Saltwater Brewery - What's Brewing

Week three of German month: goulash night

German month hits week three at the Thursday Night Table. Brats simmered in LocAle opened it, last week's schnitzel took a two-hour Screamin' Reels brine, and now the big pot comes out: beef goulash, chunks of chuck braised in Sea Cow, our Milk Stout, with a mountain of onions and a heavy hand of paprika, served over buttered egg noodles. Goulash began as a Hungarian herdsmen's stew and crossed into Austrian and German cooking long ago; this is the thick, spoonable German-style version.

The first real cool front usually finds Delray somewhere between late October and early November. This is the pot to have ready for it. The brewery has no kitchen (food on site comes from the rotating food trucks), so the Dutch oven is yours.

The beer: Sea Cow, Milk Stout, 6% ABV / 32 IBU

Sea Cow is our Milk Stout, 6% ABV and 32 IBU, and that low bitterness is why it belongs in a braise. Last week's Screamin' Reels stayed in a cold brine because boiling it down concentrates its 75 IBU bitterness; a milk stout is the opposite case. A milk stout is brewed with lactose, a milk sugar that yeast can't ferment, so it stays in the beer, and two hours in the oven reduce the liquid toward roast, chocolate and a gentle sweetness that rounds out the paprika. The whole can goes in the pot.

Shopping list

Serves 4 to 6. Prep: about 25 minutes. Cook: 2 1/2 to 3 hours, most of it in the oven with the lid on.

For the goulash

• 3 lb boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp neutral oil
• 2 large yellow onions, sliced (about 4 cups)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp caraway seeds
• 1 tsp dried marjoram
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 red bell pepper, diced

The braising liquid

• 1 can (12 oz) Sea Cow Milk Stout
• 1 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, to finish

Noodles and to serve

• 12 oz wide egg noodles
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

About the cans. One whole can goes into the pot. The second can is for the table.

Goulash night, step by step

1. Season and sear. Pat the beef dry and season it with the salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high. Brown the beef in two batches, 3 to 4 minutes a side, without crowding the pot, and move it to a plate.
2. Soften the onions. Lower the heat to medium, add the onions and a pinch of salt, and cook 10 to 12 minutes, stirring, until soft and golden. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste for 1 minute.
3. Bloom the spices off the heat. Pull the pot off the burner and stir in the paprika, caraway and marjoram for 30 seconds. Paprika scorches on direct heat and turns bitter.
4. Pour in the Sea Cow. Back over medium heat, pour in the whole can, scraping up the browned bits, and let it bubble 2 minutes. Add the broth, bay leaf, the beef and its juices. The liquid should come about three-quarters of the way up the meat.
5. Braise. Cover and slide the pot into a 325°F oven for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until a fork slides into the beef with no resistance. Stir in the bell pepper for the last 30 minutes.
6. Finish the sauce. Fish out the bay leaf. If the sauce is thin, simmer it uncovered on the stovetop 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the vinegar and taste for salt.
7. Cook the noodles. Boil the egg noodles in well-salted water per the package, drain, and toss with the butter.
8. Serve. Ladle the goulash over the noodles with a spoonful of sour cream and a scatter of parsley.

Make it ahead, or in the slow cooker. Goulash is better on day two: cool it, refrigerate, and reheat gently with a splash of broth. For the slow cooker, do steps 1 through 4 in a skillet, scrape everything into the cooker with the broth and bay leaf, and cook on LOW 7 to 8 hours; add the bell pepper for the last hour.

Why the braise does the work

Chuck is full of collagen, and collagen only turns to gelatin with time and gentle heat. That is why a 325°F oven beats a hard boil: the meat relaxes instead of seizing, and the sauce picks up body as it goes. Searing first builds the browned layer the beer lifts off the pot in step 4. Blooming the paprika off the heat matters because paprika is mostly sugar and pigment; in hot fat it scorches in seconds and turns the whole pot bitter. And the vinegar at the end is there to wake it up: a long braise flattens flavors, and a tablespoon of acid brings the paprika back forward.

On the table with it

Drink what you braised with: Sea Cow, cold, its roast and sweetness lined up with the sauce. For anyone skipping the beer, pour sparkling apple cider over ice; the apple sweetness does the same job against the paprika.

What the beer leaves behind

Most of the alcohol cooks off in a braise this long. USDA's Table of Nutrient Retention Factors puts the alcohol left after 2 1/2 hours of simmering or baking at about 5 percent of what went in, and this pot stretches 12 ounces of beer across 4 to 6 plates. That is a trace, not zero. Want none at all? Swap the can for 1 1/2 cups more beef broth plus 1 tablespoon of molasses, which stands in for the roast-and-sweet note the stout brings.

Thursday Table: 15% off Sea Cow to-go

Coming by? See what's on at the brewery this weekend before you head over.

Where to find Sea Cow

Sea Cow gets around South Florida, so ask for it wherever you buy beer, and if it isn't in the cooler, ask the shop whether they can order it. Or pick it up at the taproom at 1701 W. Atlantic Ave, Delray Beach, FL 33444, the first building off the I-95 Atlantic Ave exit.

Taproom hours: Mon 1–7 · Tue–Thu 12–10 · Fri–Sat 12–11 · Sun 12–8.

We don't ship beer or sell it online. The website is merch only, shipped within the USA.

Next Thursday, October 22, German month closes with Passion Pit, our Fruit Ale, in an apricot glaze on grilled pork tenderloin with warm German potato salad.

Please drink responsibly.