BBQ Chicken Pizza & a Porter Beer

My journey into the world of beer has become a little more focused. While Eric is brewing away, I am focussing on the nuances of pairing food with beer. Having spent many years concentrating on wine - this is a fun and challenging learning experience. Don’t get me wrong - I still love wine and think both beverages have their place at the table.

Each evening meal I try to find a suitable beer. This is not always easy as I am finding most of the lists and books are either too generic or too specific. Last night I do have to say I hit on a winner, homemade barbecue chicken pizza with a porter.

Simple BBQ Chicken Pizza

I made the pizza dough from a recipe in “The Greens Cookbook” by Deborah Madison. The Greens is a vegetarian restaurant in the SF Bay area. I hope they are not offended that I put chicken on it. The dough was excellent - thanks Robin for loaning me the book. You can use any dough you like.

The Toppings:

Trader Joe’s Barbecue Sauce

1 Cooked boneless/skinless chicken breast sliced

Thinly sliced red onion

Sliced mushrooms

Mozzarella cheese (or a blend of smoked & italian cheese)

Trader Joe’s sauce it is quite spicy, so if you prefer a mild red sauce mix 1/2 and 1/2 with another mellower sauce or substitute you favorite sauce.

If you use a pizza stone, pre-heat the stone for 30 minutes at 425’. Cook for 10-15 minutes.

Serve with a porter beer. We had on hand Black Marlin Porter from Ballast Point Brewing Company. I am not going to review the beer as there are way too many reviews/experts out there, but it did compliment the spice of the red barbecue sauce well. I would definitely try a porter with other meats barbecued or cooked with the a Texas style BBQ sauce.

Here is the info on the beer from the Ballast Point website

http://ballastpointbrewingandspirits.com/Beers.html

Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter

Black Marlin Porter (Dark, creamy, velvet smooth American style Porter we brewed this beer because we couldn't find it anywhere else!)

Porters are a style of beer that developed in London in the mid 1800's. It has a confusing and difficult to sort out their history. We know that some Porters began as a bartender's blend of three ales that would be ordered as "three strands." Breweries caught on to the popularity of the blend and began to brew beers having the characteristics of the blend. This popular beer became known as Porter, because railroad porters were its biggest fans.

A typical London workingman's meal of the time might have consisted of Porter, bread, and oysters (which were then considered to be lower class fare). As different styles of Porters developed, one of the most popular was dry porter, which emphasized the use of roasted barley. This type of Porter eventually became known as Stout. Today the use of roasted barley distinguishes Stouts from Porters.

Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter is a rich dark chocolaty Porter with a distinctive American hop character. It is a great beer to go with hearty foods and is surprisingly one of the few beers that goes well with dessert. One of our favorite combinations here at Ballast Point is Black Marlin Porter with apple pie a la mode.

Cheers!