Beer and food matching: Nigel Crane's menu

Related tags Essential cuisine Newcastle brown ale Cheshire

Nigel Crane, a former sous chef under Anton Mosimann at The Dorchester, started Essential Cuisine in 1996. Based in Cheshire, the business is focused...

Nigel Crane, a former sous chef under Anton Mosimann at The Dorchester, started Essential Cuisine in 1996. Based in Cheshire, the business is focused on producing high-quality, chef-standard stocks and sauces.

Nigel took time out from the development kitchen to set out his ideal beer and food matching menu.

Starter - Pescado con coco with Brahma

On a recent jaunt in Mexico's Riviera Maya, I was lapping up the carnival atmosphere when my nostrils were suddenly tickled by an unusually wonderful, fresh from the sea aroma. The most delicious-looking fish soup arrived in an earthenware dish. The taste? Muito bonito.

While I have tried, and failed, to recreate the same Latino fiesta on the streets of Northwich, I have managed to create my own version of this pescado con coco, a Creole-esque, spiced up-with-chilli fish soup, with pieces of fresh red snapper sat on Chilean blue mussels and crayfish tails, in a light fragrant saffron and coconut broth. Top with roasted manioc flour for a biscuity finish and serve with green beans and baby celery stems in a nice, rustic bowl.

To wash this down, it would have to be light, zesty Brazilian beer Brahma, to accentuate the authentic taste and keep all the flavours sharp.

Main course - Jugged hare with Newcastle Brown Ale

Poles apart, my main course says a lot about me, an adopted northern lad (actually from just outside London, but ssshhh) with an appetite for comfort food. I like nothing more than going up to Hexham to shoot at the country estate of my friend Charles, a wily old soul with a penchant for real ale, mad hats and big game.

And it doesn't get much better than caught-on-Friday, cooked-on-Sunday jugged hare, an extremely dark, rich meat, not for the faint of heart, which should be braised slowly in a rich beef stock and some Burgundy, spices, cinnamon, nutmeg, juniper berries, a twist of orange, an onion to taste and a clove or two of garlic.

Once cooked, you remove the hare and, with the blood saved, joint the buck, and thicken the remaining juices. Remember not to boil for fear of separation - I've had a couple of those moments in my time. Strain this sauce over the hare that has been kept warm in the Aga.

Serve with piped Marquis potatoes, Brussels sprouts and pickled red cabbage, and you have a winter warmer like no other.

This must be served up with a sweeter beer to counter the power and depth of the hare and I personally like Newcastle Brown Ale, the working man's beer of the North East. And nearly 90, not unlike Charles.

Dessert / Cheeseboard - Stilton & Cheshire cheese / fruit cake with Old Tom

I like chocolate and cake, but if I've had a heavy meal, the last thing I want is a dessert - and I personally don't think drinking beer with fondant or chocolate works. My ideal way to finish a meal is to pull up a pew in front of the roaring fire with a cheeseboard at my local pub, the Plough at Whitegate, prepared by Colin the Chef.

A large piece of Stilton and Cheshire cheese, along with a handsome slice of fruit cake or 'granny's loaf', packed with raisins, sultanas, and apricots, stewed for an hour in a mixture of water, sugar and mixed spice and laced with rum, is my idea of dessert heaven.

Old Tom from Robinson's Brewery goes down a dream with these two opposing and yet complementary tastes and textures; a very deep, chocolate malt with a light, liquorice aniseed hoppiness, bringing through the flavours of the cheese and fruit cake.

For samples of Essential Cuisine products, call 0870 050 1133 or visit Essential Cuisine​.

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