Celebrate National Culinary Arts Month

School of Hospitality faculty and staff members are sharing their best recipes all month long.

By Siet Wright

July 1, 2020

It’s National Culinary Arts Month, and School of Hospitality faculty and staff members are cooking, grilling and chilling up some delicious dishes to celebrate. Stay tuned throughout the month to get great recipes and links to YouTube cooking tutorials for summery beverages, appetizers, main dishes and desserts. If you try a recipe at home, be sure to comment here and tag Metropolitan State University of Denver and the School of Hospitality on your social-media pics.

To kick off the month, Chef Jason Rice shares a classic summer meal: grilled brats followed by triple-berry crisp ice cream.

Brats and Triple-Berry Crisp Ice Cream

Time: About 45 minutes

Ingredients

Brats

- 10 Each Bratwursts

- 2 Pounds Sauerkraut, drained and liquid squeezed out

- 5 Ounces Bacon, cut into half-inch pieces and cooked until crispy

- 1 Large Sweet Apple, such as Fuji or Gala, cored, cut in half, and cut into quarter-inch slices

- 12 Ounces of your preferred ale

- 10 Bratwurst Buns

Whole Grain Mustard

Triple-Berry Crisp Ice Cream

1 Quart Whole Milk

2 Cups Heavy Cream

1 Vanilla Bean - Split

14 Egg Yolks

1 Pound Granulated Sugar

2 Cups Frozen Mixed Berries

1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

1 2/3 Cup Butter - Softened

½ Cup Flour

½ Cup Old Fashioned Oats

1 Cup Pecans

Directions

Brats

1. Preheat grill to medium.
2. When the grill is hot, line up bratwursts on the grill, leaving a little bit of space between each brat. Cook for about 4 minutes on one side, turn brats over, and cook for another 4 minutes.
3. In a foil pan, combine the apples, sauerkraut and bacon. Add the brats to the pan and pour in 12 ounces of ale. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for about 10-12 minutes.

Triple-Berry Crisp Ice Cream

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the egg yolks and sugar and whisk until thoroughly combined. 

2. In a 4-quart heavy-bottom sauce pot, bring the milk, cream and vanilla to a boil. 

3. Slowly pour the hot dairy into the yolk/sugar mixture, achieving a smooth, pale yellow color.  

Rinse out the 4-quart sauce pot and fill with about 2 inches of water. 

4. Place the pot on high heat until the water comes to a boil. Turn heat down to medium-low. 

5. Place the mixing bowl with the dairy and yolks on top of the sauce pot and whisk mixture until it reaches about 160 degrees. Now, we have a cooked custard. 

The reason we cook the custard to 160 degrees is to eliminate the chance of getting salmonella infection. 

It is best to use an instant-read thermometer to check the egg mixture. However, if you do not have one, the custard is done when it coats the back of a spoon and when you run your finger through it, a trail is left and will not run. 

6. Pull the bowl off the pot, place a piece of plastic large enough to cover the entire surface area on the custard and place in the fridge to chill for about an hour. 

7. Pour about half of the custard and 1 cup of the frozen berries into your ice-cream maker and, following the manufacturer’s recommended directions, freeze the custard. 

8. Repeat with the second portion of custard and second cup of mixed berries.   

NOTE: If you do not have an ice-cream maker, you could divide the custard into two separate appropriate containers and divide the mixed berries between the two containers. Place the mixture into the freezer and stir the custard every 30 minutes until it is frozen. Though this may not produce an airy ice cream, it will produce a similar result.  

9. When ready to serve, scoop about a lemon-size portion of ice cream into a serving bowl and sprinkle with 2-3 tablespoons of crumble mixture. 

Triple-Berry Crisp Ice Cream - Crumble

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  
2. Using a wooden spoon, mix the butter and brown sugar until thoroughly combined. 
3. Fold in the flour, oats and pecans until all of the flour is absorbed. 
4. Sprinkle the crumble mixture evenly over the prepared lined baking sheet. You may need to break up pieces of the crumble with your fingers.  
5. The objective is to get about pea-size pieces. 
6. Bake for about 10 minutes, rotate the pan and gently stir the crumbles and bake for another 10 minutes.  
7. The crumble should come out golden brown in color and be slightly crunchy, so it may need to bake a bit longer than 20 minutes total. 
8. As the crumble cools, it will become crunchier.