Thursday, November 12, 2009

Beer-Infused Wasted Food

Last night, I whipped up this beautiful Pot Pie.


Unfortunately, it was inedible. In fact, it was disgusting.
These things happen sometimes when I 'go rogue' in the kitchen'...sigh.
Everything was going great. The veggie filling was sauteing, the bottom crust was golden brown, the roux was standing by .
And then, a very stupid thought entered my mind, "Hmm...maybe I could add BEER to this?!!!"
Have you ever heard of a beer-infused veg pot pie? Nope, me either...I was being a maverick, blazing the trail for epicurians everywhere.
We happend to have some Saranac India Pale Ale. I purchased this ale because it was made in 'the foothills of the Adiorondacks'...and I am compelled to be a locavore whenever I can...especially with beer and wine. Nothing like supporting the local economy and getting a buzz to boot.
But, alas, the Saranac Pale Ale is a wee too bitter in my book.
And the potatoes and carrots completely absorbed the bitterness like little sponges. Bleh! Blick!

The worst part of all of this?
Not my husband's loss of faith in my cooking abilities.
Not the fact that we ended up feasting on Honey Bunches of Oats for dinner.
Not the pain of seeing such a gorgeous golden brown pie crust,
crunchy and flaky, and then not being able to enjoy a single bite.
Nope, nope, nope. None of that.
The worst thing about this is the wasted food.
I lose sleep over food waste.
Wasting food is like throwing money away.
I was trying so hard to not let the baby carrots in the produce drawer shrivel any further, and the celery was going limp, and the potatoes were growing new eyes. So the pot pie was (would have been) an awesome and delicious way to rescue those veggies from the sad fate of the compost pile.

O! The tragedy of waste!
Don't be me.

I could really use a beer now. Beer Therapy. Anyone have any suggestions?
I would prefer to try something from the central/upstate NY area...but not anything sucky.
Thanks.
Cheers.

Hmmm....I wonder why so many of my posts involve some kind of failure on my part?
Maybe I should change the name of my blog to something like...
Confessions of an Un-Domestic Goddess!

3 comments:

Amanda said...

my favorite local-ish beer (from cooperstown) is ommegang's witte... nice white belgian ale. middle ages brewery (in syracuse) also has some awesome beer, but the alcohol content on a lot of them is big (i think their "impaled ale" has 9%).

also, not really local, but my all-time favorites include leinenkugel's sunset wheat and blue moon's honey moon (though i think that may be a late-summer seasonal ale).

and if it makes you feel any better, i tried adding rum to french onion soup... that was a waste of delicious caramelized onions =/

Anonymous said...

That is a great book btw. ;)

And hey- not Every experiment can be a winner. But I've been there with having to throw out an Entire meal because I totally goofed something and that is just SO depressing.

*hugs* Be of good cheer though- it wasn't a wasted experiment- you now Know that it won't work- and maybe if you add something in with the pot pie the next time you'll do something that will infuse but not bitter.

MaddyG said...

Thanks for visiting PakKaramu!

Amanda~ Your knowledge of BEER is pretty darn impressive! I have some serious beer shopping and drinking to do. I will start with the Ommegang's Witte first.
I love Blue Moon! Haven't tried their seasonal stuff though...but I will!
Thank you for the suggestions!

Anonymous~ You are right, next time I will know better. Every crazy experiment makes me a wee bit wiser in the kitchen.

Gray Sea

Gray Sea