Guest Spot on HearSay with Cathy Lewis

I was contacted to talk a little bit about the local beer scene on the area's public radio station WHRO. HearSay with Cathy Lewis does a weekly segment called the "Delicious Dish" where Patrick Evans-Hylton, a well-known regional chef and author, talks with Cathy about food happenings in the area. Next month is Virginia Craft Beer month so today's topic was craft beer (of course.)

Kevin O'Connor of O'Connor Brewing Co. was also on site to sample some of his beers and talk about the explosion of craft brews in the area. Follow this link to listen!

Aired July 29, 2015.

King Neptune Beer Bread

Today I headed to the Buy Fresh Buy Local Hampton Roads' Annual Meeting. They cover the organization's budget, positions and general business. Afterwards, there is a potluck!

Board members and supporters bring in dishes made with local ingredients. When I found out I was going, I busted out a couple of local cookbooks we have in the house: Dishing Up Virginia by the local godfather of food Patrick Evans-Hylton and Tidewater Table by Lorraine Eaton.

While I was looking through the recipes, I made note of a few I could possible swing for the event. Then Shelby came up with a  great idea--why not make beer bread? This was perfect, I was already tight on time and local beer was readily available throughout the city. If you didn't know it, I'm also going to be writing for the Pilot's new local craft beer magazine HR Growler. Anything related to local beer is something I want to be involved in.

After I made the decision to make the bread I just had to pick a beer to use. The next day was Cheap and Cheery at Grape and Gourmet, a great local shop for beer and wine; I figured I grab something when we were there. I think the stars were aligned because when we went to the shop, John Newell of Two Fathers Beer Co. was there pouring his beer. It turns out he had one bottle of King Neptune IPA left in his cooler so I snagged it. The IPA would be perfect for the beer bread I was going to make. Great opportunity to give a little exposure to the area's newest craft brew outfit.

Now on to  the beer bread.

I've never made beer bread before, but we've had it. I went online to find a good recipe to make the bread and after reading through several put together my own. The one I found at Dine & Dish is what I based mine off of, only making a few modifications. I pretty much followed the instructions word-for-word, the only difference was I used unsalted butter and I added aged Gouda from Richmond's Belmont Butchery. I'm going to copy and paste the recipe here for your convenience, but I please visit the original by clicking the following link. Thanks for the inspiration Kristen.

Tip: Place a catch tray beneath your bread pan, there could possibly be a little overflow. Especially with the butter in a loaf pan that was just big enough to fit the ingredients.

King Neptune Beer Bread

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour (I used Ellison, VA's Big Spring Mill All-Purpose Flour)
• 3 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 12 ounces of King Neptune IPA (any beer you like actually)
• 1 stick Unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tbsp grated Gouda

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F
2. Sift all the dry ingredients together.
3. Add beer and stir with a wooden spoon until well incorporated.
4. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and pour beer bread batter into pan.
5. Pour melted butter over the top of the beer bread batter.
6. Bake for 1 hour.
7. Remove from oven and grate Gouda on top of bread as it rests
8. Kristen says let it rest in the pan for 15 minutes before you attempt to remove it. I did as instructed.

Food Trucks at WHRO

Our local PBS station, WHRO, ran a spotlight on food trucks in Hampton Roads. Cathy Lewis of HearSay and chef/writer Patrick Evans-Hylton hosted a meetup between the community and a couple of rigs. Hubcap Grill and Bro’s Fish Tacos were both on the spot to feed the public.