IPA-Crusted Pizza
Dude,
It was good to talk to you tonight, and a bit of an encouragement just to share stuff with ya.
So the verdict is in. The pizza was really good. I’m still way amateur when it comes to homemade pizza, but theconsistency and presentation on this one was pretty good.
Basically, I kinda just winged it. I really wanted pizza, but I wanted to stick with my October Unprocessed commitment. So at Trader Joe’s I picked up unbleached whole-wheat flour, and some good, basic mozzarella with no crazy anti-caking agents or anything. I had bacon from WholeFoods, local hot sausage from the farmer’s market, and some jalapenos I pickled myself (inspired by your pickled eggs bit).
For the dough, I used 4 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking powder (this is the only iffy thing on processed foods), 1-1/2 tsp. salt, a packet of yeast, 2 tbs. olive oil, and a can of beer. Mixed it together (had to add a little water), kneaded it and covered. After about 2 hours I split it in two, rolled it into a ball, and then flattened that shit.
I did my own pizza sauce, too (sorta). I got the idea from AllRecipes.com, but I did things my own way. Basically, I took about 4 oz. tomato paste, 3 tbs. grated parmesan, a couple garlic cloves, 2 tbs. honey (instead of sugar), ¾ teaspoon onion powder, and ¼ tsp. of each of the following: oregano, marjoram, fresh basil, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and red pepper flakes. Then I slowly poured crushed tomatoes into the mix, stirring constantly, until it tasted how I wanted. I also salted to taste. It was sweet and yummy.
One pizza was a spicy Hawaiian-style. I used bacon, sausage, pineapple, and jalapeno.
The other pizza was full of caramelized goodness. I caramelized slices of heirloom tomatoes (!!!!!) in my skillet, and caramelized some onions – all with my local, organic, raw butter. Threw that on a pizza with cheese. DAMN. I think tomorrow I might just caramelize some tomatoes to eat like candy.
Sprinkled oregano on top, then baked at 400 degrees. I always bake in a pan, then for the last couple minutes I pull the pizza off the pan with my pizza peel and put it directly on the rack.
I’m interested in your pizza tips one day.
Cheers,
Jamey
P.S. Oh yeah, and I brushed melted butter on the crust. It was awesome.
Agave Lemon Beer Butt Chicken - with BACON
Every year, if we’re all together, my (Jamey) family has a beer butt chicken cook-off around Christmas or New Years. This is what I did in 2010, and it was awesome. Daniel asked what I did…and here’s my response.
from Jamey W. Bennett
to Daniel Larkin
Okay, here it is.
- 1 whole chicken
- 1 beer butt stand (you can get these at Walmart or online)
- 1/2 beer in a can (you can use a soda can & fill it up with homebrew or whatever)
- Lemon pepper seasoning (the one I used was fancy, and included a lot of goodies like garlic powder and salt and such - in other words, just find one that sounds awesome)
- 1 stick of butter
- Agave nectar (you can get this in the honey section)
- 1 pack of bacon (12 oz or 16 oz, you choose)
- 2 lemons
- Toothpicks
Thaw the chicken, separate the skin from the front and the back of the chicken carefully. There may be sections that will be difficult to separate, so I just took a knife and made little slits in the skin, and put my finger in their to separate it a bit.
Squeeze bits of the butter in between the skin and the meat all over the chicken. I didn’t quite use the whole stick, but pretty close.
At this point, it may be a good time to put the chicken on the stand for decoration purposes, but don’t put the beer in yet. Sprinkle the outside with the lemon pepper, and load your hand up with lemon pepper and work it into the meat, between the meat and skin.
Cut one of the lemons and squeeze the juice all over the bird, and even inside if you wish.
Use the agave nectar and squeeze it between the meat and skin, and then do a few circles on the outside of the bird (it will slowly run down your chicken.
Now wrap that shit in bacon, and use toothpicks where necessary to keep the bacon in place. Glaze the bacon with the agave. Now let it sit for awhile for the flavors to soak in.
Pull the stand out, put the beer can in the stand, then stick it back in. I threw a few bits of red onion inside the can, as well as some lemon peel, but I have no way of knowing if this did anything. Sounded good to me, though. Oh and I put a bit of soy sauce in the beer too, but that was an impulse. Also, I used a Bavarian-style hefeweizen in keeping with the lemon fruitiness theme. But I bet even Coors would make a mean bird.
Slice into the other lemon a bit so that the meat of it is exposed and shove it into the top of the bird where the neck used to be. This will keep the beer goodness locked inside the bird, and will hopefully allow lemon juice to drip into your bird, making it moist and delicious.
Grill or bake upright (thanks to the stand). We grilled for about an hour. It pretty much requires your attention the whole time (keeping the grill shut as much as possible), but especially because of the butter and bacon - you will have flare ups.
Use a meat thermometer and pull off when it’s 170-180 in the thigh. Remove it from the stand (this is tricky and may require several tools and people), remove the lemon, get the toothpicks out of it, carve, and enjoy.
This kicks ass. I’d like to figure out how to make it a little more lemony if possible. Oh, and drink a few beers when you cook it. I almost forgot that.
Laterz,
Jamey
from Daniel Larkin
to jamey w. bennett
Oh shit. I think I just peed a little bit reading that. You know its a quality recipe when it has the three-B’s of awesomeness – bacon, butter and beer. I’ve never heard of a beer-butt can cooker, but that looks genius. I will definitely have to try this. Thanks!
from Jamey W. Bennett
to Daniel Larkin
They are awesome.
Here’s a standard type: http://amzn.com/B000XE63M2
And here is a fancy one, looks like no BPA. http://amzn.com/B0007ZGUK2
