ones who like them are addicts. If a woman likes IPA's that is all they tend to order. Hmmmmm... why all this contention over hoppiness? I have also read that men like bitter tastes more than women due to the fact that in general they consume more zinc than women. Zinc, it appears, effects the way bitter foods taste. The more zinc you have in your diet, the more you like bitter flavors. As for me, I am on the fence. I like the flowery citrusy qualities of hops, and some bitterness but an overwhelming, lingering bitterness turns me off. A good example of this serious bitterness is Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale. I just can't figure out why this much bitterness would be a considered a good thing. I know some people- all men- who love this beer. It has been suggested to me that a lack of appreciation for bitterness equals an unsophisticated palate. Well, although this may be true, I just can't help but think extreme bitterness is form of taste bud torture. Frankly, it reminds me of the taste of gourds. I know, you're wondering what beer has to do with gourds. You are also probably wondering how I know what one tastes like. I offer this story: When my sister and I were kids we were un-satisfied with carving boring old pumpkins at Halloween. We felt we needed to carve a cucurbit with a little more panache, like say, gourds. What we didn't realize was that pumpkins are the time honored squash of choice for carving because they are ideally suited for it. Unlike pumpkins, gourds are rock hard, have a very small inner void and disproportionately thick walls. So, after a long struggle and many failed efforts at finding very tiny candles to fit in our mini-lanterns, we realized yet another reason people don't carve gourds- the taste. Long after we had cleaned up and washed our hands, anytime our fingers came in contact with our mouths we were assaulted by a horrible extremely bitter taste that lingered even after drinks of water or washing. The taste was so terrible we decided that this bitter gourd flavor could be a form of torture. A person would be forced to lick a piece of gourd thereby having to endure that bitter unpleasant taste for all eternity. Or perhaps, now that we're older and wiser we could just skip the gourds and substitute a Bigfoot Ale. There, you see? I can blame my dislike of the very bitter on my childhood. Freud be praised!

So to improve my unsophisticated palate I have popped some zinc tablets and done some research. I have come up with a few beers in this ultra hopped style that I do like. My top pick is Hazed and Infused, an unfiltered dry-hopped English style ale. My second pick is Hop Devil by Victory Brewing. These, in my opinion, have a goodly amount of hop flavor, and an enjoyably bitter but not gourd-like finish. And, Mr. Goodbar- for your information Victory Brewing is in PA so I would consider it local. Hooray!

Moromi Magic

2008-05-29T10:00:00.001-04:00

The sake saga continues. Over the past couple days I went from chilling the sake porridge (moromi) in the root cellar at 50 degrees for five days to adding more koji and steamed rice and warming it back to 70 degrees. As I have continued on in this process, I have added three more batches of koji and steamed rice. Each time an additon was made, I cooled the steamed rice by stirring it in cold water and then adding it to the moromi. After this, I had to stir the rice/ yeast/ koji mix for a half an hour non-stop with my hands to break up any clumps of rice. Yes that's right- I was elbow deep in lukewarm in rice porridge. At first, it was kind of boring to sit there with my hands in a bucket of mushy rice, but I have to say after the third addition of rice, I was actually sad I didn't have to do it again. The mixture was pleasantly warm, and smelled deliciously of rice, yeast, and alcohol. As I stirred, a fizzy creamy foam of bubbling of yeast comes to the surface. It smelled so good, I found myself wanting to take a bath in the stuff. I thought it would be kind of like an oatmeal bath- a very expensive, labor intensive, oatmeal bath that is. And now- 3 weeks in the root cellar, which means only 3 more weeks until nigorisake! I really hope it stays cold enough. Note to self: start sake one month earlier next time! The Japanese usually brew this type of sake in winter for the express reason of keeping it cold during the initial fermentation process (they think they are sooo smart). Anyhow, if I was smarter and more motivated I would have done the same and brewed in winter to avoid biting my nails next to the root cellar thermometer every day.

Maggie Had A Little Lamb (More Meat Musings From Lady Pilsner)

2008-05-26T09:35:00.008-04:00

Eating healthy is important me and my husband but when we moved to the Czech republic we had very minimal access to organic meat. Since we had a field designated for pasture behind our house, the first thing that came to mind was to raise some. The first question we had was which type of livestock requires the least maintenance? We initially thought about rabbits and sheep, but heard that rabbits were susceptible to disease while sheep were reputed to be "easy." Seeing as neither my husband nor I are serious farmers, sheep won out. We started raising sheep with a group of friends, each party having between 1 and 4 sheep, most of which were less than a year old. Our first year wasn't that successful -- losses included one of our yearlings and two of the first year's lambs. This was due largely to lack of resources and lack of experience. Then there was the time that our ram launched himself through one of the windows in the back of our house. But that’s another story. It didn't take us too long to get the hang of things, though. Lambing was unnerving but exciting. I fondly recall the first warm days in early spring when we'd let the sheep out for a while in the back yard and watch "sheep TV" through our bedroom window.

For years, I had actually been a vegetarian. I wondered whether I would be able to view these cute little lambs as food. However, it did help that even in all my meat free years I still reminisced fondly about Mom's perfect medium rare lamb chops. In the end, I was able to handle "knowing" the meat I was eating. I have always thought that there is something hypocritical about buying meat in a form where its easy to forget that it was ever a living creature. Also, by the time a lamb is ready to slaughter, the adorable factor is gone. Best of all, it has been an absolute luxury to have an abundance of lamb in the freezer.

This winter, however, my husband spent about two and a half months in Moscow for work, leaving me alone with the stamping, bah-ing, gate-kicking oat-addicts in their shed. Which is, why I'm not so sad that he wanted to give up the sheep this year. What makes this easier is that we've had to take down the fence on our field (I'm sure the EU is behind those codes...) So, the sheep are summering on a friend's field, and this year's lambs will be our last, for now, at least.....Anyone know how to raise free-range rabbits?

Here are some things I learned about lamb along the way:

Lamb ribs - cook on high to render the fat as much as possible, then braise a good long while (blackberry jam works for a sweet-and-sour touch)

Ram meat - three year old un-castrated ram meat is NOT too strong, nor are the chops too tough; eliminate as much fat as possible to make the meat milder; leg meat is good in long-cooked stews;

Sausage- 1/3 ram to 2/3 pork meat is good for sausages (with ewes, it seems to be 1/2 and 1/2)

Roasting - insert cloves of garlic and/or pieces of lemon rind into the meat, serve w/ jalapeño or garlic jelly-Yum!

Stews -- a Moroccan stew w/prunes from Nourishing Traditions (marinate overnight w/cumin, ginger, cinnamon, turmeric, olive oil, and lots of pepper; add prunes and grated lemon rind near the end of the cooking time) and a tinkered-with version of this Tuscan stew by the American lamb board were among the favorites:

And, if you plan on raising sheep- oats are to sheep as crack cocaine is to humans -- they do become addicted, and when the oat junkies hear you coming (or just opening the front door), the noise is deafening.

Radish Sandwich

2008-05-24T09:20:00.007-04:00

Radishes, I am told, are a traditional European accompaniment to beer. Germans and Belgians in particular. I always wondered how this worked. Do they just serve big ol' piles of radishes layed out on a plate? Since the radishes I planted earlier this spring are ready for harvest, I was just dying to know how to serve them appropriately with beer. That's when Lynne Rossetto Kasper's Splendid Table, a public radio show about food, came to my rescue with a recipe for a Belgian tartine. I discovered The Splendid Table this winter while I was sacked out on the couch with my foot in a cast. Since then, I have been whipping through the podcast archive and subsequently boring my friends and family with fascinating factoids from the show. So much so, that I have shortened "The Splendid Table" to just "the S.T." The thing is, that the show seems to read my mind. I think about radishes and beer, and there's Lynne with a recipe. I wonder what to do with all my leftover goose fat- Lynne is suddenly full of suggestions. Anyhow, I heard Lynne mention a radish sandwich, or tartine, as perfect accompaniment to beer. You better belive my ears perked up! Here's her recipe: basically cut up some crusty bread, and spread it with a soft, tasty cheese- I chose goat cheese because that was what I had around. Thinly slice radishes and fan them over the top of your bread and cheese. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Problem solved! Delicious! Lynne suggested a Belgian wit beer, but we have Schneider Edel Weiss on tap and I must say it seemed to do the trick!

Boundary Bay

2008-05-20T13:32:00.009-04:00

Every once in a while, we are blessed with a visitor from the West Coast. And no visit from a "west coaster" is complete without sumptuous tales of delicious locally roasted coffee, micro-breweries a-plenty, weekends in wine country, exotic cuisine, the miraculous lack of mosquitoes, black flies, and bad attitudes. So, when Mr. Chops's friend from Bellingham came to stay last weekend, we were not surprised that he came with tales of the totally hip beer scene in Washington. However, being a consummate excellent house guest- he also brought some samples! And yes, these two beers were truly delicious.

Usually, I object to showing off photos of beer I've sampled and most of my local readers can't find anywhere, but in this case, I made an exception. These beers were really tasty and they came from brew pub. Being from CT, when I hear "brew pub", I think of insipid beers and lackluster food in a buffed up over-priced bar/restaurant. There's usually an unused brewing set up in the middle of the dining room for "atmosphere". I thought perhaps some of these CT brew pubs might like to go and take notes from Boundary Bay on how it's really done. I hear the place has a nice atmosphere, beer garden, decent food, live music, and of course, really good beer. Judging from the two samples we had, I believe this is true. The IPA was clean, refreshing, nicely hopped and pretty much everything an IPA should be. The scotch ale was surprisingly balanced with a malty nose, subtle sweetness, and pleasantly dry hoppy finish. According to their website, Boundary Bay also just brought home a silver medal from the 2008 World Beer Cup for their brew "Cabin Fever". At any rate, they must be doing something right because Boundary has also just been crowned "largest brew pub" selling over 5300 barrels of beer in 2007. That's a lot of beer. But, in Bellingham, "the City of Subdued Excitement", one would expect nothing less.

Some Updates

2008-05-16T13:08:00.002-04:00

I know all of you stay up a night wondering how Mr. Chop's kraut came out. I am happy to report it did come out wonderfully, but sadly, the persistent human need to mess with perfection won out in the end. The kraut was really good, it tasted quite a bit like "Bubbie's Sauerkraut" the specialty natural kraut we found from the health food store. Fresh tasting, crunchy, slightly sour, and generally yummy- not like that steamed, mushy, vinegary glop you get on top of a ballpark frank. It didn't even smell up the house! Anyhow, the only problem was that there wasn't quite enough kraut juice to cover the cabbage, so Mr. Chops figured he'd add some more water and salt to the crock the way he did when he first put the mix together. Well, within days the cabbage was a slimy moldy mess. Sniff! Sniff! In hind sight, he admitted he should have boiled the extra brine before adding it. I guess there's always next time when we'll use fresh cabbage from the garden. This way, we'll be sure to have plenty of cabbage juice.

Also, we are on day 15 of brewing sake, with a month and a half left to go. So far, I'm still playing with fermented rice porridge, or, as the Japanese say, "moto". Ooh, the anticipation! Actually, this is torture for me, I am not really into deferred gratification.

Beer Makes News!

2008-05-15T18:50:00.008-04:00

Not to brag, but, it just so happens that two of my recent blog topics have made NPR this week: women brewing AND the rising price of beer. What can I say? You read it here first!

The biggest news is that for the first time EVER a woman won the Brewmaster Award at the World Beer Cup. Way to go, Tanya Cornett of Bend Brewing Company in Colorado! Sadly, Tanya's beer is only available in Bend. I included the link to the interview on "The Bryant Park Project" here out of respect for Tanya, but it's kind of dumb. The guy interviewing this poor lady describes himself as a "big beer guy" and then goes on to ask if bock beer means that the beer is made from scraping the bottom of beer barrels. Huh? Then they discuss maibock and he asks if a maibock is "one of those thick beers?" What?????

Link to interview:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90425216

Then, while listening to "All Things Considered" I thought I had found a small sliver of solace in this short commentary by Dennis O'Toole about the rising price of beer.

Link to interview:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90483748

But the solace was short lived and just made me get on this here soap box.

The rising price of beer is certainly not a new topic, so I think the only way Mr. O'Toole got his lame piece accepted was through some gratuitous democratic candidate name-dropping to keep things "current". He mentions in his commentary that Obama was seen drinking a Pabst Blue Ribbon. He gives us this random tidbit to prove that Barack might care about the rising price of beer. All I've got to say is- anyone drinking a PBR definitely doesn't care about the cost of beer, or beer at all for that matter. Clearly, there must have been an ulterior motive. Um, I don't know- maybe he's drinking it for political points? Have you been listening to all the media blather labeling this guy an "elitist"? Personally, I have no problem with a presidential candidate being an elitist. I don't want "average guys" running the free world- that's how we got the Bush administration. We can probably surmise that Obama got way more out of publicly imbibing this classic "average guy beer" than any of the poor shmoes that actually drink it. I guess this is what actually links a guy like Barack to the "average guy"- they're both not drinking Pabst for the taste. On the contrary, Mr. O'Toole! This beer wasn't expensive! It was probably the CHEAPEST public relations play Barack made in years. What a deal! Drink a crappy brew and look instantly "average" for 5 bucks or less! (assuming he payed for it, which he probably didn't)
I'm just trying to imagine the conversation.
Obama to Bartender: "Make it a Pabst!"
Bartender to Obama: "OK, that'll be five dollars."
Obama to bartender and roaring of the crowd of average admirers:
"Hey now, beer is getting more and more expensive, isn't it? Don't worry people! Change is on the way!"

However, perhaps there might be a glimmer of hope here. At least Obama, unlike Bush, is allowed to drink a beer in public. This is because, unlike George W., Barack knows when to say when.

Recently, there was a huge media twit over Bush drinking what turned out to be a non-alcoholic beer with Angela Merkel in France at the G8 summit. Oh no! Bush is off the wagon! Trust me here folks, this is the least of our concerns. Which brings me to the question: if we can't trust our president with a non-alcoholic beer, just what can we trust him with?

Here he is folks, Mr. Average Guy! Nothing elite here! Admire the poise, the dignity, the patronizing look on Ms. Merkel's face.... I bet she had a couple glasses of scotch and a tranquilizer after having to spend the whole day with George. Now what do you suppose Ms. Clinton and Mr. McCain drink?

http://gawker.com/news/pretty-dry/george-w-bush-actually-isnt-drinking-again-yet-267173.php

A Word From The Carnivorous Regalis!

2008-05-13T16:26:00.006-04:00

Those of you loyal followers of my blog already know that the "Carnivorous Regalis" is my dad- the consummate meatatarian. This is a man that can pack in an entire roast beef in a single sitting. He refers to this affectionately as a "Piggy Dinner". This dinner may or may not include a potato side dish. Vegetables? Clearly, you jest! Anyhow, my Dad, who in all my years of living in the same house with me, has only cooked me one thing that I can remember- scrambled eggs. When I was three. That's it. As a graduate of MIT, and a bonafide original computer geek, his interests were understandably elsewhere. He is still the only person I know that uses all the math I never learned in school on a daily basis. But now, for the first time ever, math and cooking have melded for my dad in his endeavor to cook a perfect prime rib! He referred me to this article on How To Cook A Prime Rib from the extremely informative site http://www.cookingforengineers.com/

Carnivorous Regalis writes....

"I ran across this recipe a while ago, and thought you might be interested, given your web site. It was amazing to see guys time-graphing the roast temperature every 20 minutes or so, or another guy using a calibrated lab thermometer to measure his roast. It was really that old anal-retentive engineer approach to cooking that I thought you might find amusing.

Then, I decided to try the "roast in 200 F oven" technique described in the article on a tenderized / marinated eye round roast.
FANTASTIC!
It was, as they described almost uniformly, beautifully medium-rare pink right to within 1/8" of the edge of the meat.
I probably pigged down about 2 lbs. tonight, with the rest for dinner tomorrow (maybe with a potato next time to make up for the shorter ration).

My differences:
* roast 3.5 lbs.
* took 4 hours, almost 68 mins / pound
* my digital, probe in the meat, display outside the oven thermometer read 150 F when pulled it out.

Just to show you how anal retentive your father is, I now have 3 digital thermos of the type described above, plus 2 ostensibly high-quality glass dial-type thermometers (looks like a great big thumb tack).
* all 3 digitals read within 1 degree of each other, from 130 F to 208 F (boiling water at 2600 ft)
* The 2 glass thermos read within approx. 5 degrees (lower) than the digitals in hot water tests on the stove.
* When you use both types in a real roast, the glass thermos read anywhere between 6 to 16 degrees lower than any of the digitals. The glass thermos hit around 135 F (claimed to be medium rare) when the digitals hit 150 F (almost medium). The 135 glass / 150 digital reading seems to produce what I consider "perfect medium rare".
* I've googled my brains out trying to find out why the difference, and why the difference gets worse in real-life cooking, but so far nothing."

Sake anyone?

2008-05-07T06:04:00.006-04:00

Brewing sake? What happened to brewing beer? Technically, I can actually say I am brewing beer- sort of. Sake, although we like to call it "rice wine", is actually more like an un-carbonated beer. Wine, by definition is a one step fermentation process involving soft fruit or vegetable matter. Beer on the other hand is a grain-based process that involves more than one fermentation step. Sake basically falls into the latter description, but, in the end it is not carbonated, but filtered, pasteurized, and aged for a brief time, more like wine. So you see where we westerners could get confused.

So why the hell am I brewing sake? I just started reading about it and it intrigued me. I read that if you live in Japan, you aren't allowed to brew sake in your home! For this reason, there are many of the old-style rice wines Japanese people traditionally use for ceremonies and cooking that are becoming extinct. Also, the more I read, the more I found out about all the different kinds of sake that aren't available in the United States. Particularly a "fresh" version of sake called namazake that is unpasteurized, unfiltered and only available in Japan early in spring at the end of the sake brewing season. It's human nature to obsess over things you can't have right? That's why I've got to have namazake! Sake also seemed to be a simpler, less ingredient intensive process to me than beer making, but now I am not so sure. What you lack in special ingredients, you make up for in the intricate process.

Basically all you need to brew sake is:

Quality sushi grade rice
Koji (rice inoculated w/ yeast that breaks down rice starch)
Brewing Yeast (Sake #9)
Yeast nutrient
Water
A rice steamer
Fermentation Container (like for brewing beer)
3 Gallon jugs for storing your sake

It's what you do with these ingredients that's the key. It all starts with soaking koji and rice over night in water and then steaming the rice the next day and adding it to the koji in the fermentation bucket. This starts the "moto" which is basically a porridgey mixture of koji, rice and yeast that builds up alcohol converting strength that then leads to primary fermentation. This process lasts 17 days. I know- primary fermentation for beer only takes a couple hours. For sake you must add more yeast, rice, koji, and take the mixture from a warm 70 degree environment back to 50 degree temp for varying amounts of time. So far, it's like agreeing to feed your neighbor's hamster- out of sight, out of mind. I have a constant feeling like I'm forgetting something. The rice mixture (or hamster) sits so silently in the corner that you forget it's there. Every couple of days you think- oh my Gosh! I forgot to stir the moto/ Oh no! I starved the hamster! Well, so far I have not forgotten my moto, and thank god I am not babysitting anyone's pet rodent! But there are 14 more days to go for step one, so let's hope for the best.

If anyone is interested in joining the sake brewing challenge I got my instructions fro this excellent website:
http://www.taylor-madeak.org/index.php

This site is an exhaustive collection of info on sake including a glossary for Japanese sake vocab:

http://www.sake-world.com/index.html

Trout Season

2008-05-06T18:57:00.004-04:00

Sometimes there's an up side to being slow at work- you get to go fishing instead! Mr. Chops brought back these beauties for lunch the other day. You just can't beat a couple of nice fresh trout. Just gut, dredge in seasoned flour, and fry whole. Serve with salad, and a beer of your choice. As Mr. Chops remarked, it reminded him of his trip to Germany. You know what would go well this spread? Schneider Brooklyner hopfen-weiss. This beer is a cooperative effort between, as you would assume from the name, Schneider and Sons and Brooklyn Brewery. Head brewmasters Hans-Peter Drexler and Garret Oliver both brew their own batches of the same beer recipe. Personally, my taste lends towards the Schneider Brooklyner, not the Brooklyn Schneider- however, it would be fun to compare and decide for yourself. I find the Schneider version is less sweet and more balanced with a lovely extra-hoppy finish- which is pretty unusual for a German brew. This is only the second year both breweries have released this special beer and supplies are limited. Last year, I had to wrestle the owners of more than one liquor store to buy the last bottles on the shelf that they had secretly been hoarding for themselves. Bastards!

Meat from Way Back

2008-05-04T16:17:00.005-04:00

A friend from the Bellingham, Washington sent me this gem of a website, http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/spec.html. It contains excerpts from a book called the "Gallery of Regrettable Food". The author, James Lileks has compiled a truly exhaustive collection of vintage meat, vegetable, and jello illustrations (such as the one pictured above) from antique cook books. For the main course try Meat!, Meat!, Meat!. Go for a side dish with the Unbearable Sadness of Vegetables. And when you're ready for dessert, why not try some Jello? This site is chock full of food nostalgia and twisted humor. It reminds me of being a kid and looking through all my Mom's New York Times Cookbooks from the 1970's, only scarier. I was always so fascinated by those Jello molds...

Forget Burning Your Bra, Brew Beer Instead!

2008-05-02T11:55:00.001-04:00

Traditionally, beer was brewed at home by housewives-at least until the church and the government got involved. Yes, you heard that right, it was a wifely duty to brew beer. In the 1700's, female brewers were the norm. In England during the 1700s, a survey found 78% of licensed brewers were women. In fact, certain laws stated that the tools used in brewing were solely the woman's property. Hah! Back off, man! Git yer hands off MY fermentin' vessel!

It is said that in medieval times, female herbalists and healers used to make the best beer of all. But, that gave these industrious women too much status and power- so the Catholic church took that power away from them. These women then became widely known as "witches". From this time on, monasteries took over most of the brewing of beer and used the proceeds to supplement there cost of living. Now, fast forward a couple hundred years to that ugly thing called prohibition (perpetuated by housewives I am embarrassed to say). Thank God Jimmy Carter finally put an end to that when he signed the bill that allowed people to brew beer at home again! Finally, a president who did something useful AND democratic. The truth is, that beer making has almost always been associated with power, and financial independence. And who doesn't want that, right? Ahhh, imagine if you will, that instead of having to work full time jobs and endlessly driving children to soccer practice, violin lessons, etc. women all over the world were brewing beer instead!

Previously, I have wondered why I should learn to brew when there are so many beers out there that I already liked. But what's a beer drinkin' lady like myself supposed to do when my favorite beers are now priced out of my budget? REVOLT!!! I guess I finally have to show all these greedy capitalists how it's done and brew some beer of my own. And, since I am a chick, no doubt I'll be really good at it. So ladies, let's go where Martha Stewart has never gone before, and get back to some real hardcore domesticity! Forget Desperate Housewives and making beaded napkin rings! Make your kid late for gymnastics and brew the good stuff! I'm guessing your husband wouldn't mind a bit. Except, perhaps, when you lord your newly acquired power over him by pronouncing that no more beer will be brewed for the summer unless he gets his butt out there and mows the lawn..... To be fair though, this could really work both ways. She or he who brews the best beer gets to wear the pants!

Rascally Rabbit

2008-04-29T18:47:00.014-04:00

What's more fun than Hops and Chops? H & C with guest contributors!!! I can hardly contain my excitement. The truth is, sometimes I bore myself, and probably you too, so I'd like to introduce you to my sister. She lives in the Czech Republic with her husband (pictured at the top of my Blog as the "Lord of Pilsner"). She has been known to do all sorts of cool things, such as: speak fluent czech, raise her own sheep for meat, make her own soap from scratch, cure her own lamb sausages, and stand up to my merciless teasing. Basically, she's everything a sister should be. So feast your eyes on her latest post! PETA Members Be Forewarned: the following photo is not for sissies.

"Rascally Rabbit" posted by My Sister, Lady Pilsner

My sister, Ms. Chops, invited me to write a bit for Hops and Chops. And, by chance, it seems that I encountered some meat she hasn't yet featured in my "catch" of the morning – a freshly skinned rabbit from my egg lady. To give a little background, I live in a small village in the Czech Republic where small scale farmers still exist. Though, who knows how long this will last, given all sorts of new EU regulations. Any number of people in my village have chickens, but it took a while to find someone who would sell me a reasonable amount of eggs even throughout the winter when eggs are scarce. Hence, my egg lady, who offhandedly offered me a fresh rabbit this morning! We've cooked rabbits before, but don't have a reliable source, so needless to say, it was a welcomed treat.
My husband and I have actually have had a bit of a saga where cooking rabbit is concerned. Our first try was dry, and managed to have patches on it that tasted like turpentine! The only thing I can think of to blame for this was the Czech powdered rosemary. Because rabbit doesn't have much fat and tends to be dry, I've tried brining it. This definitely helps, and we've had some tasty rabbits, but I think I can finally say today's rabbit was a tender, juicy, and flavorful success! In the Hops and Chops tradition: I can't necessarily write an exact recipe, but I brined the rabbit for most of the day in a roughly 16:1 water to salt mixture (as pictured above), cut it into pieces, browned them and then braised the pieces in a covered pan with water, crushed garlic cloves, pepper and juniper berries. Sue seemed to think that an hour sounded like a lot, but I think the rabbit was in there for more than an hour and a half. I added some cream and flour to the juices and managed to satisfy my Czech husband's never-ending and very Czech obsession with sauce (it has something to do with their dumplings, I think.) Anyway, I'm sure the dumplings will have an entry of their own sometime...

Who Needs Belgians When There's La Merle?

2008-04-28T08:53:00.014-04:00

As I have mentioned previously, my recent beer field trips have been so disappointing. But our latest trip was so bad it almost made my poor husband cry. Given the latest rash of bad beer experiences, we figured our trip to Poughkeepsie would be a ringer. Granted, it's an hour's drive from home- but when there's great beer and food involved, no distance is too far! Half Time (or, as my husband refers to it, Beer Disneyland) and the restaurant Crew comprise one of the sweetest package deals we have found for beer buying/drinking. Crew is staffed by the local culinary school where- GASP!- you can indeed have a lovely dinner, AND a really good draught beer (no chicken wings or Miller Lite anywhere to be seen). Then, to top off the evening, you wander next door to Half Time and buy a cart full of yummy hard-to-find beers from one of the best international beer selections in the whole tri-state area. What a delightful trip, right? Wrong. The first disappointment was pulling up to Crew and discovering that it had been closed by the Feds a week prior for tax evasion. Like I need any other reasons to hate the IRS! Sigh, but we still have Beer Disneyland, right? Um, yeah, I guess. Half Time still has a really good selection of beers. However, the disappointment is that all the Belgian beers we love are all- and I am not exaggerating here- a good 5 to 7 dollars more expensive than they were the last time we were here 6 months ago! $20 for a bottle of Cantillon Rose de Gambrinus, $17 for a bottle of De Ranke XX Bitter, and $6 for a small bottle of Rochefort 8! What a kick in the crotch!

Now, I realize there are many factors that contribute to rising beer prices. The de-valued dollar, the rising euro, the hop shortage, rising energy costs, the gaining popularity of beer, blah, blah, blah. I realize that $20 is a bargain for a quality bottle of wine and that I should be happy that beer is gaining status in the world. I love wine, but one of the many reasons we love beer is that it always seemed you could get a better beer for a better price- a truly exceptional bottle of beer for $9-$10 vs. a truly exceptional wine for $25 and up. What's worse, is that every microbrewery in the US is running with the "artisan beer" thing and using it to justify really pricey beers of their own. Dogfish, the apparent darling of American microbreweries, now has their "Extreme Beer" series that run about $20 for a 750 ml bottle. Dogfish also generously offers some of these rare brews in a 12 oz bottle for $8 a piece. Who buys these? I guess people that have a lot of disposable income. Other breweries are offering some special higher priced series of beers such as Harpoon's "Hundred Barrel" series, Southhampton's "XXII" series, and Allagash's "Tribute" and "Barrel Aged" Series. I know I sound like a total whining cheapskate- but beer has always been "the people's drink". I do think it's great to have really special American-made crafty beers. It's a step in the right direction. But could we concentrate a little more on making really tasty, yet affordable beer? There seems to be some serious discrepancy in the market between special series beers and the average brew. I think we, as Americans, tend to get a little carried away. We think "artisanal" and what comes out is a beer made with organic barley, hand-picked by monkeys, smoked with Indonesian green tea leaves and aged in an 100-year-old antique whiskey barrel made by the King of England' s second cousin. Sounds impressive- but would you want to drink it everyday?

Until a more enlightened day arrives, I will console myself with the moderately priced and dang' good (but still woefully hard to find in CT)- La Merle by North Coast Brewing. This beer is the finest example of what I consider to be the great potential of American breweries to make quality, yet moderately priced, Belgian style ales. The North Coast People suggest pairing it with some ahi tuna ceviche- which sounds totally awesome. I recommend, in honor of the start of fishing season, a nice fresh crispy fried whole trout with an almond-butter pan sauce. If you want this recipe- let me know and I'll send it you. If anyone has any other favorite American Belgian-style brews, give me a shout out. I'd love to hear what you have to say on this matter!

Roast Duck- The Un-Leftover

2008-04-24T18:47:00.003-04:00

So what's better than a crispy roasted duck? The same duck, re-heated the next day! I am so totally obsessed with roast duck. When done correctly, it is as close to a religious experience as I get. I know, everybody thinks of duck as a fall or winter dish- but there is absolutely nothing like duck roasted over an open fire. Therefore nice weather for a fire = roast duck. I used to do this whole kakamamie ritual that involved taking the duck two days before I cooked it and par boiling it, bathing it in sake, salting it, and leaving it to dry out for a crispier skin, but this it totally unnecessary- especially if you have access to a place to cook over fire. Real fire- not a gas grill. Now, I just grab that duck out of the fridge, separate the skin from the breast and thigh meat, prick holes in the skin all over with a fork, and then rub fresh grated garlic, ginger and kosher salt and lots of pepper in between the skin and the meat, in the cavity, and all over the outside. At this point, you can let it sit uncovered in the refrigerator for the day until you're ready to cook it. To get the duck started, I prep my fire outside and then put the duck in a hot (450 F) oven for about an hour while the coals heat up. When the coals are ready, throw your duck on the grill and crisp the skin to your heart's content or about another 45 minutes depending on the fire and the size of your duck. The browner the better. At this point, you can eat your duck as is, or for an even more delicious crispy duck, let it cool, put it in the fridge, and heat it up the next day in a hot oven on a rack at 375 F until re-warmed and really crispy. Turn occasionally for maximized crispiness. For some reason this tends to be even more delicious and crispy than the first day. Yum. Serve with beer. My recommendation of the day is Hitachino Nest White Ale. Come to think of it, Hitachino Red Rice Ale might actually be better with the full flavor of the duck. While you are waiting for your duck to cook over the fire, drink the white, then drink the red with your meal. Then you don't have to decide. MMMMMMM. Hitachino, Hitachino, Hitachino, Hitachino! It's just so fun to say.

A Self Pity Theme Song for My F'ing Foot

2008-04-23T08:48:00.006-04:00

So here I am on the couch again. I went for surgery on my foot and seeing as the sign at the Hospital where I registered said AMBULATORY SURGERY I figured I'd be WALKING out. Well, no, in fact I am in a splint that was bigger than the cast I was in for 8 weeks this winter. And worse- no weight bearing on this foot. I am in such a pathetic state- it reminds me of that song by the Statler Brothers, "Flowers on The Wall".

I keep hearin' you're concerned about my happiness
But all that thought you're givin' me is conscience I guess
If I was walkin' in your shoes, I wouldn't worry none
While you 'n' your friends are worried about me I'm havin' lots of fun

[Chorus:]Countin' flowers on the wall
That don't bother me at all
Playin' solitaire till dawn with a deck of fifty-one
Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain Kangaroo
Now don't tell me I've nothin' to do

Last night I dressed in tails, pretended I was on the town
As long as I can dream it's hard to slow this swinger down
So please don't give a thought to me, I'm really doin' fine
You can always find me here, I'm havin' quite a time
[Chorus:]
It's good to see you, I must go, I know I look a fright
Anyway my eyes are not accustomed to this light
And my shoes are not accustomed to this hard concrete
So I must go back to my room and make my day complete
Countin' flowers on the wall....

I think Frances, my anesthesiologist, should have put me to sleep for three weeks until I could walk again. Oh, the wallowing!

Drink This, Not That

2008-04-22T17:40:00.005-04:00

OK, I'm sure I am not shocking you by saying that beer does contain quite a few calories. All beers are not created equal and I am not talking about Bud versus Bud light. Some beers are surprisingly more caloric than others. A good rule of thumb is that the more alcohol by percentage in your beer, the more calories it has, although there are some exceptions. Belgian beers, for example, almost always have a higher calorie content because they are almost always more alcoholic. Most beers worth drinking have no indication of how many calories they contain, and well, that's just fine by me. Sam Adams and Dogfish are two of the only companies I have found that list the caloric contents of their beers on their websites. Dogfish, of course, prefaces their listings with "in case you care". Which I think is probably the best attitude. It seems like everywhere we look we are confronted with what is "bad" for you. I recently discovered some literature by an enterprising guy, David Zinczenko, who has written a book, Eat This, Not That. He suggests that we can merely substitute certain high calorie foods and beverages for similar things with lower calorie contents. I personally take issue with his list of beers. Neither the high calorie beer nor the substitutes seemed worth drinking. Come on, Yuengling light? You've got to be kidding me! Michelob Ultra? Preposterous! I propose this solution instead: drink good beer, not bad beer. In fact, try one of those high calorie, stronger Belgian beers because you won't have to drink as many of them to get a buzz. Oh, and you might be more satisfied, due to the fact that the beer you are drinking actually has flavor- something Zinczenko seems to have forgotten about. What? Eating and drinking is about taste?? Here's another idea; eat less junk food and drink more beer. Or, exercise more and drink whatever you want. And on and on. Why be obsessed with quantity instead of quality? Americans! When will we ever get our consumption priorities straight? No wonder the French and the rest of Europe think we are so silly.

Democracy and the Weather

2008-04-22T17:02:00.005-04:00

I know this has nothing to do with beer or meat, but perhaps it has to do with the freedom to drink beer and eat meat or at least the freedom not to be taxed to death while doing so. It was just reported on NPR that voter turnout in the Pennsylvania primary was high due to the pleasant weather. Similarly, this winter, it was frequently noted that primary turnout was low in certain areas due to bad weather. Does anyone else see a problem with this??? Granted, its probably true. But doesn't this conger up the most namby pamby image of the average American??? Do you mean to tell me that American citizens can't get their lazy butts of the couch to pursue their democratic duty unless it's a nice outside??? I mean come on, it's not like we even walk anywhere anymore. What image does this present to the rest of the world? I mean, if nothing else, Americans are supposed to be tough. Perhaps not sensitive, or particularly subtle, but at least tough enough to brave some wind, rain, or cold to spend a minute or two in a voting booth before going back to the safety of their wide screen TVs. And to think our forefathers fought for this country's freedom from Britain without proper food or clothing or shoes in all kinds of weather for years on end. And we look outside and say, "Hmmm, it's raining, I guess I won't vote for the next prospective leader of the free world today". Maybe we are talking about food- milk toast, perhaps.

Bacon Martinis?

2008-04-14T08:30:00.007-04:00

A friend of Hops and Chops expressed serious interest in Bacon Salt so I decided to give it a try. Dave and Justin, the "bacontreprenuers" behind Bacon Salt, kindly sent me some samples. I have to say that I do love their slogan- "Everything Should Taste Like Bacon". And they do have a point, bacon does make almost everything taste better. But does Bacon Salt make everything taste better? Well, I am not so sure. Here's the deal- if you like bacon bits or Bacos- you will love bacon salt. The salt comes in Original, Hickory, and Peppered flavors. I tried the hickory salt on my baked potato, and it was tasty enough. The next day I tried the original flavor on my eggs but I just found myself pining for real bacon. Of the four flavors- I definitely like the Hickory flavor the best. If you are dieting, and can't have real bacon I can see where this would be really handy. Take a look at Dave and Justin's Bacon Salt recipes at http://baconsalt.com/recipes/. They have compiled a bunch of really appealing recipes that would be terrific for the bacon-deprived. Since Bacon Salt is also vegetarian, it seems like the perfect thing to put on items like tofu, T.V.P., or vegetarian chili to add some meaty flavor to otherwise tasteless icky stuff. This makes me think of my sister, who, for many years, was a devout vegetarian- except that she ate bacon. When I tell people this story, I have found that she was not the only "vegetarian" to make this exception. There is just something magical and undeniably delicious about bacon. Even people who don't eat meat can't deny it. Perhaps Bacon Salt is the answer for these heretical bacon-eating vegetarians.

Being a health foodie, my biggest beef with this product is the ingredient list which is over 40 items long and includes MSG, artificial colors, and artificial flavorings. However, I do find myself dreaming of a maple-flavored martini with bacon salt around the rim. If only I had a maple-bacon flavored lollipop to stir this with....

Whew! Ms. Chops, chops.

2008-04-14T08:11:00.003-04:00

Ummm...where am I? No, I didn't swallow crushed glass in a bottle of Sam Ad's. I was apparently abducted by task-master aliens who have made me cut down trees, chop, split and stack wood for the last week. Apparently, my performance has pleased the aliens because they set me free for a couple hours to catch up on blogging. The good news is, that we have enough fire wood for next year. The bad news is no one is reading my blog anymore. But wait!!!! Have you heard about Bacon Salt????? I have the review coming up.

Sam Ad's Recall

2008-04-08T12:44:00.005-04:00

This just in: Sam Adams has reported that some of their beer bottles are defective and contain glass particles. The recall is for 12 oz. brown bottled stamped with N35 followed by 0I. If you have any Sam's at home, read on here for info about returning product, etc: http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/04/glass_particles.html?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed3

If you don't have any Sam Ad's at home, give yourself a nice smug little pat on the back for making your way past gateway beers.

Bernanke Must Drink Cheap Beer

2008-04-06T17:39:00.011-04:00

OK, so I have been voicing a lot of complaints recently. What can I say, I got stuck on the soap box and found out the extra height is slimming. So here's my next rant: the falling value of the dollar is making imported beer way too expensive! I am all for paying more for a quality product but, that is not the issue here. Yes, the FED has told you that the AVERAGE American will not really notice the devaluation of the dollar and only people who travel a lot will. But what about us, supposedly "unaverage" people who like good beer? Well, " Helicopter Ben", I'm pretty sure anyone who likes imported beer has noticed. I really noticed when I called my supplier and he informed me that the price of my next keg went up 55 dollars because the dollar is so weak. I guess I should just console myself with the fact that a keg of, gag, Corona might not be going up anytime soon. Maybe that's what Ben drinks with his dinner every night. Somehow, I doubt it. On the other hand, if the Canadian dollar rises anymore, we probably won't be able to afford Labatt's. I realize, the price of everything is going up, blah..blah...blah. I, personally, am willing to drag myself to work on bare bloody stumps to save on gas, but forgo imported beer? This is an outrage!!! I don't want to pay for other people's bad mortgages, or banks that made bad investments, and I refuse to drink Budweiser! I just want good, affordable beer. Is that really too much for this average American to ask Ben?

For Hire: Beer Sommelier

2008-04-04T21:06:00.004-04:00

Excuse me! I have detected a serious problem in the world of beer! There are virtually no "beer sommeliers". In fact, there are still people out there debating why you can't call someone who can pair beer and food a sommelier at all. HMMMMMPF! We can't just let those lousy wine snobs have all fun!! Perhaps this may be the root of the whole problem with beers diminished status- there are no fancy beer ambassadors out there to teach the willing how to enjoy good food with the appropriate beer. Although it has been reported that there may be a few people officially calling themselves beer sommeliers, (one of note in Los Angeles and the other in New York City) there seems to be a grave deficiency here.

I would argue though, that there are many dedicated beer lovers out there that already qualify for this position. For instance, the staff of the Dirty Truth, would be a good example. The owner of the Dirty Truth generously arranges for his staff to take an intensive beer tour every year. They visit breweries and beer establishments all over Europe and come back brimming with beer excitement, first hand beer knowledge and -I can only imagine- toxified livers. Every time I have visited the Dirty Truth, I have had a delightful conversation with a knowledgeable and young person. Their ages are of note here because the East Coast beer scene is conspicuously dominated by men over forty. At beer tastings, I am usually the youngest person in the room, and most often, the only female. It is refreshing to see a next generation of beer enthusiasts stepping up to set an example. One of these lovely staff members even did me the service of recommending what will now be our next beer on tap: Monschof Schwarzbier! A beer I may never have gotten to know if not for his suggestion. The other example of real world beer sommeliers that come to mind are the staff of just about any quality beer establishment in Belgium. I suppose this is just natural when quality beer is a source of a country's national pride. I still think the term "sommelier" might be a little stuffy for the beer world. But, if people need a stuffy term to get excited about beer, well, I'm on board. I'm also for hire as one, if anyone is interested!

IPA- Spawn of Pale Ale

2008-04-01T17:08:00.007-04:00

Recently, a friend wrote concerning the difference between pale ales and India pale ales. Upon first thought, I supposed that the true difference between the two was that an IPA is usually hoppier, and has a higher alcohol content. Although this is true, there is a way more intriguing story behind it all. In the beginning, there was English pale ale. Pale, being mostly a color distinction between a light beer and darker stouts. Then came the colonization of India. And, as everybody knows, you can't properly colonize a country without beer. So, the English were understandably peeved when they found out that their beloved ales were arriving in India sour and undrinkable. Due to the fact that India was seen as a huge new open market for beer, English brewers scrambled to solve the problem. After many failures, a fellow by the name of George Hodgson surmounted this challenge with beer's two best preservative friends: Mr. Hops and Mr. Alcohol. And voila, IPA was born! Due to the huge temperature fluctuations in carrying ale aboard ships, the beer was probably still arriving skunked. However, due to the magic of heavy hopping and heavy alcohol (up to 10%) no one really cared or could taste the sourness. Thus, the Limeys were free again to subjugate the masses, unimpeded by lack of beer. If you would like to read the whole interesting story of how the British learned how to ship good beer to India, etc. visit this site, http://brewingtechniques.com/library/styles/2_2style.html where you will get a far more detailed, and politically neutral version of what went on. It really is very interesting. Almost as interesting as actually drinking an IPA- well not really. If you are ambivalent about which IPA to sample while reading the story- and it will make you want a beer- try Stone Coast's extra hoppy 420 IPA or, the safer, more popular, and easy to find Dogfish 60 minute. Dogfish also makes a 90 minute IPA (9%) which is pretty close to the alcohol strength of the original IPAs shipped to India and 120 minute IPA that is very very strong (20%) and a could make you act like an English soccer hooligan if you had too many. I think it would be great experiment to try carrying around a Dogfish 90 minute in the trunk of a car for a summer and seeing if it holds up to it's well-preserved heritage. Now that would be impressive.

Whining about beer, etc.

2008-03-30T13:22:00.007-04:00

OK, I have been remiss in posting. I freely admit it. I got out of my cast the other day and confess to having a serious case of spring fever. Or, stump pulling fever. I am making room on the top of our hill for a bigger vegetable garden. Thus, removal of all shade-causing vegetation. So, out of a cast one day, taking down trees the next! This apparently results in much less blogging on my part. Oh yeah, and then there's that annoying other thing, my job. Yep, this is a whole lot of whining. But it gets worse. I have had nothing but bad beer experiences recently. All of my favorite haunts are now on my "S" list. I have gotten bad beer, skunked beer, beer from septic lines, too expensive beer and bad food to go with it! Need I go on? Is it really too much to ask for to have delicious beer on tap and good food? The Belgians seem to be able to pull it if with astonishing regularity. The truth is, the beer scene in CT is so small is doesn't take long to exhaust all the options. At least, we still have Maibock on tap. To tell the truth, I think I might become a beer hermit. I'll just stay home, with a nice clean, reasonbly priced, unseptic beer of my choosing. I'll just chop wood and drink beer. Maybe the Trappists and Benedictines have it right after all. Stay tuned for more positive things to come, soon, I promise.

Ham Pants

2008-03-27T08:59:00.004-04:00

A while back I reviewed Stoltzfus bacon and now, in the name of research, I have personally inspected and savored one of their tasty hams. My brother and sister-in-law put on an awesome spread for Easter including an absolutely ginormous ham from Stoltzfus. It was the size of a small child- I am not kidding- it was almost 20 lbs!!! The ham was a big hit. It was tender, juicy, flavorful, and just plain delicious. In fact, I ate so much of it, and it was so yummy, I had to go home and put on my "ham pants". You know those comfy pants you wear after eating far too much? If only the uniform pants I wear to work were like ham pants. Sadly, they are not. And now, I am at back at work again having some conflicted, and constricted feelings about eating too much Easter ham.

Are You Getting Enough Beer?

2008-03-26T08:01:00.005-04:00

Like your mother probably told you- everything in moderation. Although, it turns out, that this advice also applies to your drinking habits. The good news is that if you drink 1-2 glasses of beer a day, you have a better chance of being healthy later on in life! In fact, you have a better chance of being healthy than your tea-totalling neighbor who likes to eyeball your recycling bin chock full of beer bottles. You heard it here first! Not drinking is NOT healthy!! A recent study shows that a group of moderate drinkers age 65 and over were able to be more active, and perform more rigorous tasks than people in the same age group who drank a lot or not at all! Maybe I should be reviewing other people's empty recycling bins with equal indignation! Perhaps, like a Jehova, I should be knocking on people's doors on recycling day to preech the gospel of beer. "Excuse me", I would say, "I noticed you haven't been drinking enough recently. I'd like to talk with you about how drinking more beer will make you a healthier person." This would beat a copy of the Watch Tower every time!

Although the consensus is that drinking 1-2 glasses of any type of alcohol is ultimately beneficial, I like to think beer is a better choice. It's time for those red wine snobs to make room in the spotlight! Quality beer, especially bottle conditioned types, has many nutritional benefits from living yeast, vitamin A, vitamins B6, B2, B1, and trace minerals chromium, potassium, iron. And let's not forget hops either. The medicinal value of hops has been known for centuries: it is anti-inflammatory, anti-stress, and, like red wine, contains anti-oxidant compounds. Beer has a lot more to offer than that shot of JD for sure. Women have also reported a very hoppy beer like a IPA, helps with symptoms of PMS! You hear that gentlemen? When was the last time you offered your wife a quality beer? It could actually do more for you than a lousy bouquet of flowers.

Where, you ask, did all these pearls of wisdom originate? Well, those crafty Belgians have come up with yet another good idea: a whole website devoted to beer and health related issues! The site, http://www.beerandhealth.com/, is run by physician/journalist Dr. Marleen Finoulst, and sponsored by the professional federation of Belgian Brewers. You just have to love Belgium!

Here is a list of fast beer substitutions that will improve your health!

1. Skip the gym and drink a beer: moderate beer drinkers statistically weigh less overall than people who don't drink. They also have lower levels of triglycerides (bad cholesterol) than non-drinkers
2. Skip the soda and drink a beer: a regular sized soda contains twice the calories as a beer of similar size!
3. Skip the tofu and drink a beer: some beers containing hops are as good a source of favorable estrogens as soybeans
4. Skip the chocolate bunny and drink a beer: a person who consumes the same amount of calories from beer vs. the same amount of calories from chocolate will not gain as much weight! (Sorry about this Ms. Yum Yum!)

Pillaging vs.Drinking Beer

2008-03-24T18:45:00.006-04:00

Spring has been ushered in with a half barrel of Hofbrau maibock. The traditional German spring beer is neither like a summer wheat, nor a winter bock but rather somewhere in between. It is an rich amber colored brew with a fresh spicey, almost peppery taste. It has hint of sweetness with notes of caramel, but finishes pleasantly hoppy, but not at all bitter. By in large, one of our favorite German beers. Like most German beers, it also goes very well with food. According to Hofbrau, when Sweden invaded Munich during the Thirty Years War in 1632, they were given 1000 buckets of beer (including 361 buckets of Maibock) to convince them not to pillage the city. Of course, those sensible Swedes took the deal. Sounds like an awfully good deal to me. Pillage a city, or drink beer? I say the choice is obvious.

Shanks For The Memories.

2008-03-22T09:56:00.010-04:00

Our friend Martin is shipping off to Nepal this week. Before embarking upon adventures fueled by rice and dehydrated peas, he had one last request: German beer and a massive pork shank. Well, you can see why we love this man! Neil and I immediately arranged to meet at the one place certain to fulfill this request in proper style: The Old Heidelberg Restaurant in Bethel, CT. If you are not familiar with the pork shank at the O.H., well, you should be. It is a heroically proportioned, lovely, tender piece of meat, encased in perfectly crispy brown skin. Generally, when a patron actually manages to finish this amount of pork, they are greeted with an appreciable amount of dismay. You then have the added esteem of being remembered the next time you walk in as "the guy (or gal) who actually finished the shank". Enviously, we watched while Martin consumed his epic hunk of pork at a steady and confident pace. He paused only to flash a suspicious eye at the waitress if she came too close to his plate or to sip on his mammoth stein of beer. Did I mention the OH also has mammoth steins of delicious German beer?? Well they do! A true Hops and Chops hangout! In the end, only a few meager bones were left and Martin actually reviewed the dessert plate with some serious interest. Bravo, a fine performance! We are looking forward to Martin's book about his treks in Nepal sometime next year. Check out his new website for more info. Safe travels Martin! Call us when you get back for more pork and beer!

Westvleteren- The True "King of Beers"

2008-03-20T15:11:00.003-04:00

If you are a beer snob, Westvleteren beer is the stuff of legends. These beers, made by the Vleteren Monks, have been named some of the best beers in the world by all sorts of beer gurus. And what really sends all of us beer nerds into frenzies is the fact that they are nearly impossible to procure. You literally, have to go to the Abbey of St. Sixtus gates in Ypres, Belgium where this is made and wait in line to get your greedy little mits on this stuff. This is because this beer is made by monks who don't care if people are clamoring to get more of it. They make enough beer to support their monastery, period. These guys are the ultimate in quality control. They make beers of epic complexity and quality- largely due to the fact that they simply refuse to alter their brewing process to make more beer, faster. How novel! They only sell their beer at the monastery gates and across the street in the cafe. What's more, this beer is never advertised and never exported- at least not by them. If it was up to the monks, this beer would never make it out of Belgium. Somehow- I can only assume by some divine miracle- a bottle appeared in our beer cellar. I just hope the monks aren't too upset. I hope they understand my need for delicious beer sometimes leads me into temptation. I realize you can order contraband cases of this stuff through online beer warehouses and pay big $$ for it. But I believe that this would be disrespectful, not to mention being condemned to hell for all eternity for stealing from those nice beer brewing monks. But back to the miracle beer, which we managed to cellar for a year. For the purpose of scientific tasting studies and the overall betterment of mankind- I'll have you know! The Westvleteren 8 and the 12 are both known for cellaring well, although the 12 is known for cellaring with improved results for up to 10 years! Lord knows what kind of sick, hoarding, madman managed to hold onto a case of Westvleteren beer for that long. We tried the Westvleteren 8, a year ago, and it was spectacular- but dare I say it- the flavor and sweetness were almost too much. A year later it is still a dark, fresh, finely carbonated beer with a tight and lofty head. The flavor has evened out a bit though, subtle hints of licorice, and a glorious, grapey aroma, but only the slightest sweetness. The finish was amazingly crisp and dry, belying it's relatively high alcohol content and dark color. Needless to say, it left us panting for more. It is worth noting, that although this is undoubtedly a wonderful beer, there are so many others that can be enjoyed without traveling to Belgium or spending a huge amounts of money. St. Bernardus, for instance, did all of the brewing for Wesvleteren for many years and their St. Bernardus 12 in the 750ml bottle is a pretty tasty relative of the Westvleteren 12.

For The "Fighting Irish"

2008-03-17T14:52:00.002-04:00

For all those militant irish football hooligans out there, take this survey to find out how many five-year-olds you can take in a fight.

http://www.howmanyfiveyearoldscouldyoutakeinafight.com/

I can take 26, how about you?

The Polack Who Stole St. Patty's Day

2008-03-17T13:32:00.007-04:00

Well, this is supposed to be a big day for the world of meat and beer. I should be happy, I know. The only problem is that although St. Patrick's Day is the quintessential day for imbibing beer and consuming vast quantities of corned beef- all of which I am usually extremely grateful for- today I am feeling strangely apathetic. Maybe it's because I'm Polish and secretly jealous that there isn't a national Polish-American day where everyone eats sausage and pierogi and knocks back Okocim instead of Guinness. Martha Stewart is Polish after all. You would think she would be able to orchestrate a pretty good party for the rest of us Polacks. But, perhaps my problem is just the green beer. Green beer is not an Irish invention. No, only an American would drink green beer. Why? Well, if we drink Coors, Miller and the like, so we're not exactly concerned about the flavor of our beer. So why then would we be interested in the color of our beer either? Sadly, green beer is a just another reminder that beer, for many, is just a cheep means to a not-so-glorious end.

I will admit, however, that the saving grace of St. Patty's is Guinness. First of all, it's dark color prevents people from turning it green. But, secondly, I have always had a fondness for this beer. It is the shining star on the mediocre tap line up found in most bars around the country. Unimaginative and ubiquitous perhaps, but it never disappoints. If poured well, it has a nice creamy head, and pleasingly low carbonation. It is relatively light bodied and high in flavor. Guinness is, as Neil puts it "a gateway beer". So, I console myself with the thought that on St. Patty's day there are silly lager-swilling people all over the U.S. ordering a halfway decent beer for a change. They are having a fleeting brush with a beer that possesses actual character. Perhaps, every St. Patrick's day a few more folks order a Guinness and think, "Damn' this is good! I wonder what other beers have flavor? " This thought warms my cold, bitter, little Eastern European heart.

Kraut Sunday

2008-03-16T14:59:00.005-04:00

Some may think this is Palm Sunday but I beg to differ. It's actually "Kraut Sunday". You may say, how can sauerkraut top Jesus Christ? Well, let's take a look at how lowly old kraut has nourished us over the centuries. In China, it kept the laborers who built the Great Wall from starving. Who could have guessed that one of the only man-made monuments you can see from space was fueled by fermented cabbage? In the Hundred Years War in Europe the only thing that assured victory was whether or not either side had an ample supply of sauerkraut. In the U.S. civil war, barrels of kraut were commonly seized to nourish troops. Sauerkraut was also on a list of patriotic foods to make at home during World War II.

Most importantly, sauerkraut is highly prized in eastern European cultures for it's digestive properties. Made in the late fall and early winter, fermented cabbage's beneficial enzymes supposedly help the digestion of heavy winter diets laden with sausage and smoked meats. Apparently, they really take this point to heart. We recently overheard our Slovak waitress loudly chastising her co-worker for eating sausages at lunch without kraut.

Not surprisingly, the sauerkraut you get in stores lacks digestive enzymes. The high heat canning process kills all the good cooties. This is probably what inspired my sausage-loving German husband to spend his day off making homemade sauerkraut. Like many oldie timey foods, I assumed that there was some sort of magic that goes into making it. Amazingly, it's pretty easy. Basically, all you do is slice up some cabbage, salt it, and smash the crap out of it with a potato masher (or whatever you have available). Then let it ferment, covered, for about 3 weeks at 60-70 degrees and hope like hell that your entire house doesn't smell like rotten cabbage! I'll report later on how it turns out! Here's a simple recipe if you're interested: http://www.kitchengardeners.org/sauerkraut.html

BAR is Back!

2008-03-15T10:09:00.002-04:00

It was with high hopes on thursday night that we slid into a stall at the Bru Room @ Bar in New Haven. For those unfamiliar with the establishment, Bar features a modest selection of micro brews (toasted blonde, amBar ale, damn' good stout, and pale ale) and dynamite wood oven fired pizzas. We were breaking a self-imposed boycott after we ordered beers here a while back that were served out of really nasty septic lines. There aren't that many micro-brew establishments in CT, so it hurt us to take this place off our list of regular haunts. But the other day, we were tipped off that the management recently spent some serious $$ to replace their lines and tap equipment. So, we ordered their new and improved toasted blonde and took a big whiff. Clean and fresh! Hussah! Then the 1st sip: crisp, mild, with a very toasty caramel finish. Light on carbonation, alcohol, and on calories (107 calories to be exact!) Not the kind of beer that makes the earth move, but it was a lovely accompaniment our tasty 'roni and 'shroom pizza. Our confidence is reestablished! I can't wait to go back. It might be a while though, my husband is still recovering from the noxious pizza burps I had for the rest of the evening.

Spring = Meat

2008-03-13T14:02:00.003-04:00

I hobbled outside on my crutches and found, surprisingly, a rare nice day in early New England spring. And guess what? Spring actually sprung and here are the crocuses to prove it! Friends, this can only mean one thing: almost time to grill some meat! Here's a cheater recipe for smokey grilled ribs:

1 or 2 frozen racks of pork ribs (whatever you prefer- st. lois style, baby back, or spare ribs) We prefer spare ribs because they're relatively cheap, meaty, and caveman-like.

If you want to smoke your ribs: pre-soak some wood chips (hickory, fruit wood etc.) in water overnight. On grilling day wrap the chips in tin, poke holes on the top of the packet and place over the flame side of your grill. You can totally skip this if you feel like it's too much trouble the ribs will come out fine regardless. I know this is totally un-gourmet, but sometimes Neil and I forget about soaking chips and just find a damp chunk of hickory lying around in our wood pile and toss it on the grill for good measure. If you opt for this method, just check in with a spray bottle full of water from time to time and make sure the log isn't burning. Smoldering = good, inferno = fire department!

1st, heat up the grill. We have a gas grill with 3 burners so we turn only one burner on medium heat to maintain a temp of about 300-325 degrees. You could do the same with a charcoal grill- heat up the coals and then when they are ready, move the fire to one side, keeping in mind that half way through your cooking, you will have to heat up some more coals to supplement your first batch.

Mix together in a small bowl: 1/2 Cup brown Sugar, 2 tsp. summer savory or thyme, 2 cloves fresh crushed garlic, 1 Tb. good quality sweet paprika ( or smoked paprika if you can find it), 1/8 tsp. cloves, 1 cup Dijon mustard, 1 tsp. cayenne pepper, or more to taste, 1 Tb. good quality chili powder, 1 tsp. dry mustard. This should make a thick paste.

Slather paste mixture on frozen ribs. Wrap thoroughly in tin to avoid leakage and place meat side up, on the non-flame (or coal) side of the grill. Put top down on grill and walk away! Come back in a 2-3 hours to turn ribs and check temp. Walk away again. In about another two hours your ribs should be pretty tender and falling off the bone. At this point, unwrap them and throw them back on the grill. Turn up the heat to brown lightly on both sides. If you like your ribs saucy, top with your favorite barbecue sauce and then brown and serve. Kick back and enjoy with the quintessential beer of summer: Schneider's Wiesen Edel-Weisse

Keg Kicked! Mom to Blame!

2008-03-12T13:05:00.002-04:00

Well, we thought a 20 liter keg would last a month on average. And then, Mom came to visit. You wouldn't know she was so thirsty from her innocent exterior. She's always smiling innocently and saying things like "I just love these fancy beers!" but in reality she's guzzling the stuff when your back is turned. To add insult to injury, she totally whipped my butt in cribbage! Parents! All joking aside, we can't entirely blame it on Mom that our keg of La Chouffe has come to it's sad, yeasty end. It was a very enjoyable beer on tap- quite dry and easy to pair with food. It had subtle flavors of coriander and citrus peel and a pleasing hint of hoppy bitterness in the finish. I think it's perhaps slightly hoppier in the keg than in the bottle. Now, we just have to decide how to fill the void in the cooler until the maibock gets here. Also, if you are wondering just how fast you would go through 20 liters of beer, here's our stats: at a rate of one or two beers a piece, per night, (factoring in for dinner guests, or a thirsty Mom), 20 liters lasts about 3 weeks!

Pork online?

2008-03-10T18:53:00.006-04:00

You just gotta love a guy that shows up a your door with pork products! My father-in-law showed up at the house last week with the most delicious bacon. He and my Amish-o-file brother-in-law just came back from Pennsylvania with 12 packs of the stuff! He said it was "Amish-made" bacon and that there was a website where you could order it online! We scratched our heads over this for along time. How could the Amish have a website? It just didn't make any sense. But wouldn't it be so cool if they did? I imagined ordering huge sides of smoked pork from a man in a funny straw hat with a funny accent named "Brother Obediah" or something. Then I found the website and to my disappointment the Stoltzfus family are not Amish. But they used to sell their products at an Amish farm stand. You can see the confusion. The good news is that they still make some pretty awesome bacon. It has finer texture, a more rich and less salty, really subtle, smokey sweet flavor. It's got it all over that garden variety supermarket stuff. And, *news flash* if you want to order a Stoltzfus Ham for Easter, tomorrow is the deadline! My brother-in-law is ordering one, so I'll be sure to sample it and report back. He also added that their ham loaf is "to die for". So order up some pork product. And while you're at it, get some of that delicious bacon for your special someone. Nothing says love quite like bacon.

http://www.stoltzfusmeats.com/index.php

When Your Goose Is Cooked

2008-03-10T10:12:00.012-04:00

Our nieces and nephews call us "Weird Uncle Neil and Aunt Sue". It seems to stem from our reputation for eating just about anything. I suppose that's why our friend offered us her geese. She had too many and couldn't afford to feed them through the winter. As it was mid-December, we couldn't get the thought of Christmas goose out of our heads. The problem was: Geese not Goose. Oh yeah, and the fact that we had never cooked one, eaten one, or butchered one before. While we weren't quite up to eating all eight, we figured we could help our friend by pawning a couple off on friends and family. Giddy with holiday spirit, we generously volunteered to deliver cleaned birds to all who wanted them. This, we found out, was an exceptionally bad idea.

The deal was, we were chiefs-in-charge of catching, killing, and plucking and dressing these beauties ourselves. No time like the present for a crash course on butchering fowl! So we caught a quick primer from our indispensable copy of "The Encyclopedia of Country Living"by Carla Emery. The day arrived and we butchered the geese and hung them. This part went pretty smooth. After the geese were thoroughly bled, we brought them up to the barn where we had prepared a hot water bath to scald the birds before plucking. Here's where things got tougher. Turns out geese are impossible to pluck! Given their naturally water repellent nature, it seems the hot water doesn't easily permeate the feathers down to the skin. This was a messy, hard, process that took many hours. Our friend, who thankfully helped us, had heard skinning was easier, and since she was keeping some of the older geese for her dogs Xmas dinner, we decided to try this. After we were through, we really couldn't tell if it had even been any sort of bird let alone the kind you might want to eat. So save yourself the trouble and don't skin a goose! Since we were unsure of the ages of all these geese we decided to hang them for a week to see if that tenderized them a bit. Actually, you really shouldn't eat a goose that's more than 9 months old, but we were willing to gamble. It was pretty strange to see eight goose carcasses strung up in the garage! We silently hoped none of our neighbors were comming by unannounced to borrow yard tools! I wish I had a photo, but this was B. B. (before blog).

In the end, our Christmas goose very tasty, but a little on the tough side. I think we lost the younggoose/old goose lottery. Our friends and family seemed to have better luck. The true reward though, wasn't the warm fuzzy feeling of doling out fresh Xmas geese to our friends- it was actually the eight ultra fresh and juicy goose livers!!! Now, I have tried foie gras, but I don't think that it's much better than plain old goose liver. I know there are French folk and foodies scowling as I write this, but the process by which foie gras is produced is really at the border of what seems fair to do to an animal. At our holiday get-togethers we featured fresh goose liver pate which turned out to be absolutely divine. It was rich and creamy with a surprisingly mild liver taste. I'm not one to gnash on a big ol' hunk of liver, but this pate is really good! Even Madame Yum Yum (who claims that pate gives her the shivers) had a bite!

Anyhow, if you are ever faced an over-abundance of goose liver, here's what you should do with it: http://www.roastgoose.com/recipes/goose_liver_pate.htm

The only part of this recipe we skipped was the port syrup. We felt the pate didn't need any accompaniment- save crusty pieces of bread. Port syrup does sound really good though. This recipe is from Shiltz Goose Farm. They have a great site for goose and goose products including livers, and cruelty-free fattened goose liver if you just can't hang up that craving for foie gras.

Sew your wild hops

2008-03-07T19:36:00.007-05:00

I have the good fortune to have a sister that lives in the heart one of the finest beer countries in Europe. She resides in "Pilsner Central" a.k.a. the Czech Republic. My Czech brother-in-law would say it is the only place you can drink true pilsner. For family reasons, I am not, in any way, prepared to contradict this. I think he is still mad at us for bringing Belgian beer to his house for Christmas. Anyway, my sister reminded me today that Europe is full of wild hops. She said that she had some growing on her fence and would like to send some to me. Of course, I could never condone that sort of behavior because I know it is highly illegal to send unauthorized produce through the mail! Apparently though, there are wild hops growing all over the world- even in China and Japan! This got me thinking about the current hops shortage. I think there's gotta be someone out there willing to brew with wild hops. Just think of all the mysterious new brews! Beer brewed with "local, wild hops"- sounds like something that would send Barbara Kingsolver and her locavores into raptures.

In Pursuit of Fiber

2008-03-06T13:28:00.007-05:00

Sometimes I want a little something to eat besides meat. No matter what those anti-carb freaks say, bread is always a good choice. Until just recently, I've been a miserable failure at bread baking. Without describing all the lumpy, pathetic attempts, I will tell you this: what usually comes out after kneading, proofing, shaping, rising again, and baking never seems particularly worth the effort, time and clean up. Then Lynne Rosetto-Kasper of The Splendid Table saved my life. As some of you know, I have had one leg in a cast for the last five weeks. No doubt about it, this truly sucks. I don't watch any TV, so I pass a lot of my time listening to stuff online and checking out other people's blogs. A couple weeks ago Lynne's show featured the authors of "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day", J. Hertzberg and Z. Francois. Lynne was good enough to post the basic recipe on her website http://www.splendidtable.org/ . I couldn't hobble out to the kitchen fast enough to try it! This is a truly easy way to make bread especially if you're like me and refuse to buy a bread machine. No kneading, No proofing, No raising dough! The dough is kept in the refrigerator until you decide to bake as little or as much as you want, whenever you want, for up to two weeks! I urge you to try this recipe. It is a life changing experience. The photo above is an example of the tasty rye bread recipe, which Neil now claims is the only bread he will ever need. I haven't bought supermarket bread now in over a month. But that may be have more to do with the fact that my butt is permanently grafted to the couch......

The Great Monkey Kegerator!

2008-03-06T11:33:00.011-05:00

So a while back I mentioned I got a kegerator for my birthday. I thought those of you who don't already have one would like to know how easy they are to make. As I was never into Greek society in college, I didn't have any first hand knowledge. Actually, I agonized over the possibilities for about 6 months. Do I get one of those fancy pre-fab keg coolers? One tap or two? Would it be easy to make my own? What is the price difference? Will it really save money? After much research and soul-searching, I decided to call Terry Boyd of Mountview Plaza Wines and Liquors in Naugatuck CT. If you are ever in the area check this place out!Terry has an excellent assortment of imported and domestic bottled beer. But most importantly, he also has access to an impressive variety of kegs at a very fair price. Not only this, but as I found out, he knows a thing or two about kegerators. His store even sells some spare parts for them! It's a good thing I called Terry because he had some wise words:
1: Go with a two tap system (if you have room). It's not that much more expensive and in the long run, and two taps offer a lot more versatility. For instance, Chimay for you and Bud Light for your guests who don't know any better.
2: If you are planning to drink wheat beers or stouts its way better to go for the G-mix system. G-mix is the term to describe a gas tank that combines CO2 with nitrogen, making it less reactive with certain types of beer. Although you can pour all other beers on a G-mix system, the same arrangement does not apply for a CO2 system. Your results could be very foamy, problematic, and ultimately cause serious depression.
3. Get two air tanks because you will never run out of Co2 unless you're having a party and it is a holiday weekend.
4. Place your order for a keg conversion kit with Micromatic.com because they have pretty amazing service. This turned out to be true. When we finally ordered our kit, it came the next day (no special shipping charges) and only cost $210! This is great news if you are in a hurry to drink delicious beer on tap!

The truth is, when we accepted our free refrigerator, we had no idea how perfect it would be for a tap system. It's a compact (freezer on top) model. It turns out we can fit three logs (2 tapped and 1 chilling) or a half barrel plus the 20lb. g-mix tank fits in the door! Other than taking out the shelves, all we really had to do was drill two holes through the front door and the rest was totally easy. Just screw in the taps, hook up the hoses, and order yourself a keg! Oh yeah, and put up a drip tray. Micromatic sells drip trays with their conversion kits but Neil decided to get crafty add these hip monkeys instead. It was a fun way to add a custom touch. Besides, we're not holding frat parties or serving Bud, so why should our kegerator look like it? All in all we only spent about $260: Kit- $210, full g-mix tank -$50, monkeys and tray- priceless! Not bad considering the $700 I almost dropped on a new pre-fab cooler, which, mind you, does not come with monkeys!

If you'd like to look at pre-fabs coolers http://www.beveragefactory.com/ is a good place to start. They also have great directions for installing conversion kits at http://www.beveragefactory.com/draftbeer/conversion-kits/tower-kits/How+to+Build+Kegerator.shtml

The Language of Beer

2008-03-04T11:56:00.003-05:00

Neil and I visited Belgium about a year ago. It is a beer lover's paradise. First rate beer and chocolate- not to mention a culture of serious foodies. What more could anyone ask for? You just have to love a culture whose idea of a quick snack is mussels and cream sauce. I realize all other European countries have their own private jokes about Belgium, but the truth is- they are just jealous. Belgium really has it all and that is why I want to be Belgian. Almost everybody in Belgium speaks at least 3 languages, Flemish (Dutch), French, German, English and usually a couple of others. This made me feel really silly and language-challenged. While taking in some exceptional beer in Bruges, we struck up a conversation with this really nice local lady. We asked her what the etiquette was for language and who spoke what language, where, etc. She replied that although most people spoke french and Flemish, you had to speak Flemish to become a citizen. This was all I needed to hear, hence, Flemish lessons. I couldn't find any podcasts in Flemish so Dutch is the next closest thing. Here's the website: http://www.lauraspeaksdutch.info/?paged=3
Check out Episode #26 and #27. I wish I had found this before I went to Belgium! While delivering some completely impossible-to-pronounce Dutch phrases, he gives a very brief but informative history of Belgium, and then goes into a little description of the language issues there. In episode #27 he explains how to say some really helpful things in Dutch like, "Thank you" "What kind of food should I order?" and "What Beer should I order with this meal?" not to mention explaining how to say "waterzooi". Perhaps, some day I will actually learn to speak Flemish and become an honorary Belgian. I dare to dream.

Tongue For Breakfast

2008-03-02T12:02:00.002-05:00

Our farmer friend who supplies us with beef isn't really an adventurous eater. She often pulls some mysterious package of beef out of the freezer and asks us what the heck to do with it. Her favorite type of beef seems to be hamburgers. Understandably so, since her grass-fed ground beef is some of the tastiest we have ever had. However, I think she has nominated us "most likely to clean out her freezer" because our orders of beef usually come with one or two curiosities, which we always readily accept. I think there's a novelty factor to getting an unusual food item and deciding how to make it delicious.
Well this was just the challenge we were confronted with when we were asked us if we'd like a beef tongue. Yes! Beef tongue! How novel! We were genuinely excited until we realized that we were now committed to eating it, as a meal, for dinner, that night. Since Neil had brought it home, he took it upon himself to be the chef. The recipe he settled on seemed basically like corned beef, boiling meat in seasoned water. The part that seemed unusual were the instructions for peeling the tongue- until we opened the package and saw what it looked like- a big gnarly muscle encased in a spiny, white, fibrous skin. Perhaps we had made a mistake. Perhaps tongue wasn't readily available in the supermarkets for a reason. Perhaps we would be ordering pizza later instead. But, there was no turning back so into the boiling pot of water it went. 2 1/2 hours later, Neil peeled it, sliced it and made a mustard and horseradish cream sauce.
We were both uncharacteristically hesitant. Even sliced and covered with sauce it was still very, ahem, tonguey. But with no alternatives, or dog to pawn it off on, we dug in. Surprisingly, it did taste like a very tender corned beef. Neil was able to eat his but confessed to being haunted by having to peel the taste buds off his meat before eating it. Not being privy to the tongue peeling, I had a more positive experience and thought the somewhat velvety texture and subtle flavor was really enjoyable. Regardless, neither of us were brave enough for seconds. However, we still couldn't bear to waste it. Another recipe we saw had suggested tongue hash. Hopeful, I took the rest of the tongue and shredded it into benign looking little pieces for breakfast the next morning. And, let me tell you, that if you ever find yourself with an opportunity to cook beef tongue- make hash! You will not be sorry! This was the most delicious hash I have ever ingested! Tender, tasty, and less salty than the usual corned beef. Who knew beef tongue could be so yummy? I guess now we have to decide what to do with this beef heart...any suggestions?

Recipe from epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/103380
The only change to this recipe was we didn't add the anise to the water. We thought the flavor would be too strong.

Tongue Hash:

1/2 a boiled tongue per recipe above then chopped
two small potatoes boiled and chopped
2 small boiled carrots also chopped
1 medium onion chopped and lightly browned with butter in a non-stick pan
Paprika
hot sauce
salt/ pepper to taste
Dash of onion and/or garlic powder

Add boiled potato and carrot, and tongue to pan with browned onions, season everything in pan to taste. Mush the mixture down flat in pan and let brown adding butter or oil if necessary. Let brown until crusty on both sides, break up and re-brown, serve with eggs (over-easy) on top and rye toast.

A Beer Secret

2008-03-01T09:56:00.003-05:00

Maredsous 8. In our opinion, not a bad beer, but not a great beer either. In all fairness, Neil and I don't drink too many dubbels, they can be really delicious, but tend to be too sweet and heavy for our taste. However, I read in Tim Webb's book "Good Beer Guide To Belgium" that he suggests cellaring this particular beer for year for a better effect. Now, I don't know about you, but I have trouble cellaring anything. Like any silly American, I just get too thirsty for deferred gratification. However, the planets really aligned in this case. We found Maredsous 8 on sale and bought a few bottles. We didn't really like it much, and so it sat in the cellar, miraculously untouched, for an entire year! In a moment of desperation the other night, probably a Sunday (because of the archaic blue laws in CT you can't buy liquor on Sunday). We popped open a bottle of Maredsous 8. It was distinctly different! Much drier and more well balanced than we had remembered. A truly delightful, easy drinking beer- if you're the patient, hoarding, type.

Carnivorus Regalis

2008-02-26T10:16:00.008-05:00

All this talk of beef just reminded me of a contest I waged with my Dad when I was in college. Around the dinner table one night, my parents, my boyfriend, and I were discussing just how much cow each of us could possibly eat in one sitting. After some wild speculation on my part, my father replied that he could eat us all under the table. The gauntlet was thrown down and a meat eating contest was declared.

The next week my Mom cooked two 5 lb. roast beefs. The rules were: we would have to eat an entire plate of meat (weighed) w/ a veggie and helping of mashed potatoes. After this was accomplished, we could then switch to eating just meat for the remainder of the contest. My mother insisted that everyone had to keep their meals down. If any one threw up- game over. Between the 3 of us (Mom only participated in the weighing) we easily finished an entire 4 lb. roast beef. This seemed pretty easy at first, but inertia was quickly upon us. We proceeded to the next roast where upon Andy and I caved with 1 and 1/2 lb. and 1 and 3/4 lb.s of meat respectively. My father, on the other hand had merely paused. Stretched out, hands crossed behind his head, paunch protruding slightly from underneath his t-shirt, he smirked and asked us if we officially surrendered. Queasy, and groaning with beef toxicity, we could only nod. With a victorious flourish, my father got up from the table, gallantly speared the ENTIRE rest of the roast with a meat fork and deposited it on his plate, whereupon he proceeded to finish it as we looked on in horror. From that day forth my father's title, 4.8 lbs of beef ingested, remains unchallenged . He currently resides in Arizona where he and his pal Brad have been known to cook and casually polish off entire 5 lb. rib roast in one sitting (with a side of mashed potatoes of course). Anyone want a shot at the title?

Steer and Beer Aplenty

2008-02-26T10:11:00.002-05:00

My birthday was a really big deal this year. Who do you know that got both a quarter of a cow and a kegerator for her birthday? Yep! You guessed it-ME! The kegerator idea was born of being offered a free, nearly-new refridgerator (thank you Willi- we still owe you a beer!). This idea was then further inspired by a sincere desire to decrease the amount of empty beer bottles in our recycling bin being scrutinized by our neighbors on recycling day. Really, a 20 liter keg isn't that much beer, and we're saving money buying in bulk, right?

The beef purchase can be blamed on the book "Omnivore's Dillemma" by Michael Pollan. I'll leave the story telling to Mr. Pollan, but I can almost guarantee that after reading this book, you too will be wanting to purchase beef from a local farmer. I suppose the other alternative would be not eating beef, but who the heck wants to do that? We were actually contemplating an entire side but I think a quarter is about all you should order for two people. All the packaged parts just barely fit in a medium-sized chest freezer. Not to mention Neil and I would be looking for his and hers high colonics after eating that much meat. Can our livers and colons stand up to this much steer and beer? We can only hope!

Ancient History

2008-02-25T10:48:00.009-05:00

OK, so if you asked me a couple years ago whether or not I would ever consider writing a blog, I would have said 'No way! Who reads those things anyway?" Then, my good friend Patti started blogging and I became addicted to her very fine blog candyyumyum. From time to time my husband Neil and I would get together with Patti and Mr. Goodbar. Inevitably, the conversation turned towards food and drink. Patti would fill us in on all the latest candy news and we would regale them with tales of eating things we "harvested" from places other than the supermarket. She and Mr. Goodbar insisted that no one else they knew had such a hands-on approach to eating. They suggested our tales should be featured in a blog. Neil and I feel no story is complete without good beer. Thus Hops and Chops has been created, if not for the amusement of others, at least for Patti, Mr. Goodbar, and perhaps my mom.