David Ross

Grilled flanksteak with tomatillo salsa-

Thanks. I soak the cherries overnight in cherry brandy. It's a simple shortbread crust of butter, powdered sugar and flour, then a basic custard of eggs, cream, milk and vanilla. I learned a trick from a pastry chef--put some of the leftover pastry scraps sprinkled around the batter and cherries before baking to thicken the custard--and give a little texture. It's a really easy and really good pastry for the summer.

I'm about a B+ amateur barbecue cook, but these beef short ribs hit the A scale--juicy, smokey and spicy. I buy the meatiest short ribs, (on the bone), that I can find. I use "Stubb's" beef rub. Yep, out of the bottle. Maybe not the method purists use, but along with Paul Prudhomme's "Cajun Magic" seasonings they have the best flavor compared to the home rubs I've made. I sealed the seasoned ribs in a bag and stored them in the fridge overnight. Then day two, I used my Bradley electric/digital smoker. Smoked with mesquite bisquettes at 280 for two hours, then wrapped in foil and cooked another two hours, then one hour uncovered. No sauce during the cooking, just a dash of Stubb's Smokey Mesquite Barbecue Sauce just before serving.

Cherry Clafouti made with our wonderful crop of fresh Bing cherries from Wenatchee, Washington-

Good for you for testing it. I think a dark or stout would be too heavy of a taste for fried onion rings. It would be interesting to compare the sugar contents in a stout opposed to an ale, the thought being a higher sugar content could burn quicker during the frying process. I don't know for sure but it struck me that could be an issue in addition to the flavor.

Delicious. Thanks for posting.

From our "Cooking with Beer" Cook-Off here, http://forums.egullet.org/topic/151237-eg-cook-off-69-cooking-with-beer/page-1, Hazelnut Brown Nectar Ice Cream, Candied Orange, Crispy Hazelnut Cookie, Dark Chocolate Sauce with Cointreau, Fresh Raspberries-

After a week of tinkering, I got the ice cream dish finished. It turned out to be more of a hazelnut dish rather than a beer dish, but no worries, the flavors and textures married together quite well, with a hint of malt and ale flavors mingled into the mix. I used my basic ice cream recipe-a French custard base of milk, cream, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla bean. Then I added a syrup made from reducing the Rogue Ale Hazelnut Brown Nectar. During processing of the custard I added some toasted hazelnuts for texture. The other elements were candied orange peel, (that I intentionally cut wide with a vegetable peeler for a different look), a crispy hazelnut cookie, dark chocolate with Cointreau (orange liqueur), and fresh raspberries. Without adding the ale, the ice cream would have fallen a bit flat--vanilla with toasted hazelnuts. Adding the ale added a note of chocolate, hazelnut and hint of malt. Just enough. The worst part of the dish was the photo. I realized after plating that I had left my digital camera at home. Ugh. My first food photo would have to be taken with a cell phone. Turned out passable, but not as delicious as the photos that I get from my little Canon Powershot. "Hazelnut Brown Nectar Ice Cream, Candied Orange, Crispy Hazelnut Cookie, Dark Chocolate Sauce with Cointreau, Fresh Raspberries"-

One of the local supermarkets held their annual "Lobster Fest" on Friday. They sold both live and cooked lobsters, flown in the day before from New England. I got two of the biggies, as in 2 1/2 pounders. Tossed in mayonnaise and some chopped celery leaves, salt and pepper. We don't have authentic lobster roll buns out here in Eastern, Washington, but I found very nice, (and big), hard rolls so split them down the middle, toasted and brushed with butter. Simple and delicious after a hot day.

Lobster Roll-

Trust me folks, the moniker "Moderator of a Cook-Off" in no way includes the title of Michelin-Star Chef. And how. Right now the ice cream, with a dark beer, is in the Cuisinart ice cream maker. I'll let it chill overnight in the freezer to set and then tomorrow compose the other elements of the dish: bittersweet chocolate sauce with Cointreau (orange), the ice cream made with this wonderful beer and toasted, chopped hazelnuts, candied orange peel, hazelnut tuiles and fresh raspberries. It's really more of a hazelnut dish, but speaks of the Northwest. We are one of the largest producers of "filberts" (the chi-chi term being hazelnuts) and more artisan beers than I will ever get through my kitchen. Wish me luck. This is the "Hazelnut Brown Nectar" Ale from Rogue Ales, (Newport, Oregon). The label is wonderful, "A nutty twist to a traditional European Brown Ale. Dark brown in color with a hazelnut aroma, a rich nutty flavor and a smooth malty finish." Now this is just fantastic, "14 ingredients: 2-row, Munich, (I'm thinking the hops), C-15, C-75, C-120, kiln coffee, Brown and Rogue Farms Dare and Risk Malts, Rogue Farms Revolution and independent hops, hazelnut extract, free range coastal water and pacman yeast." I was under the impression all the waters flowing out of mountain streams into Oregon coastal waters are "free," but I'm just a cook.

What about beer in sweet dishes like ice cream, cookies or paired with fruit?

Last week at a local restaurant they served a fantastic appetizer of fresh pretzels with a warm beer cheese sauce. I've always loved beer cheese soup, so why not take a try at homemade pretzels with beer cheese dipping sauce? My first attempt at making pretzel rolls wasn't bad for a rookie effort, but I need some help from our pretzel bakers. The crust didn't have a deep-brown color. Texture good and chewy and a yeasty flavor, just didn't hit the color spectrum on my first try. For the beer cheese sauce, I used the Ninkasi Brewing Company Spring Reign Ale that I had used for the beer-battered onion rings. Interesting how the character of the beer changed from being used in a batter to being cooked in a beer cheese sauce. In a very good way in terms of flavor, the beer turned bitter, with a pronounced flavor and scent of malt and yeast. I don't think the bitterness would suit everyone's tastes but I thought it worked well with sharp cheddar cheese. Pimento Beer Cheese Dipping Sauce- 1/4 cup butter 2 tbsp. chopped shallot 1/4 cup flour 1 12oz. bottle of beer 1 cup milk 2 tsp. Tabasco hot sauce 1 tbsp. canned, chopped red pimento 2 cups grated sharp cheddar 1/3 cup chopped green onion Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste Heat the butter in a saucepan and add the shallot. Saute until the shallot is soft, then add the flour and stir to make a roux. Don't let the roux cook too long, this isn't a traditional dark brown roux. Once the butter and flour and combined, add the beer. Let the mixture come to a low boil and add the milk. Once the sauce thickens, add the Tabasco, pimento and cheddar and stir the sauce until it is smooth. Reduce the heat to low, then stir in the chopped green onions. Season with salt and pepper and serve with warm pretzel rolls or soft pretzels.

I remember that beer from years ago, but in the drinking arena. I think you bring up a good point about the string flavors in the pork. My initial assumption was that if there was a heavy smoke that alone would subdue the beer flavor, but then if the pork was cured with salt and smoked, the salt flavor would have definitely made a difference in shutting out the beer. I think just about any ale would be a pansy next to that pork.

The sweet onions I used came from Mexico. I didn't think they had much onion or sweet flavor, certainly not as much flavor as the Walla Walla's.

If you go to the Walla Walla Sweet site, http://sweetonions.org/, they say the onions are "available" mid-June through late July. They are planted in September and harvested the following summer. The ingredients in the dry mix are wheat flour, cornstarch, baking powder, garlic powder, black pepper powder and msg.

Like huckleberry pie, Copper River salmon "candy" and asparagus with prosciutto and honeydew sorbet, I usually only make fried onion rings once a year when these beautiful ingredients bless us up here in the Pacific Northwest. Once a year when the Walla Walla sweets are in season. Walla Walla has become a trendy Northwest destination--all sorts of funky restaurants have opened and new vineyards seem to open every year. Yet Walla Walla's most famous agricultural product is the Walla Walla sweet, a big, beefy, sweet onion that lends itself quite well to deep frying in a cloak of beer batter, (My Mother went to Whitman College in Walla Walla and she often raved about the "Walla Walla Sweet Onion Sandwich." Thick slices of onion on white bread, no mayo). Recently I found this wonderful fried chicken dry batter mix at the local Korean grocery store. It's got a serious blend of black pepper and garlic and just takes equal parts dry mix to liquid. I have to admit that I cut the top off the package for two reasons--to pour out the mix of course, but also to cover the name, "Mr. Hung" Fried Chicken Batter Mix. To who they refer to as Mr. Hung I am not sure, but it makes an incredibly crisp, flavorful batter when mixed with beer. Staying local and seasonal, I chose this beer- This is the "Twilight Summer Ale" from Deschutes Brewery of Bend, Oregon. The tasting notes are "select malts and a heady dose of bold Amarillo hops deliver full-on flavor and crafted nuance in a spry summer-style ale." Was I taking a risk pairing a pretty front-on ale with black pepper and garlic mix and the somewhat delicate flavor of sweet onion? After all, I was making "onion" rings not crispy beet batter bits. I have to say I have become fairly experienced with the deep fryer. It's a bit intimidating at first, but really quite easy to master and you're not dealing with a lot of ingredients or prep. I sliced the onions in thick, about 1/2" slices, then let them sit in buttermilk in the fridge for about two hours. Then dredged in just the dry batter mix, then into the batter itself, a 50-50 blend of the dry mix and the Twilight Summer Ale. I recently switched from canola to sunflower oil for deep-frying. (With the exception of potatoes which I fry in.............beef tallow). The sunflower oil seems to hold up under heat a bit better than canola and always delivers a very crisp item. After about 4 minutes in 350 oil, we have- Success! The measure, in part, of a good onion ring is texture. It must be crispy and hold up crispy, never going soggy even when touching a paper napkin. More so, the batter mix should never just fall off. It must cloak the slice of onion. The buttermilk to dry mix to batter process helped. Served with homemade preserved lemon mayonnaise garnished with capers and chives. And the flavor? Crispy of course, sweet onion and both the flavor and a hint of the hoppy beer. Not a thirst-quenching rush of beer but definitely beer flavor.

That my friend is going to be delicious.

That looks wonderful. I'm trying a new take on fried onion rings tonight with a beer batter.

Is it nice on its own or did you add a scoop of ice cream or dollop of whipped cream?

The perfect marriage of beer into cooking. I'm going to try that this weekend with the other two beer dishes I'm planning.

Yes, I have a language known only to myself. Of course, my cooking brethren read right through it. All of the above in terms of how the dough was treated. Pizza dough, I suppose, is like bread, or chili, or beer. Any manner of styles yet one to suit individual tastes.

My "pizza with a beer crust" was purely accidental, sort of. I made a horrific pizza on Friday night--a sloppy, doughy mess of soggy crust under a gooey parmesan cream sauce, bitter with an IPA ale and studded with clams. The worst clam pizza known to man. I couldn't sleep Friday night thinking about that mess--and how I could use beer in a pizza. (I'm still pondering that idea of pairing beer with scallops, but it won't be on a pizza). What about beer in my pizza dough? Beer has natural yeast, so it should help the dough rise and I was pretty sure I'd gain some flavor notes of hops and malt. We are lucky in the Pacific Northwest in the fact we have a number of quality artisanal breweries to choose from. This is the "Spring Reign" American Pale Ale from Ninkasi Brewing Company of Eugene. It's light, a bit sweet and has a hint of rose and apple fragrance. I knew that the bold Guinness Stout I used with the beef cheeks would have been way too strong for a pizza dough. I use a pizza dough recipe out of my cherished cookbook, "The Time Life Series Foods of the World--The Cooking of Italy." Nearly 60 years old, these books never fail. This recipe uses a lot of yeast. A lot considering the amount of flour, and I knew adding beer instead of water would raise the yeast quotient. To 4 1/2 tsp. dry yeast, add 1/4 cup warm water and a bit of sugar. Let the dough blossom, then add a cup of warm beer. Add the liquid to a mixing bowl, then add a teaspoon of salt, 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, and 1/4 cup of olive oil. I suppose you could use Italian 00 flour, but I've never had a problem with basic all-purpose flour. I do use flour milled locally here in Eastern, Washington that comes from the wheat fields off the lands we call the "Palouse." After about two hours, we have this lovely risen dough- I wanted to test just the dough first before crafting and baking a full pizza. So brushed with olive oil, in a 550 oven about 8 minutes then a turn under the broiler, a shake of salt and pepper- Bubbly isn't it? That's what I love in a good pizza crust--bubbles of air that turn into crispy shells. It's ugly, but it's crispy yet chewy. (Almost as good as the vaunted crust at Pietro's Pizza in Salem, Oregon). The crust had a hint of the flavors of the ale. Not bold, just enough to raise the level of flavor from my normal pizza crust. The pizza pizza was garnished with some bottled, fire-roasted garlic and tomato sauce, pepperoni, black olives, a good slug of olive oil and plenty of cheese. Again in the 550 oven and turned under the broiler for a bit of char. Out of the oven and sprinkled with some fresh oregano and basil. A good method for working beer into a pizza dough. And an even better opportunity to serve a very cold glass of "Spring Reign" with your pizza.

Those are great ideas and I'm glad I asked before diving in. Scallops and beer might be a challenge indeed.

That is mouth-watering delicious.