Game & Ale Pie

Tonight's post it going to be a little bit different.
This weekend I popped round to my Gran's house for a visit, when my dad arrived he brought a couple of treats for Liz and I. The first being a spicy Pork & Chorizo Pie...and the second being a bag of Pheasant breasts...fresh from the local shoot.
For me listening to Dad speak about his weekends with the game keeper is the first sign that the festive season is almost upon us.
Normally we just fry up the meat and have it with veg, but this year I decided that I was going to go all out and attempt to make a pie...I really do spoil Liz.
We kind of made the recipe up as we went along, so feel free to experiment with your own fillings. So below find my recipe for Game & Ale Pie! (I can include it in this blog because of the Ale element!!)

Ingredients:
4x Pheasant Breasts
1x Large White Onion
6x Chestnut Mushrooms
1x Clove of Garlic
4x Rashers of Bacon
20grams of Flour
Saly & Pepper
100grams Black Pudding
100ml Chicken Stock
200ml Ale
1/2 packet of Jus-Rol Puff Pastry
1x Egg

Serves 4

To begin with set the over to 200 (on fan ovens).
Next step, prep the meat. Use a sharp knife to ensure that there are no pellets left in the meat from the shoot, as this could be an unwelcome addition to the pie. Dice the breasts and drop them in a freezer bag containing the flour, salt & pepper. Shake until all the meat is covered.

 Following this, dice the onions & mushrooms and slowly fry them with the garlic until the onions start to change colour. At this point add the bacon (once again, diced) and the flour covered Pheasant meat...leave the rest of the flour to oneside. I found that the flour on the meat helped thicken up the sauce nicely.


Add the black pudding and cook slowly until the bacon is beginning is almost cooked, at this stage add the chicken stock and the main ingredient, the Ale. For this pie I used a fantastic full of flavour English Pale Ale from Beerd Brewery...the flavour really came through in the pie.
As soon as all the ingredients are in the pan, simmer slowly for about 15 minutes whilst you enjoy the remainder of your chosen beer.

Once you have finished your ale, roll out the pastry until you know it will fully cover your oven proof dish. If you like you can 'try' to be creative with a decoration. For my Pie I attempted to make a pint glass and beer bottle...safe to say it did not look right on the finished product for me.



After the stock & ale has reduced and you are left with a thick mixture of filling you pour the mixture into the dish and cover with your pastry. Egg wash the pastry to ensure a golden brown finish.

Pop your Pie in the oven and cook for 30-35 minutes, then serve up with thick gravy and mash! Oh and don't to make sure you find the perfect beer to accompany your dish, I recommend a Pale Ale for this pie!

Enjoy
-Sam

Leeds Christkindelmarkt

It's the most wonderful time of the year!
We love Christmas in our house, it is only mid-November and most of our shopping is complete and we are itching to open up the 'Christmas Cupboard' so that we can decorate our house.

If you live in Leeds then you will more than likely share a tradition with us...an annual visit to the German Market on Millennium Square - if you are not from Leeds then you need to visit soon, it is worth it.

Taking up the whole of Millennium Square in Leeds, the Christkindelmarkt is a cornucopia of festive delights, full of market stalls selling nutcrackers and various other Christmas treats. Whether you are just passing through, bringing young family members, or even just having a browse with friends there is always something exciting to purchase...more often than not this being the food! You can pick up Schnitzel & Bratwurst to accompany your mulled wine at many of the stalls!

Image taken from Getty Images...I was too excited to enter the beer hall that I forgot to take a photo of the market itself!

For me, after visiting the market for many years I tend to miss the gift stalls...as they have not really changed in 8 years of going, never the less there is something comfortable, familiar and festively warming about the market.

First round of Wheat Beer

So have you decided to visit yet? What ever time of day you go to the Christkindelmarkt there is one place that you have to visit...and once you have you will visit every year...the beer hall. Situated in the heart of the German Market the beer hall visually covers every german stereotype that we have in the UK! For the past few years the queue to enter has been up to 90 minutes long (this normally results in a visit to the small outdoor bar round the corner), however strangely enough last night (Friday) we were in after no more than 10 minutes in the queue. Upon queueing I wondered if Leeds had become bored of the beer hall? This thought was swiftly changed upon entering, even though I remember what it looks like you can not walk into the beer hall without smiling...the stein's were out, beer flowing with the Umpah band in full swing! In the past you have had to put a deposit on a stereotypically large glass stein full of Wheat Beer, however due to the obvious safety issues you are now presented with smaller pint sized steins for a £3 deposit...I kin
d of regret not bringing mine home. I started on the dark Wheat beer before moving onto a pint of the light, reason being that it was a bit too heavy when you know that it is the first of many!! The beer was cracking, with an alternate choice of cider for those who do not appreciate a good wheat beer.
After a couple of hours in the hall listening to the Umpah band, who did not actually do anything German, but instead entertained us with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney & even Michael Jackson (yes you read that correctly) last orders was called, at an early 10pm! I did not mind this so much as it gave us the opportunity to head over to the Brewery Tap for a quick couple of pints before the last train home.

The Christkindelmarkt is definitely worth a visit if you have never been there. However discussing it this morning Liz & I questioned whether we enjoyed it as much knowing that it will be the same night out every year. Can you have too much of a good thing when it comes to beer? Maybe we are just due a festive session elsewhere for a change.
- Sam

Flavourly.com - UK Craft Beer Club

You may remember several months ago that I discussed my first introduction to Beer Subscription boxes with Beer52? I stayed with the club for a couple of months, however have since cancelled due to a couple of reasons...the main one being that I ended up with a lot of 'stock'. You may question why that is a bad thing, sure my bar looks brilliant with all the craft beer...but believe it or not I was not getting through it all. If you are like me, it does not matter how much beer you have at home but if you spot a deal in the supermarket you still buy it! Also, we have made the decision in our house to 'try' and only drink a couple of nights a week. So that, mixed in with the fact I was still buying beer from supermarkets & craft beer shops locally I decided to cancel.

Recently though my Facebook feed has been filled with adverts for another Craft Beer Subscription Club, this one being Flavourly.com. There have been a couple of things that have drawn me to this club, one being the fact that they also have a Deluxe Food club which is perfect for Liz (and her blog The Greedy Lobster). The second thing that drew me to them was the offer that I could not refuse...a trial box of 4x beers for only £1 including delivery...yes you read that correctly, £1!!!....so I signed up!

Upon writing this blog I find it difficult to discuss any differences between the two clubs, on receiving my first box I opened up a small selection of 'winter' beers. As we are approaching Christmas I opted for the 'dark' beer box...I would normally go for mixed, however I had no bottles of stout in the bar...this has now changed.
The box also contained a couple of snacks from graze.com and information about my beer (more on the beer itself on my next blog). Upon reading the information given I realised that this company had a great story. The founder first came up with the idea after noting that his father, a small business owner, was struggling to get his product distributed...the foodies box was born, helping get small batch products out to customers across the country. Following this, and Ryan's love of beer, the craft beer club began. On talking about setting up his company, Ryan stated that 'theres only so much fizzy bronze-coloured water one man can endure'.....which many of us real ale & craft beer lovers will definitely relate to...I know I do!
Whilst reading the information I suddenly realised that I had seen this company before, they were on Dragons Den (the best part of the company's story if you ask me!). I seem to remember that although they failed in getting an investment from a Dragon, their company had a great PR boost...at the time Liz & I were actually going to order the foodies box but at that time the website had crashed due to all the internet traffic following Dragon's Den.

Another thing to note about Flavourly, as it is a random box of small batch brews, subscription boxes can sometimes be unpredictable and leave you with a sour taste (if you dont like sour beer!). So on their website they have a Brewstore, which is simply an online store...the benefit of this is that if you find a beer in your box that you love, there is a one-stop place to order it. The average that I have seen is about £2.25 a bottle...more expensive than the supermarkets (and for 330ml bottles), but for small batch brews that are hard to find it is a price that us craft beer lovers should be prepared to pay so that we are not just stuck with the big breweries.

With these beer subscription clubs it is important to remember that they are small businesses, supporting small breweries...so when you look at the cost, approx £24 for 8 beers, it is not a bad price...as I would hope that the beer you will receive will be brews not found in the local supermarket! A lot of people will use the intro offer and cancel...which after my problem with my last beer club this was tempting. However, the beauty of Flavourly is that you do not have to take a delivery every month...so until my 'stock' dries up I will be receiving a box every 3 months, this makes sure I can still spread my beer budget across beer club, my local craft beer shop and the pub!

If you are not currently part of a Craft Beer Club then follow this link for a discount off of your first box, very similar to Beer52 in terms of what you receive and how you order, but it is definitely worth it!

-Sam