Pate Cake, Pate Cake, Baker’s Man
Posted: May 4, 2012 Filed under: Around the Table – guest posts, Mike the Gay Beer Guy | Tags: charcuterie, cheese, epicurious, homebrewed beer, pate, pork Leave a comment »Howdy folks. As I said in my last entry, I’m making preparations to leave Kansas City. While I am saddened to leave a place I’ve called home for the past four years, I am extremely excited to pursue bigger and better artistic opportunities in the Northeast.
To go out with a bang, I’m drawing inspiration from the Aixois Restaurant here in the Brookside neighborhood of town. This French-Casual restaurant features all sorts of novel and innovative French cuisine. When I went there for dinner a few weeks ago, I was very impressed by the charcuterie plate, the central item being the house-made pâté.
What better way to integrate fine cuisine and the Midwest than to make a pâté, not of liver but of pork! When you review (and hopefully make) the recipe based on something I found on Epicurious, you will notice a lot of unhealthy stuff in there. Between the pork, cream, butter — and of course bacon — it sounds like a heart attack just waiting to happen. But it tastes so good. Just eat in moderation and all should be fine. This is definitely going on the menu for my first beer tasting party on the East Coast!
Beer and Chocolate. No Joke.
Posted: March 2, 2012 Filed under: Head of the Table – 10 Best, Mike the Gay Beer Guy | Tags: Boulevard Brewing Company, Brewing, Cocoa solids, Egg white, Egg yolk, homebrewed beer, Mash ingredient, Mike the Gay Beer Guy, Molten chocolate cake, molten lava cakes, Ramekin Leave a comment »
Mike the Gay Beer Guy weighs in on the wonders of chocolate and, yes, beer.
So who likes chocolate? Here’s a quick desert that takes about 20 minutes to make, 10 minutes to bake, and an evening to enjoy! We make this molten lava cake a few times a month … very little “real” baking technique is required and the results are amazing. This recipe is from Epicurious, and can be doubled or halved as needed. For tonight I only made two, even though we have 4 ramekins. Did I mention it’s quick and easy?! And of course why would I pair this with anything other a chocolate beer!
Fondue WHAT?
Posted: February 3, 2012 Filed under: Mike the Gay Beer Guy | Tags: Alcohol by volume, beer, Brewing, broth, Chili oil, Chinese cooking, homebrewed beer, Hot Pot, Imperial Mild, Mike the Gay Beer Guy, Piquance, soy sauce Leave a comment »And now, ladies and gentlemen, for our monthly dose of wisdom from Mike the Gay Beer Guy. Be still our beating hearts…
Mike here.
We’ve all been there… you know, THAT couple that invites you over for a Fondue party. Cheese, oil, chocolate – it’s all the same. Little tiny forks sticking out of center bowl warned over a tiny burner. Well roll up your sleeves and get ready to impress your friends with this spiced up version! That’s right – HOT POT.
Pizza and — What Else? — Beer
Posted: November 4, 2011 Filed under: Mike the Gay Beer Guy | Tags: Cook, Dough, flour, Home, homebrewed beer, homemade pizza, Mike the Gay Beer Guy, New England, Peel (tool), pizza, pizza and beer, Yeast Leave a comment »
Hi Janet, Hi Rachel
Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, Christmas is just a stone’s throw beyond that. Nothing screams fall in New England more than pizza.
Ok, you got me… pizza screams nothing of fall in New England. But hey, this is a great recipe and I even remembered to take pictures!
Thinking Ahead to Fall….And Beer
Posted: July 1, 2011 Filed under: Mike the Gay Beer Guy | Tags: Bay leaf, Beef, bourbon, Cook, Dutch oven, Home, homebrewed beer, Mike the Gay Beer Guy, olive oil, porter, stew Leave a comment »
Mike the Gay Beer Guy is obviously more forward-thinking than we are. He’s thinking ahead to fall and what would be best served with an IPA or a bourbon barrel porter, while we’re wondering what we’ll make for dinner … tonight. Anyway, it’s good to have people like Mike on this Earth. Thanks to him, everyone is better prepared. 
Here are Mike’s thoughts.
Hi Janet, Hi Rachel -
My tastes in the beer I drink change according to the seasons, which means that now is the time for a big, flavorful IPA or a fantastic Belgian Saison, Tripel, or Witbier. As a brewer, I often forcing myself to think a month, two months, or ever 4-5 months into the future. Thus, this month’s posting is dedicated to the food and beer of the colder winter months. Why would I talk about stewing meat (and heating up my entire kitchen) in July when it’s more than 90 outside? Well, that’s simple … so I can brew my Bourbon Barrel Porter, of course. And what goes well with my Bourbon Barrel Porter? Beef Stew…
We’ll Have Beer with that Chicken Please
Posted: March 4, 2011 Filed under: Mike the Gay Beer Guy | Tags: beer pairings, Belgian Dubbel beer, Belgium, chicken, Dubbel, flour, homebrewed beer, Mike the Gay Beer Guy, olive oil, Recipe, Sauce, Trappist beer Leave a comment »
Mike the Gay Beer Guy is back for his monthly posting on fabulous pairings with beer. Up this month, a delicious chicken dish. You don’t have to brew your own beer to make this, of course, although if you’re inspired to take that one, Mike’s the guy to show you how…
Hi Janet and Rachel -
First off, I have an announcement to make! Due to the GREAT success from my entries in LTIR, I have decided to start my own beer blog. Basically, it comes down to this: I have received so many great comments about my posts, but so many folks read the beer lingo like a foreign language. In order to go into more beer related detail (and to cover a wider range of ideas), it became necessary to go down a new avenue. Of course I’ll still be writing for LTIR once a month, but I’ll make sure the focus is food related.
Check in at mikesbeerguyblog.blogspot.com regularly for posts about beer, brewing, eating, and everything else out there!
Beer for All
Posted: February 4, 2011 Filed under: Mike the Gay Beer Guy, Table Talk Times Two - posts by Janet and Rachel together | Tags: beer, Beer in Scotland, Brewing, gay, homebrewed beer, homemade beer, Saint Patrick's Day, Stout Leave a comment »
As part of our plan to add more bloggers to the LTIR mix, we’re happy to introduce Mike, the Gay Beer Guy, as a regular columnist. He first posted a fabulous beer/food pairing post in December and we got a good response from folks, so we asked Mike, who we’ve known for years, if he’d be game to become a regular. Happily he was.
If you’ve ever thought about brewing beer but weren’t sure how to go about it, or maybe you just like to think about beer and drink it, this column is for you. Mike will be posting the first Friday of the month, offering ideas on how to brew different beers and letting us know how he’s doing in his beer experiments. Let him do the failing for you! You can just pick up on the successes. (Oh by the way, Mike is a mighty fine homebrewer. He just entered 3 beers in the Upper Mississippi Mashout, a beer competition out of Minneapolis that is the 2nd largest in the USA, and his Barleywine won a silver medal, and his Light Belgian Ale (which we’ve had the pleasure of tasting) won a gold.) He’ll also periodically add some food ideas to go with his beers. So, without further ado, heeerrre’s Mike!
