One of the things I most admire about The Homebrew Chef is Sean’s insistance on continuing to innovate and experiment. I’ve attended more than a few of his dinners now, and I never see dishes repeated – quite the opposite really.  While Sean has a few favorite tropes (and who doesn’t, really?) he always pulls out new, exciting stuff that makes it worth eating, worth getting excited about, and worth making the trip out to 21st Amendment on a cold monday night.

In collaboration with Magnolia, 21A created the BRU/SFO, which near as I can tell, serves no other purpose than letting the brewmasters go nuts with Belgian style ales – a style that neither brewery regularly specializes in, but both adore.  The Homebrew Chef dinner was designed to pair up 21A’s BRU brews with food.

I think that’s about enough preamble, don’t you?  Let’s get to dinner.

Speaking of Sean’s favorite tropes – we started out with a cheese plate, with alllll the fixins.

Cheese Plate featuring: House-made Pork Pate – Local Sonoma Pig infused with Noir de Blanc and Dried Apricots, Cinnamon, Clove, Nutmeg and Allspice Corned Pig tongue, Flemish Style Cured Halibut, Spiced Nuts, Local Breads

This beast was served with two beers - The Beer Hunter ‘07 – a strong dark belgian beer with some age on it, and Brew Libre! Ou Mourir, a belgian-yeast version of 21A’s namesake IPA.

This would probably be a good time to mention – this post is going to feature a LOT of beer-porn.

Everything on the cheese plate was outstanding, especially the cured halibut – it had just a hint of brininess, and a great texture. My favorite pairings centered around the Belgian style IPA, a very in-vogue style at the moment (i have a similar homebrew on tap at home.)  I thought the hops were a particularly strong pairing with the Humboldt Fog cheese, where the tangy cheese and the piney hops balanced each other.  It also was really great against the pickled pork tongue.  The tongue took on a lot of salt, making it almost have the texture of country ham.  The hops, supported nicely by the malt backbone balanced it nicely.

The next beer to come around was the VIA, a lighter belgian ale.

Sean paired this up against his Waterzooi, a seasonal twist on a classic belgian fish stew.

Waterzooi with PEI Mussels, Prawns, Pumpkin, Fennel, Purple Potatoes, Cippolini Onions and Herbs in a Enkel Spiked Cream Broth

The star of this plate was unquestionably the lobster broth.  Rich, balanced, with a indulgent lobster flavor, I want to take a bath in it.

Our next beer was St. Martin’s Abbey, a belgian Abby style beer – darker, with more carmel notes.

This was paired with:

Ravioli Filled with St. Martin’s Abbey Braised Lamb Necks, Caramelized Shallots, Thyme and Chanterelle Mushrooms and Dubbel Reduction

It’s not really fair, since I’m a sucker for lamb neck.   The filling was great – the beer braised lamb really shown through, and tied the filling back into the beer pairing perfectly. The pasta dough was thin, but with just enough tooth to hold the whole thing together.  A simple looking, but technically complex dish that really highlights the beer it was paired with – this was my favorite course of the night, and one that I think highlighted the relationship between food and beer, and how it can be deepened by using beer as an ingredient in the food.

Next up: the namesake beer of the night, Monk’s Blood.  The 21A boys were very excited to introduce their new baby.

The nose on Monk’s Blood is all fig.  The beer itself is very smooth, a bit heavy, with a nice complexity in the finish.  There’s a lot going on in this beer, and it is a great addition to the canned beer world. It’s also a stellar dinner beer, with a enough heft to stand up to big, rich seasonal fall dishes.

Duck Legs Slowly cooked in Monk’s Blood on a Bed of Ginger Butternut Squash Purée and Glazed Brussels Sprouts.  Served with Pomme Frites with Monk’s Blood Aioli

Who doesn’t love a good duck leg?  With it’s great, game-inflected flavor, it’s a natural fit for this beer. The brussel sprouts provided some much needed veggie relief, but for me, the star of the plate with the squash and ginger puree.  The ginger had a great, bright flavor, and really popped against the rich leg meat and thick beer – a great contrast, and very seasonal. The fries were crisp, and nicely accented by the monk’s blood aioli. Jay in particular, loved his fries.

For special treat, Sean produced some Monk’s blood from the batch brewed earlier in the year, that had been stored away in a bourbon barrel.

The earlier batch was noticeably sweeter, but also had been really smoothed over by the time on wood.  The bourbon nose was a great accent to the flavors that were already present in the beer – one of the great surprises for the night.

Our last beer and course came around, and the food coma induced crowed sat up at attention one more time.

Belgian Quad Spiked Waffles with TCHO Chocolate Whipping Cream, Cocoa Nibs, Noir de Blanc Poached Dried Cherries

Our last beer was Baby Horse, a belgian quad with a huge phenolic nose, and lots of banana and clove character.  It wasn’t my favorite for the night, but it may have just been that I was too full by this point.  I thought the bourbon barrel monk’s blood was a much better fit for dessert, and brought out the cherries and chocolate on the plate.  Our waffles were crisp, although they lacked that “just out of the iron” freshness that you look for at brunch. No matter – I was too full to care anyway.

All in all, a pretty solid showing from the Homebrew Chef.  I’m more and more convinced that his mission – to have beer fully realized as an ingredient in the kitchen – is a worthwhile one.  Integrating the beer into the food reveals new pairing options, and make more a more exciting, complete beer dinner.

Thanks for a great meal Sean!

Tags: 21st amendment, homebrew chef, monk's Blood

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 10:33 am and is filed under Pairings, beer dinner. 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.