BEER SNACKS ISSUE #1
BEEF TARTAR TOAST, COURGETTE FRITTI & FRIED COD.
Hello hello,
Welcome back to the newsletter! There’s a handful of new folks here, so if that’s you, it’s great to have you here. This is the home of all my recipe writing, musings on food, music and other bits and bobs. I hope you enjoy it.
If you’re already into the newsletter and read every week, do consider becoming a paid subscriber. It helps keep the train rolling and allows me to bring you fun beer snack recipes week in and week out!
I do hope you enjoy today’s recipes, I’ve been so thrilled with the response to Beer Snacks and am so happy that you all love it just as much as I do! It’s a new format, so any feedback is encouraged.
As usual, if you make any of the recipes, snap a picture or two and send them over to me.
Thanks a million,
Ben x
BEER SNACKS
Oh we’re so back, and it feels good. I’m really looking forward to bringing you the beer snacks recipes over the next issues. They will be sprinkled amongst our regular programming (next week we’ve got a really exciting guest writer!) and will probably take a similar format to today’s issue. I’ll group a few of the recipes together and release them in batches. Hope that sounds ok? I’ll try and get them out as they’re released on socials, but we’ll see how we go!
I know two of these recipes involve deep frying, and the age old question is always “what shall I do with the oil once I’m done with it?”. The answer is pass it through a sieve into a clean bowl or jug, and then pour it back into the bottle. It can be used 2 or 3 times before discarding. just don’t throw away the bottle!
TARTAR WITH BEEF FAT TOAST
If I see beef tartar on a menu, chances are I’m ordering it. It’s not something amateur cooks take on all that often, which is a shame as it is both an absolute joy to make and to eat at home. It’s also hilariously easy. There aren’t many secrets to a good beef tartar, spend a few quid on a really lovely piece of beef and dress it with beautiful ingredients that boost that beefy flavour.
The cut of beef you use is going to transform the flavour and texture of your tartar. If you’re after a luxe, super tender, indulgent tartar, go for fillet. It’s the priciest of the cuts, but is unbeatable for tenderness. My go to is beef rump cap, it has a good amount of texture whilst boasting serious beefy flavour. It’s a little cheaper than fillet, too! The way you cut your beef will really transform the way the tartar eats. I call this “chopped” beef tartar as I like to keep the beef pretty chunky. You might see some tartar prepared using minced beef, or meat chopped so fine it looks like it’s been through the mincer. You cut any piece of beef fine enough, and it’ll lose its character. For me, to really celebrate the cut you’ve chosen, it’s best to leave it with a little bite.
My little bonus for this recipe is the beef fat toast. We’re going to render down that fat cap from the rump and use the golden tallow to toast some bread. This levels up the beefy flavour of your beer snack 10x and is an unskippable step.
COURGETTE FRITTI
I don’t think there’s anything more sunshine food coded than a plate of freshly fried courgettes. There are a few different ways to approach fritti. You can either go down the dust and fry route, or the batter and fry route. My preference is the batter route. I think you yield a much crunchier, more robust fritti that’ll stay crispy for longer. Once you’ve fried your courgettes what’re you going to serve them with (beer of course!), aioli? Hot honey?!
Hot honey and mint make for a seriously good combination drizzled over a pile of fried veggies. If you haven’t got any hot honey, you can pick some of my very own Dr. Sting’s right here!
FRIED COD & CAVIAR
Fish and chips, but make it fancy! Fried fish is a classic beer pairing, and really isn’t hard to make at home! The vodka in the batter is the secret to super crispy, lacy batter. It’s way better than using water as it evaporates in a flash, flying out of the batter and giving your cod nuggets the most amazing crunchy coating.
Whipped creme fraiche with lots of lemon and chives is a simple little garnish for your fried cod bites but if you’ve only got mayonnaise, that’d do nicely, too!
I want to reiterate that the caviar is absolutely optional. The fried cod with just fresh lemon juice and whipped creme fraiche is a stunning thing to eat, the caviar is delicious and pretty opulent. If the mood does take you, I picked up my caviar here.