Beer–Matched Festive Vegetarian Dinner

This is a much belated write–up of 2011’s festive feast. It has become a habit of mine to host a dinner for folk who’re otherwise orphaned in the UK, it is a great excuse to go the extra mile in preparing and presenting great food. With, of course, the inclusion of great beer!

I have a growing tendency to be sympathetic towards vegetarians. Animal welfare concerns me greatly, I like to know that any animal that has died for me hasn’t been mistreated (including in, and after, death). However it is pretty much impossible to guarantee this and still willingly consume animal products — including eggs, milk, and cheese. If your concern is strong enough then “going veggie” is a laudable sacrifice to make in the name of animal welfare. These days I no longer make fun of vegetarians, refer to them as cattle, or try to convince them that chicken is a vegetable — well, not often. If I have a vegetarian around for a meal I always have something appropriate prepared, so for 2011 I decided: why not try going the whole hog! (Or no hog at all, as was the case.)

I also like trying to match beers to the dishes I prepare, so this brings about the second theme of this dinner: beer matching. Hopefully with vegetarian–friendly beers. (I checked and I’m pretty sure all the beers on the menu involved only the death of yeast cells & other micro–organisms.)

All in all I think both the full–vegetarian festive feast and the beer matching was a success. With my highlight being the mushroom tordelli dish matched with Hardknott Queboid. It looked and tasted stunning!

As for the festive element? Well, the dinner was held between Christmas and the new year so I tried to “festivize” it a little. Use of chestnuts, colours in the salads, spices in the pie — just light touches really. I haven’t prepared full recipes for any of the dishes, as I just didn’t have time and keeping track takes a bit of the fun out of the cooking. Consider this a TV–chef Christmas–show style of thing, where they show you an amazing array of food and an insufficient amount of information to replicate it.


Soup
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Chestnut & Celeriac Soup with Saffron & Carraway Sodabread Crostini and a Roast Garlic & Chestnut Puree

Beer: Summer Wine Brewery ∼ Kahuna, NZ IPA

Chestnut & Celeriac Soup, Chestnut & Garlic Purée, Summer Wine Kahuna NZ IPA

The soup was inspired by one in the 2011 River Cottage Christmas show. Hugh prepares a chestnut & sage soup which sounded rather good and I liked the coffee–cup presentation. I love celeriac and decided to add some into the soup. Before serving the soup is warmed on the stove and a generous addition of crème fraîche is made to achieve a more desirable colour and consistency.

Sodabread is great if you need bread in a hurry. In this case the bread was leftovers, it was made the day before using milk in which a pinch of saffron threads had been soaked and a generous addition of caraway seeds. The leftover bread was cut into centimetre thick slices which were put into a low oven for 30 minutes to make them crisp.

I love the rich sweet flavour of roasted garlic cloves, the same pretty much goes for chestnuts. An equal quantity of garlic and steamed chestnut was “whizzed” in a small food processor with added olive oil to achieve the desired consistency. Grated mature goats cheese and salt were added to–taste as well.

Serve as shown in the photo!

The beer match in this case was picked to be something zesty and uplifting, a modern BritIPA seemed in order with NZ hops providing the uplift: Summer Wine’s “Kahuna” NZ IPA. It worked, much as a dry yet rich white wine would in the context.


Entrée
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Mixed mushroom and local “Wobbly Bottom” mature goat cheese tordelli in herbed butter with a hint of truffle. Served with festive salad of julienne snow peas, red pepper, and celeriac.

Beer: Hardknott ∼ Queboid, BelgianStyle Double IPA

Mushroom Tordelli, Festive Salad, Hardknott Queboid

Quite the looker this dish, and very easy to prepare if you have the confidence to make up a bit of pasta dough. The pasta is a typical egg pasta, rested for a couple of hours and then rolled through a pasta machine.

The filling is a simple fry–up of onion, a medely of mushrooms from the supermarket (chestnut, oyster, enoki — for example), and butter. When the onion and mushroom is nicely caramelising add crushed garlic, sizzle a little then add a splash of stock. Finally grate in plenty of mature goats cheese to create a sticky, stringy, mess. I also added a sneaky dash of truffle oil at the end.

Make up your tordelli (just big tortellini) and pop them into boiling water for just about 2 or 3 minutes when you’re ready to serve. Don’t overcrowd in the water, if doing them in batches have a warmed and lightly oiled plate handy to place them on with a bit of plastic wrap handy to put over them.

The herbed butter was made up in advance with a selection of herbs from the garden (oregano, parsley, garlic chives, rosemary — in approximate order of amount added) and a little garlic. I keep a stick of this in the freezer. Melt, but do not sizzle, a good medallion of butter per serve in a fry–pan, gently toss the tordelli in the melted herb butter and serve into warmed bowls sharing the butter out as a drizzle over each bowl. Do the drizzle at the last second, just before serving.

The salad is a colourful combination of briefly blanched snow peas, raw red capsicum, and raw celeriac. Tossed in a little lemon juice and a dash of oil.

Queueboid was picked for its richness and Belgianesque earthy tones, a nice complement to the mushroominess of this dish. The beer’s non–Belqianesque hoppy bitterness prevents the combination from being too heavy.


Main
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Warm–spiced homegrown pumpkin, toasted walnut, & local “Wobbly Bottom” soft goat cheese flan, topped with caramelised red onion.

Beer: Magic Rock ∼ Rapture, Red IPA

Pumpkin Flan, Magic Rock Rapture

We had a couple of little pumpkins in the back garden, a far–from–bumper crop from a couple of vines we’d let ramble around under the apple tree. I cannot recall the exact variety, just something we got in a free packet of seeds once. In my opinion pumpkin really needs to be roasted to get the best value out of it, roasting intensifies the flavour and sweetness of the pumpkins. So in this case they were simply cut into chunks, drizzled with a little cooking oil, and popped into a 180°C oven with a scattering of rosemary until soft. Right at the end I turn the oven up to about 250°C until black/brown crusty bits start to form on the corners of the pieces.

To be honest I can’t remember exactly what went into the flan filling, the pumpkin would have been mashed and heated in a large pot. To this I would have added any/all of: softened brown onion, a couple of handfuls of toasted walnuts, a dash of veggie stock to loosen the mix up if needed; plus grated nutmeg, ground corriander, salt, pepper, etc “to taste”. I’d have a teaspoon handy to sample the mix as I built it up and I just stop when I’m happy. I probably threw in some fresh chopped parsley too. Right at the end before putting the flan in the oven I’d have gently stirred through the crumbled soft goats cheese. In this case from Hitchin’s local Wobbly Bottom farm and picked up either at their market stall of Halsey’s Deli.

The flan topping is simply caramelised red onion. The important thing when caramelising onion for a job like this is to do it slowly in a big open frypan. The browning of caramelisation should be from a slow reduction of the water content and not burning of the onion. Start off with just a little oil and after 5 to 10 minutes when the onion is looking translucent and tacky sprinkle over just a little salt to draw more moisture out. Keep going until the onions are seemingly candied and lightly browned. If you want add and melt in a little brown caster sugar near the end for extra caramelly goodness.

To avoid making this dish too heavy I’ve skipped the usual crusty flan casing and used instead about 3 sheets of melted–butter–brushed filo pastry. The pastry is cut into squares then placed in the flan tin at angles to each other to form a sort of star. Carefully press into the flan tin (the pastry breaks easily, so this is more an action of gentle folding) and fill with the hot pumpkin mix from the stove. Top with the caramelised onion and a scattering of pumpkin seeds and a grating of a hard mature goats cheese. Into a oven at about 200C with this and bake just until the edges of the pastry are a deep goldenbrown. This won’t take long, don’t take your eyes off it!

We’re done. This is best presented on the table as a whole, perhaps with a final extra grating of the hard mature goats cheese on top.

A side–dish of quinoa was served alongside this. Dressed in a drizzle of oil and balsamic and tossed with a finely diced version of the festive–colour salad used in the tordelli dish with the addition of toasted walnuts and pumpkin seeds.

The beer match is a red hoppy ale. A red–IPA perhaps, or even a rye–PA? ;) In my case the scrumptious Magic Rock “Rapture” a rich, but not sweet, hoppy ale which I think held up well in the role of washing down the robust pumpkin flan.


Dessert
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Layered vanilla & wasabi white chocolate semifreddo mousse, with a rich wild berry coulis.

Beer: Brewdog ∼ Prototype 17, Whisky Cask & Raspberry Aged Lager

Vanilla & Wasabi Semifreddo, Poached Pear, Berry Coulis, BrewDog Prototype 17

White chocolate… I hate the stuff. But it makes an OK mousse, and that mousse makes for a very good semifreddo. The template here is simply to make chocolate mousse the way my mum makes it. I should write down my (probably inaccurate) version of the recipe some day as it is always popular. The difference here is the use of white chocolate instead of dark chocolate. The mousse flavouring is made by melting chocolate in some butter with a dash of brandy. Into this chocolate sauce the yolks of some number of eggs are blended (simply because it is something to do with them). Finally flavourings are added. In this case the mix is divided into two and one has a few generous teaspoons of real wasabi powder added and the other a dash of vanilla essence. Whip cream until smooth and thick, whip the whites of the eggs from the above until stiff, carefully fold the two together. Split into two bowls and carefully fold in the chocolate mix. Sorry this is entirely inadequate as a recipe! It is something I “just do” and (almost always) it works well.

If you want perfect layers then this needs to be split into three stages, making the mix each time and placing into a tin after the previous layer has set. I’m impatient and imperfect however so I do it all at once. Line loaf tins with plastic film and carefully pour the mixture in in three layers with the wasabi layer in the middle. Put the tins in the freezer.

The coulis was made using wild blackberries from nearby hedgerows and “wild”/alpine strawberries from our garden. About 200g of berries are placed in a small saucepan with a pinch of salt, a dash of brandy, and a tablespoon of caster sugar. Heat is applied until the berries are pretty much totally mush. The mix is strained through a course sieve into a bowl and then through a very fine sieve back into the cleaned saucepan. Simmer until the desired thickness is achieved and then chill.

Where did the pear come from? It is simply a pear poached in red wine and warm spices (stick of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, etc). I had these sitting in the fridge at the time and they became an impromptu addition to the plate. It rounded the dessert off quite well I felt.

The beer is another hit of berry, a crisp lager–y sort of thing from BrewDog called “Prototype 17″. It’s aged in whisky barrels with the addition of some raspberries. Served well chilled alongside this dessert it cut through the richness of the semifreddo mouse and complemented the berry flavours.


ENDE
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That’s it! All in all I was very happy with this foray into producing a festive vegetarian dinner. With food like this I suspect I could even survive as a vegetarian myself, maybe. Well, probably not. Next step is vegan? No… that really is a step too far. Anyway, I hope the above can provide some inspiration to any others endeavouring to produce tasty courses for the vegetarians lurking amongst us, doubly so if you’re keen on beer. To the best of my knowledge all the beers served above are also fully vegetarian–compatible. (Many beers aren’t!)
Of course it isn’t a festive feast without a final tipple and a biscuit..
Orkney Dark Island Reserve and Gingerbread House

A Beery Christmas

Just before Christmas I wrote about pairing beers with the various courses of my Christmas day menu. The day is now well in the past – but I’ve finally sat down and written up a quick summary of how it went. In a nutshell: well.

1st Course

Terrine of sweetbreads, black pudding, and spiced pork mince

Served with a salad of rocket, fresh orange, Kalamata olives, and shaved Pecorino Romano – with a zesty orange vinaigrette

1st Beer: Lambic/Tripel

Brouwerij Loterbol “Tuverbol” (2007) – 10.5% (Belgium)

1st Course

The Tuverbol with its spicy and zesty orange notes matched the food brilliantly, especially the zesty orange vinaigrette. The lambic qualities acted as a crisp and cleansing counterpoint to the rich solidity of the cold terrine, while the beer had enough body to not seem too thin in contrast.

Everyone seemed to approve of this pairing.

1st Course

2nd Course

Whole confit duck leg

Served with tempura black pudding pieces, lemony puy lentils, and a salad of julienne celeriac, carrot, and beetroot

2nd Beer: Witbier

Beer: Brouwerij ‘t IJ “Scharrel IJwit” (Netherlands)

2nd Course

This pairing wasn’t as successful as the first one. The beer was light, refreshing, and lemony and matched lemony flavours used in the dish. Unfortunately it didn’t really stand up to the in-your-face richness of the confit and black pudding. It was effectively drowned out – despite being quite a tasty witbier when drunk in isolation.

On reflection I think this beer would be a better match for a white fish dish.

In a future rendition of this pairing I think I’d try for something more hoppy and herbal. Something along the lines of BrewDog’s 5AM Saint, Moor’s JJJ IPA, or HardKnott’s Infra-Red. I could also, perhaps, use the same beer in the “tempura” batter used for the black pudding.

2nd Course

3rd Course

Roast Goose

Served with the usual bits and bobs: a pear, currant, and walnut “stuffing”; roast vegetables; parsnip chips; something green perhaps …

3rd Beer: Real Ale?

Ringwood “Old Thumper” – 5.6% (UK)

Tring’s “Colley’s Dog – 5.2% (UK)

3rd Course

I changed my mind and decided to go with a real cask conditioned ale for the main course instead of the bottled Old Thumper from Ringwood. My choice of ale was the ever-popular Colley’s Dog from Tring Brewery.

This really worked as expected, a good rich ale with a good rich meal. No pussyfooting about!

The caramel/malt body of the Colley’s Dog held up well against all the rich roasty flavours of the meal. With better preparation I’d have liked to have used a bit of the Colley’s dog in the gravy, maybe next time!

3rd Course

Palate cleanser

Alvinne “Melchior Calvados Barrel Oak Aged” – 11.5% (Belgium)

We sipped this while relaxing and watching Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas”.

Dessert

Traditional Christmas Pudding made with Nethergate Old Growler Porter

Possibly served with a whisky crème-anglaise and vanilla-bean icecream

Dessert Beer

Dogfish Head “Palo Santo Marron” – 12% (USA)

Dessert

This was a perfect combination, as planned the beer complimented dessert like a rich and beery chocolate sauce. We didn’t actually have dessert until about 02:30 on Boxing Day though. It was a long day of cooking, eating, and gourmet beerination!

Empties on Boxing Day

Conclusion

I declare the matching of food and beer for Christmas experiment a success. Of course, if this meal were to be repeated there are certainly some refinements that could be made. Beer has been used here in a considered way, no swigging boxes of bland fizzy crap; rather: a careful study of flavours and textures. As you can see from the photo above we didn’t drink copious quantities of alcohol on the day.

I will definitely do this again, and also put more thought toward everyday drinking of beer alongside food.

Bambi, Thumper, & Moor “Old Freddy Walker” Mince Pies

From time to time I hear it said that Christmas mince pies used to include real mince, not purely a sickly-sweet mixture of dried fruit. Wikipedia documents the use of meat in the Christmas mince pie, so it must be true. There are a few “real mince mince pie” recipes floating around; one even makes an appearance in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s “The River Cottage Year“. My recipe here is based on the one from Hugh’s book, the main difference being the use of game meats instead of beef. This is the second festive season that I’ve made these mince pies, they have gone down very well at home, in the local pub, and in the office (not poisoned anyone yet!)

First: get hold of some Bambi, this shouldn’t be difficult as many supermarkets in the UK sell venison. However It may be difficult to get minced venison; ideally try to buy venison from a good butcher and ask them to mince it. I have a mincer and minced some stewing venison that I picked up in the supermarket. If mincing at home I would recommend buying venison fillets or steaks, as trimming unwanted sinew from diced meat is a pain in the backside. As much sinew as possible should be trimmed off prior to mincing, otherwise there will be chewy gristly bits in the mince pies. A fine mince is desirable, to achieve this I pushed it through a coarse plate and then my finest plate (about 4mm). This recipe includes minced Thumper (rabbit) because I didn’t quite have enough Bambi to make up the weight I wanted. (If you’re dull you could just use minced lamb or beef instead of venison and bunny, I’m thinking of trying minced 50/50 pheasant and bunny next year.)

Another difference this year is that I’ve added Moor’s Old Freddy Walker old ale to the mix instead of brandy. This is part of a recent effort on my part to cook using beer more often. It has worked out fine in this case, though I’m not sure anyone could tell that there is beer in this. Next time I might try using something like BrewDog’s Paradox Smokehead – I think that would make a mince pie that’d go down very well with a wee dram of Islay whisky.

Ingredients, prepared

Ingredients, prepared

The ingredients I used are:

  • 300g minced venison (lamb or beef will do instead of venison and bunny)
  • 50g minced bunny
  • 150g grated beef suet (preferably home-processed, but “Atora” will do)
  • 150g currants
  • 150g raisins
  • 85g ground almond
  • 2 granny smith apples, peeled and fine-chopped
  • 8 dates, chopped to about currant-size pieces
  • 140g soft brown sugar
  • 40g stem ginger in syrup, fine-chopped
  • 25g …of the syrup from the above
  • 1 lemon – juice and zest
  • 3 lemons & granulated sugar – to make candied peel (or 75g of shop-bought candied peel)
  • ½tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • ½tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½tsp ground ginger
  • ½tsp ground allspice
  • 200ml strong ale (Moor’s Old Freddy Walker)

The candied peel is the most complicated of the ingredients to prepare. I made my own because a friend at work is allergic to oranges and I couldn’t find any candied peel that didn’t contain orange peel. While it would be easier to use peel from the shop, I do think that home-made candied lemon peel is more tasty and lemony than the anything shop-bought. Brief instructions for candying peel can be found at the end of this entry.[1].

The method for making the mince couldn’t be simpler: put the lot into a bowl and mix thoroughly. Hugh’s recipe suggests the mix can be kept in jars in the larder for some time, but I haven’t tried this. I put mine in a sealed container in the fridge and let it sit for at least a week to mature, and for up to 3 weeks (just because it has never lasted longer than 3 weeks!)

Puff parcels

Un-traditional puff parcels

Next thing to do is to bake some mince pies! The photo above is of mince-pie parcels simply packaged in a folded-over piece of shop-bought puff-pastry, washed with a bit of beaten egg, and baked in a 200°C oven for about 20 minutes. I prefer a sweet shortcrust pastry however, which can be simply folded over like the puff version, or formed into little pasties, or used to make little pies in tins just like the shops sell. The little mince pies are a bit of a bother to put together, but they do look good. For the pies in the photo below I used a shortcrust recipe from the Jamie Oliver website and baking was as for the puff version but with 5 minutes at 200°C then 15 at 180°C.

Traditional tarts

Traditional tarts

Have a very meaty &amp beery (not too beery) Christmas! (Well, Xmas has been and gone for 2010 now – so I hope you had one.)


[1] Candied peel, briefly:

  1. 8th the lemons and peel out the flesh
  2. With a small sharp knife slice off the inner fibrous pith (about 1mm)
  3. Blanch in simmering water for 5 minutes
  4. Drain peel and return to saucepan peel in enough fresh water to cover to double-depth
  5. Add sugar, about 1.75 times the volume of water added
  6. Bring to simmering point and simmer until liquid is thick and syrupy, but before it browns
  7. Turn out on some foil and let cool before dicing

Beer and Food Matching for Christmas

Christmas is somewhat empty of meaning to me. This comes from having no religious inclinations whatsoever, being above the age of 12, and generally being a cynical, consumerism-hating, contrarian. That said, Xmas is a good excuse to get a few people together and cook some damn fine food. It is an opportunity to put together the sort of varied menu that just isn’t an option in a household of two people.

Beery Christmas!

There seems to be a trend amongst British beer aficionados for considering beer something to be “matched” with food. It is certainly a topic being covered more often by the serious beer-bloggers I follow. I believe that outside the UK the idea of matching beer with good food is more common; but within the UK the public’s regard of beer is quite specific and doesn’t generally intersect with “fine dining”.[1] Pub lunch and a pint of bitter, this is acceptable; but how many proper restaurants do you see serving decent beer? There is a desire to elevate beer from its pint-swilling-in-pubs position in British culture, to place it alongside wine as something very much at home on a menu and the dining table. Things do seem to be improving. There are obvious examples where brewers are trying to position beer in this way, such as BrewDog James’s Musa restaurant in Aberdeen. But more telling incarnations are restaurants and, dare I say it, “gastropubs” that take both food and beer seriously. We have a local restaurant of this sort, two hand-pumps dispensing always-fresh and in-condition ale from local breweries are prominent at the bar and real ale even gets a wordy mention in the drinks section of the menu.[2]

The whole food/beer matching thing seems a bit “well, duh!” I’ve been selecting beers to go with the food I eat for a long time now, much as I always have with wines. Hearty casserole? A good rich red wine, something with loads of dark fruit and a tannic mouthfeel, peppery and preferably with the distinct notes of a good oaking. However, I’m just as likely to plump for rich, fruity beer with dark malt and caramel notes. In fact, these days I’m much more likely to select beer than wine. It doesn’t stop at main course, there are beers that are great with cheese, even with dessert.

Beer also has a place in cooking beyond “beer batter”. I’ve been experimenting more with this lately. Mostly it has worked well, but a couple of times the results have been terrible – the main thing to be wary of is bitterness. I basted a pheasant with BrewDog’s Trashy Blond once, the bird turned out OK with an unusual bitter bite, but the gravy was inedible.

Returning now to the annual event of “Christmas Dinner”. I recently read a blog post by Dave Bailey, of HardKnott brewery fame, which covers the topic of matching beers with Christmas dinner. This prompted me to think a bit harder and be more specific about beer matching for the Christmas meals I’m preparing.[3] Normally I’d just pull some vaguely appropriate beers from our collection. Or select wine, as it is more acceptable to the uninitiated. However, this time each course has had a specific beer matched to it in advance – well, “matched” to the best of my abilities. The beer selection has then also fed back into the course itself with a tweak here and there. Though I haven’t the time to experiment with fusing the beers into the actual cooking of the courses. It’ll be interesting to see how it is received by our non-“beer-geek” guests. I may ask them to take notes.

1st Course

Terrine of sweetbreads, black pudding, and spiced pork mince

Served with a salad of rocket, fresh orange, Kalamata olives, and shaved Pecorino Romano – with a zesty orange vinaigrette

1st Beer: Lambic/Tripel

Brouwerij Loterbol “Tuverbol” (2007) – 10.5% (Belgium)

Terrine

The Tuverbol is a lambic/tripel blend and has a typical lambic sourness but also added body from the tripel. When I tried this a while ago my notes on Twitter were “tannic, orangepeel, warm spice”. Initially I was looking for a lambic/gueuze to go with this course, as I think the sharpness would suit cold-served terrine. However, I decided that this lambic blend is a bit more friendly to the uninitiated and more compatible with the dish. The orange/spice notes should work with the terrine, which I’ve spiced with a little ground coriander, allspice, and Chinese 5-spice. Complimenting this I’ve decided to add orange segments to the salad plus a squeeze and a bit of zest to the vinaigrette.

This course will be served at about 11:00 (AM), the beer may seem a bit strong for “breakfast” but note that only a small glass of it will be served. (I wish I had champagne glasses – but I’ve never got the hang of the stuff, must remember to buy some for beer use.) After this course we’ll pop up to our local pub for a communal pint or two before heading home to relax a bit before the…

2nd Course

Whole confit duck leg

Served with tempura black pudding pieces, lemony puy lentils, and a salad of julienne celeriac, carrot, and beetroot

2nd Beer: Witbier

Beer: Brouwerij ‘t IJ “Scharrel IJwit” (Netherlands)

Confit

IJwit

I was uncertain about what to pair with the duck. I was after something that’d cut the richness of the duck and black pudding, but I’d already selected a lambic style beer for the first course. I was thinking of a light, modern, hoppy beer, something using citra hops perhaps. Then I had a chat about the menu and beer pairings with one of the guys at Bacchanalia and he suggested a wit – an excellent idea. There were few to choose from unfortunately, just two in fact, so I selected the one that was recommended but chose a Hefeweizen as a backup as its a “safe” style of beer (my tertiary backup was BrewDog’s Punk X).

The IJwit is true to the style: lemon/citrus, crisp, wheaty. A nice foil, I think, to the rich saltiness of the confit duck. I’ll try to compliment the beer with a dash of lemon juice used in dressings for the dish.

I expect we’ll tuck into the duck at around 15:00 and follow that with a siesta, or a walk if the snow still looks good, or perhaps watch a DVD or two… while I prepare the…

3rd Course

Roast Goose

Served with the usual bits and bobs: a pear, currant, and walnut “stuffing”; roast vegetables; parsnip chips; something green perhaps …

3rd Beer: Real Ale?

Ringwood “Old Thumper” – 5.6% (UK)

Goosey

A traditional beer for a traditional meal? I specifically wanted a fairly authentic “real ale” style of beer to go with this course. Unfortunately that’s a bit difficult to achieve with bottled beer. As a result, it is with this course that I’m least happy about my current beer choice. Still, I’ve persevered and considered bottled ales I’ve tried and, for “research purposes”, tasted a few additional bottled ales from the supermarket. As it is such a large and hearty meal I want something tasty but below the 6% mark, it is also ideal for it to be rich yet easy drinking – which rules out most of my favourite “hoppy” beers. A beer I have in mind is Tring’s Colley’s Dog, a favourite at our local pub. (There are people who’ve been drinking in this pub exclusively to drink this beer for years now. A pint is a “doggy” and a half is a “puppy”.) Anyway, Colley’s Dog isn’t locally available in bottles and I suspect that the bottled version would pale in comparison to a fresh pint pulled in the pub. (I’ve tried a few of my favourite small-brewery ales in bottled form over the years and the result is always disappointment.)

For now I’ve selected a bottled beer in the form of Ringwood’s “Old Thumper”. I picked a few “strong” ales from the selection available in Waitrose and tried them over a couple of nights. In the end I decided that Ringood’s “Old Thumper” was most appropriate. It is refreshing for a 5.6% ale, but still delivers good malt notes and some sweetness. The background hop notes have a peppery/herbal edge. These herbal notes from the hops will match the seasoning used on the roast bird and vegetables (pepper, fresh marjoram, thyme, and bay) and I may add some Old Thumper to the stock I use for basting and making the gravy. (I’ve experimented with beer based basting and gravy before, it requires some care as the bitterness from the beer can be too much when you reduce the gravy.)

This is the only beer choice still subject to change at this late date. I’m considering grabbing a couple of 4 pint carrykegs (growlers) of whatever I consider most appropriate, when we make our quick trip up to the local between the 1st and 2nd courses. This is a decision that could very well be made on Christmas day itself.

The roast goose should be served at about 19:00, and will be followed by a brief gallivant involving some pyrotechnics. Leading on to the…

Palate cleanser

Alvinne “Melchior Calvados Barrel Oak Aged” – 11.5% (Belgium)

The “palate cleanser” is an idea lifted from Dave Bailey’s beer/XmasDinner-matching blog entry. I tried this beer a few months ago and really enjoyed it – while it probably isn’t as “palate cleansing” as a gueuze, it is refreshing and a bit tart so should do a decent job in this role.

I expect we may sit down and relax while sipping this beer before dessert. Possibly while watching a suitable Christmas DVD, I have some seminal 70s sci-fi in mind but could be overruled. Dystopian melodrama might not be considered appropriate. I think I could settle for a couple of episodes of Red Dwarf instead. Anyway, as eventually we shall enjoy…

Dessert

Traditional Christmas Pudding made with Nethergate Old Growler Porter

Possibly served with a whisky crème-anglaise and vanilla-bean icecream

Dessert Beer

Dogfish Head “Palo Santo Marron” – 12% (USA)

Palo Santo Marron

The Palo Santo Marron is one of those “pudding in a bottle” beers. While writing this I’ve poured myself a glass and come up with: “super rich, chocolate sauce, sandalwood & vanilla, a trailing spiced licorice molasses warmth, a lingering sense of burnt toffee.” What better to go with Christmas pudding?

I must confess: the pudding is the only part of the planned meal that I will not have made from scratch (well, ignoring ingredients like bacon and black pudding – although I have made the former myself in the past.) I’m really quite anxious about this. We bought the pudding from the local last year and it’s a “Nethergate Old Growler” pudding, which was a favourite porter of ours that used to be near-permanent at said local. I’m just hoping the pudding will live up to my standards; or, failing that, the exquisitely rich beer covers for any failings on the part of the pudding.

I also plan to serve the pudding with a “whisky anglaise”, using a mere dash of a peaty Laphroaig. That said, I’m seriously considering attempting to use a chocolate sauce that incorporates the beer instead. In which case I think I’d have to serve dessert with some vanilla-bean icecream.

Beer beer beer! Food food food!

While the “menu” above may seem notable for the sheer volume of food and beer, it should be taken as an “all day” schedule as detailed in the last of the notes for each course. The beer list may be notable for the fact that it is missing beers from my favourite British craft brewers. No BrewDog, HardKnott, or Moor beers – for example. I’ve spurned BrewDog on purpose: fearing my friends may think I’m a little too obsessed. I did experiment with some beers from HardKnott and Moor and decided not to run with them. Moor’s Old Freddy Walker was almost the dessert beer, but it wasn’t “puddingy” enough. I’d definitely have used HardKnott AetherBlaec if I had more than one bottle left, I could match that nicely with a whisky-anglaise. I was also thinking of pairing HardKnott Infra-Red with the confit, but that’d just look like I was stealing the brewer’s suggestion of pairing it with duck. Not to worry, beers from all these breweries – and more – will be enjoyed over the Christmas period.

Bon appétit!


Pork

[1] My father gave me a book by Garrett Oliver called “The Brewmaster’s Table: Discovering the Pleasure of Real Beer with Real Food“. This book was written by an American author who “discovered beer” some 20 years ago – in London. The first two paragraphs of his introduction pretty accurately describe my real ale experience on moving to the UK. However, no mention of food is until he buys his European rail pass and hits the mainland. The book then continues through a wide coverage of beer styles and specific beers and discusses pairing them with food. (British ales are given worthy consideration, though with a lot of reference to pub food. Unfortunately the specific breweries and beers covered seem a bit dated and mainstream.) I think the book is very much worth reading if you’re interested in beer and especially if you’re also interested in food.

[2] Things start to fall apart when the staff come onto the scene unfortunately. They could also do with a more adventurous selection of kegged beers, I like the idea of a “guest keg”. The bottled beer selection is, unfortunately, just plain crap. What’s required is a “sommelier” who also loves and can recommend beer/food pairings – sounds like my kind of job! Probably wouldn’t pay the rent though.

[3] Christmas dinner preparations began 2 months ago when I ordered the goose and confited the duck legs, continued 2 weeks ago when I ordered a forequarter of pork and have featured heavily since. Tasting beer (aka “research”) featured in this time as well – with a particular focus on cleaner food matchings. I had to butcher the pork, which is now mostly wrapped up as dice, mince, and rolled roasts in the freezer. The mince is required for the terrine and stuffing. (The value you can get out of buying a whole forequarter of pork is amazing.) This was the main activity of the weekend just passed, along with the making the terrine using lamb sweetbreads I’d reserved from their spring availability. (I also made venison Xmas mince pies, I’ll write about these separately.)