Archive for the ‘beer and food’ Category
Snacks to Beer: Sea Laver!?
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010Defying the English weather
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
As everyone knows, the weather in England is rubbish. Even when it’s sunny, you can be fairly sure there will be a shower just as you’ve set up your picnic.
In May, we were faced with a long bank holiday weekend where the rain didn’t stop in London, but we decided to ignore it and go on another tapeo (tapas crawl). Sod the rain. We were going to pretend we were in Spain.
If you treat a crappy Greene King pub like you would a Spanish bar, it’s not half bad. The tourists just added to the atmosphere, and our two halves of cold Kronenbourg didn’t taste any worse than Mahou does in Madrid. And they had some decent olives to nibble on. Result.
Next up, the Queen’s Head and Artichoke. As a pub, it probably wouldn’t be our cup of tea, but as a tapas bar, it was great. They let us sit at the bar to drink our Bitburger and had a proper, convincing tapas menu, which we ordered bits and pieces from over the course of an hour or so.
Finally, we headed for the Norfolk Arms. It’s more of a restaurant than a bar despite being (we think) somehow related to the previous place. They were a bit sniffy because we didn’t want a table and a full meal but they put up with it. We put away some serrano ham, a few Estrella Damms and, finally, a couple of glasses of sherry.
When we left, it was still raining, but we’d very successfully banished the bank holiday blues.
Snacks to beer part 2 — schmaltz/smalec
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
I have very happy memories of visiting Poland. Chief among them is the great joy I experienced in Wroc?aw when presented with a free — yes, free! — plate of bread and dripping with my first pint at Piwnica Swidnicka.
Since then, I’ve also enjoyed it at as ‘schmaltz‘ in various places in Germany, most notably Klosterbräu in Bamberg which has several varieties, including goose fat.
They say you shouldn’t eat greasy food with beer and, yes, if you’re carrying out any kind of formal tasting, it’s probably a bad idea. But, in the real world, nothing makes a wheat beer zing like a piece of rye bread spread thickly with spicy, salty, onion-laced lard.
These days, it’s thankfully very easy to get schmaltz/smalec in the UK in any shop which stocks Polish foods.
The one I bought to eat with my beery bread had a higher meat content than some (try saying “mechanically recovered chicken and pork” without saying “mmmmmmm”…) and was very satisfying indeed. Sometimes, you’ll find it in tins; in blocks like butter or lard; or in glass jars. It’s cheap however it comes.
Let’s be clear, though: it is not health food.
That salad I had with it cancels out the fat, though, right? Right? And it’s normal to have shooting pains in your left arm, isn’t it?
If you like your grease cut with other fats, why not give Obazda a go?
Bailey
Snacks to beer part 1 — beery rye bread
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
I’ll be telling you tomorrow all about my personal favourite snack for accompanying beer — something I prefer even to pork scratchings, and which is even filthier — but, to make the most of it, I’ll need some special bread. So, today, I’m sharing the recipe for a dark rye bread with a couple of extra beer-geek tweaks.
Bring your own
Saturday, May 1st, 2010
While it seems there are some divided opinions on whether it’s ever OK to bring your own food into a pub, there are plenty of restaurants which let you provide your own booze, because they don’t want to or can’t get an alcohol licence.
This came to mind when a friend told us about a BYO Thai restaurant in Walworth in south London (Mama Thai, 235 Walworth Road, London SE17 1RL).
The nearest tube is Elephant and Castle. It’s a cheap and cheerful thai place without a licence (so technically BYO) but has struck a deal with the off licence next door to let you order what you want. They have a surprisingly good selection of bottled beers which you can order. Off hand, I remember there were Left Hand beers from the US, but I’m pretty sure they had a lot of Belgian, Czech and other European ones.
Given the appalling state of the beer on offer in most restaurants (“So my choice is Chang or Tsingtao…?”) and how fussy we’ve become about what we will and won’t drink, BYO is the perfect solution.
Here’s a directory of BYO restaurants put together with wine in mind, but we’d be interested to hear your recommendations.
Yebisu and Asahi
Thursday, April 8th, 2010
To accompany some noodles, we went for two mainstream Japanese beers we picked up at Arigato supermarket in Soho — Yebisu lager and Asahi Black.
Yebisu proudly calls itself an ‘all malt beer’ and, yes, there is a real toasted malt flavour. All in all, this pale lager is not an exciting beer, but it is a satisfying, moreish and likeable one. A notch above the central point of bland on the Grim-to-Great™ commercial lager rating scale.
Asahi Dry, which is what we see most often in the UK, is brewed here under license. Asahi Black, however, is imported from Japan. It’s after the manner of a German schwarzbier — smooth, creamy and with soft cocoa flavours, rather than the bitter roastiness of a stout. It reminded us particularly of Bernard Dark, but with less body and a much less intense flavour. A winner, and possibly also a good way to lure non-beery chums into drinking something with a bit more character than Foster’s.
Superbowl sundae
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
We thought an ice cream beer float sounded like a good idea and others (notably Mark Dredge and Zak Avery) have raved about it.
As I was staying up to watch the Superbowl, I thought I’d give it a go with two of my favourite American imports, Brooklyn Chocolate Stout and Ben & Jerry’s.
And, do you know what? It was horrid.
The lovely dark chocolate roastiness of the beer became metallic and cheesy. The two ingredients cancelled each other out.
I had to pour it away.
Boak
Using rauchbier to fake a barbecue
Monday, February 8th, 2010Using rauchbier to fake barbecue-smoked meat is a clever idea. We’ll certainly be giving this a go.
Snacks to beer #5: schnitzel Wiener art
Tuesday, November 24th, 2009
Schnitzels are a real guilty pleasure of ours. Boak likes one or two a year; Bailey would eat them every night, if he could.
They’re pretty cheap and easy to make, although they’re not good for you, and do generate a lot of washing up. This recipe has been tweaked to reduce the amount of butter used and, we think, make the schnitzels crisper and less greasy than some of the oily, orange slabs you get served in German pubs.
A couple of notes:
1. We use pork rather than veal. If you use veal, you’ve got a bona fide Wiener schnitzel. German pubs tend to go for pork because it’s cheaper and describe them as ‘in the Vienna style’.
2. The origin of the schnitzel is disputed but we like the theory that it comes from Austria’s near-neighbour, Italy. Certainly, your best bet for finding a decent schnitzel in the UK is to go to an Italian restaurant and order a Cotoletta alla Milanese.
3. That’s what schnitzel means, by the way — cutlet.
Recipe after the jump.
Stir-up Sunday
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009
It’s Stir-up Sunday today, and I’m having a go at my first Christmas pudding. My dad always makes puddings according to an old family recipe and I’ve been meaning to have a go for ages.
Of course, the angle of interest for the beer geek is the vexing question of what beer to use while making it. Pete Brown went for a rare beer used in the Queen’s pudding, no less. And we see that Thornbridge have supplied their excellent St Petersburg Stout to some luxury pudding manufacturer.
Now, I’m always a bit sceptical about using good quality booze in food — by the time you’ve added all the other ingredients and cooked whatever it is you’re making, I find it hard to believe that the beautiful balance and flavourings that you appreciate in your tipple are going to shine on through.
I turned to my two culinary stalwarts at this point. Delia suggests using both extra stout and barley wine (“pubs usually have it”, she says, optimistically. I wish they did, Delia, I wish they did). My dad, on the other hand, uses a tin of Guinness.
I scoured the beer cellar garage, and returned with some Coopers Best Extra Stout. We’ve had this a few times before (it seems to be a popular option in our local off licence) and find it a delicious, reliable, sturdy stout. As we’d recently bought a six pack, I had no hesitation in using a whole bottle to marinate my fruit, spice and vegetable mix.
The mix has been soaking overnight, so today it’s time to mix in the other ingredients (breadcrumbs, flour, eggs), stir it up, make a wish and then steam them for many hours. The puddings will then have a month to mature until Christmas. We always used to eat puddings that were made the year before, so I’ve made two, so I can keep one back for Christmas 2010.
Boak
While attempting to prove to Bailey that Stir-up Sunday was not some bonkers tradition my parents invented, I was pleased to note that the top Google ranking goes to this site put together by a junior school in Kent. I have added this additional link to do my bit to keep them there.
