Good morning everybody!

Welcome back!

Today is the season finale of Sunday Gravy. If it’s the season finale that can only mean one thing: football starts next week!

Fucking Hell yes!

To our newer readers, Sunday Gravy runs during the NFL offseason and when the games start I am a captive, drinking, football watching maniac along with the rest of you. As always I may get inspired during the season – this usually happens on the Vikings bye week or the week before the Superb Owl. If inspiration strikes I may have a mid season post but then again?

It’s been a hell of a ride during this season of Sunday Gravy. This was a fun season and offered some challenges and the occasional fuck up or two. Not to mention we single handedly increased the overall sales of this little bastard.

The season had a little bit of everything and if nothing else I hope I enlightened you on techniques, flavor profiles and some new cuisines.

For the season finale I like to offer something that can be easily tied to football. A little inspiration for the NFL season.

Remember last year?

That was my wing extravaganza post that can be adapted for tailgate inspiration or as a game day menu.

Today I thought we could keep it going along the same lines with some downright tasty goddamn beer food.

Homemade pretzels and beer cheese!

Hot diggity damn!

You know how when you go to a beer-centric location where they serve food they have these menu items that are specifically designed to encourage you to drink as much beer as possible? That’s what we’re after here.

Going back to last week’s Pot Roast post you may remember me mentioning some challenges and time concerns which is why I ended up using the aforementioned Instant Pot to cook a pot roast rather than my originally intended idea of slow roasting in the oven.

Today’s post is the reason for that.

I actually made today’s recipe of pretzels and beer cheese the SAME FUCKING DAY that I made the pot roast.

Don’t try this at home kids.

That shit was just insane.

The reason I did this highly ridiculous thing was I was on vacation last week when I normally would be cooking the recipe for this weeks post. I’ll tell you all about my vacation fairly soon with a special “Boots On The Ground” since I did all kinds of fabulous shit that involved sports, music, food, beer and various other items. It will be really swell!

First things first. Let’s make some flat out delightful beer food that you can make at home and serve to your NFL fanatic friends on a game day and simply BLOW their football crazed minds.

Let’s do this fucking thing.

Pretzels!

recipe courtesy of Alton Brown – Food Network.

1 1/2 cups of warm water – between 110 to 115 degrees.

1 tablespoon of sugar.

2 teaspoons of salt.

1 package of dry active yeast.

4 1/2 to 5 cups of all purpose flour.

1/2 stick of butter melted.

Some vegetable oil for lubing.

Water for boiling.

2/3 cup of baking SODA.

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon of water.

Salt for garnish. Use kosher or pretzel salt.

I should mention that having a Kitchenaide stand mixer is going to make this recipe a metric fuck-ton easier to make. Just saying.

First thing to do is combine the sugar and salt in the working bowl of your stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast over the top.

Next we are going to heat up the 1 1/2 cups of water until it reaches the desired temperature. How are we going to know when it’s at the correct temperature?

Damn right. You need to be between 110 and 115 degrees exactly. We’ve made breads on Sunday Gravy before so you regulars know that water that is too hot will kill the yeast and keep it from doing it’s job. Water that is too cool will not allow the yeast to activate. You’ve got to hit the “Goldilocks zone.”

Pour the heated water over the salt, sugar and yeast and get that yeast activated.

Let the yeast foam up for about 5 minutes.

Next add in the flour and the melted butter to the bowl and attach your hook attachment. You DO have a hook attachment yes? Good.

You will notice in the ingredient list I mention 4 1/2 to 5 cups of flour. The original recipe specified 4 1/2 cups but I found that wasn’t quite enough. You want to mix this on “low” until the ingredients combine, then mix on medium speed for about 5 minutes to knead the dough. Alton Brown said mix until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl. Even after adding the extra flour my dough didn’t exactly pull away from the bowl. I have no problem giving you the recipe as I actually made it because the pretzels were delicious as fuck but it did cause some “shaping” issues when I folded the pretzels. Keep that in mind.

Basically you want your dough to pull away from the side of the mixing bowl.

Remove the dough from the bowl and clean out the mixing bowl. Next add some vegetable oil to the bowl and place the dough back into the oiled bowl and be sure you coat all sides of the dough with the oil.

Cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until it doubles in size.

This will take about an hour.

Hey everybody! HERE. Right fucking here was where I lost my goddamn hour and I then decided that I needed to make my pot roast recipe in the Instant Pot instead of the oven.

As always read the recipes through entirely before starting.

Stupid fucking hour of dough rising.

When the dough has doubled in size put the dough on a lightly OILED surface. Yes oiled not floured. This makes a difference.

Divide the dough in eight equal pieces. We are going to roll each piece into a “dowel” shape that is about 18-24″ in length.

Making shit pretty and artistic has never been my damn strong suit.

Anyway to fold into your basic pretzel type shape first turn up the corners of the dough to make a “U” shape.

Next you are going to cross each side of the U shape to fold into your standard and almost recognizable pretzel shape.

If you notice, the dough is a little tacky here which kind of inhibited the proper shape from developing. Like I said, this still turned out fantastic but shaping could have been better.

Get yourself a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper like so.

And place each folded pretzel on top.

Go ahead and pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees. Yes it got fucking hot in the kitchen.

Before going into the oven we will be giving the pretzels a quick blanch.

Take out a large pot and fill with a good amount of water. I guess it was about 10 cups or so. Add in the baking soda and heat the pot up until boiling.

Yes the baking soda will be all bubbly and shit while the pot is heating giving this whole process a sort of science experiment type feel. When the pot is at a boil add in 2 pretzels at a time. They are only going to blanch for about 30 seconds each.

Remove the pretzels with a large slotted spoon and place back on the parchment lined baking sheet until all pretzels have been “baptized.”

At this point we will be basting the pretzels with the egg wash – that’s the beaten egg with water thing we discussed earlier – to give the pretzels a nice golden brown color. Also at this time we will sprinkle the pretzels with the kosher or pretzel salt. Now they go into the pre-heated oven for about 13 minutes.

When done?

Well holy shit would you look at that! Goddamn homemade soft pretzels! You can serve these as is or you can even add some mustard. Know what I had on hand?

That’s some HOT and intense mustard from Philippe The Original here in L.A. That’s the birthplace of the “French” dip sandwich. Dijon mustard was damn tasty on these too.

Fucking delightful.

You could do that.

OR?

For maximum beer consumption we could serve it with some…

BEER CHEESE!

original recipe inspiration from Serious Eats.

2 cups of shredded cheese. I used a mixture of sharp cheddar and aged English cheddar.

1 1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch.

1 12 oz bottle of beer. Recipe called for a brown ale so I guess that means a Newcastle where I come from.

5 ounces of evaporated milk.

1 tablespoon of dijon mustard.

1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce.

A few heavy dashes of hot sauce. I used Red Rooster Louisiana style hot sauce.

Salt to taste.

Place the shredded cheese into a medium sized bowl and toss with the cornstarch.

Combine well.

Dump the beer, the Worcestershire sauce, evaporated milk and dijon mustard into a medium sized sauce pan and get warmed up over a medium flame on the stove top.

I bought a 12 pack of the Newcastle to ensure I had an ample beer supply. When icy cold – and hopefully not skunky due to it’s clear bottle – Newcastle can be a damn tasty beverage and went especially well with today’s food items.

When the beer mixture comes to a light boil, reduce the flame to medium-low and add in the cheese/cornstarch blend along with the hot sauce.

Cook the cheese mixture until the cheese has melted and the sauce has cooked thoroughly, 3-5 minutes. If you want to thicken the beer cheese at this point just add more cheese. The original recipe called for 12 ounces but I found that 2 cups was better for the proper thickness.

Once the beer cheese has reached the proper viscosity pour some into a serving vessel and grab a hot fresh pretzel or two.

There it is. Hot, fresh, savory, cheesy, beery deliciousness that is just begging you to consume mass quantities of hoppy beverages. This is an easier recipe than it may look, especially if you have the proper kitchen tools. It would instantly become a game day favorite and make you a culinary fucking superstar.

You goddamn legend you!

There we are dear readers. Another season of Sunday Gravy in the books.

Just for the record, today’s menu is the 99th menu that I’ve given you since I started doing Sunday Gravy here at DFO. Jesus Fuck. Guess that makes next menu a goddamn milestone doesn’t it?

Ninety Nine.

Sunday Gravy is definitely work but it is truly a labor of love. I appreciate each and every one of you readers and your support and feedback are what will keep me going to menu #100 and beyond. You regular readers inspire and motivate me more than I can tell you.

I appreciate you being there.

Next week? FOOOOTTTTBBBBAAAALLLLL and the regular live blogs and open threads. You’ve got Scotchy to carry you through the game casts and you’ve got the always magnificent weekly recaps from our own lovely and talented King Hippo so you’ll have plenty of NFL CONTENT to keep you occupied.

May your team stay healthy, may your quarterback not be a turnover machine and may your team excel in the upcoming season.

Except the Pats of course.

Fuck them.

Be good to each other folks and I will see you soon.

PEACE!