One of the things I really like about the Homebrew Chef’s approach to food is Sean’s intellectual bend towards his subject.  SF Beer Week provided the perfect opportunity to showcase this habit with some like-minded eaters and drinkers, who are onboard for a dinner that is also a culinary investigation.  Can one beer be showcased over and over again, to highlight different aspects of the beer, as both a beverage and an ingredient? It’s this freewheeling deconstruction and playful examination that’s all the rage in the molecular gastronomy these days, although here the cooking was a decided more upscale comfort execution.

Update: Like what you see?  I’m told there are just a few spots available for Sean’s Firestone Walker Dinner at the Toronado this Thursday.  Sean tells me “A rumored extra keg of Parabola might make an appearance.”  Stop by the Toronado to buy tickets before the last few seats get snapped up.

 

 

So what beer would this be? Sean’s own Monk’s Blood, which is a strong Belgium Ale.  With 11% ABV, it’s a bruiser of a beer, with a good deal of sweetness as well.  The result is a strong, sweet brew that packs a punch.  The residual sugar combines with the amber malt to provide some distinctly boysenberry and fig flavors.  It’s a provides a big base for Sean to build upon, both on the plate and in the glass 

 

We started out with Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk Cheese served with a dried fruit compote made with Monk’s Blood Belgian Ale, toasted spiced nuts and local breads.  I’m a sucker for this sort of pairing  - the beer reduced with  the fruit to bring out the sweetness and malt flavors, and stood up against the funky washed rind cheese. 

 

 

21st Amendment wasn’t stingy with the beer either.  Each course received a “contrast” beer for comparison. They first up served us their Hop Crisis Double IPA.  It turned out to be one of my favorites of the evening, partial because it provided a great example of how a completely different beer – in this case, dominated by hops – can pair with the farmhouse funk of the cheese and bring out different aspects of the dish.  Normally in pairings like these you’d have one beer and two cheeses – here we turned it on it’s head, and head two beers with one cheese, and the became the chameleon to the flavors around it. 

 

 

Next up: Crepes filled with beer braised duck, house cured bacon, fennel, thyme, cinnamon and leeks and a Monk’s Blood cream suace topped with toasted almonds.  Guess that was the star of the plate?  The beer braised duck? The bacon?  The fennel?  That’s what i would have guessed too. But instead, it’s the almonds.  The toasted carmel edges on the almonds really popped texturally and flavor-wise against the rich duck inside, and tied it to the beer. Those nuts really tied the plate together, and gave the beer more to work contrast with, since the duck has so readily married to the beer’s fruit flavors.  The second beer they served with it was an aggressively smokey imperial stout that I thought had too much smoke to go with, well, any dish.  A little pour was interesting – a full pour was too much. 

 

Next came our only lighter foray of the evening – Baby lollo rosso and curly endive with Humboldt Fog crostini, blood orange vinaigrette , candied pecans and shaved manchego cheese. The salad was crisp and refreshing, albeit didn’t really do much for the special beer of the evening. Our contrast beer for this was from left field – a pour of “Vinnie-ified” Watermelon Wheat that was the result of a collaboration with Russian River Brewing (William Brand is furiously scribing notes in the background, as 21A’s Shawn told the lengthy story of its creation.)  As far as our ongoing intellectual investigation goes the Humbolt Fog crostini was the most interesting part of the plate.  The sour, dry wheat embraced the tart cheese, while the Monk’s Blood contrasted against it.  

It was about this time that Sean suggested I come down and grab a few pictures of him working alongside the house kitchen staff to put out the next course: Beer braised lamb shank slow cooked Colorado lamb shanks with carrots, celery and thyme, dried figs and coriander served on a puree’ of parsnips.

 

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My Jurassic sized lamb shank looked like a Godzilla sea monster invading a small mirepoix village. Sean must know I have a soft spot of beer braised lamb.  Where this dish really shined was the thick caramelized glaze on the outside, which paired well with 21A’s Beer Hunter.  

 

 

Here “The Hunter” played as a comparisons in similarities rather than differences with both the meat and the Monk’s Blood.  Both are big Belgiums with residual sugers.  The fig notes in particular are brought out the the throughly braised figs in the sauce.  

 

 

And finally, it was time for dessert: Chocolate and ale mousse tart, filled in a hazelnut crust in a pool of sour cherry coulis with a Monk’s Blood Sabayon. I split a tart with Elianna, and still couldn’t finish this rich beast.  Brian, who was sitting next to me, was particularly smitten with the tart, asked Sean what was in it.  Sean explained that for contrast, there was a beer brittle that had been broken up, added a hard carmel chewiness to the mousse and toasted hazelnuts in the crust. On my other side, William Brand scribbled more notes.  I was surrounded by beer authors on all sides! 

The tart was delicious, although after this super rich dinner, my newly refilled glass of Monk’s Blood seemed even more intimidating, and the sweet on sweet with the tart was a bit much – by now, an espresso would have been really killer, as I was all loaded up on sugar. I think that’s the real challenge of attempting this sort of menu – in order for it to work, it has to be a big, complex beer, and have a lot of depth to stand up to the scrutiny of so many courses. Because it’s such a big beer, the defining characteristics of it – in this case sugar - will eventually fray around the edges.  I would also argue it shows more wear as a drink – as an ingredient, it stayed very, very strong. This may have again been the sugar at work.

But could any other type of beer be explored like this?  Most pale ales certainly couldn’t make it more than two courses.  And in serving contrasting beers with each course, we got to have our cake, and eat it too: the deep palate investigation of one beer, and a shallow flirtation with other beers for variety and contrast.  And so this culinary investigation worked – revealing under the microscope both the expansive depth and shallow areas of this beer, and leaving me with one final impression: It’s just fucking great with cheese. 

Thanks for an awesome dinner Sean – I can’t wait to see what else you’ve got in store for SF Beer Week.  You’ve got a captivated audience for exploring beer and food pairing in a more studious way that normal, and I think you’re fully taking advantage of it. 

 

 

 

PS – A special toast tonight for William Brand – hang in there, we’re all pulling for you. 

Tags: 21a, homebrew chef, sean paxton, SF Beer Week

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 6:44 am and is filed under Pairings, Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.