This is part of a series of posts inviting local beer industry professionals to pair a beer with a dish, including a recipe so that readers can try the pairing at home.

Name & Position: Eric Draper – Head Chef at Brouwer’s Cafe
Dish: Beer on a Plate
Beer Pairing: Hair of the Dog Fred

What Eric has to say about the pairing: I had some friends come into Brouwer’s one night while I was cutting up Kobe beef hanger steaks, (I’ve since done similar dishes with buffalo, venison, pretty much any hearty meat), and I had random end pieces left over. I thought, “Hey I’ll do a nice little taster for them all.” Problem being that they all had different types of beer, so I decided to put every flavor of beer on one small plate. I told them it was “beer on a plate” and the dish paired beautifully with everyone’s beverage. When I got off work I had it with Hair of the Dog Fred and it held with this robust gem well. The high alcohol content of Fred helped put booze on the plate which it has little of.
The reason it seems to work is that it gives hops to hop-less beer, malt to the malt-less beer, yet searches around your mouth and nose attacking any beer taste bud or beer smell that a powerful beer might not have hit.

Here is one version of this fun appetizer. Enjoy!

Note from Geoff: Some of this may be a bit ambitious for the average home chef. Don’t be afraid to adapt the recipe to what you feel you can do and to ingredients you may have around the house.
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Arugula, micro greens, brewer’s grains, hazelnuts, hop vinaigrette
Belgian beer marinated buffalo hanging tender
Chanterelle mushroom, barley wine lamb “triple” glace

Taste as you go. The hop vinaigrette. shouldn’t be too acidic. I used a little agave nectar to balance the acid/bitter punch.

Hop vinaigrette: 1T lemon juice, 4T apple cider vinegar, 2 T stone ground mustard, ½ cup wit bier, 2 nuggets Citra whole hop, (any hop that is used for aroma and smells yummy), ¼ cup grape seed oil, ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, S&P & agave nectar to taste: put everything but the oil in a blender, turn it on and slowly add the oil, put a touch of egg yolk if you want it more stable and creamy.

Toss this with micro greens, sprouts, mixed greens, what ever you’d like. I like arugula because it enhances the bitter/pepper spice of the hop…but then again I’m a hop head.

Beer marinade: 1 cup Belgian grand cru, ¼cup soy, ¼ cup stone ground mustard, some onion or shallot, garlic, thyme, Italian parsley, a little sage, some brown sugar if you like sweet, a touch of Worcestershire if you like savory.

Mix all this and marinate the meat from 2 hours to 24 hours or more depending on how much you’d like to taste the marinade verses the meat. I like about 6 hours.

Lamb “triple” glace: Make a traditional lamb stock, (I use grass fed domestic lamb bones. The New Zealand and Aussie stuff has a more gamey flavor to it), throw in some chanterelles, put a cheese cloth sack of garni bouquet in it, reduce by triple, (1/3 of the stock will be left), finish with a barley wine that isn’t too hoppy. Pour in the beer till you can taste it, it should complement the stock, not over power.

Put the sauce next to the meat, (cook the meat med-rare and thin slice against the grain), put the salad, grains and nuts next to that. Eat back on forth between them all and it’ll be the best beer you ever ate!

Cheers!
Eric Draper Head Chef- Brouwer’s Cafe