by Patriots Daily Kitchen Staff

Oh no the vaunted Jets are coming to town. They have a championship level defense don’t you know? Just ask them they’ll tell you, as will any number of supposed Patriots fans.

It’s true though, the Jets D looks awesome, did you know they’re giving up a whole .7 points less per game than the Pats? Yeah, the New England Patriots, those guys with the horrible D you’ve been told, FACT not opinion, is the worst of all time.

That is what you get with a defensive genius like Rex Ryan in charge. Through 4 games Rex’s True Genius has allowed 3 points, a field goal, less than that hasbeen-would-be-supposed-self-proclaimed-genius Belichick.

FACT: 3 less points in 4 games.

FACT: three less is less than three more.

What to eat.

We’ll be making a Steak au Poivre style beef tenderloin. Butter, Pepper, Steak, what’s not to like.

Steak au Poivre is a method of cooking steak partially, coating the top with butter and then refrigerating so you get a sort of butter and pepper frosting. Like the best birthday cake ever. This method is simpler, works on the grill and is just as good.

It’s the best damn Entree in the game and doesn’t need any side dish help over the top.

Steak au Poivre Tenderloin,
serves 6 Can be easily doubled and the cooking time is unchanged if you do

1 Beef Tenderloin 2.5 pounds, trimmed of silverskin
2 cloves garlic
1 small onion
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon spicy mustard
1/2 cup beer (see below for suggestions)
2 tablespoons cracked black peppercorns
1/2 cup butter, aka 1/2 stick
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

other: foil pan large enough to hold the tenderloin, you want it to be a close fit

Peel and mince the onion and garlic, combine with the olive oil, beer, mustard and salt.

Put the tenderloin in a large ziplock bag, cover with the marinade and turn to coat. If you are going to double the recipe, I would put each tenderloin in it’s own ziplock, it’s easier to coat them evenly when they’re in seperate bags.

Put in a large bowl and put in the fridge for at least 2 hours, overnight works as well. When you think of it turn the bag, about every half hour if you’re going for a 2 hour marinade. If waiting over night it really doesn’t matter.

Take the meat out of the fridge or cooler at least 40 minutes before cooking, so it can come up to room temperature. Discard the marinade, usually I’d just pour the marinade in the cooking pan, but with a bitter beer you don’t want to do anything that would concentrate the flavor. Put the tenderloin in the foil pan and cover evenly with the cracked peppercorns, pushing them into the meat as you would with a rub. Break up the butter and put it around the tenderloin.

Heat the grill to medium, whether charcoal or gas. Place the pan over indirect heat, you want the inside of the grill to be around 350, but you don’t want direct flames burning the butter in the pan.

Cook for 40 minutes, flip the tenderloin over and cook for another 20 to 30 until desired doneness is achieved.

Remove the pan from the grill. Sprinkle with the parsley, cover loosely with foil and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Carve the tenderloin into 1/2 inch slices.

Serve with sides, or on it’s own in a roll.

What to drink.

Black IPA is one of the trendy new beer styles. An IPA made with the addition of a small percentage of highly roasted malt. Like the Jets they’re really just the same as they’ve ever been with a minor change drawing a lot of hype.

Black IPA is only one of a variety of names given to this new style. In a Rex Ryan like move the Pacific Northwest has attempted to claim the title through bluster saying their versions are the greatest cornerback in the NFL. Sorry, got confused there. They tried to name the style Cascadian Dark Ale. Cascadia referring to the supposed breakaway Cascadia Republic where Cascade and other PNW hops are grown.

Others have proposed American Black Ale and India Black Ale. The India Pale Ale may have historical precedence but calling something a Black Pale is just dumb. American Black Ale is probably best.

But aren’t these just hoppy porters and stouts? Some are, but the idea behind them is to have a black beer that isn’t full of roast character. That is achieved by using various specialty malts.

Stouts and porters tend to get the majority of their color through three malts. Roasted barley, unmalted and high roasted. Chocolate malt, this is malted and is roasted to a lesser degree giving off chocolate and coffee notes. (There is no chocolate in Chocolate malt. Coffee, Chocolate and Barley can develop some of the same aromas and flavors when they are roasted in a similar manner to a similar degree). Finally, Black patent malt, a very highly roasted malt that gives a very dark color even at low levels of usage. There are dark German malts called Carafa which serve the same purpose and are used in dark lagers.

Barley is a husked grain, and maltsters found that by removing the husk you could roast barley to very high levels but without picking up as much flavor.

The most common of the huskless malts are the Carafa Special malts that are available in 3 different, but all highly darkened varities. Other companies have since started making their own versions of a huskless highly darkened malt.

Using a huskless malt in place of one of the traditional highly roasted malts, and you get a beer that is just as dark, but it contains nowhere near as much roast flavor or aroma.

Leading the way in New England has been Clown Shoes. Clown Shoes is a newer contract brewer from Massachusetts, their beers are brewed at Mercury Brewing (Ipswich). They’ve gone for the Black IPA style with both Clown Shoe covered feet and are the only New England brewer I’m aware of that is making three different versions. You can find them on draft, but it’s more of a bomber (22 ounce) bottle operation.

Hoppy Feet starts us off at 7% ABV. It was soon joined by Hoppy Feet 1.5, at 10% it celebrated the brewery’s 1st anniversary but is still being made. Recently they’ve added Lubrication a 7% beer brewed with orange peel and with a label that caused some controversy when it first came out.

Demonstrating the confusion behind what these beers should be called and what ingredients they should use – Hoppy Feet and Hoppy Feet 1.5 are both billed by the brewer as Black IPAs but contain enough roastyness to be considered very hoppy Porters or Stouts. Lubrication however is labeled as an American Black Ale and does not have a lot of roasted flavor.

And it’s pure coincidence that a brewery named Clown Shoes leads off the week the Jets are in town. Nothing to see here about Clowns or Feet, right Welker?

Vermont’s Otter Creek introduced their Alpine Black IPA as the new winter seasonal last year. It was so well received they turned it into a year round product. 6% ABV and 60 IBU. You can find it in 6 packs, and also in mix packs. With the mix pack you could also get some Stovepipe Porter and be able to try them side to side to see how even though the color is the same the Porter and the Black IPA are quite different. Unfortunately Otter Creek’s website has been down for about a year now.

One of the crop of new small or “nano’ brewers Element Brewing Company from Millers Falls, MA started making a Black IPA called Dark Element almost from the start. 8.75% ABV, and note they go with the American Black Ale style name themselves. They’re also aiming to make more of a Black IPA and less of a hoppy stout.

Southern Tier from New York has been a favorite on the PD Buffet Table for years. They call their Black IPA Iniquity 9% ABV and given yet another name, the Imperial Black Ale.

Lakefront Brewery from Milwaukee has started making their IBA 6.5% and with yet another name, the India Style Black Ale or IBA.

21st Amendment from San Fran cans their beer, so their Back in Black is the only canned Black IPA I know of. 6.8% ABV, and now year round.

Victory is another longtime favorite, and they’re also making a good Black IPA. Yakima Glory is on the strong side at 8.7%, brewed with all German malts and US hops. You’ll have to wait until November to buy this one, it’s a winter release.

Widmer Brothers is most well known for their Hefeweizen, but they are also making a Black IPA. Pitch Black is a January release, so once that Victory Yakima Glory starts drying up you’ll find this one.

Many other Black IPAs are being made as one offs and limited editions, so it’s likely if you go in a liquor store you’ll see one not listed here.

For example, Harpoon is getting in on the act, the upcoming 40th edition of their 100 barrel series will be a black IPA. If it’s as good as the Rye IPA they put out earlier in the year this will be a great one.

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