{"id":5059,"date":"2011-10-12T18:27:51","date_gmt":"2011-10-13T01:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/?p=5059"},"modified":"2011-10-12T18:27:51","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T01:27:51","slug":"october-is-for-beer-ice-cream-that-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/october-is-for-beer-ice-cream-that-is\/","title":{"rendered":"October is for beer–ice cream, that is"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Most Oktoberfest menus are pretty predictable \u2013 oceans of beer, mountains of sausage, sauerkraut, and maybe freshly baked pretzels.<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz, though, takes pride in leaning off-center.\u00a0 The music at Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery’s fifth annual Sausagefest last weekend was country.\u00a0 Frauleins sported elaborate tattoos with their flirty barmaid drindls.\u00a0 And the popular Penny Ice Creamery served beer ice cream.<\/p>\n

There weren’t a lot of takers\u00a0 for the Devout Stout-flavored ice cream early in the evening, but I couldn’t resist.\u00a0 A scoop in a pint jar with a little of the same beer was the best thing I had all night.\u00a0 It was thick, creamy and lightly sweet with flavors of coffee, caramel and a pleasantly bitter hint of burnt sugar.\u00a0 Even before I left, I knew I was going to have to try to make it at home.<\/p>\n

It turns out that beer ice cream isn’t that rare.\u00a0 Mentions can be found all over the Internet.\u00a0 Most of the recipes don’t sound very appealing, however.\u00a0 Some don’t bother to cook the eggs.\u00a0 Others add molasses or chocolate to round out the beer flavors.<\/p>\n

I decided to riff off a basic French-style vanilla ice cream.\u00a0 First, I reduced some good dark beer with a little brown sugar to make a syrup and cook off most of the alcohol.\u00a0 Then I substituted the beer syrup for some of the cream in the formula.\u00a0 It turned out even better than I hoped.<\/p>\n

The secret to good beer ice cream, of course, is good beer.\u00a0 A can of Bud just won’t do. But any well-crafted stout or porter is worth a try.<\/p>\n

The artisan Devout Stout is a wonderful, dark and deeply flavored brew.\u00a0\"\"<\/a> I would have used it if we could have found any in all the usual places.\u00a0 When we didn’t, I turned to that reliable supermarket standby, Guiness Extra Stout, for the first batch.<\/p>\n

It was very nice although a little rough around the edges.\u00a0 If I hadn’t tasted the Devout Stout ice cream, I would have declared it a winner.<\/p>\n

Still, I knew the ice cream could be better.\u00a0 So I snagged some Black Butte Porter, my husband’s favorite, for the next try.\u00a0 Smoother and more nuanced, it was just right.<\/p>\n

The only thing better than this ice cream is a float made with the same beer.\u00a0 Give it a try. You’ll be amazed.<\/p>\n

BEER ICE CREAM RECIPE<\/strong>
\nMakes 1 quart<\/em> <\/p>\n

1 cup good stout or porter beer
\n2 tablespoons brown sugar
\n1 cup whole milk
\n1\u00bd cups heavy cream
\n\u00bd cup superfine sugar
\n4 large egg yolks
\n1 teaspoon vanilla<\/p>\n

In a small saucepan, stir brown sugar into beer and bring mixture to a\u00a0 simmer over medium low heat. Watch it carefully and reduce heat if beer foams and looks as if it will boil over.\u00a0 Cook until beer has reduced to about \u00bd cup.\u00a0 Set aside to cool.<\/p>\n

Pour \u00bd cup of cream and cooled beer into a large bowl or 4-cup glass measure and place a mesh strainer over the top.\u00a0\u00a0 In a medium bowl, beat together the egg yolks with a whisk or fork.<\/p>\n

Combine milk, superfine sugar and remaining cream in a medium saucepan\u00a0 and warm over medium heat for a few minutes until tiny bubbles begin to form on the sides of the pan.\u00a0 Pour the cream slowly into the egg yolks, whisking as you pour, then return mixture to the saucepan.\u00a0 Place saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.\u00a0 (The temperature should read about 170 degrees on an instant read thermometer.)<\/p>\n

Pour the hot custard through the strainer into the cream and beer.\u00a0 Add vanilla and stir.\u00a0 Chill for at least two hours.<\/p>\n

Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer\u2019s instructions.<\/p>\n

Aleta Watson<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most Oktoberfest menus are pretty predictable \u2013 oceans of beer, mountains of sausage, sauerkraut, and maybe freshly baked pretzels. Santa Cruz, though, takes pride in leaning off-center.\u00a0 The music at Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery’s fifth annual Sausagefest last weekend was country.\u00a0 Frauleins sported elaborate tattoos with their flirty barmaid drindls.\u00a0 And the popular Penny Ice … Continue reading October is for beer–ice cream, that is<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5059"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5082,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5059\/revisions\/5082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}