Back to Beer.

I am coming good today on the promise I made to find more recipes for the beer-themed luncheon mentioned in a post earlier in the week.

To refresh your memory, the luncheon held in 1937 featured “melon balls with beer dressing, beef kidney with beef, beer bread, sweet potatoes in beer, beer cabbage slaw, beer sauce on asparagus, potato salad with beer dressing, jellied vegetable salad containing beer, beer spice cake, chocolate beer cake, and … beer with eggs”

I gave you a contemporary recipe for Chocolate Beer Cake in the earlier post, and today I am able to add three more dishes from the menu. Firstly, here is the Beer Spice Cake – also from 1937.

Beer Spice Cake.
1 cup beer
1 cup seedless raisins
3 cups sifted cake flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup shortening
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 eggs, separated.
Turn beer over raisins. If cold and carefully poured it will not foam and will be easy to measure. Let stand 15 minutes. Mix and stir together 3 times flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and raisins. Add cinnamon. Cream shortening until soft. Add sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy after each addition. Add egg yolks. Blend well. Add flour alternately with beer a small amount at a time, beating until smooth after each addition. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Turn into 2 greased loaf tins [cant read tin measurements here] and bake in a moderate oven (375 degrees F) thirty minutes or until done.
Adair County Democrat, June 4, 1937.

Nineteen thirty-seven certainly seemed to be the year of beery recipes, thanks, apparently, to promotional booklets produced by various stakeholders in the brewing industry. Here is a lovely savoury dish from the menu.

Beef Kidney with Beer.
2 Beef Kidneys
4 tablespoons Golden State Butter
2 tablespoons Globe A1 flour
2 teaspoons salt
4 glasses Rainier beer
6 slices crisp Wonder Bread toast.
Cut kidney into small cubes. Remove skin and white core. Cover with cold water. Bring to boiling point. Drain. Repeat. Drain well. Saute in butter until brown. Add flour. Mix well until blended. Add salt and beer. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally for 35 minutes, or until kidney is tender and beer cooked down to a thickened sauce. Serve on toast. Approximately 6 servings.
Oakland Tribune, July 23, 1937

And for the final recipe for the day I you - Beer Cabbage Slaw. Of all the menu items listed for the United Brewers Foundation luncheon in 1937, the coleslaw made with beer intrigued me the most. I have seen mention of recipes from this era, but so far have been unable to actually find one, so the following, from 1979 will have to suffice.


Beer Cabbage Slaw.
1 medium head cabbage, shredded
1 red or green pepper, shredded
2 teaspoons celery seeds
2 teaspoons minced onion
½ teaspoon salt or to taste
½ teaspoon pepper
½ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup beer
Pinch sugar
Combine cabbage, red or green pepper, celery seeds, onion, salt and pepper. Thin mayonnaise with beer. Add to cabbage with sugar to taste. Toss thoroughly. Chill.
Winnipeg Free Press, October 3, 1979

Which leaves us only with recipes to find for “melon balls with beer dressing, … beer bread, sweet potatoes in beer, … beer sauce on asparagus, potato salad with beer dressing, jellied vegetable salad containing beer, … beer with eggs”, and you can prepare a complete beer meal for the beer fans in your life.

Quotation for the Day.
It was a woman who drove me to drink and I never got the chance to thank her.
W.C. Fields