Five Perfect Beer-and-Food Pairings

by Leslie Pariseau, Posted Nov 15th 2010 @ 2:00PM

oysters and guinness Photo: [puamelia], Flickr

What's the best nosh with beer? Here, from a couple of New York's finest beer experts, are five unique pairings. Following the gastropub tips are DIY dishes, with recipes, to bring the pairings home.

1. Dry stout and oysters. White wine and oysters seem the most genius flavor combination, especially when they're both briny, creamy and fresh. However, way back in the day, oysters weren't a novelty, but a cheap mainstay, its common bedfellow was a dry stout. At Jimmy's No. 43, a beer-focused gastropub in Manhattan, Long Island oysters are paired every Wednesday with stouts like the Irish Porterhouse Oyster.

DIY: Raw Oysters + Gritty McDuff's Black Fly Stout

2. Sweet pickles and Belgian Strong Ale. Pickle plates are increasingly popular among restaurants with a penchant for the local and the preserved. At one such venue, Beer Table in Brooklyn, New York, owner Justin Philips pairs sweet-potato pickles with a Belgian-style strong ale. "The sweet potatoes are soaked in orange juice and brown sugar which is great with the round, tropical flavors of The Bruery's Mischief."

DIY: Bread-and-Butter Pickles + Brooklyn Local 1.

3. Cured meats and Hefeweizen. The best things in life are simple as witnessed on Jimmy's snack menu where beers sausages and roasted nuts appear nearly every season. Another of these simplicities includes locally made finocchiona salami, which Jimmy likes alongside a glass of Ayinger Bräu-Weisse from Germany.

DIY: Salumeria Biellese Coppa + Schneider Weisse Weizenhell

4. Meat, Potatoes and Pale Ale. "English brewery Thornbridge does some beautiful classic pale ales, which are a little strange but aromatic," says Philips. Beer Table recommends their roasted meatloaf with potatoes and parsnips. "The ales are refreshing, but have enough structure to hold up to meat. Parsnips are soft and floral, which goes well with the soapy floral notes of pale ale."

DIY: Meatloaf , potato parsnip mash + Samuel Smith's Old Brewery Pale Ale.

5. Butterscotch and Belgian Dark Ale. There's little that can outdo warm pudding, especially when it's butterscotch and topped with fresh whipped cream. At Beer Table, their cocoa nib-brittle adorned version is suggested alongside the Botteresse Brune whose deep toffee notes and high carbonation compliment and "lift the pudding's gooeyness."

DIY: Butterscotch pudding + Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre

Filed Under: Recipes, Drinks
Tags: beer pairing, food pairings