Will drink with meat
Wow, that title is way too clever, even for me, the proverbial KING of clever. We’ve been planning for our party (March 15?sign up to come on our sidebar) and Will has graciously volunteered his meat-smoking skills. Last night he brought over some brisket and chicken to try with our stout, hefeweizen and IPA. I think we’re going to be pairing the IPA with brisket done in a chipotle chocolate rub. Oh yes?
Will, you are the man. I can’t believe that no one wants to date you… Unreal…
More like Super-Duper Bowl!
Our Superbowl lineup of non-Monday-Night beers. We didn’t venture far from the fold. Dogfish Head IBA and 60 Minute IPA are old standbys at this point. When it comes to pairing food and beer for a Superbowl, there are a few rules. One of them: anything goes well with homemade chili cheese fries.
Oh? and the game! Giants win! I don’t care about the Giants, but I side with the rest of America insomuch as I hate the Patriots.
We’ll be brewing tonight, so come on by. I think it’s supposed to be above absolute zero outside, too.
And in other news, I’ve started making a list of things you don’t want to happen at Waffle House:
- Have your fake tooth fall out as you’re chomping on some bacon
- Learn you were conceived in the backroom (Glenn)
- Learn where the cook?s hands have been just prior to cooking your food (Glenn)
- Learn what?s in the grill oil that makes the hashbrowns oh so tasty (Glenn)
- Learn what ?smothered & covered? REALLY means (Brad)
Any additions?
Troy invites us to his weekly rabbit/beer pairing
After making fun of Troy for being pretentious enough to talk about the virtues of pairing a Flemish sour with rabbit, he decided to make us eat crow rabbit. And eat rabbit we did. Troy served us up some tasty appetizers. I called it cheesy bread, but apparently it was a bit more complex. Something about Chimay cheeses.
We had 2 different Cantillons as our beers. The first was a lambic. The sour beer came into play when we were munching on some surprisingly delicious braised rabbit ? served over a bed of my famous mashed potatoes. What makes them famous? Heavy whipping cream. Lots of it.
Afterwards we played Settlers of Catan. It was my first time playing this true dork-fest of a game. Jeff was really good at it. If by “good at it” you mean “not able to build any settlements because of poor planning.” Cheers!
More experimentation with food and beer ? this time OUR beer
Andy and I traveled to what seems the end of the world last night (it was actually 30 miles north) to pick up the remaining case of beer we brewed for the BMW Sport Touring Club. Mark and Christine were nice enough to have us over for dinner. And boy howdy, Mark can cook some meat!
Pork with some kind of famous butt rub… chicken tandoori… over-carbonated Roundhouse Pale Ale… over-carbonated Weissguy Hefeweizen. I would say that our beer was the worst part of the dinner, which isn’t to say that it wasn’t delicious, because it was.
All in all, a trip well worth it. I love having friends that cook meat.
Andy further explores food and beer pairings… and succeeds
Our friend Andy has recently embarked upon a crusade to make beer and food pairings his bitch. Last night marked the second chapter in this poignant saga. The most delightful of his stylings, by far, was his dessert dish: fried plantains in a rum, cinnamon and brown sugar glaze (Andy, correct me if I’m wrong).
He also prepared a homemade cinnamon ice cream, which didn’t quite turn out. I’ve got high hopes for the next version, however. To top it all off, this scrumptious dessert was paired with an equally scrumptious Celebrator Dopplebock.
As we say in consulting, the synergies in the beer and food were fully leveraged.