Les Bonnes Choses

Following the November 20 tailgating party at my place, there were 4 lonely bottles of Bud Light sitting by the back door. And being that not only am I from Canada, but my taste in beers is snobby by even Canadian standards, they remain there, now covered in Chicago's first snowfall of this winter season. However, I am also frugal, or at least try not to be wasteful (which is why they remained there), so I decided to investigate whether beer might work in some kind of potato soup. My standard procedure is to google the ingredients: if "potato beer soup" returns any hits, then I assume that it works well enough to merit a recipe, and have a recipe for reference, should I need any guidance. Fortunately, I have made potato soup several times with my trusty stick blender. Recipes generally seem to call for either baked potatoes, from which you subsequently scoop out the flesh from the skins, or else cubed peeled potatoes which are boiled in the stock. I say to hell with all that effort. By simply prefixing your recipe with the word "rustic", you can just toss some scrubbed and cubed potatoes into the stock, skins and all.

Rustic Milwaukee Potato Soup
2 Potatoes that you can't be bothered to peel
16 oz. Unsalted Chicken Broth
1/2 c. Cheddar Cheese
1 bottle of beer you don't really want to drink
Salt, pepper, rosemary to taste

Wash and cut the potatoes into large (1-inch) cubes, and drop them into a large saucepan. Add the chicken broth, salt, pepper and rosemary. Bring to a boil. Let simmer for enough time to finish a project you started in Photoshop. Add grated cheese and beer. Use your stick blender. Feel the power.

Loaded potato bonus: add sour cream and bacon bits. Instead of sour cream, I used some french onion chip dip that I was also not planning on eating. I think it may have been left over from that same tailgating party. I really got a lot of mileage out of that party. I also added some liquid smoke because I add that stuff to everything. I think I might be addicted to sulphides.