I don’t know about you but by the time it is Christmas, most years, I am sick of Christmas dinner! I’m not the biggest of turkey fans if I am to be honest (I’m more than happy for gammon>turkey), unless it comes in the Christmas sandwich format, then I am all for the full Christmas line up. While looking at different sandwiches and what certain supermarkets are offering up this year I had the idea to create my own Christmas burger, a Christmas dinner for those who are bored o

Throughout growing up there was a few beers that stayed with me over the years, among such beers was the likes of Dark Star Hophead, Hop Back Summer Lightning, Oakham Citra, Duvel, bottles of Adnams Broadside and St Austell Tribute. There are many more that hold many memories for me and recently I have been revisiting some of those classics and finding that even after years of hop abuse I am still enjoying these beers. St Austells have just launched the breweries biggest ever

As mentioned in my previous post featuring some beers from the Badger Ale, which also included a recipe for Fursty Ferret Easter Lamb, I had a recipe idea for my favourite Badger Ale sent to me. Poachers Choice is a 5.7%, sweet, dark, rich, full bodied, fruity ruby ale. With flavours of dark fruits, especially plum, and a warm finish this beer works very well with food. I got thinking about what food would work well with those plum flavours, duck came to mind. So, I thought I

Recently I had a few conversations and seen a couple of blog posts on the beers we used to drink when we were younger, B.C (before craft!), some of our gateway beers and maybe even beers we used to like then but didn’t really drink no more. Around the same time, I was asked if I would like to sample the Badger Ales (Hall & Woodhouse) selection, I had turned it down once before mainly because I knew it was beer I didn’t really drink any more, but during the talks of previous b

The humble roast potato, no roast dinner is complete without them. It can be tough to get those pesky spuds to go as crispy as you want them to, there is a fine line between roasting them till crispy and burning them. This recipe should help, the outcome was lovely, slightly crispy, fluffy roast potatoes. I have used Brutal Brewing Pistonhead Kustom Lager but you could use any pale ale, lager or even amber ale for this recipe. Pistonhead Roast Potatoes Maris Piper Potatoes (

Outside my garden is covered in a thin layer of bright white snow and I am freezing my bits off after waiting for a delayed bus, I need some hearty, rich, warm dinner to get me back to life again and nothing says “Lovingly Warm” like good gravy on your dinner plate! Goose Island released their Winter Ale this year at their Bourbon County 2016 release party, to be honest on the night the beer was completely overshadowed by the Bourbon County 2016, which is why I was interested

Puff pastry… Aint nobody got time for that! If Jamie Oliver aint doing it then I certainly aint making puff pastry from scratch! This is why this recipe is super easy and will blow your buddies taste buds to next week. I have already done the Smog Rocket pulled pork recipe but I have used it again for this recipe, you could also use any stout or porter to be honest. Every year at work we do a Christmas lunch where everyone who is taking part either makes some food or pays to

Making curry from scratch is as good (if not better due to satisfaction) than any takeaway curry, not to mention way healthier. I used to be a regular visitor of the Café Bangla in Brick Lane before it changed and my usual pick was always a prawn saag, but I have never cooked a fish or prawn curry ever before. Taking inspiration from a few different recipes and a few of my own additions I put together this Duvel Cod and Prawn Curry and without blowing my own trumpet too much,

I can actually remember the first time I had jerk chicken, I was in my mate Gav’s kitchen in my early years of college, I can still remember the dry smell of the smoke coming off the frying pan as his dog Troy Boy circled our legs waiting for any spillages or hand-outs. Gav’s Nan use to get the jerk paste from Romford market and it blew our minds! It was the first taste of Caribbean food and I was hooked from the start. Each time we had the jerk chicken we would up the heat t

If there is one thing I learnt about Czech cuisine while visiting Pilsner Urquell brewery, it is that they love a lot of meat! Meat, with a side of meat and potatoes washed down with several glasses of Pilsner Urquell. This recipe is not 100% a Czech recipe, it is more of a Czech inspired goulash that I have put together with information I was told over the 24 hours in Czech Republic. Unlike a Hungarian goulash, the Czech goulash has a much thicker sauce and is far from stew/

The beer scene was a different story when in my teenage years, the selection was a fraction of what it is today and Weatherspoons was one of your best bets to getting something a bit different while out on the town. Thankfully those times have changed now, the selection is massive in comparison to back then and some beers that I may have drank regularly then might not feature as much now. Hobgoblin is one of these beers, although it helped me out all the time back in my colle

Sometimes you see these online cooking videos and you just know you have to give it ago. I first got the idea of a guacamole filled onion recipe from a video on Facebook by Bosh! I combined it with a few ideas I had from some other things recently. Using a fruity IPA in guacamole was something I wanted to try for a while and thanks to the guys from Brewers Journal, who over the Tempus Project dinner suggested using tortilla chips for coating, I wanted to try something coated

I love cooking, but baking, well that is a different story. Not only do I not enjoy it as much as cooking, I am no where near as good at baking. To be honest I’m not the hugest dessert lover, if cheese and crackers are on the menu I would usually pick that. But my other half loves a bit of dessert (diet starts Monday), and as part of a bit of a surprise treat I decided to give the old Great British Bake Off a go! Dark Star Espresso is a straight up British classic! The first

There most likely won’t be an easier recipe that I will post, get all the ingredients and throw them all in a slow cooker and give it a stir! I love Anspach & Hobday Cream Ale, brewed with Sorachi Ace hops, a hop when used for brewing I think gives a coconut and dill flavour to the beer. When thinking about those flavours and what I could do food wise with it, curry instantly came to mind. I wanted the final product to be a bit thicker, which could possibly been done with a b

As part of my 30th birthday presents my missus bought me a slow cooker, I had been wanting one for ages (we thought we had one but it turned out to be a pressure cooker!). Slow cooking meat over a whole day results in a thing of beauty. Chili con carne, stews, pulled pork are just a few recipes I have already done in the slow cooker. Recently I have had  few different types of cheek cut, the cheek really is one of the best parts to slow cook and is usually realativly cheap. N

The sun is out, the music is on and I am feeling some Mexican inspired cooking today. I am a few days late though as May 5th was a couple of days ago but hey ho. When I first thought about this recipe I wanted to use a bottle of Fullers Honeydew but as there doesn’t seem to anywhere selling it around my way so I reverted to an old faithful, Wells Waggle Dance. When I was in my first years of drinking I would often drink a bottle of Waggle Dance so it will be interesting to ta

I swear down this slow cooker has changed my life! I am loving the all day Sunday cooking sessions and the results it brings. This recipe has been on my mind for a while, so with an empty bank holiday ahead of me I thought I would finally go out and get some cans of Smog Rocket and test out the idea. There is three parts to this recipe, the Smog Rocket BBQ sauce, the Slaaaaw and the pulled pork. I done the Smog Rocket BBQ sauce a few nights before I cooked the pork, this way

Although obviously the best thing to do with one of your favourite beers is to drink it I thought I might dabble with a bit of a cooking with beer. Five Points Railway Porter is one of my favourites, I picked a few bottles up from Ales By Mail a while back and have been meaning to do this recipe but I just keep on drinking them! Chili con carne is a thing of beauty so I thought I would combine the two. You want to cook this for as long as possible as chilis are so much better

Mighty Oak brewery have an awesome award winning mild called Oscar Wilde and I had some that I had to use up, so to go along with a nice glass of Oscar I thought I would also use it to cook dinner for everyone. Below you can see my recipe! Braising Beef (I used two packs of braising steak as I am feeding 4 and hoping for some for lunch tomorrow too!) use as much as you see fit really! 10-12 Shallots Mushrooms (Mix them up if you can! I have chestnut and your average button mu