Beer Marshmallows! Yup you read that right.

Our ingredients including DDC's Aphrodisiaque.
Beautiful Vancouver in the background

We here at Fondue Voodoo like to see great craft beer put to use, primarily put into our beer glasses where it can go to a very good cause, our bellies.

While sitting in front of a wood fire late one night with my stout nightcap in one hand and a slowly roasting marshmallow in the other, booze induced fireworks of imagination blasted off in my head...ok so maybe more like a click of a burnt out lightbulb, but that's hardly the point...and so beer marshmallows were born.

Choose a good, heavy flavoured stout or porter so that the beer shines through.

In multiple trials we've used these solid offerings with great success, Dieu du Ciel's Péché Mortel or Aphrodisiaque, Powell Street Craft Brewery's Dive Bomb Porter and Parallel 49 Brewing Company's Ugly Sweater. Yeah, product testing is the worst... ;)



You could let your beer go flat first so that all you get is the beer flavour, but we prefer to enjoy our marshmallows with all of the beers bubbly characteristics so we left it fully carbonated. You will thank me later when you have your first beer marshmallow burp while giggling to yourself...

What you will need:

• candy thermometer
• 1 large bottomed, well greased baking dish or cookie sheet with tall edges
• 1 cup stout or porter, divided into two 1/2 cup portions
• 3 tbsp gelatin powder (equal to 3 packets or about 12 sheets)
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 egg whites (I prefer to use dried egg white powder for this)
• 1 tsp vanilla paste or 1/2 stem vanilla pod, seeded (optional)

Dusting powder for the set marshmallows

• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1/2 cup corn starch

Mix the icing sugar and corn starch together in a bowl and set aside for later use.

Powell Street's growler dispensing great
beer and wisdom

Add gelatin to 1/2 cup of the beer in the bowl of your stand mixer, gently stir and set aside.

Pour the remaining beer into a large heavy stock pot together with the white sugar, corn syrup and salt. Warm the sugars over medium low heat and occassionaly stir with a wooden spoon until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Once dissolved, increase heat to medium, and slowly bring to a boil. Do not stir during this stage. Allow the sugar mixture to boil until it reaches 118 degrees celcius (245 farenheit), just between a soft and hard ball on your candy thermometer.

Immediately, and very carefully! pour the hot sugars over the beer and gelatin in your stand mixing bowl and incrementally, but swiftly, turn it to high. Add the vanilla to the mixer and continue to whip the sugars and gelatine on high until it almost triples in volume and lightens in colour, approximately 10 minutes.

Almost there...

While the sugar mixture is being whipped, beat your egg whites in a separate bowl until they reach stiff peaks.

At the 10 minute mark add the egg whites and continue whipping until they are incorporated, about 1 to 2 minutes.

As soon as the egg whites have been incorporated pour into the greased baking dish and use a greased spatula to spread. Use some of the cornstarch and icing sugar mix to lightly cover over the marshmallows.

Place in fridge to set for 4 hours.

Parallel 49's Ugly Sweater dude gives the thumb's up

Once the marshmallows have set, remove from fridge and place on a cutting board dusted with the icing sugar and corn starch mix. Cut the marshmallows into cubes and generously dust each cube in the icing sugar mixture. Place on a wire rack and allow to sit for 3 to 4 hours to dry.

Once dried, put the marshmallows in a sealed container in the fridge. These are best within the first few days but can last for up to a week...trust me, there won't be any left...

In terms of serving you can have them as is, but we have also experimented with covering in chocolate and cashews, melting in hot chocolate, floating in a morning coffee for a breakfast beer chaser and charring with a blow torch which was both recklessly fun and delicious.

Now be careful kids, these surgery pillows of beer joy are additive, for good beer karma be sure to spread the joy around - your friends and family will approve.

Craft Beer Mustard

Mustard is the golden standard for everything in the Foundue Voodoo house, salad dressing, sandwiches, marinades and everything in between. I'd wash my hair with it if I could. I learned about DIY mustard using beer, and gave up buying mustard in favour of the tarragon pickled flavoured home spun version. The magic here is the love that goes into the craft beer and the patience required to leave the finished mustard in the fridge for 24 hrs while it settles down.

You'll need:

• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp tarragon vinegar 
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup stout - we used Central City's Red Racer Oatmeal Stout
• 1/4 cup brown mustard seeds
• 3/4 cup yellow mustard seeds
• 1/4 cup mustard powder
• 1/2 tsp tumeric (for colour)
• 1/2 tsp cayenne (for heat)
• 2 tbsp honey

In a sauce pan warm the vinegars, stout, mustard seeds and mustard powder to simmer (Do not boil!) to soften mustard seeds, between 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from heat, add remaining ingredients and use a food processor to process the blend until it reaches a consistency you're happy with. Cool and place in a glass jar and toss it to the back of the fridge for a little rest.

Test the mustard after 24 hrs, if it's bitter allow it it continue to rest - the bitters will mellow after a proper chilly nap.

Once your happy with your mustard adjust the flavour by adding more vinegar and honey to your preference.

Enjoy on everything.

Ants on a Log - Now for Adults

Warning - this post may contain nuts, deliciousness and double entendres.

Occasionally the Fondue household has a snack attack - which often ends in a salty sweaty mess of stale nachos and questionable salsa.  Ants on a log seem too childish to indulge in, and yet too delicious to give up on. Who doesn't like peanut butter? (blahblahblahAnaphylactic shock).
In the best interest of matching adult behaviour with childhood memories, peanut butter is getting a make over.

March sunshine in Vancouver is the best.

Get some:

• Clean, trimmed and dry celery ribs
• 1/2 c Organic peanut butter
• 1 TBSP honey 
• 1 TBSP Sriarcha hot sauce - or your favourite pepper based hot sauce
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1/2 tsp splash of fish sauce or soya sauce
• Nuts - salted peanuts, cashews, almonds walnuts 
• optional: cilantro & 1/4 tsp powdered garlic

Assembly - this is the easy part
Pile the peanut butter, honey, hot sauce, lime juice, fish sauce & optional garlic powder into a bowl and stir to incorporate.
Stuff your celery ribs with the spicy peanut butter topping.
Place the nuts securely in the peanut butter and place cilantro artfully on top.
Serve the remaining peanut butter with apple slices for a sweet salty spicy taste sensation.
This snack attack is great with a delicious Driftwood White Bark Witbier.
I wouldn't have been a happy child if I could have drank Driftwood with my after school snack.

Stout Infused Mushroom Lentil Shepherd's Pie

St. Patrick's day is by far one of the best celebrations of a Saint that has ever existed since the Pagan's were throwing party's...those guys did it up right. But celebrating with beer and parades, random strangers demanding kisses a la "Kiss me I'm Irish" T-shirts and silly green costumes gets a Fondue Voodoo seal of approval. We celebrate the best way we know how with beer infused veggie shepherd's pie, until the Pagans comeback...

What you will need:

humble beginnings

• 2 cups diced mushrooms (mixture of cremini and trumpet or others of your choice)
• 1 onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 2 cups green cabbage
• 1 TBSP oil, best choice - coconut oil
• 2 cups mashed potatoes
• 1 cup lentils (see cooking instructions below)
• 3 bay leaves 
• 1 bottle (340 ml) stout. We used St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout by McAuslan Brewing
• 3 TBSP mushroom powder
• 1 TBSP umami paste (can be substituted with 1 TBSP tomato paste or 1/2 TBSP anchovy paste
• 1 cup veggie/mushroom broth
• 3 TBSP tomato paste, or more depending on your preference
• 1 tsp rosemary powder
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 tsp oregano
• crack of pepper
• 3 TBSP beurre manie
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 TBSP freshly chopped herbs such as flat leaf parsley

Prior to starting, have on hand 2 cups of mashed potatoes, warmed up with speed up the process.
To cook the lentils first rinse with cold water, drain and then place in a stock pot and cover with cold water by 2 inches and add bay leaves. Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer for 10 minutes. Once cooked pour into strainer and rinse with cool water.

Chow time

In a separate stock pot add the oil and gently sauté the onions, carrots, celery and cabbage for about 5 minutes until the onions are translucent and then add the garlic and sauté for about 1 minute. Remove from pot and add the mushrooms. Sauté until browned. Deglaze the pot with the stout. Add the stock, mushroom powder, umami paste and tomato paste and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in beurre manie to make a lightly thickened sauce. Bring back to the heat and bump the heat up to medium to thicken - it should just cover a spoon slightly. Add in the mushrooms, vegetables and lentils back to the pot.

Once the mushroom-vegtable mixture is heated through pour into a casserole dish and cover with the mashed potatoes. You could proceed to bake for 20 - 25 mins to heat all the layers evenly, or place on top rack under the broiler until the potatoes are browned.

To serve, scoop a 1/4 cup of peas on the dish and then add a layer of the Shepherd's pie on top. Finish with herbs, cracked pepper and Worcestershire sauce.

Shepherd's Pie Beer Pairing: Best to pair this meal with the same beer as you used for the deglazing. An oatmeal stout works great here as the creamy oatmeal and toasted malts balances perfectly with the richness of the mushrooms and lentils.

Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup

Guest post from Jar Head:

Cold dark winter nights call out for a hearty soup. This soup definitely is the ticket, the earthy, meaty flavours that the wild rice and mushrooms will stick to your bones and warm you up from within.

What you will need for the rice:

• 1 cup wild rice
• 4 cups water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp baking soda *
• 3/4 tsp salt

* Baking soda breaks down the pectin seed coating of the rice and also lowers the temperature necessary for Maillard reaction (browning) to occur. This leads to a nuttier tasting wild rice and a deep brown more complex stock which we will use to enrich the soup.

What you will need for the soup:

• 1 TBSP unsalted butter
• 600-700 grams of cremini mushrooms
• 1 leak chopped
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 1-2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2/3 cup brown ale (such as a Belgian Dubbel like St. Bernardus Prior 8)
• 4 cups low sodium broth
• 4 TBSP dried mushroom powder (we used a mixture of cremini, matsutake, chicken of the woods and bear's tooth mushrooms)
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup minced chives or green onions
• 1 TBSP umami paste (can be substituted with 1 TBSP tomato paste or 1/2 TBSP anchovy paste)
• pepper

Start with making the rice. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bring the water, bay leaf, salt and baking soda to a boil over medium-high heat in a stock pot. Add the rice and return to a boil. Cover and transfer to the heated oven and bake until rice is tender - approximately 35-50 minutes.

Strain through a fine mesh strainer and reserve the liquid which we will use for our soup. Top up the liquid with water until you have 3 cups.

For the soup, first make a slurry of cornstarch and 4 TBSP of the stock you plan to use - set aside for later use. Next melt the butter over medium high heat in large stock pot. Do this next part in stages, add the mushrooms, garlic and leaks to form a small layer on the bottom of the pan and sauté until browned - feel free to use the ale to deglaze as needed. Remove the mushrooms from the pot once browned and start with a fresh batch, continue until all the mushrooms are browned. Return the cooked mushrooms back to the pot and add in the stock, remaining ale, mushroom powder, thyme and umami paste and bring to a hard simmer. Add the cooked rice and the cornstarch slurry and stir until the soup thickens. Stir in the sour cream and serve topped with green onions.

Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup Beer Pairing: A dark brown ale works best here with the meaty flavours of the mushrooms. We went with the St. Bernardus Prior 8 which is a strong abby Belgian dubbel which we also used for deglazing the pot.

Naan Bread

Guest post from Jar Head:

This is a recipe that I adapted from Peter Reinhart's recipe for pita bread in his book The Bread Bakers Apprentice Extraordinary. It is extremely simple and delicious with any Indian food (recipe for Chana Masala coming soon!).

What you will need:

• 1.5 cups bread flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp instant yeast
• 2 TBSP plain yogurt
• 1 TBSP honey
• 1 TBSP oil
• 1/3 to 1/2 cups water
• 2 tsp melted butter for brushing

Mix all of the above ingredients and kneed for approximately 10 minutes. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Ferment in a warm place for 90 minutes or until it doubles in size.

Transfer the dough to a counter and separate into approximately 150 to 175 gram balls. With you fingers flatten the balls into 20 cm diameter circles. These should be about 1/2 cm thick.

Bake at 500 degrees F on a baking stone or cookie sheet. Bake until they begin to brown. Remove and brush with the melted butter.

Alternatively you can cook these in a cast iron skillet. Simply heat until very hot - add the dough and cook covered for about 1 min. Flip and cook an additional 30 seconds. Remove and brush with the melted butter. 

Hot Stuff Popcorn

Every once in a while I suffer a sever relapse and go into a snack attack. Salty is the only solution to cure me of the snack shakes. Top all this off Sriracha is my new bestie and we do everything together - so it's only natural that we enter into a snack attack together. 

just a mouthful

Sriracha Spiked Popcorn
8 Cups popped popcorn
2 TBSP butter
1 TBSP Olive Oil
1 TBSP Sriracha hot sauce 
2 tsp Creole spice mix, "Slap yo Mama" is a good choice
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp of toasted sesame oil
2 tsp black sesame seeds

In a sauce pan heat melt butter with olive oil, Sriracha, creole mix, granulated garlic & sesame seeds.

Place your oven to warm, or 200 F for 10 mins,
Turn the oven off and keep it closed while the popcorn pops.
Meanwhile pop your popcorn.
Divide your popcorn in 2 batches. Quickly pour half of your hot oily topping over the first batch quickly agitate your popcorn to distribute the topping. Repeat on the second batch.

Stop and smell the deliciousness you just created - a hot popcorny salty mess. Place the popcorn on cookie sheets and toss in the oven and try to stop yourself from eating all of it. Leave the popcorn in the oven for at least 30 mins until the oil soaks in and popcorn dries out. Be sure to check your popcorn to make sure the oven isn't so hot that it's toasting your corn to a burn.

Eat it all...cause you won't be able to stop...your lips will burn and be puffy, but you'll love it.

Did it work? Hell yes!  The magic worked - like it always does.