Beer Pancakes Video

Well, here is the new Beer Pancakes video. Check out the recipe below to see how we made them.

Cooking with Beer Version 3.0: Beer Pancakes with Raspberry Lambic Sauce

So it's been two weeks since our last Cooking with Beer segment, and we wanted to switch it up a bit for our return. Beer's complexity is one of the best reasons to cook with it. Not only does it lend itself well to savory dishes -- our first two segments, for example -- but the rich notes of caramel, chocolate, coffee, dates, raisins, and even spicy cloves and nutmeg and sweet banana make beer a perfect match for any number of sweets.

Spice... banana... breakfast... hmm, pancakes?

These pancakes are quite dense but still spungy, with a hint of malty sweetness and a nuttiness lent from Ayinger Hefeweizen. Oh, and the sauce is as easy as turning on a burner.

Here's the recipe. The video will be up over the weekend.

Beer Pancakes with Raspberry Lambic Sauce
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch of salt
2 eggs
2 cups beer (I used Ayinger Hefe, but feel free to experiment)
2 tablespoons melted butter, plus more for cooking

For the sauce:
2 cups frozen raspberries
1/4 cup raspberry lambic
1 tablespoon honey

1. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, beer (add a bit at a time to avoid bubbling over), and cooled melted butter.

2. Combine raspberries, lambic and honey in a small saucepan. Set to medium-high heat and bring to a boil.

3. Add wet ingredients to dry, whisking it in 1/3 at a time. Be careful not to overwork batter; it should be a little lumpy. If too thick, add a few tablespoons more beer.


4. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add about 1 teaspoon butter. Once butter melts, make the damn pancakes. Flip pancakes when bubbles appear across entire surface.

Serve with raspberry lambic sauce and (real) maple syrup. Enjoy.

Note: Tinkering with this recipe is a no-brainer. Chocolate stout and chunks of good bittersweet chocolate? Why not. Bananas added to the batter before flipping? Sounds delicious. Play around with it and let us hear the results.

Bell's Hopslam - A Late Winter Elixir

Ryan’s asked me to contribute a review to The Perfect Batch, and I’m happy to oblige, but first, a short introduction is in order. Unlike Ryan and Phil, I’m a few years post college and live in the DC area. When it comes to beer, my tastes are varied depending on my mood, the time of year, and, often, what it’s paired with. I can be happy drinking anything from a Miller Lite to a Hopback to a Chimay Grande Réserve. My favorite beers, however, tend to be the ones that carry a nice hoppy punch with a pleasant fruity balance. Unfortunately, since I’m working on my MA in philosophy right now, my time for beer drinking has been rather limited. Writing a thesis is not conducive to regular libation, but I’ll do my best to keep up, and hopefully I’ll have a bit more to contribute here when the time is right.

Ok, enough of that, let’s get the beer. About a month ago D.C. Foodies, a local blog that reviews area restaurant, posted a piece about Bell’s Hopslam. They really talked this brew up as a panacea for the dead-of-winter blues. These blues can be brutal in the dreary, gray, and mostly rainy DC winters, so I was more than eager to go in search of a tonic to at least lift the clouds in my beer drinking soul. That Saturday I trekked out to the local beer and wine mega-store and searched the aisles…first the six packs, then the cooler, then the cases, and finally the singles; my heart dropped a little more as each time I came up empty. Feeling more than a little dejected by the experience, I decided to make the last ditch effort that every guy hates…I asked if they had any in stock. Eureka! After the first clerk asked around, he discovered that they had received a shipment…only 4 cases and no more on the way - this is an extremely limited release beer that comes out January 7th and only runs into February…and still had a case in the back. I was later told that they don’t even bother putting this elixir on the shelves because of the cult following it’s gathered: if you don’t know to ask, you don’t get the brew.

Needless to say, this experience heightened my anticipation even more, so I rushed home and got one of the two six packs (at about 14 bucks a pop) into the fridge. And let me tell you…the search was well worth it. Hopslam is a towering exemplar of the double IPA style. It pours a dark amber with a dense-but-not-too-creamy white head. The aroma is strong of florally, slightly sour hops, but not so pungent as to make you feel you just stuck your nose in a fist full of hops (as some IPAs can be). The first sip comes across a little sweet, but then the hops catch up. A pleasant bitterness bites the tongue and the back of the palate at the end of each sip and lingers for quite a while. The sweetness that begins each sip and lingers through to the end is reminiscent of raisins and sweet melons and is a slight bit caramelly (maybe even a bit of molasses hidden away later in the bottle), and each swallow ends with a gentle waft of alcohol to remind you that this is one potent brew. All in all, this beer, though tremendously hoppy, is about balance. It’s a well done double IPA, perfectly hoppy with enough sweetness to mellow the palate and no surprises besides the buzz that comes on before you finish your first bottle. At an even 10% ABV it packs a wallop, and it’s just what the doctor ordered in the dead of the DC winter.

Hoppy Goodness

Nugget Nectar, what a beautiful beer. Ryan can tell you that I love the beers that Troegs make. One of my favorite beers is the Hop Back and when I heard that Nugget Nectar was an even hoppier version, I had to try it.

This beer is a seasonal brew by Troegs that comes out every year around February. It is considered an Imperial Amber Ale. The moment you start pouring the beer the sweet hops hit your nose. There is a very fruity smell that is pleasant but not too sweet. The taste also does not disappoint. Just like the smell, you get a fruity aroma throughout your mouth. One specific flavor I picked up was peaches. Like I said, it has a sweet flavor but not in the sense that it feels syrupy. The taste then ends in a piney flavor.

If you like Amber ales or hoppier beers in general, this beer is nearly perfect for you. It has the great hop kick that I love but nothing to the point of being too bitter. Go get this beer!

Video

Well, just uploaded the video for our second cooking with beer episode. Enjoy!