Brew Food – Great Craft Beer Inspired Recipe Book By Chefs Press Inc

The publishers of 2011’s San Diego’s Top Brewers, are set to release their new book Brew Food – Great Craft Beer Inspired Appetizers, Main-Courses and Desserts. Bursting cover to cover with craft beer inspired dishes created by some of the best Chef’s and brewers in San Diego. Please join us as we talk with President of Chefs Press Inc. Bruce Glassman about all things food and craft beer.

 

 

 
As we all know, San Diego is the Craft Beer Capital of the World, and as residents of this fine city, we could not be more proud of this. Like a literary genius once wrote, and said by a certain web slinging super hero’s uncle, “With great power comes great responsibility.” With this responsibility, and of course a lot great craft beer, the city has come up with ways to promote and take advantage of the ever popular beverage. Whether it be beer festivals, local flight nights at your favorite craft beer bar, a beer and food pairing dinner or two separate craft beer sponsored nights this last season with the San Diego Padres, you are certainly happy to find craft beer around every corner. Our city has even dedicated a full week to craft beer, with our very own San Diego Beer Week. Local craft beer has also found a welcome spot on all lunch and dinner tables across the city. If San Diego is the home of all things craft beer, we can safely say that its home away from home is now in the kitchen.

Local chefs have been utilizing craft beer as not only a complimentary beverage to the dishes they create, but also as an ingredient within the dish itself. With the extremely fast growth of craft beer popularity and availability, chefs have been looking to come up with brand new creations with craft beer as the star. The typical and tired routine of light, flat and flavorless beer paired with soggy pizza, greasy burgers or cheese sticks has run its course. It has been replaced with items such as barley wine glazed salmon, fluffy fish tacos battered in a stiff double IPA or lamb shanks braised in a hefty dose of citrus hefeweizen. Items such as these and many many more, are more accessible than ever to hungry beer lovers, all of which are showcased and presented in beautiful form in the new book by Chefs Press Inc., Brew Food. Inside you will find great beer inspired recipes for appetizers, main-courses and desserts. They even included a special section on pairing craft beer with cheeses for all you cheese fiends. “The growth of breweries and the increase in the supply of great beer has been phenomenal in the past few years,” says Bruce Glassman, President of Chefs Press Inc. He continues, “Brew Food celebrates the new trends in beer cuisine, and offers a varied collection of great recipes that not only incorporate beer in the ingredients, but also pair beautifully with beer at the table.”

In 2011, Chefs Press Inc. published the great book, San Diego’s Top Brewers, showcasing the people behind the brewing who create the craft beer we all have grown to cherish. With the release of that book, Chefs Press Inc. became a large part of the beer world, and they soon learned how important the bond between craft beer and gourmet food had become. The people at Chefs Press Inc. have gathered some of the finest chefs San Diego has to offer, to present custom recipes all centered around the same main ingredient, craft beer. Also invited to the join the food fun, were again, some of San Diego’s top brewers. The people who create the beer who both appreciate and understand the important role craft beer plays in the culinary world.

Each recipe is accompanied by detailed instructions on how to recreate it for yourself, your friends and family, with stunning photography that makes the food look like you could eat it right off the page. The recipes range in levels of difficulty, so even if you are a novice in the kitchen, you won’t lose sleep knowing that there is something for everyone within the covers of this new book. Recipes like Chef Marc Liautard of Urge Gastropub’s Sculpin Mac ‘n Cheese…a creamy, classic mac ‘n cheese dish made with Ballast Point Sculpin IPA. Grant Tondro, owner of Urge says the IPA works perfectly in this dish, because the bitterness of the beer plays off the richness of the cheese. Karen Blair of Hamilton’s Tavern and Monkey Paw Brewery shared her recipe for Sweet Georgia Brown lamb stew. Cooked up with lamb shoulder, great spices and Monkey Paw’s signature Sweet Georgia Brown brown ale, served alongside roasted garlic mashed potatoes.

Other mouthwatering offerings include Chef Kyle Bergman’s fresh take on an old classic, roasted apple soup with a hoppy grilled cheese sandwich. Made with a full ounce of fresh hops turned into an extract, mixed into queso fresco, and a soup made of roasted apples, veal broth and delicious spices, which is said to pair perfectly with a crisp pale ale. Executive Chef of Bo-Beau Kitchen and Bar, Katherine Humphus’ contributed a recipe for a chocolate and stout pot de creme, with malt florentine cookies. A chocolate and beer lovers dream, prepared with bittersweet chocolate and Alesmith’s Speedway Stout.

Brew Food is just over 200 pages loaded with phenomenal recipes paired with most of your favorite local beers. We could only choose a few options to get your stomach growling. To see the rest now that you are hungry, make sure you pick up the brand new release by Chefs Press Inc. Brew Food will be available to the public at the start of San Diego Beer Week, with a release party November 2nd at Mission Brewery.

Now, please enjoy our full interview with President of Chefs Press Inc., Bruce Glassman. As we talk about all things craft beer, delicious food and of course the new book.

 

 
What was the main motivation behind creating the new book, and how did the idea for “Brew Food” come to life?

San Diego has become America’s Craft Beer Capital City—the growth of breweries and the increase in the supply of great beer has been phenomenal in the past few years. By the end of the next 12 months or so, San Diego is expected to have more than 90 licensed and operational breweries. With that growth has come a tremendous increase in developing a new kind of “beer-centric” cuisine in San Diego—food that goes way beyond the traditional beer-friendly fare like pizza and hot dogs. San Diego’s best chefs are collaborating with brewers, tasting all kinds of beers, and are developing exciting menus that really showcase the depth and breadth of flavor you can get from craft beer. BREW FOOD celebrates the new trends in beer cuisine, and offers a varied collection of great recipes that not only incorporate beer in the ingredients, but also pair beautifully with beer at the table.

How did you go about finding the chefs for Brew Food? What were some of the items in which you based your decisions?

Having done SAN DIEGO’S TOP BREWERS last year, we were pretty well connected to the San Diego craft beer scene. We have developed great relationships with many of the brewers, and also the chefs, restaurants owners, and bar owners that do a lot of interesting and creative beer food in town. It wasn’t hard to find chefs, but we also wanted to include personal recipes from the brewers themselves—people who aren’t professional chefs, but who do understand and appreciate the role of beer in cooking. What we wound up with was a collection of recipes that really range from simple to moderate to more complicated. So, we’re happy to say that BREW FOOD offers something for everyone at every level of skill and interest.

Were you and your team able to try many of the dishes created for the book?

This is one of the great perks of being a publisher! You get to taste everything after you’re done photographing it. And, of course, we had to taste some beers that were recommended as pairings—just so, you know, we make sure to steer our readers in the right direction.

What were some of your favorites recipes from Brew Food?

Oh, man. There were so many great ones. And I had different favorites for different reasons. The Asian-inspired Black Cod from Schuyler Schultz was visually one of most stunning dishes in the book (it was delicious, too!). The Jerk Barleywine Chicken that Brandon Brooks did with Green Flash Barleywine was great for its simplicity and depth of beer flavor. Dessert-wise, I have to say Nate Soroko’s Stout Nutella Trifle was a standout—and it’s so simple to make!

What would you say is the percentage of exclusive recipes in the book? For the recipes that were created specifically for the book, to the best of your knowledge, how did the chefs go about creating these?

I’d say about 30% of the book’s recipes were created specifically for BREW FOOD. Each chef uses a different thought process to create a recipe, especially one based on a specific theme. I know, for example, that Katherine Humphus, from Bo-Beau, wanted to pair scallops with beer because that’s not something you normally see done. Other chefs wanted to use a particular style of beer that is not often used as a component in a recipe. Still others had a beer that they always wanted to cook with, but never had the right recipe. Those folks simply created one and highlighted the beer.

Some recipes in Brew Food were created by some of San Diego’s hottest Food Truck chefs. How have food trucks changed the way people eat in San Diego?

Well, I give a good deal of credit to the food trucks for making the whole idea of Brew Food popular. These guys have been on the front lines, serving from brewery parking lots and at festivals, and developing interesting and very delicious food based on beer. The popularity of food trucks, I think, has inspired chefs in restaurants to do more to feed the growing demand for creative beer cuisine.

Craft beer and delicious food have been popular in San Diego for quite some time, and the popularity doesn’t look to be slowing. In your opinion, what makes San Diego such a perfect place for amazing food and beer?

The best brewers in town are all about pushing the envelope–the envelope of flavor, aroma, styles, everything. The best chefs are also about many of those same things. And the beauty of beer is that it offers a chef or home cook an almost infinite variety of flavor and aroma components to use. Wine is great, but the vast majority of wines add only a few very similar components to a dish. Beer, on the other hand, offers a much broader palate from which to choose.

When it comes to pairing food and beer, what are some key things for people to keep in mind, and what is your favorite beer and food pairing?

My basic sound byte for pairing beer with food is this (and it’s only a very general rule of thumb): If you’d pair a white wine with a dish, then the equivalent beer choice would be a lighter colored beer. An example of this would be spicy Asian-style food, which you’d normally pair with a slightly sweet white, such as a Reisling or Gewurztraminer. For beer, you’d go with anything from a light Pilsner to a Pale Ale all the way up to the hoppy IPAs and Double IPAs. If you’d normally pair a food with a red wine (say a roast or braised meat) then a darker beer (anything from an Amber Lager to an ESB to a Stout or Porter) would likely work well. When you get down to it, though, rules of thumb are made to be broken. The best way to figure it out is to taste a lot of different styles and combinations and decide for yourself (it’s also the most fun!).

My favorite beer pairing of all time (so far) came while we were shooting some of Tyson Blake’s dishes at O’Brien’s. We finished up with his Navigator Dopplebock Bread Pudding with Rum Raisin Caramel and Bleu Cheese Whipped Cream. When I had a chance to taste it, I paired it with the dark, stout-like beer Tyson had brought out to try with it. The pairing was very nice. Then, just for fun, I took another bite and reached for a glass of Sculpin IPA that we had out for another dish. It was mind-blowing! The sweetness of the caramel and the hoppiness of the beer was perfect. I had never thought I’d reach for a hoppy IPA for dessert, but this was one of those pairings that really opens your eyes.

With two great beer related books released for San Diego, what’s next on the horizon for Chefs Press?

Well, we have a few more beer-related books in development, most notably COLORADO’S TOP BREWERS, which should be out by Fall of next year. We also have a great cookbook that we did with San Diego Superstar Chef Brian Malarkey, entitled Come Early, Stay Late, which features the best recipes from each of Brian’s five super-popular local restaurants. That book will be out before Thanksgiving.

Please finish this sentence… The new book Brew Food is…

…perfect for anyone who loves beer. If you love drinking it, you’ll love eating it, too!
 

 

 
Special Thank You to Bruce Glassman, Amy Stirnkorb and everyone at Chefs Press Inc. Please visit their website and Facebook for full information on the new book, and upcoming releases. Photography by Michael Pawlenty.

 

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