Archive for February, 2008

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.

WINTER WARMERS

Published by Josh on February 10, 2008 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Is it just me, or does Winter really suck the big one? I hate being cold. I hate being deprived of my precious daylight. I hate jackets. Dead leaves? Yeah, real uplifting. I’ve found that there are only a couple of lines of defense from the Winter Blues. Booze and heavy food. With that I bring you, barley wine and chili.

I have to say, I’ve sampled considerably more barley wines this year than in previous years, and I’m warming up to them. Not that I wasn’t a fan before, but I think that I’ve tried some of the better ones this year and feel that I’ve learned a lot about this odd breed of beer. I would put this one from Real Ale right up there with the best of ‘em. Weighing in at 11% ABV, this is just what I needed to fight off a frigid Texas chill. It could save your life, seriously.

Going in the glass, this stuff is the color of fallen leaves. It looks complex, or is that just the wine glass? The pour is very viscous. It’s like syrup, and doesn’t make a splash as it quickly fills the glass. There’s a bit of a creamy white head that takes a couple of seconds to work it’s way through the thickness. Looks very inviting next to a bowl of flesh-free chili and burning embers. Not to mention the fire in the fireplace.

Raisins, dates and black cherries appear in the nose, alongside bread and booze. Is someone baking a fruitcake? I think I’m getting a buzz, just from the smell. Better drink up.

It feels like I’m pouring wet cement in my mouth. This must be the heaviest liquid known to man. If the thought of pouring uncured concrete down your gullet isn’t appealing, you better shake that shit off because this is very comforting. It’s not unlike taking a dose of Nyquil. Thick, oily warmth covers my mouth.

Right off the bat, I taste toffee, brown sugar and those dried fruits I picked up in the smell. Caramelized malts balanced with a fairly subtle hop profile. They’re mostly of the “piney” variety, with a little bit of the floral kind on the finish. It’s very sweet, but with a touch of hops and a blast of alcohol, I find myself going back for more. The warmth of the alcohol seems to bring out more of the sweetness. This is a sipper for sure.

Turns out the chili was the perfect meal to enjoy with this brew. The heat of the peppers cleaned the sticky sweetness right off of my palate. The density of the beans and potatoes gave something for the alcohol to latch on to. The earthiness of the spices jived perfectly with the evergreen profile of the hops. A match made in heaven.

The potatoes that I mentioned were the only real departure from the norm as far as my chili goes. It’s never exactly the same, but I pretty much start with the same base every time and go from there. For example, there’s always beer in it, but never the same kind. This time around, a cup of my coffee porter that I made a few months ago. As far as the base goes, it looks a little something like this:

  • 1 lb black beans
  • 1 lb red kidney beans
  • 1 lb of fake ground beef (I use Morningstar Farms)
  • two medium yellow onions
  • 1 green, 1 red bell pepper
  • 2 diced jalapenos
  • 3 large diced tomatoes
  • 1 can diced, roasted green chiles (or the real thing if I’ve visited New Mexico recently)
  • 1 can of corn
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 cup of good beer (if you wouldn’t drink it, why would you want to eat it?)
  • 3 cups of vegetable stock
  • chili powder, cumin, black and white pepper, coriander seed and cayenne pepper to taste
  • just a little bit of something sweet (anything from Dr Pepper to chocolate chips)

The beauty of chili is that it’s fairly forgiving. You can experiment quite a bit, which I do every time. What fun is following directions and making the same dish every… single… time? I say go crazy. If you start with a good base, you can afford to branch out a little and see what a little bit of this or that does to it. But most of all, make sure that you’ve got a tasty beverage to wash that hotness down with. Sisyphus from Real Ale will do the trick.

Now, bring on Spring. Cheers!