Beer Cheese Fondue

Ingredients:

• 4 cups shredded cheese* (Gruyere, Emmenthaler, raclette, cheddar or other good melting cheese) 
• 1/4 cup flour (substitute with corn starch) 
• 1 cup flavorful, low bitterness beer** 
• 1/3 cup heavy cream (fresh, at room temperature) 
• grated garlic or onion (to taste, optional) 
• fresh or dry herbs (to taste)

BEST BEER STYLES TO USE FOR CHEESE FONDUE

Styles with low bitterness, bready/biscuity notes and herbal, earthy aromas (Noble hops or traditional English varieties) make the best candidates to use. To that end we recommend:

• Pilsner lagers (like Bohemian (Czech) and Munich Helles)
• Dunkel and bock lagers
• Doppelbock lagers (especially well suited with more aged cheeses)
• Saisons and strong Belgian ales (nothing sour)
• Wheat ales, especially if fermented with clean American yeast (not fruit flavored of course and nothing sour)
• English pale ales, English mild
• Amber and brown ales (low bitterness, mostly aroma hops)

Avoid sour beers (including kettle sours) as their higher acidity may cause the heavy cream to curdle, especially if it is not fresh heavy cream and has already began to sour in the carton.

Directions:

Step 1. To start – shred enough cheese to have about four cups worth. Coat it well with flour (this will facilitate the melting process). Set aside.

Step 2. Next, pour the beer into a cold pot, turn the heat to medium and bring to simmer to cook off the alcohol. After the beer has simmered for a couple of minutes, add the cream and simmer for a few more minutes.

TIPS: 1. If you add beer to a hot pan/pot it will foam excessively. 2. If you’d like to add a bit of grated garlic or grated onion and/or any dry or fresh herbs such as picked fresh thyme leaves, add them to the beer to infuse with their flavor.

Step 3. Remove the pan from the heat and fold in the cheese in batches while gently stirring. Once all the cheese has melted, transfer to a pre-heated fondue pot, taste and if needed season with salt & pepper, then serve.


WHAT TO DO IF YOUR BEER CHEESE FONDUE BREAKS

If your beer cheese sauce breaks (most likely due to adding cold cheese to too hot of a liquid base) you might end up with clumps. This is easy to fix!

Simply use an immersion blender or transfer the entire broken mess into a blender and process it until no more clumps are visible. Strain and add a few tablespoons of cream to the cheese sauce and warm it up over very gentle heat while stirring.

3-Meat Game Chili

The best part of this recipe is that it has bacon! It's not over-powering, but you can certainly hint that it is there. Brian purchased fresh, thick cut bacon from the deli rather than using pre-packaged. He also used one can of beer and beef broth instead of one or the other. And we cooked it in the crock pot for a couple hours. We topped with onions and cheese. 

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
  1 lb. ground sausage
  6 strips bacon, chopped
  1 yellow onion, chopped
  1 green pepper, chopped
  3-4 cloves garlic, minced
  2 cans diced fire roasted tomatoes
  2 cans chili beans
  1-2 cans beer (any kind will work)
  (OPTIONAL BEER SUBSTITUTE: 2 cans beef broth)
  1 tbsp. Old Bay Seasoning
  1 tsp. dry mustard
  1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
  1 tbsp. Chili powder
  1 tbsp. Hot Sauce (such as Hot Spot or Franks)
  2 bay leaves
  salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

• 1
  Set a large pot over medium-high heat. Add chopped bacon and fry until crispy. Remove from grease to a paper towel lined plate to drain.
• 2
  Add ground beef, ground sausage, chopped onion & garlic to bacon drippings in large pot. Cook, stirring frequently and breaking up meat until the meat is brown and the onions are translucent. Drain grease from meat mixture and return to pot.
• 3
  In a food processor, combine beans and tomatoes. Do not drain. (Depending on how large your processor is, you may have to do 2 cans at a time) Pulse until beans and tomatoes are pureed. Add to meat mixture. Add bacon back into meat mixture.
• 4
  Very slowly, pour 1-1/2 beers into your chili. Stir and set temperature to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Add seasonings, stir to combine.
• 5
  Simmer chili for about 20 minutes on low until some of the beer has cooked off.