Cooking With Beer: Samuel Adams Beer Roasted Chicken

Just in time for the release of Samuel Adams Octoberfest, a recipe from the Sam Adams website using the Octoberfest beer for roasted chicken. The recipe as it appears on the website:

Beer Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Samuel Adams® OctoberFest
3-4 pound chicken, cleaned of fat, rinsed, and patted dry
Juice of one lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (to taste)
1 teaspoon freshly crushed black pepper
1 large clove garlic
1 tablespoon dried sage or thyme (for fresh sage, use 1 teaspoon)
4 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

Instructions

Rub chicken inside and out with lemon juice. Sprinkle inside with half the salt and pepper. With side of cleaver, mash garlic and remaining salt to form paste and mix with sage and butter. Carefully lift skin on each side of the chicken breast and push some of the mixture under. Rub the remaining mixture over the outside. Tie it up and place the chicken breast side down on well greased rack in a shallow pan. Pour Samuel Adams® OctoberFest into pan and place in 425 degrees F oven for 40 minutes, basting every 10 minutes with beer and pan drippings. Turn breast side up and roast 25 minutes, basting every 8 minutes. The juices should run clear when you puncture the skin at the thigh joint.

Remove from pan and place on a heated platter. Cover with foil and allow to rest 10 minutes before carving. Serve with pan juices or make into gravy.

*****

And now the notes since I am incapable of following a recipe exactly...

• I used a package of bone-in chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken.
• I added a bit of rosemary at my wife's suggestion.
• I used a bottle of Samuel Adams Double Bock in lieu of an Octoberfest.

Other than that, the recipe went off without a hitch. I did not use the dripping for gravy but in retrospect, that sounds like a good idea. The chicken turned out moist and flavorful and I served it with some broccoli rice and steamed vegetables. 

Cooking With Beer: Samuel Adams Pale Ale Corn Bread

No, this is not the most complicated recipe but I am, in fact, the world's worst baker. So this recipe seemed about my speed. Here it is, from the Samuel Adams website:

Pale Ale Corn Bread

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Samuel Adams® Pale Ale or Samuel Adams® Summer Ale
2 cups flour
1 cup cornmeal
¾ teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar

Instructions
Preheat oven at 350. Combine all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 40 minutes.

Now the notes...

• I was fresh out of pale ale, Samuel Adams or otherwise. I substituted a bottle of Rogue Brutal Bitter.
• The recipe does not specify what kind of flour. I used 100% whole wheat flour which will have an affect on the bread later.
• I used cornmeal from the (relatively) local Nora Mill located in Helen, GA.
• Since I am the world's worst baker, I don't have a loaf pan. I went with a 9" pan I have used for corn bread in the past.

Basically, combine the ingredients...

Pour it into the pan...

And bake. I made this as a side for a pork loin I barbecued on my charcoal grill with potatoes and peppers. I decided to have a Sea Dog India Pale Ale, a malty, English-style IPA from Maine.

Because of the wheat flour, the bread didn't have the classic yellow/golden brown color of normal corn bread but it tasted good just the same. We're calling it a success but next time I'll try it with white flour.

Cooking with Beer: Guinness Cake

With time and money too short for brewing and road trips on the back burner, I decided I would start cooking with beer a bit more to sharpen my skills and see what I could create.

This recipe comes from the NPR website and goes like this:

Cake
1 cup Guinness (or other stout)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder*
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (make sure it's less than 6 months old for maximum leavening power)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Icing
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, place a round of parchment paper on the bottom and butter it, then flour the pan.

Cake
Place the stout and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer.

Whisk in cocoa powder until mixture is smooth.

Thoroughly combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in large bowl. In another bowl, beat together the eggs and sour cream until well-blended. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed.

Finish mixing by folding batter with a spatula until completely combined. Pour batter in the springform pan and bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Place cake on a rack and cool for 10 minutes, then remove the sides of the pan and cool completely.

Icing
Beat together the cream cheese and sugar. Add cream and vanilla and mix. Spread icing on top of cake to echo the appearance of a glass of Guinness and its head of foam.

Now a few notes...

• The recipe didn't specify what variety of Guinness so I went with the more popular Guinness Draft from the can over the Guinness Extra Stout from the bottle.
• My cake pan is nowhere near deep enough. I had extra batter and my cake still spilled a bit as it rose and then burned on the bottom of my oven.
• There may be nothing so decadent as sticks of butter simmering in stout. Observe:

Overall, I'll call it a success. I am not a fan of cream cheese icing but it did turn out quite well. The wife and kids enjoyed it even more than I did. I'm a lousy baker but this turned out as well as could be expected.