Beer Cheese Nacho Sauce

A spicy cheese sauce made with beer.  Great as a dip, on nachos, tacos, or veggies.

Beer and cheese are staples while watching football.  At least that's the case in my house. We drink plenty of beer while watching the game(s) and I love to add cheese to any (and just about all) gameday snacks.  So when I was making my gameday snack(s) I decided to combine the two.

Beer and cheese make great gameday snacking.  [Tweet this]

If you don't like the taste of beer you won't like this (or any) beer cheese dip.  The cheese is melted in a beer sauce.  So the main flavors are cheese and beer...gooood.  I used my favorite sharp cheddar that I shredded myself (in my food processor).  I would suggest doing this because usually blocks of cheese have better flavor than the pre-shredded kind (and sometimes the pre-shredded cheese doesn't melt right...I think they add something to keep it from clumping).  I used a Coor's light for the beer in this dip (it's what we had that day) and it was good but next time I make this I will use a better, more flavorful beer...maybe something local.

Beer Cheese Nacho Sauce is only as good as the beer and cheese used to make it.  [Tweet this]

One thing to note...unprocessed cheese doesn't stay smooth in sauce like processed cheese (a.k.a American cheese).  However, you sacrifice flavor by using American versus cheddar (unless you really love American cheese; then use it).  It may not be as smooth as store bought nacho cheese sauce, but it's real (no fake cheese flavoring) and really tasty.  I did some research and apparently if you add sodium citrate you can melt any cheese like it's Velveeta and make awesome nacho cheese sauce.  Eventually, I'm going to buy some sodium citrate from Amazon(.com) and try my hand at molecular gastronomy.  Until then this will do.

Beer Cheese Nacho Sauce

Cook time:  20-30 minutes
Servings:  6

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 12-oz beer
1 cup milk
1/4 cup minced pickled jalapenos
12 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
dried hot green chili flakes (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan over medium heat melt the butter.  Stir in the flour and keep stirring for a few minutes until the flour just barely starts to turn golden.

Then pour in the beer, milk, and jalapenos.  Cook, stirring often until mixture begins to boil.  Keep stirring until sauce thickens to coat the back of a spoon.  Remove from heat and stir in the cheese, a cup at a time, until it's melted and as cheesy as you like it.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  I wanted my sauce spicier so I added hot green chili flakes until I was happy.

While still warm pour into bowls to serve or over chips, vegetables or whatever.  Pour any leftover sauce into a jar to cool then refrigerate.  It solidifies when it's cold, but I just microwaved mine 30 seconds at a time until it was hot and liquefied (use a towel or pot holder to lift it gets very hot).

Makes about 6 servings (of about 1/2 cup each).

Enjoy.

For more dips like this one check out:

Blue Cheese Dip/Dressing

Blue Cheese Buffalo Chicken Dip

The Best Queso Dip

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High Life Beer Bread

A couple of weeks ago I was boiling some brats, in beer, to thaw them before I put them on the grill. The boiling beer made the whole house smell like fresh baked sourdough bread. Yum. Since then I have thought of nothing but making bread, and using beer in it. Yesterday, the stars aligned, I had everything I needed, I had just cleaned the kitchen, and I made the bread I have been thinking about for over a week.

The first thing I did was search online for 'beer bread'. Most of the recipes I found were for quick breads (no yeast, baking soda or powder for leavening). That was not what I wanted, so I created my own recipe using some guidelines from "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" (did I mention that I have misplaced my copy, I think it's at my sister-in-law's house, but I found it on Google books).

Sandwich bread is a standard bread (57-60%hydration) with some enrichment (fat, and or dairy). Using the formula method described in the book, here is my formula/recipe.

Joybee High Life Bread

• 6 cups flour (1.5 cup whole wheat, 4.5 cup bread) = 100%
• 1.5 cups warm water, 1-12 oz bottle of room temperature beer = 50%
• .5 cups fat (.25 butter, .25 almond oil) = 8%
• .33 cup instant potato flakes = 5.5%
• 1/2 tbsp salt = 2%
• .25 cup sugar = 4%
• about .25 cup roasted garlic (mashed)
• 1 tsp thyme, 2 tsp basil and 1/2 tsp sage
• 1 package yeast

Set beer (I used Miller Highlife b/c it's my favorite) out at room temperature for a few hours. Roast garlic at about 250 degrees F for about 1 hour. Mix all the dry ingredients (including yeast) in a large bowl. Heat water for 1 minute in microwave, let it sit while you melt the butter, mix it with the oil, and mash the garlic. Once everything is prepared, add all of the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until all the flour is incorporated. This makes a pretty wet dough. Knead for about 10 minutes until dough becomes smooth, and is not sticky, but still soft. Put in an oil coated bowl, roll to coat all sides and cover with a damp towel. First rise is about 1.5 hours or until dough has doubled in size. Punch down dough, halve it and shape into loaves. Place in greased loaf pans and let rise for about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the oven for steam baking. To do this, I use a cast iron on the bottom shelf. Heat the oven (with the pan in it) to 475. While oven is heating, boil some water in a kettle.

Once loaves have risen, turn oven temperature down to 375. Place loves on the middle shelf, right above the steaming pan. Then carefully pour the boiling water into the hot cast iron pan (warning: this will spit, sputter, and steam. Make sure to use enough water so the pan doesn't dry out during baking.). Shut the oven. Bake for 40 minutes.

Take loaves out of the oven, and let cool in pans for about 30 minutes. Remove from pans and bake directly on oven shelf (at 375) for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 2 hours or overnight if possible.

Conclusion

I only added 50% hydration instead of 58% like I initially planned. I was supposed to use 3.5 cups liquid, and I only used 3. However, it did not hurt my bread. I finished baking the bread at about 9:30 last night so I was able to let is cool over night. This morning when I woke up, I immediately cut myself a slice. It was wonderful, the crust is chewy, and the crumb is soft. The after notes of beer give the bread a hint of sourdough flavor (with out all the work). The garlic and herbs also give a nice flavor, but they are very subtle. I plan on making shrimp salad sandwiches with this bread today.

I am eager to hear your comments, and let me know how it tastes using other beers.

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