[Sca-cooks] Semi-OT: When Beer Meets Chocolate

[Mairi Ceilidh]

Thank you for sharing!  I have always enjoyed Guinness and Godiva.  Of
course, there have been times, when nothing else was available, that a
Budweiser and a Snickers bar did the job, too.

Mairi Ceilidh


"Harvested" the following article from one of the more interesting mailing
lists I monitor...

Adieu, Amra / ttfn - Mike / Pax ... Kihe

Mike C. Baker
SCA: al-Sayyid Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra, F.O.B, OSCA
"Other": Reverend Kihe Blackeagle PULC (the DreamSinger Bard)
Opinions? I'm FULL of 'em
alt. e-mail: KiheBard at hotmail.com  OR MCBaker216 at cs.com
   Buy my writings!:   http://www.lulu.com/WizardsDen
   http://www.livejournal.com/users/kihebard/

*****

Like chocolate and peanut butter this odd pairing tastes good

By Chris McNamara, Special to the Chicago Tribune


CHICAGO — The crowd squeezed into the upstairs room at Hopleaf Bar was
buzzing. Buzzing with excitement -- sure -- but also with a double-punch of
potent ales and rich truffles. It was a beer-and-chocolate-pairing seminar
at this neighborhood bar last spring. Alcohol flirted with caffeine. And a
few dozen hedonists flirted with nirvana.

The beer expert was Jim Javenkoski, a culinary attaché with Unibroue brewery
of Quebec who has a doctorate in food science from the University of
Illinois.

The chocolatier was Liz Dierolf from Vosges Haut-Chocolat, who instructed
the audience to pop the truffles into their mouths upside down, enabling the
cracked peppercorns or curry that dusts the tops of the delicacies to buzz
the taste buds before the chocolate coats the palate. (Dierolf has since
left Vosges for another chocolatier.)

The syllabus was sweet: four premium Unibroue ales paired with eight Vosges
truffles. Trois Pistoles, a strong, dark ale with 9 percent alcohol, was
served first with the Mirabelle orange truffle. "Blended with orange flower
water and dark chocolate and kissed with orange nasturtium blossoms," read
the menu.

Dierolf detailed the ingredients, Javenkoski described how the beer was
brewed, and the audience chewed, sipped and moaned in delight. Then it was
on to the next truffle: Tlan Nacu, crafted from Belgian dark chocolate and
cream infused with plump vanilla beans from a small plantation on the Gulf
Coast of Mexico. It was as delicious as it sounds, and the flavor
intensified when awash in sips of the Trois Pistoles.

Two great tastes

"Chocolate can be very dense," Javenkoski explained. "Beer with a fairly
strong alcohol content serves as a solvent for those flavors. With
ingredients that are soluble in alcohol, like cocoa butter, your taste buds
and nose have more of a chance to savor."

Vosges owner Katrina Markoff was more succinct on the topic of
beer/chocolate combos. She simply let out a "Yummm!" Her love of beer and
chocolate inspired the Zion Collection, launching in October, which will
include truffles infused with Red Stripe beer. "[Good pairings] depend on
the type of beer," she said. "Anything grainy or oaty is best with
chocolate. Chocolate is very strong and needs a hearty counterpart. You
definitely don't want to use a Bud Light."

There are as many opinions on the booze/chocolate pairing as there are
permutations.

One such pairing came next in the seminar: Edition 2005, an extra-strong
ruby ale, with Rose Vert, dark chocolate flavored with bittersweet herbs and
rose water. Then the Edition 2005 was paired with Alexis, a ball of dark
chocolate and curry powder that -- upon tasting -- managed to legitimize
this description: "a sublime experience, haunting and unexpected."

Mike Roper, owner of Hopleaf, recommended malty beers. "I think that the
malty sweetness of beer complements the chocolate, especially milk
chocolate. Hoppy beers would work with bitter chocolates -- stouts, porters,
Belgians, brown and dark ales."

Robert Davis, owner of Unique So Chique Tea & Chocolate Room, said he
prefers to match truffles to wine, reserving beer for other chocolate
desserts. "Beer goes better with cakes and pastries, which have a lighter
consistency," he said. "A fruit-flavored beer is good to accompany those."

Armchair experts

Of course, the experts are not the only ones with observations; after all,
Hopleaf is a destination for educated drinkers, and the seminar was filled
with them.

"Instead of drinking 12 Coors Lights, I'm more interested in coming here on
the weekends and trying three or four different styles of good beers," said
Bud Sleet.

"I love these beers and I know these chocolates," added his friend, April
Clements. "Combining beer and chocolate is not odd. We'd open a great bottle
of red wine to have with dessert, and that translates to these beers."

They had paid $30 to attend, and they had strong opinions. Some thought
certain beers overwhelmed the chocolates. Others believed the beer was
served too cold.

"I think this chocolate would be too much without this beer," one attendee
said.

"Chocolate is never too much," responded another.

The boisterousness of the crowd grew as the number of beers imbibed did.
"Hey, chocolate lady!" someone hollered. "Which one is which?"

In the course of about an hour, everyone had gobbled six chocolates and
downed numerous glasses of potent ale. But there was no rest for the weary.
The final beer selection was Quelque Chose, a cherry ale served warm,
steaming the sides of the glass when poured.

It was first paired with Chef Pascal, a cherry/chocolate/cream concoction
named for a famed pastry chef at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Then it was
coupled with Red Fire, a truffle forged of ancho chili powder, cassia
cinnamon and dark Belgian chocolate.

It was a bizarre mix, for sure, but then nothing seemed unusual in this
setting, where beers and chocolates made for a perfect Sunday supper.

"Is there anyone left who doubts that beer and chocolate work together?"
Javenkoski asked.

The crowd communicated its response with clinking glasses and roaring cheers
fueled by sugar highs and head buzzes.

--
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