[Sca-cooks] OT: Pairing food with beer

[Craig Daniel]

On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 10:36 PM, Stefan li Rous
<StefanliRous at austin.rr.com> wrote:
> Judith asked:
> <<< I've been asked to bring a dish to the meal that will complement the
> flavor of the beer, but I've never tasted it. I'm thinking dessert;
> and because my friend's wife and two of his children have Celiac
> disease, the dessert should be gluten-free, and also dairy-free. >>>
>
> and
>
> <<< The thing is, Sh'maryahu likes to serve his alcohols (beers, whiskeys)
> for dessert rather than with the meal. There've got to be some strong,
> deep desserts that would work. >>>
>
> So, how about a dessert *made* with this beer? Can you get some more of this
> beer or something similar? And I think this would meet your other
> restrictions with a wise choice of pie shell.
>

Won't work - she needs a gluten free desert, and beer is inherently
not gluten free. (Well, there are some beers that are, made with
sorghum and similar; some of them are not half bad - but this beer,
like any other beer not marketed primarily to the celiac demographic,
is made with malted barley, and barley has gluten.)

You can do pies, though; I've encountered some rather amazing
gluten-free pastry shells.

Personally, though, I'd be inclined to look at coffee and chocolate as
dominant flavors for anything meant to go with a dark beer; I second
the flourless chocolate cake suggestion and heartily endorse the
Cooks' Illustrated recipe (as found in The New Best Recipe and
probably the non-New iteration of the same) as being a delicious one.

 - Jaume