Beer Braised Brisket

I had some extra beer. I had bought a couple loosies to experiment with during the beer bread episode. I am not really a beer drinker, even in partylicious social settings. I decided to experiment a little. Wouldn’t want the good Heineken to go to waste.
I opted for a beer braised brisket. The guy at the liquor store claimed that ANYTHING can be cooked better with beer.
Hindy’s Beer Braised Brisket

Ingredients:

1 Brisket – should have some good marbling on it
Salt
Pepper
Thyme
Onion, chopped
Garlic, chopped
2 red potatoes, cubed
3 stalks celery, sliced
3-4 carrots, sliced
Bay Leaves
1 Bottle of Beer
Olive Oil
Preheat the oven to 350.
Rub salt and pepper into the meat. In a Dutch oven, brown your meat on all sides. Takes around 15 minutes.
Put your meat aside. Toss in the onions, garlic, and some of the thyme. Scrape up the meaty bits. Saute for 10 minutes. Remove half of the onions.
Lay the brisket on top of the onions. Cover with the rest of the onion mixture. Surround the meat with chopped veggies. Throw in the rest of the thyme and the bay leaves. Add some more salt and pepper.
Pour over the beer.

Cover and transfer the meat to the oven. Cook for a few hours until done.
Let the meat cool before slicing.

The verdict is that the meat was very good, but the beer taste was not overpowering in the least bit. It’s a good brisket over all. The meat was very tender. Not sure if that was because of the beer or the brisket cut though.

Beer Bread

I came across this bread recipe on a natural parenting site that I frequent. Everyone was raving about this bread. I am not usually one to follow the cultish trends, but this seemed like a fun experiment to test on a day off. I learned a few lessons along the way. One being that the bread is awesome. Two, is that I didn’t even need a whole day. If I had a toaster oven at work, I could do this during my lunch hour. It’s that quick and easy. Three, is that the bread gets eaten very fast if you have people mulling about your kitchen. It’s really that good. I do plan to make some variations of this again. Maybe adding some herbs, olives and/or some roasted garlic.

Beer Bread

Ingredients:

3 c self-rising flour (poured loosely into measuring cup)
1/2 c sugar (do not decrease or substitute) – I will experiment with less next time
1/4 t baking powder (probably optional)
12oz can/bottle beer – not Corona, I don’t know why…just don’t use the Corona. I used Heineken.
3 T butter, melted – do not use margarine or any other substitute

 

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix together the flour, sugar, and baking powder.

Add the beer. Mix a few strokes until everything is mostly incorporated. Do not overmix. Do not knead. The dough mixture with be sticky, wet, and lumpy.

Pour into a loaf pan. Pour the butter over the top. Please remember that the butter is very essential.

Bake at 375 for 45-55 minutes., until the top is brown and crispy. This bread top is essential. It is the best part of this bread. Let cool, a little. Dig in!

If G-d forbid you don’t finish the bread on the same day, store in a ziplock bag. The bread is pretty good when toasted.

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