Any Guy's Food Blog

When I first heard about this Budweiser Chelada I thought it was one of the worst ideas ever. I thought it would out-terrible Tequiza and Bud Lime. Oddly, it's not terribly far off from a real Chelada. All it's missing is a shake or two of Worcestershire sauce (salsa Inglesa). Because of the tomato juice added, cioppino came to mind. I figured it would be a nice classy polar opposite to my final awful beer in my list of 7 terribles. Given the Mexican twist to this American brew, I decided to take a Mexican twist to this Italian meal.

Ingredients

1 can Budweiser Chelada
~1 lb dungeness crab
1/2 lb mussels (in shell)
1/2 lb clams (in shell)
1/2 halibut or cod filet
1/2-1 lb large prawns (peeled, w/o tail)
3 tbsp butter
1 cup diced Roma tomatoes
1 onion (chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 bunch fresh basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 cup milk
ground red pepper
salt
pepper
Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

Boil the crab (I used legs) in a large stock pot with salt water for 15 - 20 minutes.

Lightly steam the clams and muscles over about 1/2 cup of beer with 2 shakes of Worcestershire sauce. Remove from heat when clams and muscles have opened.

In a sauce pan (or pot), cook the shelled prawns in another cup of beer with another 2 shakes of Worcestershire sauce. Add a dash of ground black pepper and about 1/2 tsp of salt. When prawns have turned orange, remove from heat. Add the clams, mussels and beer/broth mixture and cover to keep warm.

Drain water from crab. Crack all crab. Add the clam-mussel-shrimp mixture to the stock pot with crab. In a sauce pan, combine the butter, onions, basil, thyme, oregano, and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste. I also add a ground red pepper blend. Also, to prepare the basil, I rip off about 7-8 leaves and then shred them a little by hand. First saute on medium heat. After the onions have turned a light brown and have softened, add the diced tomatoes and stir for one more minute.

Slice your halibut or cod filets into smaller filets. Add to the crab, etc. After the butter has melted in the sauce pan, add contents to stock pot with the crab and other seafood. Add 2-3 cups of water (enough to cover the seafood) and add 1/2 cup milk. Cook on medium for 20 minutes.

Tasting Notes:

Some things I learned: Stewed tomatoes should probably never be used for anything, ever. I used these and then decided, immediately after tasting, to change the recipe. Saute the onions. I didn't saute the onions this go around. I think they will be MUCH better sauteed first. Cioppino is expensive to make. If you find a way to make a decent cioppino for under $50, let me know how.

Some warnings about this recipe: It is very involved and takes up a lot of room and cookware. I made do with one cutting board, one sauce pan and a stock pot, but you could easily use double that. I also used a steamer. This is not a cheap recipe. If you buy fresh seafood, it adds up quick.

As for the tasting, it was solid. I can't decide whether I wanted a more attacking flavor or liked it as I had it. I had very light heat deep in the palate. But I thought that offered subtlety that made the dish seem more refined. And to make a dish using Budweiser Chelada seem refined is a pretty impressive feat in my mind. There is also so much complexity to flavor in a cioppino that I was convinced I wouldn't be able to get anything out of the beer. One, the primary tomato flavor in the cioppino is from the beer. Let there be no mistake, Budweiser Chelada packs a tomato punch.

I don't see myself making this again in the foreseeable future because I'm poor and lazy, but I was happy with how it turned out. There were some nice touches to the final product when all was said and done. I'm gonna say 7 out of 10 for what I cooked today, should be about an 8 with the recipe that I now have posted.