Oh Sean, you sneaky, sneaky bastard.

I’ve heard you go on a few times about the value of putting beer into food, and how when used as an ingredient, it can equal or even surpass wine when integrated into a recipe.  You’ll get a beer into your head, and I’ll hear at length how the ingredient form of the beer, combined with a beer on the table can equal a sum greater than the whole of its parts.  The problem is, my own home experiments have often not been the ethereal pairing I hoped for.  Sure they were good, but I never feel like I’m REALLY getting the beer flavor I want from the food, without the hops reducing into a bitter aftertaste.

At the NCHF dinner though, from the first bite, I was sold.  First came out the Homemade Barley Malted Scones with Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Beer Jelly.  It set the tone of the theme for the meal: The food of the British Isles.

The little bits of barley in the scone were immediately identifiable as malt.  Here, the beer was reduced to it’s most basic of ingredients, and re-imagined. In a molecular-gastronomy like slight of hand, the scone evokes the toasty porters it draws it’s ingredients from, and paired with the sweet jelly it made a great opener.  I found myself picking at these all night. Next was soup.  Out came a Porter Onion Soup served with Marin Brewing Company Pt. Reyes Porter. By now the crowed of a hundred and fifty was rearing to go, and ready to be served.  Large pitchers of beer began to circulate around with the soup, as just as dark and rich.  The soup was good, and quickly eaten by the hungry crowds.  I liked it, but it didn’t have the knockout surprise the scones were. Similarly, the beer was good, but lacked a really deep depth that I was looking for.

My high expectations were met again on the next dish: “Tasty and Paxi Gastropub Style DPA Bangers and Harvest Ale Mash, Served with a 21A Imperial Smoked Porter Gravy” was served alongside of Firestone Walker’s Unblended & Unfiltered Oak Aged Double Pale Ale.  The sausages were plump and juicy, and the meaty flavor held up against the rich smokey gravy, which perfectly pulled the smoked malt flavor out.  But it was the pairing with the beer that really knocked it out. Matt Brynildson, the brewmaster, was on hand to introduce his beer.  They fastidiously clean and brew in barrels, but with regular yeast, not sour brett.  Unfiltered, the beer was rich and extra expressive of the process that made it.  It had a woody vanilla finish that felt homemade and natural, and really matched the home brew aesthetic of the weekend. Paired with the sausages, it had just the right rustic touch.

The third course was a Cornish Pasty, filled with Steak, Portobello Mushroom, Scotch ale gravy and Blue Cheese Thyme Pastry paired with Sacramento Brewing Company’s Ordinary Bitter. Here, the food outshone the beer – the pasty’s filling was decadent – the beer was ordinary.  Then, the relationship was reversed with the forth course of the night: Lamb Shepherd’s Pie With a Sweet Potato, SacBrewed Scotch Ale and Goat Guoda Crust, paired with 21st Amendment’s Transcontinental IPA on Firken.  The shepherds pies, served in giant family style portions ensuring no one was leaving hungry, had a balanced lamb gaminess, back to back with the pasty, it didn’t stand up to the pasty’s extravagant filling.  The beer on the other hand, was nothing but indulgence. Shaun O’Sullivan of 21st Amendment introduced his casks proudly, and explained the collaboration with Stone brewing to make the beer.  It was hoppy and oaky, but the cask gave it an amazing depth – it perfectly captured the smoothing middle palate easiness of classic British cask beers, but finished with an aggressive west coast hoppy bite.

By now, I was full.  Really, really full.  But the food kept coming out. I was revived by naan, fresh grilled (I HAVE to have this recipe). With it came Indian Chicken Curry made with Caramelized Onions, Spices, Coconut Milk and Pale Ale with a Russian River Brewing Company’s Dead Leaf Green.

The curry was rich- nearly too rich this late into the night after the beast that was the tray of shepherds pie – I didn’t see a single one of those get finished! I managed a few bites and sipped the beer – the hoppy ale was just the right balance to cut through the rich curry sauce.  Unfortunately, I feel like the pale ale in the chicken was blown out buy the curry and spices.  Nearly too full to move, suddenly dessert was upon me. And like bookends on the meal with the scones at the beginning, it was a winner.

Black & Tan English Triffle, made with Imperial Stout Pudding and Bass Ale Custard Layered with Malted Cake and Hopped Clotted Cream, served alongside Fifty Fifty Brewing’s 50/50 Imperial Stout.  This was what I was looking for back when the soup came out: an aggressive pairing of a dark, rich beer with heavily espresso and coffee notes, paired against an equally rich dark malt flavor.  The tops of the triffles and insides of the cake layer were sprinkled with roasted malt (specifically I’m told, Simpson’s 155L dark malt.  Homebrewers love these sorts of details), which acted like cocoa nibs, exploding and providing a great textural contrast to the smooth pudding.  The melded the desert to the beer via their roasted crunch.

So in the end, I think Sean delivered on his promise: to craft beer and food together, and using beer as an ingredient, elevate the whole enterprise.  Some of the dishes soared (the scones, the bangers and mash, the naan, the triffle) while others were “merely” delicious. These sorts of pairings always feel ephemeral, and tied to the places where they are eaten.  Here the menu aimed to wander through English culinary tradition, and filter it though a beer and food agenda, while pleasing a giant horde of hungry brewers. Those are broad big, diverse goals, and the menu succeeded amazingly.  And while doing all that, Sean snuck in a few pairings that succeeded in being more than “just” beer and food, but a symbiotic whole.

More adventures at NCHF coming soon…

Tags: beer dinner, homebrew chef, nchf, sean paxton

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 at 7:21 am and is filed under Pairings, Reviews, Stories, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.