http://www.goonswithspoons.com/Beer_cheese_soup
Serves: 10+ Difficulty: Medium - some experience needed
Ingredients
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup carrot, diced
2 potatoes,peeled and 1" diced
16 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated
7 cups chicken stock (I bought 2 4 cup boxes of stock)
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp white pepper
4 tbsp butter
1 package sausage or brats
1 package bacon
very tasty beer (Rogue Dead Guy Ale is very yummy in this recipe)
Method
1. Open up your cooking beer and pour into a larger container to get warm and flat.
2. Toss bacon in a glass dish in a 350 degree oven and bake until fully cooked – about 20 minutes.
3. While waiting for bacon to cook, add some vegetable oil to a pan and toss in the onions, carrots, and celery. I ground a dash of black pepper over it. Cook until the onions are soft and almost translucent. When done set aside to cool.
4. When bacon is done, blot off some of the grease and then chop into fine pieces. Reserve about 4tbsp of the bacon grease.
5. Add cooled veggies to the blender along with 1 cup of chicken stock. Blend until there are no more chunks.
6. Add the reserved bacon fat to a tall pot on medium-low heat. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in with it and whisk in the 8 tbsp of flour. Start adding chicken stock as soon as the flour, butter, and fat are smooth.
7. Stir and add the stock slowly to keep it mixed well. Bring the base up to a boil over medium high heat.
8. Add the vegetable puree and return to a boil.
9. Add white pepper.
10. Slowly, one small handful at a time, add in the cheese. Keep stirring, and do not add more cheese until the previous handful has melted completely. It may be necessary to turn down the heat.
11. When all the cheese is added in, toss in the potatoes.
12. About this time, you should cook up the sausage. Stir the soup every minute or so while the meat cooks. When the sausage is done, cut it up and put it on the pot.
13. Turn off the heat and pour in the beer. Careful, the beer might try to foam up out of the pot.
14. Serve with bacon sprinkled on top.