Stokes Sauces: Cooking with Guinness for International Stout Day

It's International Stout Day

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/page/sauces/ketchup-and-sauces

As if we needed an excuse to cook boozy meals - they are always the best.

But, today's international celebration of Porters ales and modern day stouts (1st November) gives us a hook on which to hang this week's foodie hat.

Porters is a dark ale that was favoured among London’s working classes in the early 1700s. Street and river porters provided an eager market for this new, energising beer.

The word 'stout', was known to have the meaning 'strong' reflecting the physical attributes of working porters in the strong beer or Porter.

Guinness had been brewing Porters since about 1780 and is famous for their Dry or Irish Stout.

On the subject of Guinness, this Guinness-can chicken dish is not for the faint hearted.

Prepare the bird for roasting. Leave only the bottom shelf in the oven and pre-heat to your normal cooking temperature.

Pop open a can of Guinness, pour half of it into a mug and set aside. Into the can, put 3 or 4 sprigs of thyme which will nestle into the Guinness. Push the can into the chicken as pictured and balance it carefully in a roasting tray then into the oven.

The flavours and liquid in the can will keep the chicken moist.

When cooked, remove the can and tip whatever liquid is left together with the reserved Guinness into the roasting tin, deglaze it and reduce the liquid. Stir 2 tbsp of Stokes Fig Relish into the reducing gravy with a good knob of butter. Amazing Chicken, awesome gravy.

Cheers to the porters of London

Glazed Pork Loin

The pork loin plays its part but the Guinness and honey glaze is the real star. Use it on almost any roasting or BBQ'd meat.

Here's how:

To make the glaze, put 300 ml of Guinness, 100 ml of clear honey, 250 g of Muscovado sugar, 4 tbsp of Stokes Tomato Ketchup and 2 tbsp of Stokes Original BBQ Sauce into a pan. Heat it up and reduce the volume by half (ish) until you have a sweet, dark syrup. Set this aside to cool.

Trim and season a 2 kg piece of pork loin. Roast it for 15 to 20 minutes in a pre-heated oven, 200°C/Gas mark 6. Remove the meat and turn the heat down to 160°C/Gas mark 3.

While it's cooling, brush the pork with most of the glaze (reserve a little for a finishing flourish). Return the meat to the oven for a further 30 to 40 minutes then rest it well.

For the final flourish, add 175 ml of white wine to the roasting tin to deglaze it then add the reserved glaze. This should make a pouring syrup for the meat once carved and served.

Rich Onion Soup

This works really well if you use a small range of different onions including shallots, Spanish, red, spring and even finely chopped baby leeks.

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/page/sauces/traditional-condiments

Here's how:

Melt about 30 g or so of butter in a pan and add either 6 onions thinly sliced or the equivalent assortment mentioned above.

Cook them slowly for 20 minutes then add 2 tbsp of Stokes Red Onion Marmalade and 2 grated garlic cloves. After a further 20 minutes they will caramelise and the onion marmalade will help with this.

Stir in 2 tbsp of flour to make a roux and add 2 tbsp of Stokes Dijon Mustard. Now add 300 ml of Guinness. When it starts simmering add about 1 litre of beef stock (keep some extra in case it becomes too thick).

Add a splash of dark soy sauce and the same of Worcestershire sauce and simmer until you have your preferred consistency.

Make some chunky croutons to go with this rich soup by toasting rough slices of French bread. Spread one side with Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard topped with grated Cheddar cheese and finished under the grill.

Beef Stew - the Guinness way

You'll need:

1 kg of beef, cut into large cubes
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, grated
8 carrots, in large slices
1 tbsp of flour
1 beef stock bouillon
500 ml of Guinness
3 tbsp of Stokes Tomato Ketchup
2 tbsp of Stokes Brown Sauce
2 tbsp of Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce
2 or 3 sprigs of thyme

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/Gas mark 3.

Brown the meat in a casserole dish (best done in batches) and set aside. Add a knob of butter to the dish and soften the onions for 5 minutes then add the garlic and stir in the flour to make a roux.

Now pour in the Guinness and add the ketchup, brown sauce, thyme and the bouillon. With a good stir, bring it to a rolling boil and add the carrots.

Cover firmly and transfer the casserole dish to the oven for 2 to 3 hours. Remove the dish from the oven and stir 2 tbsp of Stokes Creamed Horseradish Sauce into it before serving with buttery mashed potatoes.

Make Autumn Awesome - just add Stokes