Pulled pork is not an easy thing to make. Cook the shoulder too long and it dries out, too short and it won't pull properly to create those textbook long tender slithers of meat. With pork cheeks you admittedly don't get those long slithers, and it can't really be 'pulled' in the same way, but the same end goal is still achieved - beautifully tender, flavoursome pork that's goes perfectly with a sweet, smokey BBQ sauce.

Plus they can be braised for anything between 2 and 6 hours (on different heats) and will come out just fine. Which is why they're perfect for making my version of pulled pork - they take all the risk out of the process.

As a side note, if you've never cooked with pig's cheeks then forget what you think they'll be like. The cheek is not the same thing as the jowl, aka the fleshy, fatty side of a pigs face used to make guanciale. The 'cheek' in most butchers refers to the cheek muscle itself, which once trimmed by the butcher is a small, rotund, fat marbled piece of meat about 4 inches long.

To make my pig's cheek 'pulled' pork I'll be calling upon the same smokey BBQ sauce I used with brisket previously. It's my go to barbecue sauce recipe because it satisfies the taste buds on so many levels, with brown sugar, smoked chipotle peppers, rich tomato and cider vinegar all coming together to create a sum much greater than its parts.

It's dead easy to make. Firstly brown whatever meat you're using in a large oven proof dish (my trusty cast iron pot comes in handy once again), remove the meat then soften one large onion and five crushed garlic cloves. Next simply add all of the other ingredients (ingredients list at the bottom) including your meat, bring to the boil then cover and transfer to the oven to cook low and slow. I went for 4 hours at 160*C, but if you're in a rush 2 hours at 180-190*C will work fine too.

Once tender remove the meat to a plate to rest. At this point you can add more sugar or seasoning to suit your tastes and either use a hand blender to create a smooth, silky BBQ sauce, or leave it a bit more chunky.

To serve simply squash the pork cheeks with a fork until broken up into a rough chop, then whack into a sour dough or ciabatta bun and spoon over loads of the sweet, smokey, spicy sauce.

To go with BBQ food you want something a little bit smokey, so a porter will always work well, particularly as this dish has a spicy tomato base which always seems to work well with roast malt. I went for an Uncommon Brewery Baltic Porter, its brewed with star anise and licourice root which gives the finished beer a savoury note which is closer to caramelised meat or even marmite than chewy sweets, and which worked great with the spicing in the food.

Whilst it does have some brown sugar flavours (again a nice match with the food) and a little sweetness to it the hopping is aggressive too, which very much helps to keep things in check and means that overall it is a wonderfully well balanced brew.

All in all, a brilliant beer match with this cracker of a pork sandwich.

Chipotle BBQ sauce ingredients:

• Olive oil (for frying the onion)
• 1 Onion (finely chopped)
• 1 Tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 Tin of water
• 5 cloves garlic (crushed)
• 2 Dried smoked Chipotle peppers (rehydrated in a little hot water then sliced)
• 70g dark brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Worcester sauce
• 1 Tbsp tomato purée
• Salt & pepper

 

 

I had lots of other blog posts in my drafts folder ready to go, but this one has jumped ahead of the lot. Why? Because there's still some of this beer kicking around the UK, it isn't going to be around for long, and you've got to try it. Friends of Ham in Leeds might still have some (that's where I drank it), and I imagine the usual retailers will have some too.

I've drank Sierra Nevada Beer Camp beers before and they've been on the whole very good, and some have been excellent. They tend to be a bit whackier than you'd expect from Sierra Nevada (who tend to make extremely drinkable, consistent, but on the whole 'safe' beers), as the recipe comes from a collection of people involved in the Beer Camp. Put enough brewers and beer geeks in a room together and I doubt a 5% pale ale will be what they come up with.

So on to this Imperial Oatmeal Stout. The first thing you notice is how good this looks on the pour. Pitch black, oozy and thick with a tight mocha head and what looks to be nice low carbonation.

The aroma is big fruity, sweet mocha with jabs of boozy red berry and even a little cream. Cranachan in a glass. The flavour is cherry liqueur, oats and yoghurt, slightly sour berry and fruity espresso, but also a classically thick and creamy dry stout flavour and a luscious mouthfeel from the oat. The finish is all dark chocolate and full bitterness with a peppery hop character that's almost smokey but justs stop short.

This is brilliant stuff, go get some.

 

So now for the big hitters from Sixpoint, one of which I never actually had the chance to try whilst out in New York.

But let's start with the beer I did drink in New York, a lot. It's a great beer that's got loads going on but still manages to be relatively balanced and drinkable, and which was, to my massive surprise, available by the poolside at our hotel in Manhattan (swanky hotel bagged for a steal from booking.com).

Righteous Ale - Rye Ale

I've heard this referred to as a Rye IPA by some beer geeks but that moniker doesn't really sit well with me (or the brewery by the looks of it) as it's a much more complex beer than that. It's closer to a slightly lighter (in body and intensity not hop character) Stone Arrogant Bastard than anything else. Which in itself is a massive compliment.

The Aroma is sweet with citrusy hops vying for attention alongside spicy brown bread, burnt sugar, and even a touch of fruity espresso coffee.

The flavour is a great. It's just got everything. Red hard candy sweetness before a heavy hit of hops, then an earthy spicy brown bread flavour from that big dose of rye - and yet the finish is clean, dry, and citrus bitter. As you acclimatise to the beer you get sparks of citrus peel, spiced orange, and fresh spruce.

It's a beer which takes you all over the place in terms of flavour and then comes right back round to the centre: At once bittersweet, clean and dry.

Sixpoint Resin - Imperial/Double IPA

The daddy of the range and the beer style upon which every American craft brewer likes to flex their hop shovelling muscles. Sixpoint's take on an Imperial/Double American IPA weighs in at a now par for the course 9.1%, a very respectable IBU of 103, and is sensibly served in a slightly smaller, slender 12oz can.

This pours a very similar bright orange to the Bengali, but is perhaps just a shade darker. The aroma surprised me. It's a big hit of mango and orange rather than the pine resin I was expecting. Though after a few swirls some fresh pine does waft through.

The flavour is resinous (as the name rather than the aroma suggests) with oily bitter citrus hops, but is certainly not as punishing as I was expecting. Perhaps the can is a touch too cold having come straight from the fridge...

....and then....

Those hops start to hit you. Once the first few swallows of those lupulin luvvlies fill all the gaps in your mouth and your palate realises whats going on you really get a full on hop hit.

It smacks you round the chops with a bag of fresh hops, then smashes a bottle of hop oil over your head releasing grapefruit, spruce, mint, tangerine, mango, and of course pine resin.

In other words, I'm glad a bought more than one. This little bugger gives a few light jabs to lull you into a false sense of security then knocks you out with a big right hook from nowhere.

 

Click here to read my thoughts on Bengali, Sweet Action and Brownstone from Sixpoint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before my trip to New York there was one brewery who's beers I was looking forward to trying more than any others, Sixpoint.

This little craft beer company, brewing out of the hipster strewn streets of Brooklyn, have achieved nothing but high praise from anybody I've spoken to who've tried the beers.

I also like the fact that they only do cans. A) because hoppy beers stay fresh and brightly hoppy for longer in a can than a bottle (no light), B) because cans are much mor environmentally sustainable than glass, and C) because at least in America where they are properly established, cans tend to be cheaper than a bottle of the same size.

Sixpoint beer was widely available throughout Manhattan as well as Brooklyn when we were there. In fact, the only craft beer available in our West Village hotel was Sixpoint Righteous Ale, and whilst $9 a 16oz (equivalent to 500ml) can isn't exactly cheap it looked like a bargain next to a bottle of Budweiser at $8.

Luckily Sixpoint cans were very well priced in the beer shops I visited (most under $3 a large can) so I stocked up my suitcase before comings home (plus cans are lighter and aren't going to smash in my bag). I brought back at least one of each from they're core range. Here's what I thought of the first three:

Sixpoint Brownstone - American Brown Ale

I think I was expecting a hoppy amber ale but this is definitely an American style brown ale. The aroma is light but there's a malt sweetness with an underlying toasted, very nearly roadted edge. The flavour is initially all malt and biscuit dryness before a slowly bittering finish.

The bitterness in the finish is like over toasted nuts with just a smidge of tobacco. A really drinkable beer thanks to the light sweetness in the body and that fully bitter, precisely clean finish, with no lingering sugar from the initial flavour.

Sixpoint Sweet Action - Cream Ale

This beer smells great. But it isn't the hops doing most of the work, it's that big sweetly malty body that gives off a huge waft of caramel and butterscotch which dominate the aroma, with just a little spicy orange flickering through in the background.

The flavour is really, really balanced between sweet caramel malt and clean fruity bitterness. It is initially sweet before the hops kick in and clean up the party with a satisfying dryness. Spicy hops throw a bit of white pepper into the mix at the very end but the overall impression is beautifully bittersweet. A balanced American beer!

Sixpoint Bengali Tiger - IPA

This pours a luminous bright orange, a perfect American IPA colour. It has a great fresh citrus hop aroma of orange, lemon pith, grapefruit, sweet tangerines, as well as just a tiny bit of bubblegum and white pepper.

The flavour is more of the same; I.e. lots and lots of citrus. Only very lightly sweet, with a big citrus fruit centre and a pithy, puckering finish. The aftertaste is bone dry sherry and grapefruit.

 

 

So far so good I'd say.

 

 

A friend of mine is hosting an art exhibition (but not in the traditional stuffy sense) at Dock Street Market on Dock St in Leeds at 7pm tonight, it looks to be a great event and it won't cost you a penny to get in.

Dock St has great beer too (usual suspects include BrewDog and Anchor beers on tap plus a very well stocked fridge), so looks like a fun event, with lots of up and coming artists' work for sale.

My mate's work is a mix of pop, street and comic art (he designed the poster above too) but has a very British feel to it with newspaper cuttings and typography being a recurring theme too. Most importantly they look cool. Go buy some before they cost double.

Follow TONE on twitter at @RSDcollective

 

Even for American's, Greg Koch and the huge team at Stone Brewing Co. make seriously full on, uncompromising beers. It's what they're known for and something which they have valiantly held onto despite increased competition from around the US.

So with their 16th Anniversary beer you'd assume they'd go big, and on paper they did, producing a big American Double IPA at 10% abv and 85 IBU, but this Stone also has a lightness of touch that is rarely strived for and even less often achieved by a beer of this heft. There's just loads going on and not all of it is whacking you over the head as many Stone beers do, you actually have to look for it this time.

The aroma is big sweet hard candy barley wine, candy sugar and citrusy lemon balm (I later found out there is Lemon verbena in the brew).

The flavour is much cleaner and zestier than I expected. It's sweet, smooth and resinous with a fully bitter yet not punishing finish. Lots of pine resin, bitter orange, grapefruit jam, a touch of floral lychee and a peppery bitterness in the aftertaste.

I was expecting a sucker punch, as is the Stone mould, but this is much sneaker than that. You could easily drink a few halfs. I imagine as it warms that abv will make itself ever more known, but I can't leave the glass alone long enough to give it a chance and my half is gone in a matter of minutes. It also has to be said that serving this cold on keg is the only way to go, it'd be marmalade on cask and the bottles just don't seem to get over to us fast enough to be fresh.

 

A stunningly balanced beer, from Stone!?

http://www.stonebrew.com/anniv/ale/




 

Thanks to my iPad being on the fritz I've not been able to blog at all for a week or so, but it looks to be back in working order now after a bit of faffing around (which I won't go into). Anyway, proper blog posts to come shortly on:

• Thai shrimp fried rice and sticky pork
  
• Stone's 16th anniversary beer
• Art, Beer, Music (all in one place

 

Owned and run by the same guys that set up the excellent Flying Dodo Brewing Company, Lambic is an international beer bar built inside a traditional Colonial style house, right in the centre of Mauritius' bustling capital city of Port Louis.

With a high perimeter wall (obviously an orginal feature of the building) and only a small chalkboard giving a hint as to what lays inside, you could easily miss Lambic. But step inside that exterior wall and you're rewarded for your bravery with the sight of a beautifully well maintained original Colonial house (Colette's great uncle remembers the rich family who used to live there).

The interior is wall to wall beer bottles, as this place is a beer shop as well as a bar. International beers bottles line the walls on shelves and four large fridges hold enough selection for any beer lover to sink their teeth into, and trust me, in Mauritius, you'll want your beer from the fridge.

I ordered the house draft beer (they also had a guest pump with London Pride on it, but what's the point of having that), the same delicious Marzen style Octoberfest beer I'd enjoyed over at the Dodo. It was as good as ever, biscuity, bittersweet, refreshing yet complex.

A stunning beer to drink in the sunshine, which was mercifully broken up by the large trees shading the outside beer garden.

Lambic is your best bet for good bottled beer in Mauritius, particularly for those staying in the capital as its easily in walking distance of the main waterside marina. If you're looking for a cracking draft selection then The Flying Dodo is your best port of call.

Either way, if your in Mauritius, you should really visit both.

 

Www.Lambic.mu

Lambic - 4 Rue St Georges, Port Louise, Mauritius - Tel 212 6011 

I've written about Mauritian food before so I wont go into how good the gateaux piment, alouda, mine frit or boulette were (really very damn good), but what I will repeat is that if you get a chance to visit Mauritius then please get out of your bloody hotel and explore a little. The street food is delicious, unique, exciting, cheap and easy to find.

On the drinks side of things Mauritian Rum is fantastic (particularly the spiced or oak aged varieties from Green Island and New Grove) but up until recently I had resigned myself to the fact that it's a bit of a good beer desert. But all that has changed. Craft beer now has a foot hold in Mauritius, and it looks to be here to stay.

The Flying Dodo Brewing Company is a new venture by the owners of Port Louis' international beer bar "Lambic" (more on that in another post) located next to the newly built Mall of Mauritius (aka Bagatelle), near to the town of Moka. It's a great looking bar/restaurant with the feel of an American brewpub and a Modern Mauritian food menu to complement the on-site brewed beers.

I tried a few beers before Colette joined me for dinner (having that shopping centre next door is a stroke of genius). To my massive disappointment the 9% coffee infused imperial stout had run out, but there was still plenty more to go at, with the beers well chosen to suit the hot climate and all served by keg (but unfiltered and hazy as explained in the menu).

I started with a glass of Marzen which was a cracking little beer, very much to style and in fantastic condition. Lightly hoppy in the finish with a big cereal malt body and clean flavours throughout. A good start.


I then opted for a tasting tray of 3 beers.

The cascade blonde lager is very crisp and dry with a nice clean finish. Very drinkable and very refreshing, as a lager should be, but a big jump up from your average Mauritian lager thanks in no small part to the cascade dry hopping.

Next up was the weisse type 1, which is, as you would hope, dominated by banana and orange in the aroma. The flavour is peppery and orangey with a very subtle yeast tang. It's delicious yet not overly heavy and again very drinkable.

Finally the Oktoberfest beer, apparently brewed to the same recipe as the breweries in Munich use for the festival. This was the beer I was most looking forward to trying, and which turned out be my favourite.

This beer has a great biscuity flavour that is nicely balanced between bitter and sweet in the finish. Great balance and very clean. It had loads going on and wasn't easy drinking in the bland sense but moreish in the very best sense, I.e. this tastes so good I want to drink a lot of it.

It also went amazingly well with the Pistachio stuffed gateaux piment (a sort of deep fried lentil and chilli cake). With the food bringing out the nuttiness of the beer, which, in turn, cleansed the palate of the deeply savoury salty gateaux piment.

For a brewery as new as this, and in a climate like Mauritius has, three fault free, clean tasting beers is an accomplishment in itself, but these were also full of flavour, to style, and a pleasure to drink. As for the choice available (three pale beers) I think playing to the local market and climate is a good way to go when starting out.

That said, I'd love to see these guys really flex their brewing muscles and brew a big hoppy pale ale or IPA - oh and get that imperial stout back on!

 

We also ate a very, very good ribeye steak, some delicious octopus snack type things and the missus had a cracking glass of South African red. So the place has plenty more to offer than just beer.

First picture courtesy of http://www.flyingdodo.com/


 

I've been eating a lot of chorizo lately, namely Yorkshire Chorizo, and cracking stuff it is too. You can currently get a hold of two varieties, original and picante, the former being high quality fatty cuts of pork and seasonings including loads of smoked paprika that is cured and air dried, the picante is the same but with added cayenne for heat and spice.

The picante is my pick of the two for cooking with as the added seasoning seems to help maintain a strong chorizo flavour once cooked - the original is the better of the two uncooked though, sliced and eaten alongside a beer. (Both can be eaten uncooked safely though).

One of the easiest and most satisfying ways to use chorizo is with prawns in this classic tapas style dish.

Simply pour a glug of olive oil into a large non stick pan and add as much sliced or chopped chorizo as you fancy. Cook on a low heat to allow the red tinted fat time to render out, then crank up the heat and throw in some raw peeled prawns and a good twist of black pepper and a little salt. Stir fry for a minute or so until the prawns are cooked and coated in chorizoey goodness.

While the prawns are cooking drizzle some sliced bread (I like sourdough but ciabatta or even French stick will work fine) with a little olive oil then griddle until lightly charred.

To serve tip the lot into little tapas dishes (or any small bowls) so that the oil reserves at the bottom for dipping and serve with piles of bread and a big green salad.

Beer-wise, something sweet but hoppy is the way to go. An American red ale or something like Magic Rock Rapture or BrewDog 5am Saint would work great great.

 

You can buy Yorkshire Chorizo online here: http://yorkshirechorizo.co.uk