3 Good Things: Apple, Venison, Bacon

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Yvan Seth

This recipe has been devised in response to Hugh’s “Three Good Things” challenge. I am, of course, endeavouring to add beer as a sneaky fourth “good thing”. I’m adding it as a subtle addition — much the way the chefs in the TV episodes will gladly include brilliant oils, vinegars, stocks, and herbs without giving them a headline credit.

I recently found myself with a whole fallow deer carcass so I have a “glut” of venison at the moment. I figured apple + venison, a rich game meat and sweet apple… seems a pretty classic match. Amongst all the various cuts are a couple of chunky roasting muscles from each haunch (the “thick flank” I believe), this recipe makes use of one of these — it weighs in at about 850g.

I uhmmed and ahhed a lot about the third ingredient. Of all the extra bits I’d put with this what would be the natural one to highlight? Which one will shine the brightest? It became a toss–up between sage and bacon, and I settled on the bacon — adding extra punch by picking smoked bacon! Apples and pork, apples and bacon. Classic!

I’ve chosen to use Russet apples for their firm texture and slightly nutty savoury flavour. As luck would have it the day before the “apple challenge” was announced we’d picked up one of each variety of apple available at our local farmshop. We tasted all of these with some cheese, apple slices make a great alternative to crackers! So we’d got a little bit of prior research in to make an informed decision about the choice of apple. The farmshop, Willingham’s Bushel Box, is at the farm where the apples are grown — so they’re supremely local.

So, I present: Apple and bacon stuffed venison haunch joint, with apple gravy, and apple salad.

Stuffing

150g sausage meat
2 rashers smoked streaky bacon — roughly chopped
1 small Russet apple — 5mm dice
sprig of roasmary
sprig of sage
2 garlic cloves
6 juniper berries
3 tbsp of a rich red ale
- I’ve used Hardknott Infra Red, a 6% and particularly hoppy red ale from Cumbria and a long–time favourite beer of mine.

Crush up all the herbs and garlic in a pestle and mortar, loosen up with a little of the beer. With remaining beer rinse the pestle out into a bowl and add the sausage meat, diced apple, and diced bacon. Thoroughly combined, using hands of course, and ideally set aside for a while in the fridge so the flavours can develop.

Roast

Stuffing mix above
Venison “thick flank” — about 850g, or similar roasting cut
5 or 6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
4 small Russet apples — quartered, unpeeled
6 fat garlic cloves
Barding fat — pork back fat is the classic
250ml of the same red ale as used in the stuffing
Some plain cotton string
A large sprig of sage

Preheat oven to 220°C — or higher. (As I use very a heavy cast iron baking dish I pop that that in now too. My current oven is infuriatingly small, sticking a few kg of cold iron in it really sets the temperature back so I heat the pan up with the oven.)

Turn the joint of venison “ugly side up” and open it out along the grain of the meat. This is a combination of releasing the natural seams of the muscle and cutting into muscle butterfly–style. (I actually cut about 100g of meat out too to increase the size of the cavity. The offcuts are not wasted, they make a nice pre–dinner snack — dice it, mix it with left over stuffing: fry up as little patties!)

Line the middle of the opened out joint with about a strip of thinly sliced Russet apple rounds. Right down the middle lay two strips of streaky bacon, so they half lie out of the meat, put a “sausage” of just enough stuffing down the middle so that you can still comfortably wrap the meat around the lot (left over stuffing is expected — fry it up ad enjoy!) Wrap the stuffing by bringing the bacon up and over it. Lay the roast on 3 or 4 lengths of streaky bacon, which have in turn been laid on lengths of string of a suitable length to tie up the roast. It is difficult putting this to words, and it sounds more fiddly than it is by far! See the photos to get the idea:

Spread a bit of oil in the bottom of your roasting dish and place the roast into it bacon–side–up. Surround by wedges from 3 or 4 Russet apples, and the cloves of garlic which can just go in whole and unpeeled.

Into the oven for a sizzle! Do this until the outside has browned a little — 20 minutes in my case. Then reduce the heat to 180°C, baste with 3/4 of the beer, place the barding fat on top…

…and continue to roast until you reach an internal temperature of around 65°C (40 more minutes in my case). Remove from the oven and set the roast aside on a warm plate and cover with some tinfoil while it rests.

Now the apple gravy! This couldn’t be simpler. Carefully pour as much of the fat out of the roasting tin as you can, this can be discarded (or put to another use if you’re really thrifty). Remove everything remaining from the pan and place it into a food mill. Use the remaining beer to wash all you can out of the pan too. Mill it. Done! It should be a good thick consistency and beautiful rich, roasty, caramelised, beery, apple flavour. (It took quite some effort to stop myself just standing there eating this with a spoon!)

Salad

2 small Russet apples — medium dice
Half a medium brown onion — fine dice
1 tbsp Rapeseed oil
1 tbsp Cider vinegar
Pepper/Salt
3 or 4 fresh sage leaves — finely shredded

This piquant little apple salad cuts through the other rich roasty flavours in the plate — giving the whole meal a nice crisp lift. Simply toss it all together, adding pepper & salt to taste.

Serve!

Slice roast, place on warmed plate, apply gravy, add a pile of fresh apple salad. Enjoy! With a glass of Hardknott’s excellent Infra Red… duh :)

3 Good Things: Lamb, Aubergine, Coriander

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Yvan Seth

A slightly exotic twist on a good old roast rack of lamb.

For the second week of Hugh’s “3 good things” challenge I was slightly disappointed, but not surprised, that the challenge meat was not venison. Only because I’d recently butchered an entire fallow deer and currently have a fridge and freezer full of the stuff! Lamb however is a great favourite of mine so I’m not going to knock the excuse to have some for Sunday dinner. I popped out to our local butcher and asked for a rack, but specifically not “French trimmed” — that meat on the back of the bones is the best bit! Quite fatty, and not as tender as the fillet along the bottom, but oh so tasty. I trimmed off just about half an inch at the top to create a bit of “handle” bone (this is finger food!) and BBQed the trimmed strip as a “chef’s perk”. Anyway, this recipe will work just as well with a normally “Frenched” rack.

Rack of lamb is deeply nostalgic for me — growing up it was always a favourite kitchen treat, not to mention a favourite kitchen smell. Sometimes crusted, sometimes plain, often served with some mash. Always eaten with fingers — gnawing all the goodness from those little bones.

Lamb and aubergine are a well loved pairing, think moussaka. In Moroccan recipes coriander often plays a starring role in this combination too. So these are the ingredients I’ve focused on. Aubergine in the form of a rich baba ghanoush, rack of lamb, and a lifting zest of fresh coriander throughout.

Baba Ghanoush (Aubergine Purée)

Aubergine — I’ve used 3 medium ones
Garlic clove
Tahini — to taste
Light Olive Oil — to taste
Lemon juice — to taste
Salt — to taste
Ground corriander seed — to taste
Fresh coriander — to taste!

Sorry it’s all “to taste” — use your tastebuds :)

The most important thing is the char-grilling of your aubergines. Ideally use a charcoal grill. For the baba ghanoush to taste right it really must have that smoky/charred flavour. Unfortunately I only have a gas BBQ handy so I created a little “smoking pack” with some soaked woodchips, coriander seeds, and hops. About a large handful of woodchips will do. I’ve added maybe a tablespoon of coriander seeds, and a few pinches of hops — I have no idea if they contribute notably to the flavour. Grill the aubergines until they’re super-soft inside, a knife should run through them like they’re butter and the knife is red hot.

Scoop the flesh out of your aubergines and place into a saucepan and simmer off any excess liquid. You should be able to clear a spot in the bottom of the pan and not have liquid run into it for over a minute. While this is going on I grated in one garlic clove and added lemon juice a little at a time until I was happy with the flavour. Just a little acid, just a little salty. I want the smoky aubergine to shine out here and not be too overwhelmed by the other flavours.

Let the aubergine cool, you can do the next step when you’re ready to serve or it can be done in advance.

The next step is to simply place it in a bowl and energetically whisk in a tablespoon or two of tahini and a gradual drizzle of olive oil until you’re happy with the consistency and flavour.

Finally stir through the ground corriander seed and plenty of roughly chopped fresh coriander leaf – again, to taste. But I like the taste of coriander so I probably put about 4 chopped tablespoons into mine. (Reserve a little coriander for garnishing later.)

Glace de viande avec de la bière? (Reduced stock with stout)

Rich stock — made with roast lamb bones by preference, beef or game will suffice
Rich stout — I’ve used Williams Brothers “March of the Penguins”
Maybe a sprinkle of muscovado sugar

What is the correct term here? In essence we have a strong dark stock that has been reduced until it is thick and gloopy. No thickener used, it isn’t a demi glace.

Reduce your stock down until you have just a few tablespoons with the consistency of runny honey, I started with a stock that isn’t far off this point — it’s solid at 15°C. (Beware if using commercial liquid stock, this will probably end up tasting like a salt-lick — it is worth making your own stock in bulk and keeping it in the freezer in reduced form.) Now add a good rich stout, one that isn’t too bitter, and reduce back to runny-honey. Keep doing this, tasting each stage until you’re happy. I added 130ml of stout to about 100ml of reduced stock. (Ending up with 100ml of reduced stout+stock!) You may add a little sugar if you desire here, just a sprinkle of muscovado at a time until you’re happy.

Carefully keep this warm while you finish off the lamb, you can loosen it with a dash of stout if needed.

Rack of Lamb

A rack of lamb ;)
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground coriander seed

I actually popped my rack of lamb into the BBQ while my aubergine smoke-pack was at its smokiest. Probably only about 15 minutes all up, but this nicely sizzled it a bit too as it gets quite hot under the hood of the BBQ. Alternatively you can pre-sizzle/brown your rack of lamb on a hot charcoal BBQ. Or do the usual trick: brown in a pan on the stove. When sizzled set the lamb aside for little while to cool, you can sizzle it and pop it back in the fridge even if you’re doing your charcoal grilling well in advance.

About half an hour before you’re ready to serve get your oven going nice and hot — about 220°C.

Combine the salt and ground coriander seed and rub thoroughly all over the lamb.

Put the lamb in a roasting tin pop it into the oven.

How do you like your lamb? Rare for me… so I pull it out of the oven after 15 minutes and check the internal temperature with a probe thermometer. It is a bit low… so another 5 minutes in the oven and it’s right. Aiming for mid-40s in degrees Celsius. It will want to rest for 10 minutes now.

Plate Up!

Warm plates are essential, or the reduced stock will set solid in an instant!

Drizzle a pattern of the stock & stout reduction on the plates.

Plop a blob of baba ghanoush in the middle.

Carve your rack of lamb into chops and arrange on top.

Drizzle with a little more gravy and sprinkle with some chopped coriander to complete the dish.

Enjoy! With a glass of stout — of course. Use your fingers!

3 Good Things: Beetroot, Halloumi, Walnut

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Yvan Seth

This beetroot recipe is a complete “winging it” sort of thing and I think it worked out well, but is in need of refinement. This post documents the creation of the following…

While this may look complicated, it is actually made up of parts that can be created at your leisure in advance and it comes together easily when you’re ready for tea.

The components that make up the plate are:

Roast beetroot – purée, and grilled slices.
Halloumi – grilled slices
Spiced toasted walnuts – whole, crumbled, and pasted

The outline below serves two – albeit with leftover beetroot purée and walnut paste.

Beetroot

Beetroots – 2 just-smaller-than-tennis-ball sized
2 tsp rich balsamic vinegar
2 tsp rapeseed oil
2 sprigs of fresh parsley
Zesty hoppy strong US-IPA-style beer
- I’ve used “SCANNERS” from London breweries Kernel & Brodies
- You want something around 7% ABV that uses heaps of punchy US hops
- Think of this as a herb!

Bake your beetroots and peel them, then let cool. The steps below can be done using pre-baked beetroot from the fridge.

Take 3 slices per-person from the centre of the beetroot, about 4mm thick.

Dice the rest, discarding any hard and woody bits, and put into a food processor. Add leaves from parsley, balsamic vinegar, and rapeseed oil. Emulsify and add the beer, dribble in until a thick but just-off-runny consistency is achieved. It should be pipeable, but not pourable.

Add salt to taste, it will need some!

Walnuts

(“Spiced” walnuts inspired by Gill’s nuts in the Beetroot episode.)

100g walnut pieces
10 whole walnuts (plenty, in case they break)
Seeds from 8 cardamom pods
1/2 tsp golden caster sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
a few grinds of black pepper

Pre-heat oven to 180°C.

Dry-fry the cardamom seeds until aromatic (about 4 minutes on a low flame). Grind to powder with the salt and sugar.

Place walnuts in a pan in the oven for 10 minutes, by this time they should have started to sweat a little oil. Toss with cardamom mixture in a separate bowl then place back in roasting pan and sprinkle cardamom mix over the top. Stick this back into the oven for another 5 minutes.

When cool separate out the whole walnuts and put aside.

Split the walnut pieces into two piles, roughly crush one half.

Place the other half into a large mortar and pestle and grind to a paste, add in rapeseed oil until a thick just-pourable consistency is achieved. Add salt to taste. This is best off being a bit on the salty side, a bit like normal peanut butter, it will be used sparingly.

Halloumi

Cut into the biggest squares you can, sliced about 4mm thick. This can be difficult, halloumi normally has seams and gaps in it, you’ll need to survey these and work around them. (There will be offcuts… “chefs perks” or put them aside, diced they’re a great addition to salads.)

Lay the slices flat in a pan and marinate in a dash of the IPA mentioned above, give it a good 30 minutes.

Bring it all together!

Warm a couple of plates.

Get a grill pan on the stove and make it very hot.

Put the beetroot purée in a saucepan and warm – be careful here, it needs to just warm, it should not even get close to simmering! This will kill off aromatics from the IPA and make it bitter.

Pat dry the halloumi pieces, brush with oil, and place in the grill-pan. Leave for just about a minute. Remove to a standby plate using a stiff metal scraper – be careful the cheese will be floppy and possibly a bit stuck to the grill.

Oil the beetroot slices and put them in the grill too, these can grill for 3 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile start “plating up”.

Create a pattern on the plate with the purée, in my case a huge comma.

One at a time place a square of halloumi down with a round of beetroot on top, ovelapping as you go.

Use a squeezy bottle or piping bag (ziplock bag with the corner cut out works) to put a pattern of walnut paste over the top.

Place a single whole spiced walnut on the top of each beetroot round.

Scatter crushed walnut and some chopped parsley as you see fit.

Serve! Enjoy with a glass of the beer used in the recipe – of course!

Beer Matching with Melissa Cole @ Alimentum

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Yvan Seth

Time filters the memory. Hopefully in the weeks since this beer matching dinner at Alimentum not too much of the detail has been filtered out of mine. As the afternoon progressed on the 16th of May I noted a tweet by @MelissaCole to say there were still a couple of spaces available at the Beer and Food Matching Dinner at Alimentum in Cambridge. I work in Cambridge but had held off from booking, as a scan over the web-page when I first heard of it left me feeling uninspired. In hindsight I’m not really sure why – I think the beer selection failed to tickle my fancy and I was terribly distracted with house-moving at the time. On the spur of the moment, with the other half in London for the evening, I thought “eh, why not give it a go!” A tweet and a phone-call later I was booked in for the evening.

A window through to the kitchen gives a sneek-peek at our 1st course being prepared – windows a double glazed, so you can’t hear all the swearing I presume!

Despite me being in my work “uniform” of shorts and t-shirt the staff at Alimentum were welcoming and led me to the function room. (I had forewarned that I’d not exactly be wearing a first-class-restaurant quality of dress!) Along with Melissa – there were about 6 other people present, and over the next few minutes the rest of the seats gradually filled to make up an audience of 16, including 3 women – quite lopsided, and I expect the balance at a wine-tasting evening would have been more even. Generally the folk present were probably older than me, and on asking indicated that food and beer matching was an unfamiliar concept. I gathered that they were probably interested Alimentum customers, as opposed to myself being a beer geek visiting Alimentum for the first time. Beer and food matching is not new to me – I’ve encountered it via BrewDog of course – but, going back, the concept isn’t entirely uncommon in Australia. In Sydney for example there was always a hint of it at the James Squire place (now King Street Brewhouse), and even more so at Red Oak. We also had the Belgian Beer Cafés which were a celebration of beer & food with hardly a glass of wine in site. (I’m thinking 7 years ago – there is a much higher level of “craft beer” geekery in Sydney, and Australia in general, these days.)

My interest in this sort of thing comes from another direction as well – growing up in a restaurant with chefs for parents has given me a strong appreciation for good & interesting food. I’ve tried my hand at beer matching myself several times – with varied, but mostly positive, results. Christmas 2010 for example, and the odd thing here and there, I did a great vegetarian feast for 2011 too – alas I haven’t had time to document it! (Hm, feeling inspired now.)

So – enough gasbagging – on with the subject. We were greeted with glasses of Oakham’s JHB (4.2%) – a beer I’m generally indifferent to on cask, not hoppy enough & lacking body. However this was a particularly fine & zesty example – a recent bottling perhaps. It’s also an extra 0.4% on the ABV scale – so a bit of a different beer really. With its fresh zingy hop notes it did a good job of freshening the palate after a day in the office.

Course 1
English Asparagus, pickled morels and crab
– with –
Grain Brewery, Blonde Ash, 4.0%

“Easy drinking, fresh and fun, this is a delightfully delicate delight that’s perfect to usher in the Spring with its fresh grassy aromas and tinkly lime-like end.”

A celebration of asparagus! We had a variety of different forms of this luscious summer shoot – steamed, grilled, fresh pickled (I think), and puréed. There were even very thin crispy slices of asparagus very reminiscent of bamboo-shoots. The rich crab rounded things out, the morel added zing & body.

I’m a fan of Grain ales and this one is no exception. It has a real taste of summer to it, with its distinctive wheat-beer notes. In this course the beer led on flavour, with the asparagus providing texture and a complementary fresh, green, and earthy backbone.

Course 2
Chicken Ballotine, livers on toast, nuts and seeds
– with –
Elgood’s, Black Dog, 3.6%

“This is a classic mild from a brewery local to the restaurant. Full of rich toasted coffee and chocolate aromas and flavours it punches far above its ABV with its full flavours.”

A mild? Really… I was surprised to find this on the menu. I’m no mild-basher, I actually really like the style, especially in this typical form of dark & low-ABV.

The dish was an intense little morsel of rich flavours – the gravy incredibly rich and creamy. Was there a hint some chocolate in there perhaps? I’d have this for breakfast every day and never get bored of it. Livers are a favourite, and this is like the toast you put with a roasted bird with the seared liver – sometimes the best part of the dish by far. In fact I’d be perfectly happy with all liver & no chicken in this case! Nothing at all wrong with the ballotine, it provided some good meaty texture – but I’d not have missed it I think.

How did the mild stand up to this? Surprisingly well… Black Dog is fairly full-flavoured as milds go and stood up to the intensity of the food. It is light enough to be a refreshing chaser to the bold flavours – but has complimentary flavour notes so as to not be too jarring. A lack of bitterness also helps here as I think a more bitter style of beer may bring out bitterness in the liver.

Course 3
Maple glazed duck breast, turnip and pistachio
– with –
Ilkley Brewery, Siberia, 5.8%

“Brewed with rhubarb, grains of paradise, vanilla and orange peel this funky, dry and extremely fruity little number will stimulate even the most jaded of pallets with its riot of flavour.”

Probably the least memorable dish in terms of the food for me – I certainly recall enjoying it but I’m very hazy on the details. A chunk of tasty duck with some sweet young blanched turnips and thin slices of radish.

The beer however was more stand-out. This is one that Melissa Cole helped devise on a visit to Ilkley brewery – light, refreshing, and incredibly moreish. I found the vanilla notes very forthright in the flavour. This is one of those smooth and approachable saisons – Melissa said this beer could do with a bit more time in the bottle – I’ll be looking out for it. In fact I’m looking now… you can buy Ilkley beers individually from BeerRitz or by the box at MyBreweryTap. (I’ve just ordered myself 12 bottles.)

I can’t honestly remember how it went down with the food. It seems more likely than not that it was a good match.

Course 4
Smoked pork belly, sweetcorn, celery and onion salad
– with –
Fuller’s, Past Masters XX, 7.5%

“Pulled from Fuller’s historic brewing books XX is a strong complex ale with rich caramelised orange, warming ginger and soft brown sugar notes, with just the right amount of pithy bitterness at the finish.”

*pow* The smoked pork belly with the sweetcorn purée was outstanding. Charred spring onions were an excellent counter. Unctuous is the appropriate word here.

In fact the poor old XX was a bit beaten down by the food in this course, a reasonable accompaniment but it just wasn’t really possible to appreciate the XX once the pork had been sampled.

What could have fared better against such a full-on morsel? Perhaps a more vinous barleywine style of ale, or something along the lines of a strong “English IPA” (rich bitter and hoppy, definitely above 6.0%, and using peppery/earthy hops – not floral/citrusy).

Course 5
Cambridge blue, Waldorf textures
– with –
Woodforde’s, Head Cracker, 7.0%

“A deceptively pale beer this is not for the faint hearted, full of rich caramelised orange and candied grapefruit aromas, it has an added layer of stewed apricots in the middle before ending on a sweetish note that is almost like burnt sugar.”

Stand. Out. Course. So simple, yet every element perfectly formed and matched. The “Waldorf textures” concept is adorable, the flavours exciting both individually and in combination. Apple in the form of a sorbet. A drizzle of walnut oil. All alongside an excellent cheese served at the right temperature (not frigid).

The beer? Another great match – fruity esters compliment, while the Sauternes-like depth is a perfect offset to the Cambridge Blue.

I can relive this course in my mind with some clarity – memorable.

Dessert
Dark chocolate, whiskey, toasted oats and raspberry
– with –
Harviestoun, Ola Dubh 16 year old, 8%

“Aged in Highland Park whisky barrels, Ola Dubh is an unctuous beast of a beer. Actually meaning black oil is slinks out of the bottle bring with it aromas of soy, marmite, chocolate, whisky and so much more. Intensely complex, dangerously drinkable and best served in a brandy baloon or large red wine glass to enjoy its aroma.”

I’m not really a dessert sort of person. When I do have desserts I prefer them on the savoury side, and often find myself more tempted by the cheese selection. This dessert was just too sweet for me. Make the mousse more dark and bitter and I’d be OK I think. It all tasted great, and the fresh tangy raspberries worked hard to bring up the balance a bit. The whisky gel was an excellent acompanyment and went some way to marrying the dessert with the beer. Toasted oats – my kind of flavour. Just too sweet!

The beer on the other hand is exactly my sort of thing – I have a huge “sweet tooth” for big, rich imperial stouts. Aged in whisky barrels? Even better! The sweetness of the dessert did really change the nature of the beer though, normally quite deep and characterful it seemed a lot lighter and drier by comparison – and thus far too easy to drink at 8.0%! The match worked fairly well – but again the dessert was too cloying for me, remove some sugar and it would have been perfect. The combination of flavours was just right. I’d very happily drink this beer with just a bowl of fresh raspberries and a block of 85% dark chocolate!

– EPITAPH TO THE EVENING –

It really was an excellent night and I’d love to see a repeat performance. I’ll definitely be re-visiting Alimentum, beer or no beer. (The usual beer selection isn’t very inspiring, and in normal circumstances I’d be drinking wine given the choices available. Perhaps after this event they will put some more thought into the beer list… but are there there enough Customers in Cambridge who will appreciate that?) After the meal we got to sit and chat a bit with Melissa and Mark Poynton (the driving force behind Alimentum) – discussing beer, food, and the paring of the two. Mark stated that beer is easier to work with than wine – one of the reasons being that wine is more sensitive to temperature. Personally I also think beer presents more flavour dimensions, more easily accessible, and thus gives a broader spectrum to play with.

The other attendees were impressed with how well beer can work in such a haute cuisine context. The consensus was that given the opportunity they’d do it again, some may even try beer matching at home. Great to hear, a bit of “spreading the word” to help make your average punter more appreciative of beer as a high quality and versatile beverage.

Congratulations to both Mark Poynton & Melissa Cole for running a successful and enjoyable evening. It was a pleasure to meet them too, people earnest & passionate about two of my favourite things: great beer and great food.

BrewDog Does Burns Night 2011

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Yvan Seth

Beer and food matching is becoming an ever more popular theme in the craft beer world. I’m all for it and have written about my own attempt at beer matching for Christmas dinner and how that turned out. Recently I’ve been doing more cooking and matching with beer than usual, exploring the possibilities. However, I’d never been to a professionally
prepared beer and food matching dinner. So when the BrewDog Burns Night at the White Horse
in London showed up on the radar I was quite keen to sign up. Unfortunately I left it too late, waiting to see if others wanted to attend, and by the time I
called the White Horse it was fully booked. Onto a waiting list for us! Fortunately they had a big enough waiting list that they put aside another room to accommodate the overflow.

On Burns Night we rocked up to a very busy White Horse just before things kicked off. Enough time for a sneaky half of AlphaDog and 4.1% RipTide. Us
“overflow” people were in the room at the back of the right hand side of the pub. Our hosts were Tom Cadden, London sales manager, and Josie Ludford,
Northern England sales manager. The usual sort of intro was made, explaining BrewDog and the concept of matching beer to food and soon we were into the meal.

Haggis Spring Rolls

With Spicy Chilli Sauce

Punk IPA 5.4%

Haggis Spring Rolls

We’ve had haggis spring rolls twice before, exclusively at Musa Aberdeen, and we enjoyed them so much we’re considering making some. (Kat is quite the spring-roll ninja, though she’d call them haggis lumpia – the Filo name.) The pairing with the new Punk IPA with its hop-punch aroma works well. The Punk might be a bit much for some spring rolls but as haggis is heavily spiced these hold up well.

The new Punk IPA was interesting to try, especially since I’ve done a side-by-side between the “old Punk” and “new Punk”. The Punk IPA served with this beer was a little “less” than the bottled “Punk X” I have. Less cloudy, less biscuity malt aroma and flavour, a bit less hop aroma too I think. This Punk was served
from cask, presumably it had been given time to drop quite clear. There was a slight haze to the beer, probably from hop oils I guess. I think they’ve toned it down a little, finding a balance between the previous Punk IPA and the bottled “Punk X”. Keeping the clear-beer folks happier at the cost of hitting the drinker with a bit less flavour? Or rounding out the beer in the quest for perfection? Anyway, this Punk IPA is still definitely a better beer than the original incarnation in my mind.

Scottish Salmon Sashimi

Pickled Cucumber & Soy Sauce

Hello, my name is Ingrid 8.2%

Scottish Salmon Sashimi

Ah, sashimi! We used to eat loads back in Sydney and miss it dearly. Unfortunately sashimi (sushi in general) in the UK is crap, and if it isn’t then it is very expensive. The salmon served here was good stuff and I dug in without remembering to take a photo first. Oddly they seem to have left out the pickled cucumber and served this with a bit of mixed leaf salad instead. Ran out perhaps.

The Hello, my name is Ingrid was quite drinkable (we all drunk it quite happily). Though I recall calling it “muddy” and now wish I’d made some more detailed notes about the beers we tried. This beer will not be available in the UK, except for a couple of special events like this one. It was brewed especially and exclusively for BrewDog’s Swedish distributor.

As for the pairing – nothing wrong, but I didn’t feel there was a notable synergy between the beer and the salmon. I’m thinking something simpler would be a better match. Less malt for sure and a clearer crisper beer. Possibly late-hopped with Sorachi Ace, a bit of a play on the Japanese theme and the lemony note fits as a classic combination for fish. (I like dark soy with a squeeze of lemon with my sashimi.) Or, how about something like the Mikkeller “Spontonale”?

Cullen Skink

With Homemade Bread

Bitch Please 10.5%

Cullen Skink

A sweet and thick potato and onion soup with chunks of smoked fish in it with a big strong barleywine. Seems too much, but it worked. The Bitch Please is a mouthful of flavour, my notes at the time were: “pretty crazy super-malty barleywine cross rich hoppy US super-IPA – late night sipping beer.” This bitch really is crazy, a collaboration between BrewDog and US brewers 3 Floyds, the beer has all sorts in it – not literally, I think. I’m uncertain of the exact details as I keep hearing new stories about it. At the very least there’s toffee and shortbread, as documented on the BrewDog blog.

It’s the IPA side of the beer that makes it work with this food pairing in my mind. Without the big hops the whole meal would probably be a bit over-sweet. I usually find barleywine style beers cloying, and it is probably the hops that transform this beer into something very drinkable.

Haggis with Neeps & Tatties

Roast Winter Vegetables & Mashed Potatoes

Alice Porter 6.2%

Haggis, neeps, and tatties

(There was also a sneaky nip of Talisker (single malt whisky) served with this.)

To start with we had the full haggis ceremony. Bagpipes, haggis on a platter, recital of Burns’s Address tae the Haggis (not quite so perfectly recited), dousing said haggis in whisky, then eager haggis stabbing. Quite a show.

Alice Porter is an excellent beer, I came upon it in Borough Market’s Market Porter a couple of weeks beforehand and couldn’t stop knocking back pints. (Then I realised it was 6.2% and decided I’d better stop and embark on the hour-long journey home.)

How does it go with haggis though? Just fine, this beer and our haggis were both dark and rich so they stood up well against each other. The pairing seemed to me more a meeting of equals than a complimentary relationship. The beer washed down the haggis perfectly without drowning it or feeling thin.

The big surprise for me was that the Alice Porter also stood its ground against the whisky. In fact the Talisker complimented the Alice rather well… as tempted as I was to tip the whisky into the beer I held back and enjoyed the beer in the warm afterglow of whisky sips.

TNP Float

Vanilla Icecream with Tactical Nuclear Penguin 33%

TNP Float

The Tactical Nuclear Penguin is an unusual beast. I got two bottles of this about a year ago, one of which remains unopened. This TNP was all syrupy burnt flavours and smoke. I loved it. It’s the Smokehead variety of the Paradox Stout (~10%) that’s had a bunch of water frozen out of it. Smokehead itself is a sublime beer, for those of us who like our smoke. To obtain this flavour Smokehead is aged in the used whisky barrels of its namesake, Smokehead whisky – which I’ve had and enjoyed.

There are some further complications however. I have had cask Paradox Smokehead three times, all different. One was rich and smoky, one was thin, astringent, and smoky, and the last rich but barely smoky. On my first visit to the BrewDog brewery I was told by one of their brewers that they were freeze-distilling a batch of Tokyo* for TNP. I tasted a bit of this as it was being drained from a large plastic container and it really did seem like super-concentrated Tokyo* – it was a beautiful thing.

Now, this TNP Float – to my nose – lacked smoke. The aroma was sweet and dark fruity richness. This seemed to me to be Tokyo*, not Smokehead. So I asked one of our hosts about this, the London sales manager, and he was certain it was Smokehead and had never heard of TNP being made from Tokyo*. So where do I stand? Utterly confused!

That digression aside, the “TNP Floater” worked extremely well. Next time we have people over for dinner I’m tempted to give it a shot!

Raspberry Cranachan

Fresh Raspberries, Oats, & Whipped Cream

Black Tokyo Horizon 15%

Raspberry Cranachan

Just the memory of this dessert makes me close my eyes and lean back. Trying to re-live it.

Cranachan is a most simple pleasure but something I’d not order because it is often just too thick. Not enough fruit, juice, and acidity to fight the cream. This was one of those cranachans. But it was rescued, enlivened, and made most enjoyable by the Black Tokyo Horizon. A spoonful of the dessert, a sip of the beer, repeat. There was an edge to the beer that cut right through the cream, an umami that rounded out the whole dish. This goes right up there with Mum’s rich Grand Marnier chocolate mouse in my dessert hall of fame. Then again, that could be under the influence of strong ale.

Black Tokyo Horizon rocks. My mission is to track down bottles of its constituent ingredients. The BTH is a blend of beers: BrewDog’s Tokyo*, NøgneØ’s Dark Horizon, Mikkeller’s Black. The Tokyo* is what I drink if I feel like port. Seriously round, rich, deep beer. This blend takes that and fills it full of roast dinner and goose fat. Rich, dark plum conserve, toffee pudding, smoked sausage. Smoked sausage!? Yes! There’s a following mouthfeel of bonfire smoke… I love this in a beer.

Scottish Cheese & Oatcakes

Dunsyre Blue, Isle of Mull and Clava Organic Blue Cheese

Hardcore IPA 9.2%

Cheese! IPA!

Cheese! A step too far? Never!

I do like my cheese, yet this final course was the one I was most concerned about. I love cheese, especially mouldy cheese. I love US-style strong IPAs, especially BrewDog’s Hardcore IPA. But could these two work together?

Almost… but not entirely. As robust and full-on as the Hardcore IPA is, I think it didn’t stand up to the tasty cheeses. That said, the “Clava Organic Blue Cheese” is, as far as I can determine, a “typo” that should be: “Clava Organic Brie”. (I’d have preferred a blue brie personally.) Amusingly, I think of the cheeses provided the brie was the best compliment to the Hardcore IPA.

It’s not dire however. While I felt the strong cheeses were far bigger than the Hardcore IPA I do believe they whipped it into submission and, with their salty richness, smoothed out the hops character and brought out an almost barleywine side of the IPA.

Wrapping Up

I, Kat, and our 3 invitees, all enjoyed the BrewDog Burns Night at the White Horse. It was a continuing education for our non-beergeek friends, two of whom had survived my Christmas dinner. There’s still some way to go to break the mental barrier separating beer from wine though. Note however that we were all Australians, “back home” the culture of beer is even further separated from dining than it is in the UK.

Personally: I’ve been to a few fancy degustations matched against specific wines and feel that this meal was a better effort than all of them. An important element to the beverage that we call “beer” is that it can provide an incredibly huge variety of flavour dimensions. Wine, in my experience, is more limited. (I’m going to get in trouble if I’m not careful. I grew up in a wine region in Australia and love and appreciate good wine.) The point is that a brewer can sit down and produce a beer with a particular experience in mind, possibly therein lies an interesting future of beer in gourmet circles. In the BrewDog Burns Night experience the feeling was that an excellent range of beer had been chosen then a series of dishes had been arranged around this. I think there is a potential to take a degustation menu and design a range of ales to match. Beer really is that flexible. You don’t have to drop to El Bulli levels and create the Estrella Damm Inedit – a beer so bland it’d go with anything (much like water does).

Long live craft beer! And hail those who can see and appreciate beer for the versatile medium of multidimensional flavour that it is.

ALE.is.GooD

Beer, cooking, beery cooking… and beery wholesale, and cellar tech, and…

Category Archives: Food Matching