FEED THE RESISTANCE: SNOOP DOGG'S "GIMME S'MORES PIE" WITH BLACK CHOCOLATE STOUT!
Feed The Resistance: Snoop Dogg's "Gimme S'mores Pie" with Black Chocolate Stout from Brooklyn Brewery!
We continue with our Black History Month feature of recipes from great black chefs - this week we're getting ready for both the Big Game...and Valentines Day, with a recipe from Snoop Dogg! As a chef, Snoop Dogg might not be at the same level as some of the others that we've been talking about - but he is one of the coolest guys in the world! His cookbook is "From Crook To Crook" and it features a whole bunch of great recipes, including a section full of ideas to serve on Game-Day! In the Game-Day section of the book was this "Gimme S'mores Pie" recipe that I thought would also be perfect to serve on Valentine's Day. Two birds...one stone!
For the beer pairing this week, Dee looked for matching flavors, and served a Black Chocolate Stout from Brooklyn Brewing Company.
FEED THE RESISTANCE: PRINCESS PAMELA'S PORK SPOON BREAD WITH LAKE LOUIE'S "CHICKEN DANCE"
Feed The Resistance: Princess Pamela's Pork Spoon Bread is paired with "Chicken Dance" Double Rye IPA from Lake Louie!
Throughout the month of February (Black History Month), we're putting the spotlight on some great black chefs. This week we take a look at a mysterious woman known as "Princess Pamela." She was born in South Carolina, and eventually brought Soul Food to New York City via her tiny restaurant called Princess Pamela's Little Kitchen. After the Little Kitchen closed, she opened Princess' Southern Touch, which became a favorite of several celebrities, including Pearl Bailey, Tom Wolfe and Gloria Steinem. Southern Touch closed in 1998, and Princess Pamela disappeared, without a trace. Way back in 1969 she put together "Princess Pamela's Soul Food Cookbook," a collection of recipes from her restaurants and throughout her life. After being out of print for 45 years, the cookbook was recently rereleased, and in that new version of the book, I found her recipe for Pork Spoon Bread.
As you might expect from a soul food cookbook - the pork spoon bread made for a good hearty meal. Dee picked the "Chicken Dance" Double Rye IPA from Lake Louie to go with it - figuring that the Rye would be a good match to the soul food.
FEED THE RESISTANCE: STEWED OXTAIL WITH APE FUEL IPA
Feed The Resistance: Stewed Oxtail is paired with Ape Fuel IPA from Ale Asylum!
Last year at the end of February, in honor of Black History Month, I made Beets with Sage and Dukkah Spices, from the Marcus Samuelsson cookbook "The Rise." The book itself pays tribute to people of color working in the food industry - from chefs and cooks, to food writers and more! The recipes within the book are inspired by the people he's telling us about. This year, I wanted to expand on the Black History Month theme and fill the whole month with recipes from great black chefs - and I thought I'd get a bit of a jump start on that, with another recipe from Marcus Samuelsson. This one from his "Red Rooster Cookbook."
What I picked from the Red Rooster Cookbook was a recipe that reminded me of my time living in the south-eastern part of the country. I spent about four years in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Jefferson School City Center in Charlottesville housed a bunch of wonderful organizations, including the Pearl Island Cafe. On Fridays Pearl Island serves Stewed Oxtails with Rice & Peas and Collard Greens. The Red Rooster Cookbook has a great recipe for Stewed Oxtail.
I put Dee at a little bit of a disadvantage with this one, as she's never had oxtail before, and didn't know what to expect. What she paired it with was an IPA with a dry finish from Ale Asylum - Ape Fuel IPA.
I should mention - this is not the cheapest dish in the world to make. The "Nose to Tail" movement in cooking is great, as it uses the whole animal and cuts down on waste. On the down-side, some cuts of meat that used to be thought of as "trash," are now considered "delicacies" and the price has gone way up...
FEED THE RESISTANCE: ANDOUILLE MAC & CHEESE WITH NICE DAY IPA!
Feed The Resistance: Andouille Mac & Cheese is paired with "Nice Day" IPA from Third Space Brewing
With the cold weather really setting it, it's all about "Comfort Food" this week! When I Googled "Comfort Food," I found a whole bunch of lists of the the best comfort food dishes...and topping a whole bunch of those lists was Mac & Cheese. I, of course, wanted to do the Mac & Cheese with a little bit of a twist, so I dug out this recipe for Andouille Mac & Cheese from Food & Wine Magazine. It's not a simple recipe, but if you have the time to spend in the kitchen, it's definitely worth it on a cold Wisconsin night. Dee brought in "Nice Day" IPA from Third Space Brewing in Milwaukee to pair with the Mac & Cheese. She chose this particular beer for a couple of reasons - first off, IPA's generally go good with cheese, and she was not wrong there! She also chose it for the name - "Nice Day" fits really well with our theme of "Comfort."
 
FEED THE RESISTANCE: NATIONAL PIZZA WEEK!
Feed The Resistance: It's National PIZZA Week!
In honor of National Pizza Week, I wanted to make PIZZA, but Dee reminded me that it's also New Year's Resolution time - and people are trying to stick to their diets for at least a couple weeks! So we compromised and I made a Gluten-Free, Vegetarian (not vegan) Pizza. The main pizza recipe here comes from Vegetarian Times magazine - it's the Gorgonzola, Fig & Spinach Pizza, but instead of using the thin crust from that recipe, I found a gluten-free Cauliflower crust on Food52.com (you can also find pre-made cauliflower crusts at the grocery store).
Dee paired Carlsberg's Premium Elephant Pilsner with the pizza, reminding us that a simple Pilsner is always good with pizza!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: HIPPIE JOHN & TYRANENA'S MANGY FOX
Feed The Resistance: "Hippie John" is paired with "Mangy Fox" from Tyranena Brewing Co.
In the south, "Hoppin' John" is served on New Year's Day. Hoppin' John is made with Black-Eyed Peas, Ham Hocks, Onions and some Stock. I always serve it alongside some good southern Collard Greens. Legend has it, serving Hoppin' John on New Year's Day will bring good luck in the coming year.
What I made today is a little bit of a different take on Hoppin' John, called "Hippie John." Hippie John is a vegetarian version of Hoppin' John, and it turns it into more of a salad that can be enjoyed anytime of the year...it's NOT just for New Year's Day! Instead of the Collard Greens on the side, this recipe mixes Chard right into the dish, along with Carrots, Red Bell Pepper and Brown Rice. In my version, I replaced the Brown Rice with Quinoa.
Here's my New Year's Day HOPPIN' John...
And here's the HIPPIE John Salad, and the Beer Dee paired with it...
FEED THE RESISTANCE: BLACK BEAN BROWNIES WITH ALE ASYLUM'S DIABLO BELGA
Feed The Resistance: Black Bean Brownies are paired with "Diablo Belga" from Ale Asylum!
The original idea for this week was to turn the tables a little bit - normally, I cook something and then Dee is tasked with finding a beer to match with what I cooked. This week - she gave me a beer, and said "cook something to go with this!" The beer she gave me was a holiday brew from Abita called "Office Party." The beer has some chocolate notes, so I've learned (from Dee) to either play off that with a similar taste...or a contrasting taste. I decided to go with a similar taste and made Black Bean Brownies from a website called Chocolate Covered Katie (I just love that name!).
That was the original plan - but then at the last minute, we decided that we needed to switch things up and drink an Ale Asylum beer, in honor of Jillian, the General Manager at Ale Asylum who died unexpectedly earlier this week. We still ate the brownies, of course, but Dee found a great Ale Asylum beer to go with them. She said that because this is such a heavy subject, we'll drink a HEAVY beer - "Diablo Belga."
This one's for you Jillian!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS - SMOKED TURKEY GUMBO WITH HINTERLAND'S "SPLITTY OPEN ROAD" AMBER ALE!
Feed The Resistance: Smoked Turkey Gumbo is paired with "Splitty Open Road" Amber Ale from Hinterland!
Well we all watch episodes of Big Bang Theory over and over and over again, so I figure I can repeat a recipe from time to time. I made this particular recipe earlier this year for Mardi Gras, and mentioned at the time that it's what my wife and I always serve for "Friends-Giving." The recipe for Smoked Turkey Gumbo came from an ad that I saw in Gourmet magazine several years ago. The ad featured the actor, Faith Ford, who grew up in Louisiana - she says this is her aunt's recipe, and that she makes it every year with leftover Thanksgiving turkey.
Last time around, Dee paired the gumbo with a Mardi-Gras themed beer from Louisiana, this time she stayed close to home and grabbed a beer from Hinterland Brewery in Green Bay - "Splitty Open Road" Amber Ale. In both cases, the beer went extremely well with the gumbo.
I tried to zoom in on the recipe a bit - so hopefully you can read it... 
FEED THE RESISTANCE: THE ONE CHIP CHALLENGE!
Feed The Resistance: The One Chip Challenge!
With Thanksgiving right around the corner - I had enough to do in the kitchen, so rather than cook, I just grabbed a super-hot chip. It's the One Chip Challenge! One chip comes in a box that is shaped like a coffin. On the outside of the box, it says "This Chip Will Destroy You." And they are not lying! The chip is flavored with Carolina Reaper + Scorpion Pepper. The challenge is to eat the entire chip, but knowing that Dee & I are wimpy kids - we split the one chip...AND STILL COULDN'T FINISH IT!
As I left for work this morning, my wife suggested that I bring some milk with me. I should have listened. While Dee's beer pairing was well thought out , it wasn't enough to cut the heat from the chip. The beer she picked was the "Tropical Silkshake Pastry Cream Ale" from Young Blood Beer Co. It's got Pink Guava, Coconut, Vanilla and Lactose - all things that you would think would help in this situation. NOTHING helps in this situation.
The chip itself doesn't look too dangerous...
...but it was!
FEED THE RESISTANCE: VEGETARIAN CHILI PAIRED WITH CARLSBERG ELEPHANT PILSNER
Feed The Resistance: Vegetarian Chili is paired with Carlsberg's Premium Elephant Pilsner!
Our company Chili Cook-off was supposed to happen yesterday...but got cancelled. I decided to make chili anyway! I've made many variations of this same chili over the years - the key to it is the spice blend. I found the original recipe in a magazine ad several years back - it calls for a blend of Chili Powder, Garlic Powder, Cumin, Oregano, Basil, Sugar, Salt and Seasoned Pepper. The original version of this was vegetarian and also has 3 different beans (black, white and red chili beans) along with onions, green pepper and tomatoes. When I make a meat version, I double up on the spice blend and mix one batch in with the meat as I cook that, and add the rest when I put the rest of the chili together.
Dee chose Carlsberg's Premium Elephant Pilsner to go with the chili...and it was an excellent choice.
We also talked about the One Chip Challenge that's been going viral on Tik Tok - the challenge is to eat the Paqui Carolina Reaper & Scorpion Pepper Chip. For our company chili cook-off, we put the challenge out to the bosses to eat the chip (hey, maybe that's the real reason it got cancelled). In the end, when the cook-off was cancelled, the bosses didn't have to eat the chip...and to be fair, both Dee and I chickened out too. Maybe we'll give it a try next time :)
Oh, and by the way - Chili has beans in it (see, they're called "Chili Beans")...  
And here's the box to the One Chip Challenge (still not opened)... 
Maybe next time!