Smoked Gouda IPA Soup

For our first Beer Food Boozeday we made a Smoked Gouda IPA (India Pale Ale) Soup. The recipe we used is below but we decided to half it because we were only cooking for two... but we still had leftovers.

Ingredients:

2 carrots (chopped)
2 stalks celery (chopped)
1 onion (minced)
2 cloves garlic
1 cup roasted red peppers
1 12-ounce bottle IPA
5 cups veggie bouillon
1 stick butter, sliced into pats
1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk
6 cups smoked Gouda, grated
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper salt, to taste

Part One:

First we put the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, roasted peppers, IPA (we used Big Daddy IPA from Speakeasy Brewery in San Francisco) and bouillon into a medium pot and brought it to a strong simmer over medium-high heat. 

We let this mixture simmer for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables were very tender.

While that combination simmered, we made the cheese base. We melted the butter in a pot over low heat. 

Once it was melted we whisked in the flour, allowing it to cook until lightly browned. 

Then we added the milk, whisking until smooth (we recommend just stirring in a little milk at a time because ours ended up lumpy). We brought it to a light simmer while whisking until it thickened. Finally, once we reached our desired texture, we took the pot off of the stove and mixed in the cheese and cayenne pepper.

Part Two:

Using our not-so-handy Bullet Blender, we processed batches of the veggie+liquid mixture until smooth. We then added the puréed mixture into the cheese base, whisking until smooth.

 

Lastly, we simmered the soup, for just a bit, until the rest of dinner was ready. 

Because we used a relatively bitter IPA we could definitely taste the hoppy flavor along with the smokey-ness of the Gouda. The flavors in the soup were strong, which is why we ate it with just a basic salad and bread w/ butter. Because we made a half-recipe, we were able to serve the leftover beer with the meal to compare just how much of that beer flavor made it into the final product.

Cory (the beer drinker) says:

It was a little too thick.

Both the IPA and smoked Gouda flavors were a little too strong.

Next time I would use a less hoppy beer and less flour to thicken it.

Sadie (the non-beer drinker) says:

It was too bitter for my liking; I didn't enjoy the lingering bitter taste.

I didn't mind the thickness.

However, I didn't fight for the leftovers.

Zod says:

I love cheese.

 






















P.S.

You’ll notice that there are not many great pictures of this process, because we had not yet settled on the blog idea. 

Recipe Source