Beer Economics and Food in South New Jersey by Ruth Paget
On a trip to South New Jersey where I visited Fort Dix and Fort McGuire, I was able to sample foods that reflect New Jersey’s proximity to Ellis Island:
-Philly Cheese Steaks from Charley’s
-Italian Greek Salads made with the addition of grilled and marinated sweet red peppers from Frank and Mario’s II
-Veal Wiener Schnitzel from Sebastian’s Schnitzel House
-Margharita pizza with jammy tomato sauce from Frank and Mario’s II
-Bagels made with poppy and sesame seeds and kosher salt from Target, whose headquarters are in New Jersey
As a souvenir of this trip, I bought Dishing Up New Jersey: 150 Recipes from the Garden State by John Holl. The book looked fun, but upon further inspection I saw that New Jersey has a beer economy that directly affects food production thanks to breweries.
Holl’s book has a recipe for donuts that uses beer to make them and the donut glaze.
The real treasure in the book is a recipe for bread rolls using spent grain, the leftover grain from beer production. This same recipe can also be used to make chewy pizza dough, pretzels, bread crumbs for frying fish as well as bread loaves.
Spent grain is mixed with regular flour to stretch the expensive regular flour. In states where regular flour comes from out of state, using spent grain might save on food bills.
Besides the bread recipes, Holl provides recipes for various chiils, chowders, and steamed seafood that use beer in their making. One everyday soup uses beer with cheese. You place a fried egg on top of this soup along with chopped ham.
Holl’s recipes for braised sausages and green peppers in beer and kielbasa and sauerkraut braised in beer both look good, too.
Just these basic recipes make the book worth the purchase, but the added bonus is that the Asbury Park Festhalle let Holl’s crew photograph its European beer menu. I sampled many of these beers when I lived in Germany and think the beers are worth trying.
I had fun eating in New Jersey and love the recipes in John Holl’s Dishing Up New Jersey with their easy-to-follow directions and easy-to-find ingredients.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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