Drink Matron

Tag: recipe

  • Spent Grain Bread Recipe

    Last weekend I started home brewing again.  Being that I brewed an all-grain batch, I had a concern early on about what to do with the spent grain.  When you brew all-grain beer, all that grain you used in the process ends up being a waste product after all the starches are washed out.  So what can you do with that grain once its spent?  You could throw it on a compost heap to add some nutrients to the dirt, or you could make some seriously kick ass bread!

    I looked around online and found a recipe for it.

    • 3 cups all-purpose flour
    • 1 cup whole wheat flour
    • 1/4 cup sugar
    • 2 tsp baker’s yeast
    • 2 tsp salt
    • 3 cups spent grain (ground up)
    • 1 egg (beaten)
    • 1 cup milk
    • 1/4 cup butter or olive oil

    Mix the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients, knead, put in an oiled bowl and let it rise for ~90 minutes, punch down and put in an oiled bread pan, let rise until doubled, bake for 40 minutes at 350F, let cool for 30 minutes.

    This recipe makes 3 loaves, which is WAY more than we here at DM Labs will eat in a week and if you do the math, 3 cups of spent grain isn’t nearly all the spent grain you will have after a batch of brew.  Thankfully, bread dough freezes well for later baking.  I used up all the flour I had in my house and almost used up all of my spent grain making dough for 12 loaves of bread (all frozen now), and I froze the remaining cup or so of spent grain I have for when I restock my ingredients.

    I was expecting this bread to be run of the mill, home-baked bread, but it turned out far greater than I imagined.  This is seriously some of the best bread, commercial or homemade, that I’ve ever had.  We devoured the first loaf in just under 24 hours.

  • Sloe Gin Fizz

    Sloe Gin FizzIf you know me, you know that I am a fan of classic cocktails, and I’m a little hesitant when it comes to more modern cocktails.  This is primarily because I don’t like intensely sweet drinks.  In fact, if the drink has a fruit flavor, I’d rather it be a little tart.  Because of this, I’ve always frowned on sloe gin because almost every drink that uses it is sickly sweet and they all have names that would make your mother wash your mouth out with soap.

    Enter the sloe gin fizz.

    The sloe gin fizz is a variation on the gin fizz, which is considered a New Orleans specialty and had its hey day between 1900 and 1940.  Fizzes of any variety were so popular that New Orleans bars would hire massive numbers of bartenders who would take turns shaking fizzes from open to close.

    This is a cocktail that balances the sweet flavor of sloe gin with the sting of lemon juice.  Combine that with the effervescence of soda water and you have a light, flavorful cocktail that you can picture yourself drinking with a late Sunday brunch.

    The sloe gin fizz is a very simple cocktail with a simple and delicious flavor.  At some point, sloe gin manufacturers in the U.S. started producing sloe gin using the cheaper grain alcohol as opposed to gin and high fructose corn syrup instead of real sugar.  To save money, U.S. manufacturers have altered the flavor profile of sloe gin making this cocktail less appetizing.  So if you want to try this cocktail, buy an imported sloe gin.  I would recommend Gordon’s or Plymouth.

    Recipe

    • 3 parts sloe gin
    • 2 parts lemon juice
    • 1 part simple syrup
    • 5 parts soda water
    • egg white (optional)

    Shake ingredients and serve over ice in a highball glass.

  • In the Kitchen: Limoncello

    Limoncello is an Italian digestif liqueur originating in the southern coastal Amalfi region of Italy. Usually served ice cold in chilled ceramic cups or shot glasses, this liqueur is great as a refreshing after dinner drink, or just for fun.

    The most distinctive thing about limoncello is its bright yellow coloring. The coloring is based on the infusion of the outer zest (peels) from lemons and grain alcohol, Everclear, Italian grappa or vodka. While it is bottled and sold commercially, making your own limoncello can be a very simple process.

    While there are many limoncello recipes, we’ve decided to use Food Network’s Chef Giada De Laurentiis recipe. It will take less than one week to complete the process, compared to some more traditional recipes that take up to two months.

    The ingredients for Limoncello are simple: zests from 10 lemons, a 750mL bottle of vodka, and simple syrup.

    Peel the lemons and remove all the excess pith from the inside. Removing the pith is important, as it will keep the limoncello from getting a bitter taste.

    After the zests are ready, place them in a pitcher and pour in the vodka. Cover and let the mixture soak at room temperature for four days.

    After four days, prepare the simple syrup and combine it with the vodka mixture. Let it set overnight, then strain the mixture through a mesh strainer and discard the peels. Bottle the limoncello and chill for a minimum of four hours before serving.

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