Beer Girl Cooks

Cooking & Craft Beer

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Slow Cooker Beer Braised Beef Brisket Tacos with Chipotle Slaw

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Slow Cooker Beer Braised Beef Brisket Tacos with Chipotle Slaw take a little time with the long slow braise, but are well worth the wait!

Slow Cooker Beer Braised Beef Brisket Tacos with Chipotle Slaw take a little time with the long slow braise, but are well worth the wait!

I decided to take a short break from my recent baking obsession and made some Slow Cooker Beer Braised Beef Brisket Tacos with Chipotle Slaw.

Slow Cooker Beer Braised Beef Brisket Tacos with Chipotle Slaw take a little time with the long slow braise, but are well worth the wait!

I’ve never really fancied myself a baker, but sometimes when life goes down the crapper, stress baking is where it’s at.  But I can also totally get on board with stress free slow cooker comfort food.  And beer. And beer braised beef brisket.  And Tacos. And avocados.  You get the idea.

Slow Cooker Beer Braised Beef Brisket Tacos with Chipotle Slaw take a little time with the long slow braise, but are well worth the wait!

It’s also almost time to celebrate Cinco de Mayo which means parties, pinatas, tacos, and margaritas! Who couldn’t be happy with all that?

Slow Cooker Beer Braised Beef Brisket Tacos with Chipotle Slaw
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Beer Braised Brisket Tacos with Chipotle Slaw

Ingredients

For the Slow Cooker Beer Braised Beef Brisket

  • 2 pound beef brisket
  • 24 - 36 ounces malty beer
  • 6 - 8 garlic cloves
  • Corn Tortillas

For the Chipotle Slaw

  • 1 small can of chipotle in adobo
  • 1 cup mayonaise
  • 1/4 - 1/2 cup milk
  • 3 - 4 radishes halved and thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 2 cups napa cabbage shredded or thinly sliced

Optional Toppings

  • Cotija cheese
  • Sliced avocados
  • Chopped cilantro
  • Chopped green onions

Instructions

For the Beer Braised Brisket Tacos

  1. Transfer the brisket into a slow cooker
  2. Toss garlic on top
  3. Cover with beer
  4. Cook on low 24 hours, adding more beer or water if needed

For the Chipotle Slaw

  1. Chopp 2 - 3 of the chipotle peppers and add to a large bowl with 3 - 4 tablespoons of the adobo sauce
  2. Add the rest of the slaw ingredients and stir to combine
  3. Refrigerate for 30 minutes and adjust season and spice level

For the Assembly

  1. Heat a skillet on high heat and toast the corn tortillas for about 30 - 60 seconds on each side
  2. Add beef brisket to the tortilla, top with slaw and any additional desired toppings

Author: Rachelle

NOTES:

  1. I used 2 36 ounce cans of Lazy Bird Brown Ale from Birdsong Brewing Company
  2. The beef brisket should be falling apart after cooking so long and slow, but it not, it can easily be shredded with a fork
  3. I prefer to use corn tortillas, but if flour tortillas or crunchy taco shells blow your dress up, by all means be all you can be!
  4. I don’t like things super spicy and used 2 chipotle peppers and 3 tablespoons of adobo, so feel free to add more spice or top with hot sauce or chopped raw spicy peppers

 

Slow Cooker Beer Braised Beef Brisket Tacos with Chipotle Slaw

Beef {Beer} Bourguignon

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Beef {Beer} Bourguignon is made with beer instead of red wine for a malty flavorful twist to a delicious classic beef stew.

Beef {Beer} Bourguignon is made with beer instead of red wine for a malty flavorful twist to a delicious classic beef stew

I needed some time

When bad things happen and life sucker punches you in the gut, it takes some time to process and figure out how to accept the unacceptable.  All I can really say today is that there is no kind of heartache like losing someone you love.  It’s particularly painful when it’s senseless and unexpected.

I still need some time.

Life is fragile, friends.

Find comfort where you can.

Beef {Beer} Bourguignon
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Beef {Beer} Bourguignon

Ingredients

  • 6 - 8 pieces bacon cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 1/2 - 3 pounds chuck roast cut into 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 inch cubes
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 cups malty beer I used my own home brew Irish Red
  • 5 or 6 fresh thyme sprigs or use dried thyme to taste
  • 2-3 garlic cloves pealed and roughly chopped
  • 2 onions pealed and quartered
  • 3 -4 baking potatoes pealed and cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 2 cups baby carrots or 5-6 regular carrots pealed and cut into 1 inch pieces
  • 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
  • 4 tablespoons butter softened
  • 3 teaspoons flour
  • chopped parsley for garnish if desired

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 250
  2. Brown bacon in a Dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot over medium heat and set aside on a paper towel lined plate
  3. Generously salt and pepper the beef
  4. Increase heat to medium high and brown beef on all sides - work in batches and set each batch aside in a bowl - add olive oil as needed
  5. When all beef is browned add tomato paste and stir for about a minute
  6. Add beer and stir to scrape up all the brown bits
  7. Add beef and bacon back to the pot, cover and cook for 3 - 3 1/2 hours
  8. Add garlic, potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms, and bake another 45 minutes to an hour or when potatoes and carrots are fork tender
  9. Use a fork to smash flour and butter together in a bowl
  10. Transfer the stew to the stove, add flour/butter and bring to a boil
  11. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer for 10 - 15 minutes, or until liquid thickens

NOTES:

  1. Most beef bourguignon recipes use pearl onions and we don’t like them, but feel free to use them if you like them
  2. I recommend a malty beer for this recipe, such as a red or a porter
  3. Serve with bread, biscuits, or in a bread bowl and garnish with parsley
  4. A wise friend told me to hug and kiss the people you love. Do it.

Brown Ale Beer-Braised Pot Roast

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Brown Ale Beer-Braised Pot Roast is an update to a classic dish by beer-braising the roast for several hours and finishing the veggies for an amazing meal!

 

I got a little lost, y’all.

Brown Ale Beer-Braised Pot Roast is an update to a classic dish by beer-braising the roast for several hours and finishing the veggies for an amazing meal!

The main reason that I started this ridiculous website was to share my love of home brewing, craft beer, and food.  Not necessarily in that order.  I don’t know where in tarnation my head went, but I got distracted and lost my focus.  I think sometimes we get caught up in what is trendy, or what everyone else is doing, or what we think should be rather than keeping true to who we are.  And, as usual, by we, I mean me.  Well, I’m focused and I’m back to doing what is in my heart. And that, my friends, is all things beer.

Brown Ale Beer-Braised Pot Roast is an update to a classic dish by beer-braising the roast for several hours and finishing the veggies for an amazing meal!

I started this website in August of 2014 with my very first post of a Vanilla Bean Bourbon Porter Peach Pie.  I made the beer that went into that pie.  The photos were crap and taken with a point and shoot, but I make no apologies.  Everyone has to start somewhere and I still remember the passion and excitement I felt when I made a pie with my own signature home brew.  And it was delicious.

Brown Ale Beer-Braised Pot Roast is an update to a classic dish by beer-braising the roast for several hours and finishing the veggies for an amazing meal!

I’ve also shared some of my home brewing fun over the last couple of years.  There was this competition where I unofficially came in second place with the above mentioned signature beer.  There was an informational post about the basics of home brewing and the annual Women’s Brew at NoDa Brewing Company.  And we can’t forget about the time Lisa ran her truck over my brew pot – presumably so she would beat me in said competition.  She didn’t. 🙂  In fairness, I will disclose that she did buy me a new one!  Some of these old photos didn’t survive the transfer from my original site to this one.  That’s both a blessing and a curse.

Brown Ale Beer-Braised Pot Roast is an update to a classic dish by beer-braising the roast for several hours and finishing the veggies for an amazing meal!

The point of all this is to say that I’m back to basics.  The basics of my passion, my fun, my purpose, and enthusiasm.  Home brewing, craft beer, good friends, and good food.  So I leave you with the basic of all basics.  The pot roast.  Braised in a brown ale.

Brown Ale Beer-Braised Pot Roast
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Brown Ale Beer-Braised Pot Roast

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 - 3 lb chuck roast
  • 1 - 2 cups of flour
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 12 ounce can of brown ale - I used Sweet Josie Brown Ale from Lonerider here in North Carolina
  • 2 onions peeled and quartered
  • 12 carrots peeled, trimmed, and cut into 1 - 1 1/2 inch pieces
  • 5 baking potatoes peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 275
  2. Combine flour with a generous amount of salt and pepper in a bowl
  3. Dredge roast in flour, salt, and pepper mixture covering both sides and shake off excess
  4. Heat oil and butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat
  5. Add roast and sear on all sides - about 4 - 5 minutes each side
  6. Remove roast from pot and set aside on a plate
  7. Remove pot from heat and turn off burner
  8. Carefully add beer to the pot - it will splash and splatter
  9. Add pot back to medium heat and scrape all the bits from the bottom of the pot
  10. Return meat and any juices to the pot, cover with a tight lid, and transfer to the oven for 4 - 4 1/2 hours
  11. Add vegetables to the pot and cook for another hour or until fork-tender

NOTES:

  1. My Dutch oven from Lodge has a very tight fitting lid and I don’t lose much liquid.  If yours isn’t tight, you may want to check it periodically to make sure you still have liquid and add more beer or beef stock as needed.
  2. You don’t want to put your vegetables in too soon or they’ll get weird and mushy
  3. You don’t want your potatoes to be covered in the liquid or they’ll get weird and mealy
  4. I am a complete weenie when it comes to fire, so I always turn it off when I’m adding booze so I don’t blow myself up.
  5. I sometimes like my potatoes with sour cream and/or butter, but sometimes I like gravy.  If you want or need to thicken up the liquid for some beer gravy, just mix together 1/3 cup with 3 tablespoons of corn starch, bring the liquid to a boil and slowly stir in the cornstarch about 1 tablespoon at a time until it’s the thickness desired.

brown-ale-beer-braised-pot-roast

GIVEAWAY + Poutine with Repurposed Sweet Josie Brown Ale Braised Short Ribs

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Surprise!  We have an extra early post this week with a super fantastic giveaway of a $700 Amazon gift card! Woot!  And we don’t like the word “leftovers” in our house because that’s just dang boring and pitiful.  Whenever we have something extra, we try to find a way to repurpose it into an entirely new dish.

 

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We braised these short ribs last week in some delicious Sweet Josie Brown Ale.  Notice that there are only two in the pan?  Well, we started with four and two of them were our dinner.  It happens a lot around here.  Either we, meaning I, make something (usually for dinner) and either Chris has to wait until I take a bunch of pictures before he can eat or we eat some and I take pictures later.  Either way, he has adjusted used to asking (most of the time) if he can eat something from the fridge before actually consuming it then watching my head explode and spin like the exorcist when I see my masterpiece has landed in his belly. #bloggerproblems

 

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I digress.  So here we were with two beer braised short ribs in the fridge and me with a moral objection to just reheating leftovers.  What to do?

 

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Y’all, I don’t know what in tarnation made me think of some Canadian French fry gravy business, but apparently I had an epiphany when I was impaired with adult beverages intellectually contemplating the outcome of the short ribs.  I know.  Shocked me too.  I’m totally sure it comes as a huge surprise to you that Chris regularly makes me the butt of all jokes fun of me, but he said he could see my brain blow and drip from the ceiling as a result.

 

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I’ve recovered.

 

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And don’t be hatin’ because I totally know that the traditional poutine has cheese curd, but I couldn’t find any so I used mozzarella.  Of course, yesterday when I stopped at the Publix, wasn’t there a big ole bag of cheddar cheese curds in the specialty cheese cooler.  It wasn’t there last week. #pinkyswear

 

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Ok.  By now y’all are probably over hearing me ramble about cheese, Chris, and all things my life and want me to get to the best part about this post – THE GIVEAWAY!

 

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I’ll get there.  Eventually.

 

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Just kidding.  I’ve totally teamed up with some really awesome blogger friends to bring you the after Christmas gift of a $700 Amazon gift card giveaway!  One lucky winner will get to shop ’til you drop to beat the after holiday winter blues.  Use the Rafflecopter below to enter.  Good luck, y’all!

 

 

Update: We had unexpected family issues that prevented me from posting Thursday.  I’m planning to be back again on Monday with my regular schedule.

 

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GIVEAWAY + Poutine with Repourposed Sweet Josie Brown Ale Braised Short Ribs

Ingredients

  • 2 prepared/cooked and hot shredded beef short ribs
  • 4 ounces mozzarella or cheese curds
  • Brown gravy - see notes
  • 4 small potatoes peeled,cut into matchsticks and dried
  • 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt plus more for finishing
  • Parsley for garnish optional

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450
  2. Toss potato matchsticks with olive oil, salt, and garlic powder then arrange on a parchment lined baking dish
  3. Bake for 25-35 minutes, stirring or turning ever 10 minutes
  4. Arrange fries in a bowl, top with shredded short ribs, cover in gravy, and top with cheese
  5. Garnish with parsley if using
  6. Serve immediately

French Fry recipe adapted from Minimalist Baker

 

Note:  I used the leftover liquid from the Sweet Josie Brown Ale Beer Braised Short Ribs Pot Roast and thickened it with a slurry for the gravy.  I had about 1/2 cup of liquid and made the slurry with 3 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1/3 cup water and slowly poured it into the beef liquid on high heat a little at a time.  Feel free to use your own favorite brown gravy.  It will still be delicious!

 

Here’s the giveaway! (CLOSED)facebookad

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Here are my super cool friends who have brought you this giveaway.  Be sure to check out their fantastic websites!

Poutine with Repurposed Sweet Josie Brown Ale Chuck Short Ribs

One Pan Shepherd’s Pie

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Y’all know how normally when you make a Shepherd’s Pie you start it on the stove, then transfer it to a pie pan and bake it in the oven?

 

Shepherd's Pie

 

Well, we are not playing around with that mess here today.  This is all done in one cast iron skillet.

 

Shepherd's Pie

 

Because after the crazy busy few weeks I’ve had with home improvements inside and out, slammed at work, and taxes (UGH), I can’t handle one more thing.  I might explode.  Or implode. Or both.

 

Shepherd's Pie

 

Seriously, I am not cut out for physical torture manual labor or math.  I think I may have sprained a brain fuse or blown my gluteus maximus.  Or blown a brain fuse and sprained my butt.

 

Shepherd's Pie

 

And the nasty rainy weather we’ve had all week has done nothing to improve my sunny disposition, so it seemed appropriate to share one of my favorite comfort foods – Shepherd’s Pie.

 

Shepherd's Pie

 

Start it on the stove and transfer the whole thing to the oven.

 

Shepherd's Pie

 

The only thing I would have done differently?

Shepherd's Pie

 

Added beer.  I had to put it in a glass instead.

 

Beer

Cheers!

 

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One Pan Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 lb carrots peeled and diced
  • 1 onion diced
  • 8 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 pound ground chuck or whatever comes close in the package
  • 1 pound ground lamb you can leave this out if you don't like it and just use 2 pounds ground of chuck
  • 1 teaspoon rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 2 cups beef stock
  • 1 - 1/2 cups frozen peas
  • 3-4 cups prepared mashed potatoes

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Melt butter with olive oil in a cast iron skillet or oven safe skillet over medium-high heat
  3. Add carrots and cook 3-4 minutes
  4. Add onions and cook 2-3 minutes
  5. Add garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes
  6. Add ground chuck and lamb and cook until browned, about 15 minutes
  7. Add rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper and stir for a minute or so
  8. Sprinkle flour over contents of pan and stir for 1 minute
  9. Stir in beef stock and, bring to a boil, reduce heat,add peas, and simmer for about 5 minutes or until it is a thick gravy consistency
  10. Top with mashed potatoes
  11. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes
  12. Turn heat up to broil and broil for another 5-7 minutes

Update:  I meant to include a link for these mashed potatoes in case you need a recipe.  It’s what I used for this Shepherd’s Pie and omitted the goat cheese.