OctoBeer Fest 4-7, 2009 at David Burke Primehouse
There is no denying I love beer, so its only natural to celebrate my passion of brewing beer, drinking beer and cooking with all of you. I will kick off OctoBeer Fest at David Burke Primehouse with a homebrew dinner. I know other chefs have helped “make” a beer for a dinner, but I truely have brewed every beer featured at my homebrew dinner. I think that this unique approach of making not only the food but also the beverages will make for a remarkable dinner. The following three days I leave the brewing to the pros and I’ll stay in the kitchen.
Daily beer reception from 630-7:15 pm
Dinner starts at 7:30 pm
4 course meal costs 55 per person plus tax and gratuity Purchase 2 separate dinners for $95 or Purchase all 16 courses (all four seperate dinners) $175
Sunday October 4
Chef Ricks Homebrew Dinner
Reception Beers
Belgian Blond
snow white head, gold color, spice, malt hops & orange essence
Stoned Wheat
seedling farm peach infused wheat beer, zesty aroma
Dinner Beers
Working Man Champagne
whipped cream head, golden body, toasted bread aroma, malt, fruits & spicy hops
I-PAC (India Pale Ale With Chamomile)
malt, toffee, caramel apples and floral hops that finish with chamomile
2 Wood Ale
reddish brown color, sweet aroma, caramel, toasted malt & velvety mouth feel,
started with birch syrup & finished with african mahogany
Mr. Peabody Porter
rich, full bodied, bittersweet, chocolate & coffee
Monday October 5
Two Brothers, Warrenville, Illinois
Tuesday October 6
New Holland Brewery, Holland Michigan
http://www.newhollandbrew.com/
Wednesday October 7
Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois
Chicago Green City Market Demo
Today I had the honor and privelage to demonstrate some great uses of heirloom tomatoes at Chicago’s famous Green City Market. Here is a picture of most of my ingredients, the recipes are listed below. 
I’m serious when mixing drinks!
Heirloom Tomato Bloody Mary
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 ea Onion small, chopped
2 ea Jalapeño pepper, chopped
6 ea Garlic cloves, chopped
3# Heirloom tomatoes, chopped
¼ cup Celery leaves
1 ea Lemon Juiced
4 tbsp Horseradish
To taste Kosher salt, black pepper
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tsp Celery Seed
Method:
- In a sauce pan sweat onions, garlic and jalapeño for a few minutes, add tomatoes and continue to cook to release tomato juices. Reduce flame and continue to cook over medium heat until tomatoes are almost dry.
- Add lemon juice, horseradish, Worcestershire, celery seed and celery leaves. Place in blender and puree. Chill and reserve, adjust seasoning once chilled.
- To make cocktail mix 2 oz of vodka, 5 oz of bloody Mary mix and shake with ice, serve and garnish as you wish.
Black Pepper Pappardelle Pasta
heirloom tomatoes, micro basil, pancetta
Pasta Dough
½ # AP Flour
½ # 00 Flour
2 ea Eggs
1 ½ oz Olive oil
3 tbsp Black pepper, coarse ground
2 tsp Salt
As needed water
Additional Ingredients:
3 oz Pancetta, bacon, smoked ham, smoked chicken etc…
1 # Heirloom Tomatoes, coarse chopped
½ oz Micro basil
½ oz Butter (optional)
1 oz Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated
Method:
- Combine all dry ingredients for pasta, combine eggs and olive oil in separate bowl and mix into flour mixture. Add water to bring together and kneed until smooth. Set aside for 30 minutes, roll out into thin sheets and cut into 1in wide by 6in long noodles. Set aside.
- In a sauté pan sweat pancetta until almost crispy, add tomatoes and sweat to release juices and warm through.
- In a separate pan of boiling water cook pasta approx 2 minutes. Drain well, dress with olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Toss tomatoes with basil and butter, put in bottom of bowl.
- Place pasta on top of tomatoes and top with cheese.
Home Brew 101
I love to brew beer, it’s one of my hobbies that is relaxing and has so many tasty rewards!! There are a few ways to brew – extract partial mash or all grain. I brew mostly all grain, there rarely is a reason for me to use an extract unless I’m making a starter for my yeast, or I want to awaken something in second fermentation, plus all grain is wwwwaaaayyyyyyy cheaper! What’s that, really tasty cheap beer; does such a fabulous thing exist? Yep it’s called homebrew.
Beer is made from 4 basic things grains, water, hops and yeast. The grains have been malted in order to extract the proper sugars and starches needed to brew. This is not the barley found on the shelf of the grocery store! Remember like anything in life; the better the quality ingredients the better your final product will come out! I’m lucky to have a top notch home brew supply store so close to my home and the guys that run Perfect Brewing Supply in Libertyville, Illinois always help point me in the right direction. I think that sometimes they wonder where I come up with my crazy beer ideas, hey I’m a chef!! That translates into crazy, rule breaking, tell me I can’t do that and I will prove you wrong 10 times over. Who makes rhubarb Belgian wit, or angry ale with a blend of yeasts strains that probably shouldn’t go together? Yep that’s me and that’s what home brewers do, we help invent the next great batch of beer!
The basic idea of beer is that you steep grains at certain temperatures for extended periods of time like a tea, drain the liquid off and reduce it to a specified amount along with items to clarify and flavor the ”wort” as it is referred to at this stage in beer making. As you see in the picture the grain is just resting in the liquid, which is drained off and boiled with various flavorings etc…
Boiling the wort with hops and any adjuncts.
The wort just before straining and cooling to 70 degrees in less than 20 minutes.
Before I add the yeast it’s important to boost the oxygen in the wort. Shaking the beer for 3 minutes will only achieve 8 parts per million, but who wants to shake 5 gallons of liquid for 3 minutes, not me! If I use my oxygen tank, stone diffuser and some tubing I infuse 15 parts per million in about 45 seconds.
On the left a package of unactivitaed yeast, the packet on the right is ready to go.
Here the wort/yeast mixture has been sealed, fitted with an airlock so co2 escapes and no oxygen can enter. The wort sits for 5-7 days in temperatures generally between 45-75 degrees where it ferments and becomes beer. After this first fermentation I have the option to put it into second fermentation & add more flavorings or depending on the type of beer bottle or keg immediately.
More to come on second fermentation, bottle or keg conditioning, happy brewing!
My Girl Estel
Today I started a long overdue relationship with my first true love Estel. She has been with me since the day I started driving 18 years ago. When I originally purchased my 1972 Volkswagen Super Beetle I completed a major overhaul inside and out, top to bottom. Estel has been everywhere from California to New York to Florida and she has always treated me great. It’s been some time since I have had her out on the street, working on the house and just work in general has kept me really busy and I have not able to spend the time with her as she deserves. It was an emotional morning for me as I started exploring the damage from Mother Nature as well as my psycho ex, mostly the later. The whole time I just kept telling Estel that I was here and would help her get back on the street again where she loves to be. Stay tuned as I really start to break her apart and rebuild her from the ground up. I already have plans to install custom wood pieces throughout. It will be a long project but one that satisfies my soul and keeps me grounded. I don’t need yoga, tai chi or inversion techniques; just some good old elbow grease, punk rock and a few busted knuckles to keep me aligned.
DandyID
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