Beer and Horse Cookies

You might be asking “How can these two go together?”  When you brew beer, a byproduct is spent grain.  Spent grain consists of malt and grain husks that remain after brewing.  It is often used for livestock feed, making bread, growing mushrooms or just composted.  It is very palatable and maintains nutritional value.  So the other day I decided that rather than composting our leftover grain, I should make homemade horse cookies.  After reviewing traditional horse treat recipes I set out to create my own.

If you are a homebrewer, you know that you have a lot of grain.  Eric was brewing a 10 gallon batch of California steam beer, so I had 25 lbs. of wet grain at my disposal to play with.  I will say the first batch was edible, my horse loved them, but the texture and moisture level was not quite right.  The second batch I added some oatmeal to compensate for the wet grain and that helped dry out the cookies.

Here is the final recipe:

Spent Grain Horse Cookies

8 cups spent grain
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup molasses
1 cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup canola oil

Roll dough into a ball, flatten and place on a baking sheet.  The cookies should be about 1 -1 ½  inches in diameter.  I used parchment paper as I prefer to use it when baking cookies.  Bake at 350’ for 20 minutes, turn over & bake for 15 -20 minutes. Makes approximately 90 cookies.   Let cool and then serve.

These also work well for dog treats, just make them a bit smaller.  Unless you are brewing with corn, they are perfect for animals with allergies to corn.  We live on the central coast of California, where it is foggy and damp at night.  With this in mind, I baked the cookies so they were fairly crisp and dry in hopes that they will store well.

After tasting these horse treats (ok so I prefer to taste the food I feed my animals and these were good), I am ready to create more recipes designed for human consumption.

 

I would love to hear what you make with your spent grain.  I have seen a lot of bread recipes online, does anyone cook something a little more exotic with their grain?

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Dunbar Brewing, Santa Margarita, CA

5/28/10

Whether you are a local or just passing through the area, plan on stopping by the Dunbar Brewing in Santa Margarita, California.  The town of Santa Margarita is about 10 minutes north of San Luis Obispo off of highway 101.  It is a quaint town with a population of less than 3000.  There are a couple of places to eat, a handful of shops, wine tasting and of course Dunbar Brewing.  

You would miss Dunbar if you weren’t seriously looking for it.  Look for the black and white sandwich sign in front of Ancient Peaks Wine Tasting.  Dunbar is located in a new building on the west end of town, behind Ancient Peak Winery’s tasting room, but in the same building. 

Chris Chambers owner, brewer and host has been brewing and selling beers on the Central Coast for years.  Previously he had a larger place in Los Osos.  Chris has taken his experience of over 13 years of brewing to create his dream.   I would have to classify the place as a micro-pub specializing in Irish style beer.  He makes 3 barrel batches and they are only sold at his place.  No bottling, no growlers, you must stop in to try his artisan beers. From the conversation we had, you can tell he is passionate about the quality of beer he serves.  

 We played hooky the other day and took a field trip to check out Dunbar Brewing.  The day we were there, he had the following on tap:

Dunbar Brown Porter
Dunbar Oatmeal Stout
Sierra Nevada Summerfest
Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale
Dogfish Head 90 min. IPA

Although he does not sell flights, he was very generous allowing us to taste before we picked the pint for the afternoon.  I had the Dunbar Brown Porter, while Eric had the Sierra Nevada Summerfest (Eric isn’t a big fan of porters and stouts).   Great tasting beers brewed on site, a nice clean establishment, an impressive selection of craft beers and a very informative host made it worth the trip.  I definitely recommend the place.     

Dunbar Brewing, SANTA MARGARITA
22720-A El Camino Real, Santa Margarita
(805) 704-9050

Link to Dunbar's Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/people/Dunbar-Brewing/100000164755392

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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!

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