The Perfect Catch: Beer and Seafood
November 30, 2007One of the greatest things about beer is its variety. With an immense range of styles, flavors, ingredients and taste profiles, beer offers endless opportunities and pairs well with a variety of foods.
Like beer, the world of seafood is also diverse and offers a vast array of fantastic beer-pairing options. The distinct textures, flavors and freshness of seafood fare such as crab, lobster, oysters, sea bass or rare ahi tuna make for a delicious combination when enjoyed with beer.
Because seafood tends to have delicate textures and flavors, you want to make sure you choose a beer that complements and doesn’t overpower the fresh flavors of the fish and shellfish you select. Following are a few pairing pointers to ensure you pick the right beer for your seafood selection:
Keep Things Light
A lighter beer is a great complement to several varieties of fish and shellfish. You definitely can’t go wrong by pairing beers such as Michelob ULTRA or Bud Light with crab, shrimp or flakey white fish such as halibut, flounder, or Chilean sea bass. These lighter, crisper beers serve as the perfect palate cleansers and enhance the unique, fresh water flavors of the dishes.
Hoppier Works Here
While more heavily hopped beers can overwhelm your taste buds when feasting on more delicate fish varieties, they are the perfect match to fried seafood dishes. The hop flavors balance the strong taste of fried shrimp or beer battered fried fish. Highly hopped beers like porters, English-style pale ale, and European-style pilsners also complement smoked, boiled, steamed or broiled seafood. For example, smoked salmon with Grolsch Lager capitalizes on the bitterness of the hops to balance the high-fat content of the salmon. The bigger body of the beer complements the strength of the smoke creating a great pairing on the palette.
Spice Things Up
Beers are also a great complement to spicy cuisine – particularly dishes like broiled crab legs and spicy seafood gumbo. Tiger, Bud Select, and Corona are the perfect match for spicy dishes. The carbonation and slightly sweet flavors help to balance and refresh the palate.
Not only can you follow the above pairing tips, but you can also try your hand at incorporating beer into cooking your seafood. One of the more popular uses of beer in preparing seafood dishes is to add full-flavored brews into the batter of fried fish, like juicy, sweet-flavored shrimp or a mild white fish such as cod or orange roughy.
While a lighter, light lager such as Bud Light or Michelob Light or Rolling Rock makes a great accompaniment to seafood, several other beer styles can also balance the flavors of your seafood meal without overpowering it. A few of my favorite beer and seafood pairings, some of which I serve in my Kingsmill restaurants, include:
Bare Knuckle Stout with Oysters on the Half Shell
Budweiser Select with Tuscan “Sushi” Roll with Prosciutto and Tomato Gastrique
Kirin Ichiban with Pan Seared Rare Ahi Tuna with Jalapeño Citrus Relish
Spring Heat Spiced Wheat with Golden Trout with Burnt Orange “Beer” Blanc
Grolsch Lager with Smoked Salmon Tower
Amber Bock with Mushroom and Smoked Gouda Phyllo Cigars
So the next time you’re dining out or cooking at home, don’t forget that a refreshing beer and a seafood dish are the perfect pairing for your taste-bud cravings.
Be sure to check out my next article, where I’ll explain the art of brews and stews - how to braise with beer for the fall. I also invite you to visit the ever-evolving www.herestobeer.com for unique video footage and general beer-themed good times.
Cheers!
Brent Wertz
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