Hops!

Chicago.

Sweet. The Victory Brewing Company gets a nice mention in the New York Times this week, in an article on hops for beginners¹. As the hometown brewery - I grew up in Downingtown, Pennsylvania - I'm quite pleased whenever they get a good mention. The beer's top-notch, and the brewmasters turn out some exceptionally good versions of classic beer styles. This is in some contrast to Dogfish Head, which offers up some wacky yet delicious brews like their "Midas Touch" and "Raison D'Etre", which make use of unusual ingredients like saffron and raisins.

Not that I don't love the breweries out in Wisconsin, and appreciate them being both local and high-quality. But the Victory guys know hops. I adore hops. I'm trying to figure out how to use the leftovers from my homebrew batches in food.

Although the bitterness of hops is a wonderful and necessary counterpoint to the malty sweetness of beer, it's more of a limitation in food. Besides, I'd rather make use of the citrusy, piney aromas of a good aroma hop². I found that you can get a good extraction by making a "tea" from hops and water, simply by mixing them together and letting them sit in the fridge for a day. The aroma's there, along with a little bitterness, but I'll admit that I'm not sure where to go from there.

I'm thinking vinaigrette, once fresh greens are back at the market. And brines for chicken and pork, to see if I can get that fresh hop quality to survive the cooking process.

Another idea is to try using the dried hops to flavor some dry-cured meats. The duck prosciutto has been a roaring success, enough that I'm emboldened to try a chicken version next. Or two versions, to compare them side-by-side. The duck was delicious on its own, with only salt and pepper to flavor it, but I think chicken breasts will turn out better with some additional flavors. Juniper, bay and sage seems like a safe, first-time bet, and I think hops - plus something I haven't quite figured out yet - should work, too.

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¹Or those who're only familiar with the fizzy, bland "beer" coming from the American megabreweries.

²As opposed to a bittering hop. It's a fuzzy distinction. Bittering hops are high in alpha acids, which, through boiling the wort, produce the bitterness. Their aromas tend to be coarse. Aroma hops tend to be low in alpha acids, with much more pleasant and complex aromas, which are lost through the boil. Mixing the two types - not to mention different varieties - helps build the flavor profile of a beer.