LostRecipesFound.com - Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale Beer Cheese

Chef Jonathan Lundy's creamy, smoky beer cheese takes all the virtue out of eating crudites. It's so yummy, you'll soon be scooping more cheese than carrot. Anyway, we figured it would whet your appetite for more Lundy recipes. In a few weeks we'll be publishing his original Calumet Baking Powder biscuit recipe, passed down from Lundy's great-great-grandfather William Monroe Wright, founder of the Calumet Baking Powder company and a cousin of flight-tastic Wilbur and Orville. Wright sold his baking powder concern to General Foods for $40 million back in 1929 (!) and used the profits to create the Calumet Farm racing stables in Kentucky. (The most successful in American history, with six Kentucky Derby winners.) In this day and age, Chef Lundy's contributions to his family legacy include the work he does at his Lexington, KY, restaurant, Jonathan at Gratz Park, to resurrect and refresh all sorts of Kentucky dishes. Click over to the right hand “Books to Buy” column for a book full of his old Kentucky dishes made new.

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14 oz sharp yellow cheddar cheese
4 oz smoked cheddar cheese
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp caramelized onions
12-oz bottle of Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale (from Alltech Lexington Brewing and Distilling Co.) or a bottle of your favorite ale
1 Tbsp bourbon
1/2 tsp freshly-ground black peppercorn
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder

Shred yellow and smoked cheddar cheese.
In a food processor, puree cream cheese, shredded cheese and caramelized onions
With processor running, slowly add beer
Stop processor and scrape down sides. Turn machine back on and repeat as needed until you've achieved a smooth consistency
Add remaining ingredients and continue to puree
Store in crock in refrigerator. Flavors develop and improve over a few days time. Cheese will keep for two weeks. Serve with fresh-cut crudites, dense, thin-sliced German pumpernickel or breadsticks.