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Hellfish76

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My parents are coming to my house for Christmas dinner this year and I thought it would be fun for them to do a beer & food pairing dinner (especially since they were the ones who bought me my first homebrewing kit). They are both foodies and really appreciate good food & wine pairings, but I want to show them that food & beer goes just as well (and show off my homebrews).

My kitchen is kinda small and I have limited equipment, but I'm a more than competent chef. Here are the beers I want to use and my current thoughts on what to pair with them:

Ginger Orange Pale Ale: Spinach salad with some slices of orange & a citrus vinaigrette

IPA (very strong hop flavor in this IPA): I'm struggling to pair this with something, but was thinking about having it with cheese (a nice blue & cheddar perhaps) & crackers.

Smoked Red (kind of a hybrid of a Red & a Rauchbier): Some sort of roast or tenderloin with sweet potatoes & brussel sprouts.

Vanilla Bourbon Barrel Stout: Some chocolaty dessert, perhaps truffles or a chocolate tort (I want to do a souffle, but I don't trust myself to get that right)

Any comments or suggestions would be most appreciated!
 
That sounds amazing! I'm coming over! Well, my wife would be pretty pissed if I did, so maybe not... Great menu though.

You may want to listen to this evening's show of The Home Brewed Chef. He was talking about food pairings for the holidays. Here's the link: http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/702
 
Superb idea! If you haven't already, I recommend reading Garrett Oliver's book "The Brewmaster's Table." It isn't just about listing dish pairings, but also flavor pairings which are a great guide for coming up with some of your own. I've stumbled upon a couple that I hadn't considered before, and easily stand up to my favorite wine pairings.
 
If you're struggling for something to pair the IPA with, maybe you should switch it with the smoked beer. IMO smoked beers are a great pairing with many cheeses, and who doesn't love an IPA with red meat? I obviously don't know what they taste like though, but it's just a thought.
 
The menu sounds tasty. The only suggestion I could make would be to offer something that is going to cut the bitterness in your cheese course. Bitter hops & bitter cheese might be much. You could even swap the rauchbier and the IPA. Bitter IPA with a tenderloin would be tasty. Then do a smoked beer with a smoked or creamy cheese pairing. Just a thought.
 
When I pair food with beer I like to have some conflicting yet complementing flavors going on. Matching an orange beer with an orange salad seems redundant and boring honestly.

Like pairing a bitter beer with something sweet. Your taste buds almost crave the balance.

The beers seem interesting to work with and the idea is great but I am thinking a ginger orange pale ale might go better with something spicy like a Thai appetizer or something or spicy spring rolls.

And a little fresh mint in your dessert would make it! Have fun.
 
My parents are coming to my house for Christmas dinner this year and I thought it would be fun for them to do a beer & food pairing dinner (especially since they were the ones who bought me my first homebrewing kit). They are both foodies and really appreciate good food & wine pairings, but I want to show them that food & beer goes just as well (and show off my homebrews).

My kitchen is kinda small and I have limited equipment, but I'm a more than competent chef. Here are the beers I want to use and my current thoughts on what to pair with them:

Ginger Orange Pale Ale: Spinach salad with some slices of orange & a citrus vinaigrette

IPA (very strong hop flavor in this IPA): I'm struggling to pair this with something, but was thinking about having it with cheese (a nice blue & cheddar perhaps) & crackers.

Smoked Red (kind of a hybrid of a Red & a Rauchbier): Some sort of roast or tenderloin with sweet potatoes & brussel sprouts.

Vanilla Bourbon Barrel Stout: Some chocolaty dessert, perhaps truffles or a chocolate tort (I want to do a souffle, but I don't trust myself to get that right)

Any comments or suggestions would be most appreciated!

Orange beer with orange salad seems very redundant. Assuming it's a sweeter beer, I'd pair it off with something spicy (previous posters spicy thai idea sounds good) or very tart (drop the oranges from the salad and put an extra bit of acid in the vinaigrette).

Just the thought of the smoked red sounds so good it's making me drool. I'd probably pair with red meat not pork.

The other two sound fine to me to be honest, though I'd try and cut that dessert with something not just chocolatechocolatechocolate to not have sweet overload (chocolate and orange go great together, maybe here is where you can work those oranges in).
 
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