One of the most enjoyable aspects of the Toffie Food Festival, held at the City Hall last month and sponsored by South African Breweries, was the Food and Beer Pairing workshop, presented by SAB’s Trade Brewer Denis da Silva and Kitchen Cowboys Chef Pete Goffe-Wood.  It demonstrated that many of our perceptions about beer drinking in general, and about specific brands of beers, are shaped by societal norms and packaging, and that beer pairs perfectly with food.

In notes that we were given, it was stated that one needs to know how a beer is made when deciding on a food pairing, in that a beer’s flavour comes from the ‘cooking process’ during the malting phase, when barley converts to malt. The flavours this creates is similar to the flavours created by cooking food.  We were given the following Food and Beer pairing tips:

*   Beer and food flavours should be compatible, and have some elements in common. The herby bitterness of hops is well matched to lightly spiced food

*   Beer strength should be matched with food strength.  As with wines, light foods should be paired with lighter beers, while full-bodied beers should be matched with more strongly flavoured foods

*   In wine terms, a lager is white wine and an ale a red wine.  Hoppy beers can play the role of an acidic wine in pairing consideration.

*   In deciding on the food pairing, beers’ sweetness, bitterness, carbonation, heat, and richness should be considered

*   The more hop bitterness the beer has, the more the food needs to be lively and hearty to hold its own

*  The food and beer combination does not only have to be complimentary – contrasting flavours work well too

*   More fully flavoured foods can be paired with beers with a higher alcohol content.

We were given suggestions for some food and beer pairings, to embody these pairing principles: green salad and vinaigrette with hoppy Brown Ale, roast beef and gravy with Scottish ale, Chicken Kiev and Pilsner Urquell, oysters and Castle Milk Stout, tuna and olives with Peroni Nastro Azzuro, black tiger prawns and scallops with Grolsch, and an interesting sounding pairing of chocolate and Castle Milk Stout.

The difference between beer types was explained, lagers made by fermenting yeast which is subjected to cold maturation. Taking longer to ferment than ales, lagers are cleaner, less sweet, more rounded, have a less complex flavour, less fruit aroma, and usually have grass on the nose.   They are clear and light in colour. Ales are fermented at a warm temperature, with a short maturation period. They have complex flavours, and a more pronounced fruity aroma and palate.  They are served at room temperature, and have a lower carbon dioxide content.  Pilsners, originating from Pilsen in the Czech Republic, are gold in colour and clear, and have a bitter taste and hop aroma.  Stouts are almost black in colour, with a roasted taste, coming from roasting the malt, making them flavourful and given them a strong hop character.  SAB makes its beers from water, yeast, hops, malted barley, and maize, making them nutritional too, in containing vitamins, potassium, soluble fibre, with little sodium, reducing cholesterol, and slowing down digestion.  Beer has no additives, unlike wines.

In taking us through the beer and food pairing, Denis said that a beer should be evaluated as one does a wine, but with additional aspects, looking at its colour, clarity, foam, sound of the bubbles, aroma on the nose, and taste.  We tasted a ceviche of line fish with fennel, chilli and avocado, prepared by Chef Pete, paired with Castle Lite.  Containing only 4 – 5 % alcohol, it allows one to drink more beer than wine when one eats.   A spiced black urid lentil bunny chow was paired with Carling Black Label, a lager containing 5,5 % alcohol, and with a banana nose, slightly sweeter, not so hoppy, and often chosen as a favourite in blind tastings by women, Denis said, despite its masculine marketing focus.

Toulouse sausage and bacon, served with lentils and a mustard sauce, was paired with Pilsner Urquell.  Denis told us that Urquell was the first clear beer made, being more golden in colour, and being quieter on the ear in containing less carbon dioxide, and undergoing ‘triple decoction’, the name for the caramelisation process.  It has toffee, honey, citrus and spicy aromas.  They use the very aromatic saaz hop.  It is a serious beer, good to pair with goulash and steak tartare.  The Czechs are the largest beer drinking nation, Denis said. I enjoyed the pairing of Chef Pete’s delicious sticky toffee pudding (the only toffee we had at the Toffie Food Festival!) with Castle Milk Stout, called that due to its addition of lactose.  This beer has caramel, milk, molasses, and butterscotch on the nose, with a hoppy, malty and burnt taste.

The health benefits alone would be a good justification to drink a lot more beer, and the workshop proved how well different beers can be paired with a variety of foods.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio:  www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage