Sharing Your Pairing

[stupac2]

Hey dudes, I'm going to a dinner tonight that's BYOB, and while I have a plan I could use a few more eyes on it in case I missed something. Here's the menu:

"Snacks" is like 4-6 different small courses, but we won't know what they are until we get there. Also, since I can only drink so much with that many courses (and it's just my fiancee and me going) I'm planning on bringing ~5 beers, mostly smaller bottles, so they all have to do double-duty. Here's my thinking:

For the snacks a growler of 1500 from my kegerator and a bottle of 3F Geuze. That should be able to handle most anything in there.

For the first 3 main courses a Saison Bernice. I think the light body, acidity, and mild yeastiness/funk will work well with everything there.

For the next 2 main courses a Westy XII, so a bit over 1-year-old quad. I'm not really sure how well that'll go with the pork, but it should work great with the rabbit.

For the first two desserts a BCBS. I normally hate pairing stouts with desserts, but since those are both fruit-heavy and probably not too sweet I don't think it'll clash.

The "treats" are the same deal as the snacks, but smaller. I was thinking a Framboise for that, but I don't have any! So I grabbed a 3F Kriek, which I think will go with whatever comes up, and could also be serviceable if we get a surprise with the snacks (and might work with the pork too).

So there it is. If anyone has any advice, lmk. I'll take pictures and update the thread sometime tomorrow.

 

[RyanG1]

Hey dudes, I'm going to a dinner tonight that's BYOB, and while I have a plan I could use a few more eyes on it in case I missed something. Here's the menu:

"Snacks" is like 4-6 different small courses, but we won't know what they are until we get there. Also, since I can only drink so much with that many courses (and it's just my fiancee and me going) I'm planning on bringing ~5 beers, mostly smaller bottles, so they all have to do double-duty. Here's my thinking:

For the snacks a growler of 1500 from my kegerator and a bottle of 3F Geuze. That should be able to handle most anything in there.

For the first 3 main courses a Saison Bernice. I think the light body, acidity, and mild yeastiness/funk will work well with everything there.

For the next 2 main courses a Westy XII, so a bit over 1-year-old quad. I'm not really sure how well that'll go with the pork, but it should work great with the rabbit.

For the first two desserts a BCBS. I normally hate pairing stouts with desserts, but since those are both fruit-heavy and probably not too sweet I don't think it'll clash.

The "treats" are the same deal as the snacks, but smaller. I was thinking a Framboise for that, but I don't have any! So I grabbed a 3F Kriek, which I think will go with whatever comes up, and could also be serviceable if we get a surprise with the snacks (and might work with the pork too).

So there it is. If anyone has any advice, lmk. I'll take pictures and update the thread sometime tomorrow.

No advice, but droooool! Been wanting to go to Lazy Bear, but with the wife being a vegetarian who will eat fish (go figure!) it seems a no go.

 

[stupac2]

No advice, but droooool! Been wanting to go to Lazy Bear, but with the wife being a vegetarian who will eat fish (go figure!) it seems a no go.

There's only one non-seafood dish on there, though the last time I went there were a number.

 

[aml42000]

Bought some pork belly the other day to make some bacon. Decided to use a pound of pork belly to make this (this is basically a modified David Chang / Momofuku deal):

Quick rub of sugar, salt and togarashi.


Roasted at about 450 for an hour then down to 200 for an hour. Baste in its own fat every 15 minutes or so.




Toast some rolls in pork fat, throw in some home made pickles (cukes, rice wine vinegar, honey, soy, sesame oil), scallions, hoisin, sriracha.



I find that sours work pretty well with Asian flavors for the same reason that acidic wines like dry Rieslings or gruners do, in some cases even better. The carbonation really cuts through the fat as well. There are probably better beers that would have worked in this case, but I really enjoyed the pairing.

I want to eat it all. Will poach this recipe!

 

[EliotRosewater]

I want to eat it all. Will poach this recipe!

Chang does an actual cure (24 hours, more or less). I actually prefer to just do a rub and not really cure the belly. Let us know the results!

 

[EliotRosewater]

Saison Bernice.

Right on. Saisons tend to pair well with most food and Bernice is probably the best example of this. ******* A.

 

[stupac2]

Right on. Saisons tend to pair well with most food and Bernice is probably the best example of this. ******* A.

That was my thought. Saisons, especially the less-yeasty ones, pair with ******* everything. It's pairing cheat mode. Plus B6 is one of the best beers I've had, period, so it's a great one to break out for something like this.

 

[aml42000]

Hey dudes, I'm going to a dinner tonight that's BYOB, and while I have a plan I could use a few more eyes on it in case I missed something. Here's the menu:

"Snacks" is like 4-6 different small courses, but we won't know what they are until we get there. Also, since I can only drink so much with that many courses (and it's just my fiancee and me going) I'm planning on bringing ~5 beers, mostly smaller bottles, so they all have to do double-duty. Here's my thinking:

For the snacks a growler of 1500 from my kegerator and a bottle of 3F Geuze. That should be able to handle most anything in there.

For the first 3 main courses a Saison Bernice. I think the light body, acidity, and mild yeastiness/funk will work well with everything there.

For the next 2 main courses a Westy XII, so a bit over 1-year-old quad. I'm not really sure how well that'll go with the pork, but it should work great with the rabbit.

For the first two desserts a BCBS. I normally hate pairing stouts with desserts, but since those are both fruit-heavy and probably not too sweet I don't think it'll clash.

The "treats" are the same deal as the snacks, but smaller. I was thinking a Framboise for that, but I don't have any! So I grabbed a 3F Kriek, which I think will go with whatever comes up, and could also be serviceable if we get a surprise with the snacks (and might work with the pork too).

So there it is. If anyone has any advice, lmk. I'll take pictures and update the thread sometime tomorrow.

I agree with your choices. I never love any drinks w/ dessert, so I might enjoy the BCBS alone after the desserts. Looks like a great meal & great night.

 

[EliotRosewater]

I agree with your choices. I never love any drinks w/ dessert, so I might enjoy the BCBS alone after the desserts. Looks like a great meal & great night.

I agree the dessert. The desserts seem to be on the lighter side and a big ass stout might overpower them.

 

[user 306809]

Anyone ever eat tangelos or clementines while drinking a dank IPA? I love doing that.

 

[stupac2]

I agree the dessert. The desserts seem to be on the lighter side and a big ass stout might overpower them.

Could be! Based on my last time I don't think so, but we'll find out.

 

[nanobrew1]

I agree the dessert. The desserts seem to be on the lighter side and a big ass stout might overpower them.

That is what I was about to say. If I was to pick a beer to go with those I would choose something light and slightly tart like Orval or Sanctification. Otherwise I could see a flanders red going well.

 

[Michigan1]

Anyone ever eat tangelos or clementines while drinking a dank IPA? I love doing that.

Da **** is a tangelo? Some hippie science fruit that will turn my brain to mush and give me autism? Give me some grapes, ************.

 

[user 306809]

Da **** is a tangelo? Some hippie science fruit that will turn my brain to mush and give me autism? Give me some grapes, ************.

Tangelos are the best. They're the result of a cross pollination between a mandarin and a grapefruit. They are super easy to peel because they have this little nobby thing and they are far more delicious than either of the parent fruits.

 

[stupac2]

That is what I was about to say. If I was to pick a beer to go with those I would choose something light and slightly tart like Orval or Sanctification. Otherwise I could see a flanders red going well.

Hmm, I do have a 2-year-old Orval I could bring...

 

[Michigan1]

Tangelos are the best. They're the result of a cross pollination between a mandarin and a grapefruit.

Sooooo...... why do they call it a Tangelo and not a ManFruit?

 

[user 306809]

Sooooo...... why do they call it a Tangelo and not a ManFruit?

I think maybe a Pomelo was the original fruit they crossed with so Tangerine + Pomelo.

But I agree ManFruit is a better name... although maybe that's what bananas should be called?

 

[tectactoe1]

I've posted about poached eggs in the food pr0n thread, but I made two perfect ones for breakfast and just had to enter them here. This is right after poaching, placed on top of two halves of a sandwich thin:



Nothing special or tricky done, just poached in lightly salted water, that we heated to just below boiling then removed from the heat, for about 4 minutes. My "trick", if there is any, is to roll the egg out of a bowl into the water, actually letting the water get into the bowl and guide the egg out. This seems to keep everything nicely together.

Next step is to top the eggs with pineapple habanero salsa and shredded cheese, and broil for a few minutes until the cheese is nicely melted and starting to brown:



The obvious pairing, given that this was breakfast, would have been a Breakfast Stout or a Terrapin Wake-N-Bake, but I had neither already chilled in the fridge so I opted for a Highland Black Mocha stout, which filled in nicely.

need to learn how to poach eggs like dis. i would make eggs benedict much more often if i was able.

 

[JulianB1]

need to learn how to poach eggs like dis. i would make eggs benedict much more often if i was able.

In the food porn thread there's a Youtube video about poaching eggs. The process in that video is basically what I do now.

 

[Michigan1]

But I agree ManFruit is a better name... although maybe that's what bananas should be called?

Because they resemble a penis?

 

[user 306809]

Because they resemble a penis?

You're pretty quick on the uptake there.

 

[nanobrew1]

You're pretty quick on the uptake there.

he is just a little confused as he is used to them looking like button mushrooms

 

[Michigan1]

he is just a little confused as he is used to them looking like button mushrooms

 

[stupac2]

Okay, so that dinner was awesome. Here are the dishes/beers and my thoughts on them. I didn't take notes so this is all from memory, I definitely missed the descriptions on some of the off-menu dishes, sorry about that.

As I said before my goal was to only bring 6 beers (should have done 5) and have something that would pair well/decently with every dish. This is hard when you don't actually know what half the dishes will be! But I went with:

Growler of 1500 (local pale ale)
2012 3F Geuze
Saison Bernice B6
2012 Westvleteren 12
BCBS '13
2012 3F Kriek

I should have left the BCBS at home because, as we discussed yesterday, pairing with desserts is hard, and with all the food the extra 15% beer was just too much. I was a bit hung over this morning, I think about 50-50 due to salt/richness and alcohol.

Anyway, here we go.

Snack: Whipped scrambled eggs with bacon-maple hot sauce

They apparently do this dish every time with some variation on the sauce, and it's superb. Paired with 1500, worked well together, though not amazingly. Doubt geuze would've been better.


Snack: Blueberries with pork fat, mushrooms, pine needle shoots, and pine-infused olive oil

The chef said this would taste like hops. Worked well with 1500. I didn't love this dish but it was solid.


Snack: Abalone liver puree on squid ink cracker with cavier

Paired with 2012 3F Geuze. Hard to tell how well it worked with such a small serving. Apparently abalone liver is really prized, and while this was very tasty it's difficult for me to know if the delicasy status of the liver is warranted.


Snack: Abalone broth

Paired with the geuze and with 1500, each worked okay but I think the temperature difference of the liquids messed with me. The broth was delicious, I love those fishy, umami-filled broths.


Snack: Molasses bread with butter and whey

Again paired with both the geuze and with 1500, I think both worked about as well, for different reasons. Since the dish is basically all fat you just want something to cut it without introducing a ton of strong flavors on its own, both gueuze and pale ale will accomplish that.


Entree: Sweet peas, buttermilk custard, deviled egg, lomo

(Sorry for the ****** picture, I didn't realize it was bad until it was too late.) Paired with Saison Bernice. I think Bernice was just a bit too aggressive for this dish, everything about the food was mild, and this batch of Bernice is anything but mild. 1500 might have worked better but I had drank it all.


Entree: Morels fondue, asparagus, crawfish, brown butter

Paired with the Saison Bernice. This was my favorite dish of the night, and the pairing worked great. The lightness and acidity of the beer went wonderfully with the richness of everything on the plate and nothing clashed.


Entree: King salmon, fava beans, avocado.

Paired with the Bernice again. This one was my least favorite dish (no knock against it, more "not my thing" than "poorly done"), but the pairing might have been the best of the night. The beer and the dish sang together, a flavor in each complementing one in the other, and nothing clashing.


Entree: Abalone "steak"

Bernice again. I hadn't had abalone before, it was interestingly flavorful but kind of tough. Pairing was fine and not remarkable, not sure what I would've done here that could be better.


Entree: "Korean lost in Georgia", pork belly confit, collard green kimchi, pickled peach, potlikker

Paired with Westy. The beer paired amazingly with the pork belly, in what was probably the best individual-component pairing of the night, but went relatively poorly with the rest of the dish, I think because there was a lot of acidity in everything (which I wasn't expecting). Fortunately the pork flavors last a lot longer on the palate than the others, so it wasn't much of a problem.


Entree: Rabbit confit, potato, tarragon, carrot, frisee

This was delicious, though salty, and went well with the westy, though the pork was better (I actually expected the opposite coming in).


Dessert: White Peach, violet, almond

Paired with BCBS and 3F Kriek. I wasn't expecting this to be an ice cream, so the BCBS didn't work so well. The Kriek was great though.


Dessert: Strawberry, pink pepper, creme fraiche, opal basil

This was what I was expecting, so the BCBS worked pretty well. Kriek did too.


Treats: Sou vide chocolate chip cookies, s'more, macaroon with rhubarb, gelee with balsamic vinegar, fancy jelly donut.

Given the portion sizes it was hard to really tell what worked here, and given how full I was at this point I gave up a little bit with the pairings...

 

[aml42000]

This is perfect (IMO) for a Saison or farmhouse ale, but would work well with Gueze/Lambic/Wilds as well. It is also a great dish as a side salad when you get sick of greens. Simple Radish Salad.

2 Bunches of radishes thinly sliced.
Dressed with:
2 tbsp mayonnaise emulsified w/ 2 Tbsp of olive oil.
Whisk in juice of one lemon, a tbsp of parsley & a tsp of fresh thyme.
Season w/ salt & pepper (the radishes can handle a lot of black pepper).

Refrigerate minimum 15 min & serve.

 

[BadJustin]

This is perfect (IMO) for a Saison or farmhouse ale, but would work well with Gueze/Lambic/Wilds as well. It is also a great dish as a side salad when you get sick of greens. Simple Radish Salad.

2 Bunches of radishes thinly sliced.
Dressed with:
2 tbsp mayonnaise emulsified w/ 2 Tbsp of olive oil.
Whisk in juice of one lemon, a tbsp of parsley & a tsp of fresh thyme.
Season w/ salt & pepper (the radishes can handle a lot of black pepper).

Refrigerate minimum 15 min & serve.

I love radishes and this sounds pretty dank. Will be making this. Thanks.

 

[Romulux]

This is perfect (IMO) for a Saison or farmhouse ale, but would work well with Gueze/Lambic/Wilds as well. It is also a great dish as a side salad when you get sick of greens. Simple Radish Salad.

2 Bunches of radishes thinly sliced.
Dressed with:
2 tbsp mayonnaise emulsified w/ 2 Tbsp of olive oil.
Whisk in juice of one lemon, a tbsp of parsley & a tsp of fresh thyme.
Season w/ salt & pepper (the radishes can handle a lot of black pepper).

Refrigerate minimum 15 min & serve.

The Radish, very underrated! I am gonna make this and wear my new shirt

(I don't actually have this shirt...but I want one)

 

[falc0n26001]

Anchor Steam and marijuana!

 

[Steve2]

I've become a fan of making home made 'coal fired' pizza using a charcoal grill. Pairs well with almost any beer imaginable. Pizza is the magical beer food as saisons are the magical food beer. Will post pictures next time this happens.

 

[drbenzo1]

This is the best pairing I've ever done, with the help of my wife and close friends. We put together a pairing for every Vetical Epic and drank and ate all day! It was fantastic!