Beer & food matching: Loving lager
Lager? Surely a bag of salt n vinegar is the highest culinary you can expect with a glass of lager.
But no, from bratwurst to beef stroganoff, continental lagers have as robust a gastronomic tradition as English ale, so this month we asked our pane to come up with their favourite match for a genuine lager.
John Keeling, Fuller's head brewer: Strong flavoured foods can sometimes overpower lagers completely, but in other cases the zestiness of lager can cut right through a heavy dish. With an authentic lager like Budweiser Budvar I'd suggest something quite light, such as a creamy pasta dish, fish and chips or even a salad. Or for something less authentic, how about Brooklyn Lager, which is good for dishes with a little bit of spice like mild curries.
Richard Fox, chef and broadcaster: When it comes to well-chilled, crisp, effervescent lager - whether it be a top notch floral pilsner such as Urquell or Budvar, or a run-of-the-mill standard - Sushi is a natural partner. Contrary to popular belief, sake is not the traditional accompaniment. This grain-based liquor (making it a beer, not wine), is drunk as an aperitif, prior to the main attraction. Lager has all the attributes to bring out the best in the delicate morsels of raw fish. It won't overpower or distort the delicate flavours - as most other, and more artisan beers would; it will also cut through the oiliness of fish such as salmon, tuna and mackerel, refreshing the palette and, generally leave you gagging for more. www.foxfoodandbeer.co.uk/
Paul Drye, catering development manager, St Austell Brewery: To avoid all the tired clichés concerning 'curry and lager', I'm hoping to introduce you to something I discovered recently: Herold Bohemian black lager, 5.2 per cent ABV - the Czechs know a thing or two about lager, and black lagers have been part of their brewing history for many centuries. This multi award-winning tipple is dark brown, with a rich, smoky bittersweet chocolate flavour. The perfect food to match this in my mind is a ploughman's with a twist. The bread should be a dark rye bread flavoured with caraway, and the cheese should be the slightly sour Caerphilly, with, if you can stretch to it - some home made chutney. The flavours of the beer and the bread mix together so well and the sourness of the cheese almost acts as a palette cleanser.
Phil Vickery, chef and broadcaster: I find lager the easiest beer to match food to, its light, tasty, great smooth flavour with a dry edge. Most fish seem to match well with lager, scallops, sole, mussels, and brill. I find cooking with lager, rather than drinking it, as pleasurable - the dryness matches most flavour profiles you add to raw product. Sweet, spicy, heat of chilli, strong herbs all work very well with lager when matched with white meats and fish. In my new book, I steam wild salmon with fresh basil and lemon over a barbecue, with good results, I even cooked it for some wild surfers in Jersey whilst filming for This Morning, they loved it.
Rupert Ponsonby, Beer Academy: Authentic lagers were originally not blonde at all, just dismal brunettes, with their malts fired not by smokeless coals but by heaps of straw and wood. So they would have been dark and mysterious creatures like the witches of Macbeth, with chocolate, liquorice flavours and hints of wood. But by 1879, the first pale Scottish lagers were being brewed by William Younger of Edinburgh and the blondes arrived in hordes. My current favourite from the frozen north is Harviestoun's Schiehallion from Alva Clackmannanshire (authentic name or what?), a 4.8 per cent pale lager using lager and wheat malts, Styrian Goldings (lime jelly), Challenger (lime fruit), Hallertau Hersbrucker (spice) - bursting with fresh citric flavours and first brewed in the 1980's. Great with Thai chicken and lemongrass; or green Thai curries; or lemon chicken with roast garlic or dry goats cheeses. Makes me drool to think of it.
Melissa Cole, beer writer: Authentic lager with its honey tones and lilting hops are a joy by themselves on a hot summer's day or with a BBQ. But now, when spring has nearly sprung and there's still a nip in the air, I love enjoying fantastic brews like Cain's Finest Lager or Budvar with warming spiced stews like a tagine, with its honied fruits and saffron depths or perhaps a chicken coated in a mix of Harrisa and yoghurt, with a nutty bulghur wheat salad laced with mint, cucumber and radishes.
Next month: What's super with stout?
