My wife got me a Christmas present of a 1-day ‘stage’ at a 50-seat restaurant in Paris. The deal is, I get to pick the menu, help put it together, and help out during service. I’ve asked the owner about serving beer (hey, it’s a restaurant in Paris… I’d be lucky if they have a few musty bottles of 1664 in the back) and he is OK with it.
So here’s my menu, and the beers I’m thinking about pairing each item up with. What do you think? What should I change?
Entree:
Crostini de foie de volaille avec sa salade
Chicken Liver toasts
Ruination Rye IPA? I had the Rye IPA with some saucisson sec last week and the “spice”-yness of both worked REALLY well together.
Plat:
Poulet Frit, Blette à cardes sautees, mais a la creme
Fried Chicken, Sauteed Swiss Chard, Homestyle Creamed Corn
Perhaps a Munich Helles? Or I could go all the way with a Hoppy Christmas or Hardcore IPA from Brewdog
Dessert:
Creme de pistache de ma Tante Helen (custard pistache, pistaches grilles, ananas, guimauves maison)
Green Goop a la my Aunt Helen
It’s fairly sweet and after such a heavy main, I was thinking a Saison Dupont, or something light, dry and highly carbed?
For dessert I’d second the coffee stout idea. If you don’t mind a sipper, then something like an English Barleywine or a Belgian Quad might be a good call as well. Maybe some Westie XII
If its this badass of an experience (and it seems to be), pick up a copy of Brewmasters Table and read the $#!t out of it. Garrett Oliver, while a bit pompous here and there, breaks it all down beautifully. Such a great read and reference, and if u are going to have a monumental experience like this, it is a must.
I’m more interested in what’s going on here. Who will the guests be? This is a pretty intriguing concept.
You pay the restaurant and they let you make diner?
I have a copy of Brewmaster’s table, and have read it twice, and have yet to get anything concrete out of it. It’s just too prose-y and abstract for my needs. I was hoping it would be a more in-depth ‘scientific’ discussion of why certain things in beer pair with certain things in food, but basically it was Garrett talking about how he loved Jenlain (Blech!) with Cassoulet.
The concept is, it’s just a regular restaurant. You don’t have to pay anything to be the chef, and you don’t have to provide a list of guests. It’s just a regular restaurant, that takes regular clients, but with the added benefit of an extra 10-20 covers brought in by whoever the guest chef is that day. Pretty good business model, really.
They buy the ingredients, and where things need to be special ordered I can provide them with the contact info of whoever it is that can provide the ingredients. And on top of everything I get a free chef jacket. It really costs nothing more than sharing a few recipes.
I have both Brewmaster’s Table and Randy Mosher’s Tasting Beer. I like Tasting Beer more, but I use both when I do beer and food pairings.
“Stage” = “apprenticeship” or “internship”?
The fried chicken course pairing is an interesting one. How about a beer with DMS to match the creamed corn? Without knowing more Helles might be the best choice. A Saison might work too depending on the spicing in the batter. How spicy is the fried chicken and what are the dominant spices? Why limit yourself to one beer for the main course?
Well technically, a stage is typically an internship/apprenticeship (there’s not much difference imo) but this is only a one-day thing. Still, they show you how to estimate how much to order, how many people will eat this or that, how to stagger plating and preparing so everything goes out at once, etc. Basically little tips that will really help me cook better.
The fried chicken will be exactly 0 on the spice meter. Your average French person cannot handle even smoked paprika in reasonable quantities, and tabasco is considered a very very hot sauce. I’m using Keller’s recipe for fried chicken: http://momofukufor2.com/2010/03/ad-hoc-buttermilk-fried-chicken-recipe
I was thinking Helles because I grew up with fried chicken & Schlitz. Or at least my parents did.
How much of a good idea is doing the Sierra Nevada Rye with the chicken livers? They’re both pretty powerful on the palate, but I don’t want to destroy somebody’s palate with all that hop. Bell’s recommends their Best Brown Ale with liver, but as I can’t get that here I was thinking to sub it with Brooklyn Brown.
I think the quad or barleywine is a good idea for dessert. Or could I get away with Traquair House Ale?
I think the traquair house would be really yummy with desert but it is sweetish and if you want to cut the sweet and rich desert a little I like the idea of a farmhouse ale or a tripple or even a berliner weisse. sometimes a big sweet beer goes well with sweet desert but often I find really sweet on really sweet can muddle the flavour interactions and detract from both.
I am not sure what exactly the green goop ala aunt helen is but it sounds rich.
Now that does sound fun. Do they do their regular menu too or is it kind of a prix fix thing including the beers?
Darn right it’s a good business model. I can see where this would be a blast.
yup, pretty rich. I like the idea of something light and refreshing with maybe a little funk. If you can get something with brett in the pineapple might play well with the fruity funky brett.
I like the way a slightly tart spritzy beer cleanses the palette between tastes. A big rich chocolate cake desert is the exception for me where a big chewy barley wine or strong scottish ale mingles with the chocolate and gives some caramel/toffee notes
I prefer contrast in most beer parings, especially desert. I think a slightly tart wheat beer or even a not too tart sour beer would be great with that desert. The richer the desert, the better a tart beer can clear the palate for each next bite.
