Beer with Meals: A novel idea

Both creativity and daring are essential parts of gastronomy. Serving beer with the meal is not a very common practice. And yet, beer has a legitimate, natural place at the table, for it offers very successful food and wine harmonies for certain strong dishes, and it goes beautifully with cheeses. Where wine can sometimes not venture, beer succeeds nicely.

As an example, I’ll share with you here some of the harmonies prepared for the Heineken firm to go with the dishes prepared by Gilles Grasteau, the Chef de cuisine at the Pré Catelan.

To go with the “Homard breton à l’émulsion d’agrumes, accompagné de julienne de pommes Granny Smith” (Breton lobster with citrus blend and julienne of Granny Smith apples), I proposed Wieckse Witte, a white beer spiced with orange peel and whole coriander grains. Acidulous and very fruity, Wieckse Witte worked as a flavour enhancer. The grapefruit emulsion fit right into the same aromatic direction as did the beer.

With an aged mimolette cheese, or a clotted ewe-milk cheese, served with an apricot vinaigrette, the malty aromas of a pale ale such as Afflingem are outstanding.

Lastly, I combined the chocolaty savours of the dessert – “Moelleux chaud-cola, crème glacée à la fleur de sel” (meltaway chocolate cake, salty caramel ice cream) – with the unctuous, dense texture of Murphy’Stout. This dark beer, served a fairly high temperature, releases powerful savours and aromas of roasted malt, with great bitterness – a perfect match for the sensations provided by chocolate. A very tactile match of temperatures and bitterness.

Matching food with beer means arranging tactile harmonies, such as the crusty aspect of a dish with the billowy sensations of the beer, and harmonies between the power and the bitterness of the two.