Tag: cast iron

Creamy Beer Mac and Cheese with Greens and Chicken
December 11, 2022

Creamy Beer Mac and Cheese with Greens and Chicken

My granddad gave me my first cast iron skillet in 1987 and after 35 years of cast iron cooking, I ain’t ever made a pan of mac and cheese. I was almost a little embarrassed when she asked me about my go-to mac and cheese recipe; I felt my skin get all flushed. Got a little mad at myself and pushed out my bottom lip a bit. And, what did I tell her?

Chicken, Dinner, Uncategorized
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by Sulae @ beerandiron.com
Beer and Chicken Bone Broth
November 5, 2022

Beer and Chicken Bone Broth

Does making your own broth take time? Sure, it does! So does eating a meal. But, I can “Guar-Ron-Tee” dat eating a bad meal takes longer than eating a good meal. Do you want them plates and bowls to end up at the sink with…

Beer, Chicken, Chili, Dinner, Iron, Meal, Meats, Soup, Soups, Stews, Supper, Uncategorized
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by Sulae @ beerandiron.com
Beer Beef Bone Broth Recipe in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven
May 14, 2022

Beer Beef Bone Broth Recipe in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

One word before we dive in: this may seem like a lengthy recipe and has many steps. This is only for detail to make sure you are able to get this recipe right. Beer and Iron’s Beer Beef Bone Broth is one of the base recipes that many other recipes will refer to. Once you create this recipe the first time, you’ll be able to make it again without any trouble or even having to look at this recipe.

One more word: We store our broth in jars like the ones people use to “can” or “pressure can” to preserve food in. We do not pressure can or water bath nor do we cover the “canning” process in this recipe. Though you will use a canning-like jar (optional), the broth produced will need to be refrigerated until you use it. This broth CAN be CANNED, but that how-to is beyond this recipe.

Beer Beef Bone Broth a rich and nutritious broth made from what most call soup bones and butcher scraps. And it makes the most amazing soup, chili, and stew base you’ve ever wanted to taste.

Broth from a box will get you “this is good stew” complements but, this broth will make stew so good they’ll start trying to speak “this stew is amazing” before they even swallow (so keep a napkin ready).

This is not a typical bone broth recipe and is not for drinking like a “normal” bone broth recipe. We will not add any salt, apple cider vinegar, or vegetables.

Terms:

Meat-ish Stuff: The material that cooks apart made of ligaments, marrow, tendons, and even meat particles.

Pure Broth: The first strain from the simmered bones and meat-ish stuff (think of this as the first press, virgin olive oil).

Washed Broth: Optional but suggested. The broth-like liquid we create when we have pressed the meat-ish stuff out and have all the pure broth we can get. We pour another beer over the meat-ish stuff and “wash” off the remaining flavor/broth from the meat-ish stuff.

Fat Cap: The liquid fat that rises from the broth to the top of the jar. I will “harden” in the refrigerator and is used to sauté and sear (and add flavor) for the meal you will prepare with the broth.

We’ll reference these terms as we go along.

And, there’s bonus tip at the end of this recipe as to how to use meat-ish stuff; so stick around.

In the video we used our 9-Quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven. A 7-Quart will work with a little less “margin” to work in. But, it’ll do A-OK. You could cut this recipe in half and use a 5-Quart Dutch oven…or leave it as is and use TWO 5-Quart Dutch ovens.

We also used:

15.5 x 10.5 Inch Seasoned Cast Iron Baking Pan

9 x 13 Inch Seasoned Cast Iron Casserole Pan

  • Wooden spatula or spoon to rotate / turn / stir the simmering bones.
  • Tongs to remove the larger, hot bones from the broth mixture.
  • Two Large Bowls large enough to hold the ingredients and to handle the hot liquid.
  • Metal colander. “Metal” because we’ll be running some hot liquids through this.
  • Three Quart-Sized canning jars with lids
  • Canning Funnel – Optional yet recommended
  • Bowl that will fit inside your colander to press the broth out of the meat-ish stuff.
  • Large ladle or large spoon to ladle the fat off the top of the broth mixture.
  • 2-5 Pounds of Butcher Bones or Soup Bones. This depends on what will fit in your pot (5, 7, or 9-Quart Dutch Oven). Many, smaller cut bones will fit in a pot whereas larger, longer soup bones (those dog bones types of bones) may be less.
  • 6 Beers ranging from dark ale to lighter lagers. Stick with a lower IBU (International Bitters Units). You may need to use less than 6 beers or may need to add more (or a bit of water), depending on the size of your Dutch oven.
  • And, that’s pretty much it. We add no salt, vinegar, vegetables, or anything.

This is not a final meal recipe; it’s a recipe for creating a major, flavorful ingredient for your soups, stews, chilis, gumbos, risottos, and the like. A recipe is only as good as the ingredients we add. Stock-in-a-box is not the way to add that level of flavor you expect from your recipes. Great if in a pinch, but not a way to create a memorable meal that they’ll be asking later, “when are you going to make that again?”

The steps are seemingly many. But, once you create this recipe once, you’ll be able to do it without having to print this recipe out again.

  1. Get as many butcher and soup bones as will fit into the cast iron pot you have available.
  2. Roast the bones for about 1 hour at 350°F / 175°
  3. Pull the bones out and put them in the pot you will let them simmer in.
  4. Use a low-IBU beer and preferably a dark ale or non-sweet porter.
  5. Pour in enough beer(s) to almost top-off the pot of roasted bones.
  6. Turn the heat to medium until you’ve reached a rolling boil.
  7. Rotate things a bit (stir it all up) and turn the heat down to low for the long-haul.
  8. Rotate the bones / Stir up the bones and meat-ish stuff every few hours as they simmer (meat-ish is the fat, marrow, ligaments, and actual meat remnants).
  9. After about 24-hours, let the pot rest for a few minutes to allow the fat (clear-ish liquid) to float to the top of the broth mixture.
  10. Skim off as much of the fat as you can and keep for future sauteing and searing. There will be some fat remaining and that’s A-OK; we want that fat to remain.
  11. Remove as many bones as you can find from the mixture.
  12. Using a strainer, strain out the broth mixture to a bowl in order to separate the meat-ish stuff from the pure broth.
  13. Once the liquid starts to rise to the bottom of the colander / strainer, fill the first jar with the pure broth.
  14. If you have a manageable amount of weight (pot and broth mixture remaining), pour the mixture over the colander / strainer, and catch the pure broth in the bowl.
  15. Pour the pure broth into hot-liquid-tolerant jars for storage. More of the fat will rise to the top and create that “fat-cap.”
  16. Press out the remaining meat-ish stuff to get as much of the pure bone broth out as you can. Add this to your pure broth jars.
  17. You are Essentially Done here, and the following steps are optional. I like to “Wash” the meat-ish stuff with a couple of beers to get more of the broth and flavor out of the mixture. Take a bowl large enough to hold about 2 beers and the remaining meat-ish stuff.
  18. Pour two beers into the bowl then dump the meat-ish stuff in the bowl and “wash” the material to “capture” all that remining broth and flavor.
  19. Strain the meat-ish stuff and beer mixture into a bowl and pour the liquid into a separate jar for storage (don’t mix the two broth-types together). This broth-wahs will jell-up like the pure broth yet not as firm. And still, it’ll be much more flavorful than any stock-in-a-box.
  20. We’re done!
  21. Now, you have all that meat-ish stuff left. What do you do with it? We make dog biscuits. Remove all the small bones from the meat-ish stuff. We’ll be using a food processor later (another recipe; see here).

Finally, Store the meat-ish stuff in a container in the refrigerator for up to a “few days” until ready to make the dog biscuits.

Basically, you roast the bones, simmer the bones in beer for 24 hours (give or take), skim and save the fat, separate the broth out from the solids, store the broth in a jar in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

Here’s the link to the Dog Biscuit Recipe: https://beerandiron.com/2022/05/beef-cookie-recipe-dog-treat

Later I will add some recipe links to meals we will create with this broth.

Another broth creation that we make as a product of creating a roast is here: XXX

I suggest not adding salt to this. This bone broth recipe is to be used as an ingredient to other recipes and adding salt to this recipe will be a “Salt-Factor” to deal with when adding salt to the final recipe you’ll be using this broth in. 

This is not a true canning process. You are using the Mason / Ball canning jars (or equivalent) for storage in the refrigerator. You can “can” (jar) this broth but you’ll need to follow the USDA’s recommendations regarding canning and preserving broths.

The fat-cap that forms on the top of this broth is part of what we are looking to achieve. When I am making…let’s say hamburger stew. I will spoon / scrap off a bit of that white, lard-like fat on the top of that jar and use that in my cast iron Dutch oven to sauté by onions and garlic in and even my ground beef. You’ll not use all of that fat and likely will toss some out. Fat is a beautiful river of flavor though the valley of bland…though olive oil and grapeseed oil may be okay to use…true beef fat from these bones is the way to go for both health and flavor.

And…though I am a Registered Nurse, I make no official health claims regarding the health benefits of this recipe. I do have the “power” of observation and remember Great Grand Parents living ripe and well into their 80s having consumed their weight in lard and butter many times over their lives. ENJOY

 

Beer Beef Bone Broth in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Beer Beef Bone Broth a rich and nutritious broth made from what most call soup bones and butcher scraps. And it makes the most amazing soup, chili, and stew base you've ever wanted to taste.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 day 1 hour
Servings 0

Equipment

  • 1 Cast Iron Baking Pan Any cast iron pot or pan large enough to hold the number of bones you were able to purchase / obtain.
  • 1 Cast Iron Dutch Oven Large enough to accommodate your volume of bones.
  • 1 Wooden spatula or spoon To rotate / turn / stir the simmering bones.
  • 1 Tongs To remove the larger, hot bones from the broth mixture.
  • 2 Large Bowls Large enough to hold the ingredients and to handle the hot liquid.
  • 1 Metal colander. “Metal” because we’ll be running some hot liquids through this. “Metal” because we’ll be running some hot liquids through this.
  • 3 Canning Jars Three Quart-Sized canning jars with lids
  • 1 Canning Funnel Optional yet recommended
  • 1 Bowl That will accommodate your colander to press the broth out of the meat-ish stuff.
  • 1 Large ladle or large spoon. to ladle the fat off the top of the broth mixture.

Ingredients
  

  • 2-5 Pounds Butcher Bones or Soup Bones. This depends on what will fit in your pot (5, 7, or 9-Quart Dutch Oven).Many, smaller cut bones will fit in a pot whereas larger, longer soup bones(those dog bones types of bones) may be less.
  • 6 Cans/Bottles Six Beers From om dark ale to lighter lagers. Stick with a lower IBU (International Bitters Units). You may need to use less than 6 beers or may need to add more (or a bit of water), depending on the size of your Dutch oven. And, that’s pretty much it. We add no salt, vinegar, vegetables, or anything.

Instructions
 

Prep And Pre Roasting for Color and Flavor

  • Get as many butcher and soup bones as will fit into the cast iron pot you have available.
  • Roast the bones for about 1 hour at 350°F / 175°C.

Creating The Pure Beer Beef Bone Broth

  • Pull the bones out and put them in the pot you will let them simmer in.
  • Use a low-IBU beer and preferably a dark ale or non-sweet porter (a nice lager will work well too).
  • Pour in enough beer(s) to almost top-off the pot of roasted bones.
  • Turn the heat to medium until you’ve reached a rolling boil.
  • Rotate things a bit (stir it all up) and turn the heat down to low for the long-haul.
  • Rotate the bones / Stir up the bones and meat-ish stuff every few hours as they simmer (meat-ish is the fat, marrow, ligaments, and actual meat remnants).
  • After about 24-hours, let the pot rest for a few minutes to allow the fat (clear-ish liquid) to float to the top of the broth mixture.
  • Skim off as much of the fat as you can and keep for future sautéing and searing. There will be some fat remaining and that’s A-OK; we want that fat to remain.
  • Remove as many bones as you can find from the mixture.
  • Using a strainer, strain out the broth mixture to a bowl in order to separate the meat-ish stuff from the pure broth.
  • Once the liquid starts to rise to the bottom of the colander / strainer, fill the first jar with the pure broth.
  • If you have a manageable amount of weight (pot and broth mixture remaining), pour the mixture over the colander / strainer, and catch the pure broth in the bowl.
  • Pour the pure broth into hot-liquid-tolerant jars for storage. More of the fat will rise to the top and create that “fat-cap.”
  • Press out the remaining meat-ish stuff to get as much of the pure bone broth out as you can. Add this to your pure broth jars.
  • You are Essentially Done here, and the following steps are optional. I like to “Wash” the meat-ish stuff with a couple of beers to get more of the broth and flavor out of the mixture. Take a bowl large enough to hold about 2 beers and the remaining meat-ish stuff.

Broth Wash (Optional)

  • Pour two beers into the bowl then dump the meat-ish stuff in the bowl and “wash” the material to “capture” all that remining broth and flavor.
  • Strain the meat-ish stuff and beer mixture into a bowl and pour the liquid into a separate jar for storage (don’t mix the two broth-types together). This broth-wash will jell-up like the pure broth yet not as firm. And still, it’ll be much more flavorful than any stock-in-a-box.

Finished!

  • We’re done! Now, you have all that meat-ish stuff left. What do you do with it? We make dog biscuits. Remove all the small bones from the meat-ish stuff. We’ll be using a food processor later (but that is another recipe).

Notes

This is not a final meal recipe; it’s a recipe for creating a major, flavorful ingredient for your soups, stews, chilis, gumbos, risottos, and the like. A recipe is only as good as the ingredients we add. Stock-in-a-box is not the way to add that level of flavor you expect from your recipes. Great if in a pinch, but not a way to create a memorable meal that they’ll be asking later, “when are you going to make that again?”
The steps are seemingly many. But, once you create this recipe once, you’ll be able to do it without having to print this recipe out again.
Keyword Beef Bourguignon, beer, bone, bone broth, broth, Cast iron, Cast Iron Dutch Oven, Chicken Stew, Soup
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Chili, Soup, Soups, Stews
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by Sulae @ beerandiron.com
Mexican-Style Ground Turkey and Beer-Rice Stuffed Bell Peppers in Cast Iron
March 21, 2022

Mexican-Style Ground Turkey and Beer-Rice Stuffed Bell Peppers in Cast Iron

As rumor has it, there was this fella named Christopher Columbus that sailed the ocean blue in 1492. Poor fella; was searching for India and the peppercorn plant and found the Bahamas and the bell pepper. Good ‘ol Christopher saw all those peppers and said,…

Chicken, Dinner, Uncategorized
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by Sulae @ beerandiron.com
Quick and Easy Beer Rice
March 13, 2022

Quick and Easy Beer Rice

The foolproof method of creating the perfect rice is right here. A four-ingredient recipe that will offer hints of fresh-baked bread as it simmers followed by a sharp flavor with the perfect, billowy texture. First of all, this recipe is meant to be used with…

Appetizers, Uncategorized
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by Sulae @ beerandiron.com
Quick and Easy Beer-Broth Hamburger Stew
June 11, 2021

Quick and Easy Beer-Broth Hamburger Stew

Quick and Easy Beer-Broth Hamburger Stew Cooked in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

This is very (VERY) similar to the Hamburger Soup recipe on Beer and Iron. And, if you’re askin’ me…which you haven’t yet but I am sure you will…the “stew” version is my favorite between the two. I like a spoon full of “stuff” rather than a spoon full of broth. But, now that you mentioned it (and I know you will), there’s beer in that broth. Hummm…decisions! Decisions! Decisions! The one decision you ain’t gotta make is whether or not you are going to make this stew.

Note: If your ground beef is 85/15 (15% fat), my suggestion is to cook the beef first and let it drain a bit. We drain the beef and catch the drippings. Add those drippings to a Mason / Kerr jar (or other container) and refrigerate. The fat will rise to the top and solidify. You can use that fat to cook with later and the broth to add to a future stew or soup.

If you are using lean ground beef, just rock on! That little bit of fat will add to the flavor of the stew.

This hamburger stew recipe is not “thickened” like my tri-tip beef stew.

You’ll need your inside 5-quart cast iron Dutch oven if you’ll be cooking this recipe on the stove-top. This recipe could be cooked outside in your 10-inch cast iron camp Dutch oven as well.

Get a beer out for this recipe and one for yourself as you prep this amazing meal for the folks you love!

Quick and Easy Beer-Broth Hamburger Stew

This is very (VERY) similar to the Hamburger Soup recipe on Beer and Iron. And, if you’re askin’ me...which you haven’t yet but I am sure you will...the “stew” version is my favorite between the two. I like a spoon full of “stuff” rather than a spoon full of broth. But, now that you mentioned it (and I know you will), there’s beer in that broth. Hummm...decisions! Decisions! Decisions! The one decision you ain’t gotta make is whether or not you are going to make this stew.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Servings 6 People
Calories 342 kcal

Equipment

  • 5 quart cast iron Dutch oven (Inside Cooking)
  • 10 inch cast iron camp Dutch oven (Outside Cooking)
  • Spatula (Metal or Wooden)
  • Serving Spoon
  • Knife and Cutting Board

Ingredients
  

  • 3 Bacon Strips about 3-4 inches long
  • 1 Onion Finely chopped medium onion
  • 12 Ounces Beer A non-sweet porter will do the trick
  • 1 Cup Beef Broth We may not need that much; just to top it all off with
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt To taste
  • 1 Teaspoon Pepper To taste
  • 1 Teaspoon Italian Seasoning To taste
  • 8 Ounces Mushrooms Container of pre-cut mushrooms
  • 2 Carrots 2-4 Carrots peeled, quartered, and sliced (not all carrots are created equally in size)
  • 2 Stalks of Celery 2-4 Stalks of celery again, not all stalks of celery created equally in size
  • 1 Pound Ground beef Lean ground beef; we’re not going to drain this and your bacon will add the fat (see notes)
  • 2 Garlic 2-4 Cloves minced
  • 2 Tomatoes Cans of Fire Roasted Tomatoes or 2-3 Large Garden Tomatoes
  • 2 Cups Red Potatoes 6-10 Small Red Potatoes Halved or Quartered or cut up a large russet potato into ½ inch cubes
  • ½ Cup Corn Frozen Corn or Cut from the cob of one or two garden-grown corn
  • ½ Cup Green Beans ½ - 1 Cup of Frozen Cut Green Beans or Garden Green Beans
  • 1 Cup Bell Pepper Any color (the red ones really "bring it home")
  • ½ Cup Parsley A small batch of chopped fresh parsley to “bring it home" too.

Instructions
 

  • Place your bacon in the bottom of the cast iron pot and cook until the bacon has rendered its fat
  • Add the onions and the garlic into the pot and sauté in the bacon grease
  • Add the ground beef and start cooking
  • Add the Italian seasoning, the pepper and all or just a bit of the salt once the ground beef has started cooking and you have everything spread about in the pot
  • Cook until the ground beef is mostly cooked through
  • Add the Bell Pepper, Carrots, Celery, Tomatoes, Potatoes
  • Mix everything all about and smooth the top of the mixture down
  • Pour in FIRST the room-temperature beer
  • Second, pour in the beef broth just to the level of the smoothed mixture. The vegetables will “render” juices to the soup and we don’t want it getting too “soupy.”
  • Cover and let this cook for about 5 minutes.
  • After 5 minutes, lift the lid at an angle over the pot to let the condensation on the underside of the lid fall into the pot. Check the broth for saltiness.
  • If it needs more salt, now is the time to add some salt. You can check again in another 5 minutes until you get it just right. This is that “per taste” part.
  • Watch for the potatoes “doneness.” Once they start to soften up, add the Corn, Green Beans, and mushrooms. NOTE: Vegetables from the garden that have not been previously frozen may take longer to cook. If using garden-fresh vegetables, add them in step 6 with the other vegetables. Either way, add the mushrooms here.
  • It’s done when the green beans AND carrots AND the potatoes are cooked. The cook-time will depend on how thick you cut these vegetables. TIP: Check the corn too and make sure it’s done. Don’t worry about the beef; it’s long-since been done.

Video

Notes

Note: If your ground beef is 85/15 (15% fat), my suggestion is to cook the beef first and let it drain a bit. We drain the beef and catch the drippings. Add those drippings to a Mason / Kerr jar (or other container) and refrigerate. The fat will rise to the top and solidify. You can use that fat to cook with later and the broth to add to a future stew or soup.
If you are using lean ground beef, just rock on! That little bit of fat will add to the flavor of the stew.
Serves 3-6 Folks depending on the appetites those folks bring to the table

Nutrition

Calories: 342kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 19gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 61mgSodium: 691mgPotassium: 829mgFiber: 4gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 5054IUVitamin C: 52mgCalcium: 59mgIron: 3mg
Keyword camp dutch oven, Cast iron, Cast Iron Dutch Oven, Chicken Stew, hamburger, hamburger stew, Recipe
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Beef, Dinner, Lunch, Soups, Stews, Supper
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by Sulae @ beerandiron.com
The Basic Beer Brine Template Recipe
May 26, 2021

The Basic Beer Brine Template Recipe

How to beer brine meat chicken beef pork

Beef, Chicken, Game, Lamb, Meats, Pork, Seafood, Uncategorized
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by Sulae @ beerandiron.com
Cast Iron Griddle-Cooked Satay Chicken with a Peanut and Beer Sauce Recipe-OLD
May 18, 2021

Cast Iron Griddle-Cooked Satay Chicken with a Peanut and Beer Sauce Recipe-OLD

Peanut butter, fish sauce, and chicken. This recipe is gonna be interesting! Most importantly it’s going to be delicious. There’s a bit of preplanning and prep but the cook time is “in a jiffy.” You’re gonna love this Cast Iron Griddle-Cooked Satay Chicken with a…

Uncategorized
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by Sulae @ beerandiron.com
Bananapapple Cake with Beer Icing in a Cast Iron Skillet
May 4, 2021

Bananapapple Cake with Beer Icing in a Cast Iron Skillet

How’d We Get That Name: BANANAPAPPLE CAKE?

A Dutch Oven Camping Story

A few weeks ago we went camping with this dessert on the menu. There are three things that mix well: Camping, Dutch oven cooking, and BEER. And, when camping in a very public, people-filled campsite on an open plain in the high desert with it’s unpredictable weather, BEER helps maintain that bit of emotional stoicism and makes for a fabulous camping trip.

When packing for a camping trip we always include beer to cook with, drink “with,” and a few extras as a just-in-case “with.” On the way out of town, we made a visit to our favorite, local pub to “raid” the fridge. My pub always has a few interesting brews in the cooler (and sometimes hidden elsewhere if I ask and look pitiful enough).

The cooler is where they keep the $7.00, $12.00 and even the $25.00 cans and bottles of fermented awesomeness. Though the $25 brews are *usually* avoided, there was this one $12.00 brew that caught my eye. Not by the complexity of the can art (something that draws me in like an enticing book cover). As can art goes, this one was sorta a plain-Jane.

Then, boogedy…boogedy…boogedy…off to the great wild to blaze a trail to a very public, and “groomed” campsite. Our camping season usually starts with this local campground that has many things to do such as scorpion hunting, an observatory, sand dunes, and WIND! Oh my gracious. The wind is often relentless out there; but it’s a hit-or-miss. This time: MISS!

Nonetheless, we had beer, iron, and plenty of food.

“Black as midnight, black as pitch, blacker than the foulest witch.” – Blix the Goblin

The Black Beer

We had eaten breakfast before departing on our adventure; I knew we’d be eating a little earlier in the evening than normal. So, I skipped a lunch in order to “save some room” for the cast iron creation that was planned for that evening. At three in the afternoon, with all that wind and blusteriness, there wasn’t much to do other than pull the Dutches out, add fire to the coals, and crack a beer.

That $12 brew poured black as midnight. Despite the blowing wind, the sun was shining bright. When I held up that glass up to the sun, I thought about the Black Knight, “NONE SHALL PASS!”  (And if you don’t get that reference, we just can’t be friends). It was dark. It was sweet. And, it was delicious! 16-ounces of pure joy! Definitely a “sipper” and one to drink like cooking a great roast: low-and-slow.

A bit later I pulled out the 12” Dutch oven and started assembling my Cantina Jack Chicken recipe. Then I pulled out my 8” Dutch oven to “assemble” this dessert. I say, “this dessert,” because I had not come up with a name for it yet. These recipes are trial-and-error to get them just right and I usually name them after the fact. I knew I had to come up with something clever and tropical-sounding. After all, with ingredients like bananas and pineapples, what could be a better dessert to plan for during a camping trip with 20 mile per hour winds and a high of 40-something degrees (tongue-in-cheek)?

Once the Cantina Jack Chicken was in the pot and “under the fire,” I started gathering the supplies for our dessert…but…something went kinda catawampus. And not a cooking catawampus but my ability to think-kind of catawampus. Just trying to “do the math” on my coal-count for my little 8” Dutch was giving me grief. At my house math is my “thing,” and English is my wife’s “thing.” But I just couldn’t seem to think. The first problem I had was trying to figure out twice of eight and how many coals to go on top and then on the bottom. 

I thought I asked that question in my head.

My wife just stared at me with her why-are-you-asking-me-math-questions look when I asked, “What’s two times eight?” At first, I didn’t realize I asked that question out loud; it was supposed to be an “internal affair” rather than an embarrassing “external” question (you know, when you thought you said it in your head but your mouth didn’t get the memo). My wife usually gives me a “math look” when I ask her math problems. But, this “math look” was different. After I answered my own question, she asked to see my beer (that I had only had half). She said, “No wonder.”

There was this short period of time where her “no wonder” comment entered my ear but had not yet registered in my brain. My brain was busy toiling over the dessert preparations. Not to mention the distracting aromas from that cooking Cantina Jack Chicken as they piggybacked on the steam sneaking out from the edges of the lid of that 12” Dutch. “Wonder what?” Turns out my sweet, dark, barrel-aged porter was a fifteen-percenter. I ate breakfast but planned on “saving room” for double helpings of that Cantina Jack Chicken for dinner.

Not to Brag

Most would like to brag about how they came up with a name for a recipe; there ain’t no bragging here. I was having so much trouble thinking but didn’t correlate the beer as the culprit. What I meant to say next was “Why am I having so much trouble making this banana and pineapple dessert?” What came out was, “Why am I having so much trouble making this bananapapple dessert?!” 

Now I wondered, “why is my wife laughing so hard.”

“What?

Bananapapple Cake with Beer Icing in a Cast Iron Skillet

A few weeks ago we went camping with this dessert on the menu. There are three things that mix well: Camping, Dutch oven cooking, and BEER. And, when camping in a very public, people-filled campsite on an open plain in the high dessert with it’s unpredictable weather, BEER helps maintain that bit of emotional stoicism and makes for a fabulous camping trip.

It was on this camping trip where we came up with this name, “Bananapapple.” Yes, there’s a story behind this name that involves beer and giggling.

This recipe does very well in a 10″ or an 8″ cast iron Dutch oven at camp.

  • 10.25” Cast Iron Skillet
  • Large Bowl to Mix Everything Up In
  • Medium Bowl* to Mix The Icing In
  • Fork to Mash the Bananas and Scramble the Eggs
  • Spoon or Rubber Spatula to Mix the Ingredients
  • Cooling Rack

The Dry Stuff (but don’t mix them up quite yet):

  • 1 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 cup Granulated Sugar
  • ½ tsp. Baking Soda
  • ½ tsp. Salt
  • ½ tsp. Cinnamon
  • ¾ cup Walnuts (Chopped (or Pecans))

The Wet Stuff:

  • ½ cup Pineapple (Crushed and Left Undrained but not to “liquid-ey.”)
  • 2 Eggs (Beaten)
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla
  • ½ cup Oil (We use grapeseed oil but vegetable oil will be OK)
  • 1 cup Bananas (Ripe and Mashed (about 2 bananas))
  • 1-2 TBLS Butter (For Smearing in the Bottom of the Cast Iron Skillet – Separate from the icing butter.)

The Icing

  • 1 TBLS Butter (At Room Temperature)
  • 1 ½ Cups Powdered Sugar (Sifted (or not tightly packed))
  • 3 TBLS Beer (more as needed to get the right icing consistency but THREE Tablespoons usually does the trick)

Prepare the Cake

  1. Using your 10.25” Cast Iron Skillet, smear 1-2 tablespoons of butter all on the inside of the skillet where you’ll be pouring your cake batter once you’ve created it. I smear butter all the way to the edge of the skillet. This will be your non-stick in the making. Keep the “smearing” butter (about 1-2 tablespoons) separate from your icing butter (about 2 tablespoons). BE SURE TO Leave the icing’s 2 tablespoons of butter out to soften and get to “room temperature.” You’ll need this soft butter for the icing later.

  2. Preheat Oven to 350°F / 177°C.

  3. You see that “1 cup granulated sugar?” That’s a lot of sugar, right? But, this is a dessert so don’t skimp out on me. Here’s a trick: AFTER YOU SMEARED THE BUTTER TO THE INSIDE SKILLET SURFACE, pour in the entire cup of sugar into the buttered skillet. Hold it with two hands and rotate it all about to spread the sugar into the butter. The sugar will create a “floured” surface to pour your cake batter into. But, DON’T THROW THE REST OF THAT CUP OF SUGAR OUT. There will be a lot of sugar left; pour that in with the dry ingredients. That will go into the cake!

  4. Mix all the dry stuff in a large bowl and sift together: 1 ½ cups flour, the remaining portion of the 1 cup sugar (remember there’s sugar all in the cast iron skillet sticking to the butter coating), ½ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp cinnamon, and mix in the ¾ cups of nuts.

  5. In another bowl, scramble the 2 eggs up real good.

  6. Mash and measure your bananas (eat the rest…there’s always “the rest”)

  7. Mix all the wet stuff in with the eggs: ½ cup crushed pineapple, 1 tsp. vanilla, ½ cups oil, and the 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 bananas).

  8. Now we’re making magic. Mix your wet and dry ingredients together.

  9. Pour your batter over into your buttered and sugared 10.25” skillet.

  10. Place the skillet in the oven at 350°F / 177°C. We’re baking for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. If you peek, you’ll see the cake “cooking” from the outside towards the center and is a light tan color. Eventually it will start to brown…we’re getting close!

  11. Once the cake is done, pull it from the oven and let the cake rest for about 10-20 minutes. This will cause it to shrink and “pull away” from the skillet. If you try to pull it out too soon, it’ll break. Give it a bit of resting time while you finish up that (or pour another) beer.

  12. After it’s cooled for about 10 minutes (not more than 20 minutes), run a spatula (or equivalent) around the edge of the skillet between the cake’s edge and the skillet rim to “loosen the cake.” The big question: will it stick and break? Just tossing it out onto a cooling rack may cause breakage due to the motion and less likely due to stickage.

  13. With the skillet sitting normally, place a cooling rack or a plate over the top of the skillet. Using both hands (that skillet will still be hot), turn the skillet upside down and the cake should just lay out onto the cooling rack or the plate.

  14. Let the cake cool to a “warm temperature.” Unless you want to eat it hot and steaming (it’s delicious that way too especially with some ice cream on top as the ice cream melts and blends with the cake).

Prepare the Icing

  1. Step 14: In a medium bowl, mix your powdered sugar and the soft butter.

  2. Step 15: Add three tablespoons of beer to the powdered sugar and butter mixture. Start stirring and mixing with a fork to blend. Initially it may look like you need more but you likely don’t; keep mixing.

  3. Step 16: Spread icing on top of the cake. The angled edge of the cast iron skillet will give the cake shape a bit of an angle where the icing can “melt” from the warmth of the cake and “slide” down the sides like wax on a burning candle. YUMMMMM!

This recipe should feed about 6-8 people…it’ll feed less if y’all are cuttin’ loose…it’ll feed more if y’all are on a diet.

There’s a story behind the “Bananapapple” name. Yes, it involves math, hot coals, and a 15%-er. It’s a stupid story but I know you’re asking, “what in tarnation is a Bananapapple?” But, if you don’t know what “tarnation” means, I’m sorry but we can’t be friends. (I’M JOKING!…only a little).

*Mixing Your Icing Tip: Go with a Medium Bowl to Mix The Icing (1 ½ cups of powdered sugar “fluffs out” of the bowl when mixing…go deeper on your bowl selection).

If the Bananapapapple Cake turns out “too dry” for your pallet, add ¼ more oil to the recipe. Or, better yet, add that 2nd tablespoon of butter to the skillet when you are doing the “smearing.”

If you put this in the refrigerator, the icing will crust up a bit and get kinda crack-ly.
ENJOY!

Dessert
American
Banana, Bananapapple, Cake, Cast iron, dessert, Icing, Nuts, pineapple, Recipe, Skillet, Walnuts

Desserts, Meal, Uncategorized
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by Sulae @ beerandiron.com
April 25, 2021

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Chicken, Dinner, Meal, Meats, Supper
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