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beer cheese

Course: Side Dish | Beer Style: Lager

Potted Beer Cheese (Potted Judy)

This beer cheese recipe is similar to pimento cheese or potted cheese and comes from Heartlandia: Heritage Recipes from Portland’s The Country Cat cookbook.

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Ingredients

  • 1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (about 4 cups)
  • 1/4 large yellow onion, coarsely grated
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup beer
  • 1/4 cup olive juice (from a can of olives)
  • 4 dashes Tabasco sauce
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Crackers, for serving

Directions

  1. To make this beer cheese, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cheese, onion, beer, mayonnaise, olive juice, Tabasco and salt and pepper to taste.
  2. Mix on medium-low speed until soft and slightly creamy, about 5 minutes.
  3. Transfer the Judy to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 24 hours or up to 1 week. Bring Judy to room temperature before transferring to a serving bowl and digging in with crackers.
  4. Though this family recipe is similar to a pimento or potted beer cheese, the Sappington family version is called Judy. Family legend has it that my grandpa Sappy coined the name, though no one really knows who the true Judy was.
  5. I serve Judy as a bar snack with crackers and on top of our burger at The Cat, but actually think its best use is as a picnic food. When preparing Judy at home, make sure you hand grate the cheese. Finally, know that Judy is best made several days in advance; her flavor only improves as she festers." - Adam and Jackie Sappington

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The first time I made spent grain granola was in County Cork, Ireland, three months into a cooking program on a 100-acre working farm. A friend of mine was a brewer from New Zealand, and we spent most of American Thanksgiving homebrewing a dry-hopped pale ale with elderflower in an Irish cottage surrounded by cows. This was my third time homebrewing: the beer wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. What was a standout was the toasty, chewy granola we made from the spent grain, baked with warming spices, dried fruit and dark maple syrup. We ate the granola with yogurt from the Jersey cows nearby, yogurt so fatty and tart the cream stuck to the lid in a cap of pale yellow. That granola was an extension of the first core tenet I learned in cooking and in farming: waste not.

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