Columbian Soup with Noodles aka What To Do With Pork Drippings

A few nights ago I made some grilled barbeque ribs, which produced a lot of liquid in the oven stage. I was raised to save everything, and so I ended up with a pint or so of pork drippings for a soup. I patched together a couple Columbian and Mexican chicken soup recipes, as well as my mom's homemade noodles.

Unique points: homemade noodles, pork drippings, Indian/Italian blend of spices

Noodles

2 2/3 cup flour

3 whole eggs

2 tsp salt

1/4 cup water

Pour the flour into a bowl and make a cavity. Fill the cavity with the eggs and salt, and mix everything together well. Slowly add the water while mixing until the dough is sticky but still firm. Cut the dough in two, and roll out one section of the dough onto a well floured surface. The dough should be in a strip about three inches long, well floured on both sides. Cut the strip into pieces between a half centimeter and a centimeter. It's important to keep all surfaces floured so that the noodles don't stick.

Soup

2 cups pork drippings

4 cups chicken broth

2 tsp oil

4 cloves chopped garlic

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp chili powder

1 bay leaf

2 stalks sliced celery

2 sliced carrots

1 can corn

salt and pepper

noodles (from above)

Add the oil and garlic to the pot over medium heat, sauteing the garlic for a couple minutes. Add the drippings, broth, and seasonings, mixing well. Add the vegetables and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the noodles and cook for twenty minutes at a low boil, stirring occasionally.

It should make 6 or so servings. I served it with homemade buns, which were a nice side. It ends up being quite thick from the noodles and flour, so feel free to add more broth.

Dr. Strangebrew or: How I Learned to Stop Watching ESPN and Stir the Pot

In the spring the law school has its annual raffle to raise money for student funded fellowships, and this last year I volunteered to brew a batch of beer. The high bidder (winner isn't the word I'd use) chose a German brown, which was a first for me, but the style wasn't all that different from a porter I'd made a few years earlier. After hopping I performed the following steps:

1. Left the pot to watch college basketball.

2. Watched the pot volcano into a steady flow of brown hopped magma.

3. Removed said pot from the burner.

4. Rushed to the brew store to buy some replacement hops.

5. Ignored the actual label and grabbed 2 oz of Chinook.

6. Transformed a jolly Bavarian accordionist into an angry Arrogant Bastard-ish warrior.

I kid, it wasn't that strong, as I keep my boiling batch size on the small end. I ended up brewing him a different batch, and keeping half for myself, which has mellowed out in recent weeks. Here's the recipe:

Grains

1 pound chocolate malt

1 pound toasted rye

Extracts

7 pounds amber liquid malt extract

2 pounds amber dry malt extract

Hops

1 oz Hallertau (60 min) *remove by boiling over and caking onto stove

2 oz Chinook (60 min) *the mistake

1 oz Willamette (15 min)

Yeast

German Ale yeast

No real clues on what to call it, except you can't drink it very quickly and girls don't even pretend to like it. Dark IPA?