Archive for the 'Pairing Beer with Food' Category

FAILED PAIRING

Published by Josh on February 21, 2008 in Beer Reviews and Pairing Beer with Food. 0 Comments

In my defense, this was a rushed job. I was making a curry dish, but I didn’t have a cool beer to match it with. I hit Whole Foods on my way home from work to find something. I was thinking IPA, as it would hold up well to all of the spices. I also wanted something that I hadn’t had before, I was feeling adventurous. A quick scan of the selection returned a new offering from Lagunitas… the second part of their Frank Zappa series no less! I’m in.

Now, here’s where the cats over at Lagunitas are at least partly to blame for this mishap. You see, they don’t really tell you what style these beers are. They get you all hot and bothered with some cool photograph of the man, the legend, himself… and there you are forking over your $4 for a bomber of it. Not even thinking about whether or not it’s the style you happened to be in the mood for on this particular evening. It’s anyone’s guess what sort of beer is in there, unless you’ve done your homework online. I had not.

That brings us to this attempt at pairing my Curry Channa & Potato with a malty beverage.

Given that the first Frank Zappa beer from these guys, titled Kill Ugly Radio, was an IPA (double?), I guess I just assumed that this one would be as well. I mean, pretty much anything that Lagunitas puts out is going to be on the hoppy side. Even that kick ass Cappuccino Stout that I reviewed here had way more hop flavor than any stout I’ve ever had.

Well, they decided to change things up with this one. I would call Lumpy Gravy a strong brown ale. It’s roasty, and nutty, very heavy on the malts. 7.2% heavy. There’s no shortage of bittering hops, but almost none of the aroma or flavor varieties. And that’s fine, it was a solid brown ale. Assuming that you were in the market for one. Tonight, I was not.

The recipe is one that was passed down to me by a previous co-worker. She is one of the nicest people that I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. She is from Trinidad, and this was a dish that she had eaten most of her life. She is a vegetarian, so naturally we discussed what each other ate on a regular basis. One morning she peeked her head in my office and informed me that she had brought lunch for me. I was both excited and scared. I love trying new food, but I typically like to do it in the comfort of a restaurant where I’m free to say that it sucks. That day I discovered a dish that I’m confident I will eat for the rest of my life too.

Curry Channa & Potato

  • 1 lb of chickpeas (aka channa or garbanzo beans)
  • 4 medium fingerling potatoes
  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 4 to 6 cloves of garlic, depending on how you roll.
  • 2 heaping tablespoons of curry spice mix
  • 2 1/2 cups of water or vegetable stock

The spice mix is where it gets tricky. After gushing about how much I loved the lunch, the next thing I knew I had a huge ziplock bag full of the spice mixture. Shipped from relatives still in Trinidad, mind you. So I really don’t know the exact recipe for this stuff. I’m guessing it’s a mix of coriander, cumin, turmeric, nutmeg… perhaps some cayenne and a pinch of cinnamon? It had a few whole bay leaves in it too. I need to get this figured out because tonight’s dinner was the end of the precious blend that I had left.

The broccoli was done in a pan, with a little butter, garlic, roasted red pepper and lemon at the end of cooking. Even though the beer wasn’t what I was going for with this dish, it still worked. It’s a damn fine brew, and I salute Lagunitas for honoring Mr Zappa with this mysterious series. Even if Frank was a proponent of sobriety. It’s true, look it up! How anyone could write a song warning it’s listeners not to “eat the yellow snow” without having a head full of acid is beyond me. But it’s one of the most fascinating facts that I’ve learned in recent years. When asked about his assumed drug use, Frank once said “I’m an absolutely sober person. I don’t consume alcohol. I don’t smoke weed. But I drink gallons of coffee.” Dude was a freak… in a really, really good way.

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE?

Published by Josh on January 4, 2008 in Pairing Beer with Food and The Session. 1 Comment

I must admit, the doppelbock is not a style that I’ve had much experience with. I’ve been a fan of some of the other members of the bock family though, so I was excited to learn more. I thought that rather than going over one particular beer with a fine tooth comb I would get to know the history of the style, as well as it’s characteristics and pair it with some food. I hit a couple of my favorite beer purveyors and rounded up three doppelbocks. Then I set out to read about the history of the double bock.

Traditionally, the doppelbock was brewed by monks during their Lenten season. Instead of using their grains to make bread, they decided to put them to use in making malt bombs. The first strong Lenten beer was brewed by the Paulaner monks who arrived in Munich from Italy in 1627. Being the good monks that they were, they worried that this beer might be too much of an indulgence to enjoy during Lent. To settle the debate they shipped off a cask of the brew to the Holy Father back in Rome to get his blessing. In transit to Italy, the cask was subjected to heat and uneven roads and was nearly undrinkable by the time it arrived. Rather than tell the monks that they made shitty beer, he gave it his blessing on the premise that drinking such a vile brew would be good for the monks’ souls.

They sucked down as much of the beer as they could, all in the name of their Savior, until a little man named Napoleon came along and changed the rules. In an attempt to seperate church and state, Mr. Bonaparte declared that the church was not allowed to own any property, including a brewery. So the Paulaner brewery sat unused for a number of years, until 1806 when it was rented to a “civilian” brewer named Franz Xaver Zacherl. He continued brewing the beer and eventually bought the brewery outright.

Sometime around 1835 brother Franz ran into some trouble with the law too. Apparently the public enjoyed his beer so much that there were multiple complaints of the peace being disturbed around the area where his beer was being served and his license was revoked. Two years later, he found a friend in King Ludwig of Bavaria who stated “As long as I do not decree otherwise, the authorities are herewith empowered to grant an annual permit for the dispensing of Salvator beer. Regular closing hours, however, must be observed, but no taxes may be levied, because this beer is to be considered a luxury item.” This was the first recorded reference to Salvator beer, a name still used to this day and one that would have to wait for a patent law to keep others from using it to describe their big beers. After said law went into effect, other breweries had to come up with other creative names for their beers. They weren’t that creative though since most of them ended in the same suffix “ator”. So the likes of Maximator, Triumphator and Celebrator were born.

The original Paulaner Salvator is still brewed on location today. It is lagered in the world’s deepest lager cellar, at 72 feet deep in the ground. Thousands of Munich locals gather in the Paulaner hall to enjoy the first cask of Paulaner Savator which is always tapped by a local celebrity.

According to the BJCP style guidelines, a doppelbock should have a strong malty aroma with little evidence of hops. Some toasty notes are fine, as are dark fruits, but it should never smell roasted. In the glass it should be a dark golden to dark brown color, with reddish highlights. Since lager yeasts are used, the beer should be very clear. The flavor should pretty much match the aroma. Big malts, light on the hops, a little dark fruit and chocolate are optional.

The doppelbocks that I sampled were the Ayinger Celebrator, Paulaner Salvator and Aventinus from Schneider-Weisse. The dish that I paired them with was a Mexican style pizza.

I made two versions of the pizza, one with chorizo for my wife and the other I substituted black beans for the chorizo. To start, I took two tortillas and put a blend of cheddar and jack cheeses between them and grilled them in a pan. This would serve as the crust. Once they were nice and crispy, I topped both of the crusts with a layer of Asadero cheese. For additional toppings I went with roasted red peppers, some diced and grilled potatoes, pico de gallo and some green onions. My reasoning for these toppings was to choose ones that would stand up to all of the sweet maltiness of the beer. I didn’t want any delicate flavors that would get lost in the mix. I figured that the chorizo would hold up well with it’s savory flavor and greasy goodness. Also, Garrett Oliver, author of The Brewmaster’s Table suggests Mexican food with a doppelbock.

As for my thoughts on the style and the versions that I sampled, I would say that this isn’t my favorite style, mostly due to the lack of hops. I tend to stay away from the really sweet beers. I will say that the Celebrator deserves all of the hype that it gets on Beer Advocate and elsewhere. This one is, from what I can tell, the perfect specimen of the double bock. Hints of brown gooey stuff like molasses and caramel in the nose, and in the mouth. It’s a little more dry than the other two, with a nice creamy head that laces down the glass until the very last drop. And let’s not forget the little plastic goat that’s included with the bottle. Although I don’t have any, I would think this would be a good toy to keep the ankle biters busy while you enjoy this tasty beverage.

Thanks to Wilson at Brewvana for hosting this Session. I had a great time learning about the doppelbock, and I always enjoy my time in the kitchen, especially if I’m mating my food with beer.

Prost!

APPLES TO APPLES

Published by Josh on December 27, 2007 in Beer Reviews and Pairing Beer with Food. 0 Comments

Well, I thought I better pull myself out of the holiday stupor and update the blog. I started a new tradition this year which was a Christmas breakfast consisting of crepes and latkes. I’ve always really liked eating crepes, but hadn’t tried making them before. It has also come to light in recent years that I might be about 25 percent Jewish, so I thought I’d embrace that heritage in a culinary fashion. I think we’ve got the start to a nice tradition. I made two fillings for the crepes, caramelized apples and a strawberry cream. The latkes were your basic shredded potatoes and onions, seasoned with salt, pepper and slivers of chives.

The following day at work, I wasn’t feeling much like working. I needed to figure out how to use the rest of the caramelized apples, and then it came to me. I had a bottle of Unibroue’s Ephemere that a guest brought to our last dinner party. I’d been saving it for a special occasion. What better occasion than having a bowl of apples sautéed in butter with cinnamon and brown sugar?

And just like that, we had one kick ass dessert. Caramelized apple crostinis next to Unibroue’s wit beer brewed with apple must. I topped the crostinis with a modest schmear of Monte Enebro cheese, followed by the apples.

The beer was a very nice change to the dark wintery brews I’ve been consuming. Not that I don’t like them, but it’s always nice to change things up. This beer is a Belgian style white ale, brewed with an apple must. As soon as you pop the cork, it’s like you got a smack upside the head from Granny Smith. The apple aroma is incredible and is enough to make your mouth water in anticipation. It pours a pale straw color, with a pure white head that dissipates quickly, leaving a thin ring around the top of the glass.

The first sip starts out with the taste of sweet, freshly pressed apple juice and finishes with the pleasant zing of spices. It’s very dry, and the carbonation level is way above average, not unlike champagne. The balance of fruit and spice is nearly perfect. Just enough sweet to balance out the tartness and to set the stage for the tickle of pie spices. The taste of green apple coats the tongue and seems to linger forever. I also pick up the flavor of yeast in a way that only a Belgian style beer could showcase. I say Belgian “style” because Unibroue actually comes from Canada, but their hearts are definitely closer to Brussels.

This is certainly a beer that I would consider above average. I’m not sure it would make a great session beer though, even with it’s moderate 5.5% abv. However, paired with some creamy white cheese and a fruity desert, I’m quite confident you’ll have dreams of sugar plums dancing in your head.