I was wondering if somebody could help me with a question. When cooking with a given beer, do you pair that food with the same beer that you cooked the dish with. I'm aware that this may very well be a matter of opinion, but I'd like to hear some differing ones on if so why or at the very least how to pair a different beer w/a food cooked with a specific one
You can serve whatever you like but it's pretty fail safe that serving the beer (or wine) that you cooked w/ will not clash w/ the dish. The only thing I might change is for instance if I cooked w/ an average to slightly above average stout I might wanna serve my guests a great stout w/ the meal; but one w/ a similar scale as to not wack things outta balance.
Tonight I'm making flank steak served in a Framboise marinade, I'm gonna serve it with Gulden draak and chocolate cake for desert so we'll see how that goes
There's no rule on this, as far as I know. See it as an opportunity to explore. Try the included beer as a paired beer. Try other beers. See what works best for your palate and preferences. Cheers
well the framboise flank steak was great and Gulden Draak went very well with it so at the very least we now know that that will work well
that would probably be great too, I we had not consumed all of it i'd be inclined to give that a try, I'm sure it would be delicious
Yeah Gulden Draak is sweet so the sugars in the marinade might caramelize nicely on the grill. Garlic and blue cheese mash potatoes on the side.
For whatever reason I almost never pair the meal with the beer I cooked with. Unless its homebrew, in which case, its probably the only kind I have on hand.
interesting, cite me an example, so I can see what you are doing instead, I mean, is it on purpose, or you just happen not to?
Its more of just happenstance. Here are a few examples: -Maple Stout BBQ Sauce for some ribs using Sam Smith Imperial Stout, but I only bought one bottle for the sauce. The meal I ate with an Amber (Kirkland brand, don't hate me). -Bacon and Beer Mac n' Cheese. Used homebrewed Pale Ale in the mac. Then I brought it to a friends house and we drank DFH 60minute with it. -Chili with Homebrewed Oatmeal Stout. Ate it for days later on hotdogs, in bowls, omelets, etc. Usually paired it with a Cali Common or Pale Ale Homebrew.
sadly, I live where I cannot get any Dogfish Head stuff, it's depressing, I love doing beer chili but I often feel like the beer doesn't have enough of a flavoring effect to justify using it, I used guinness once and maudite the other time, it was good on both occasions
Well I used a skillet but it would probably work better honestly, we did potatoes with irish garlic and herb butter and white cheddar.
for me I know I always try to pair when I am having something that's even remotely above swill just because anytime I don't think about it, the results are disastrous so I try to avoid as many negative combinations as possible, for me at least you have to put a bare minimum some thought into it
Well first of all the two are definitely not mutually exclusive. Having said that, I believe ambers to be the best pairing for bbq, and PAs or IPAs with mac n cheese is a revelation.
@ssam - The act of choosing to pair and not to certainly are two different acts; even if the resultant combination works for you.
I don't understand you. The OP asks if there was ever a time when we paired a dish with beer as an ingredient with a different beer. I offered up a few examples. The bbq sauce on the ribs using Sam Smith Imperial Stout was paired with an amber, because I find ambers to be the most complimentary paring to bbq in pretty much any case (even when there is stout in the sauce). I love the pairing of an IPA with mac n cheese, but I prefer to use a normal PA in my beer and bacon mac n cheese because the cooking draws out more bitterness from a heavily hopped beer. So yes, they worked for me. Becuase a) they pair well together and b) because I like them. Do you pair meals with beers you don't like?
