After making beer jelly and ice cream I wanted to beer-up another kids classic and it didn’t take long for me to stop at chicken nuggets.
Chicken nuggets are brilliant. But imagine them with an extra-crunchy coating of pale malt breadcrumbs and then dipped in some ketchup made with beer... Now you’re talking!
I’ve no idea why I’ve never made chicken nuggets before as they’re so easy. Take a chunk of chicken breast, dip it in flour and then into egg, roll in breadcrumbs and bake for 20 minutes. The beer pimp comes by adding grounded pale malt into the breadcrumbs (about twice as much bread to malt – I used the same malt as for the crème brûlées but not the same malt as the cookies...). The finished nugget is fantastic – really crunchy on the outside with a hint of sweetness from the malt.
And what to dip them in? Beer ketchup, of course. I made a small batch so no firm recipe but I softened onion and garlic, added some herbs and spices (paprika, mustard, a little clove, bay, thyme, pepper), sugar and salt, then a few handfuls of tomatoes and let them bubble down to mush. Then I added equal amounts of beer (for this I used Thwaites Very Nutty Black) and vinegar (balsamic as that’s all I had). I cooked it for about 20 minutes, strained it and pressed all the good stuff through the sieve, then reduced it further to get the right consistency. And it’s really very good. Just like ketchup but with a beer kick – it’d be great in a big burger. I made it with the mild on the first attempt as I didn’t want bitterness; I now want to try making this with Schlenkerla and Rodenbach (instead of vinegar) as I think both would also work.
Chicken MaltNuggets and beer ketchup. A bit of kitchen beer fun but also really tasty!
What else could I give a beery tweak to? And I’ve still got lots of malt left – any suggestions? (there’s not enough in there to brew with...)