Recipes

Pairing beer with food enhances the flavors found in each, highlighting subtlety, emphasizing aroma, and sometimes building a magical experience. On a practical level, beer is the ultimate beverage for fine cuisine: it has a wide range of flavors, from biscuit to caramel to roast to herbal hops; the carbonation in beer clears the palate and makes the next bite more appealling; beer's range of strength and typical serving size are perfect for lunch or dinner. For example: after many years of cheese tastings at restaurants, at stores, and in homes it has finally become commonly accepted by chefs and food writers that beer is the best beverage to pair with cheese.

Pairing a beer with a specific dish is not hard, but a few guidelines can help. First, think either to compliment or to contrast the beer with the food: a rich, fatty cream soup can be complimented by a deeply malty Taddy Porter or contrasted with a dry, effervescent, hoppy Orval. Likewise, a salad with vinaigrette dressing can be complimented with a snappy Sam Smith's Organic Lager or Ayinger Brau-Weisse, or it can be contrasted with Zatec Dark Lager.

As you sample beers with specific dishes, keep an open mind and note what is going on - how does the one alter your perceptions of the other? Also, think of the order of the courses - in general, it's a good idea to begin with subtler flavors and move to more asseritve beer & food as a multi-course meal proceeds.

Chefs use beer as a key ingredient in many classic and innovative dishes - often, serving a dish made with beer can offer new awareness when the same beer accompanies it. The recipes below area collection of proven classics from regions with long brewing traditions, as well as enlightened modern dishes.