Beer Cuisine

"Life is something that happens between meals"

That surely sums up France and Belgium.

Beer cuisine as we know it now probably began in Belgium - a country passionate about food and passionate about beer.

Locally brewed beers were chosen to accompany certain regional dishes - either as a complement or even as a contrast. Beer is part of our heritage and deserves to be highlighted with cooking as an ingredient and also as an accompaniment. The sheer variety of Belgian beers suit many different types of dish from the most simple carbonade flamande to ambitious dishes worthy of a place on the world's best tables. They lend themselves perfectly to this idea. "Cuisine a la biere" has been taken up more recently by the more sophisticated restaurants of Paris, Brussels, London and even New York.

Try:

  • Rabbit cooked in cherry beer.
  • Red Mullet with a Rodenbach sauce.
  • Pork fillet with dark Trappist ale sauce.
  • Pears poached in white beer.

Restaurants such as Breugel in Damme, and Den Dyver in Brugge not only cook with beer but offer a different beer with each course.

Matching beer with food - some examples

Aperitifs

  • Lambic kriek and framboise
  • Extra dry pilseners
  • Chimay white cap - dry and hoppy
  • Anchor liberty Ale

Soups and Pates

  • Chimay Red and other Trappist beers

Shellfish

  • Stout and Porter
  • Rodenbach

Fish

  • Pilseners and light dry beers

Pizza, chicken and pork

  • Pale Ales and malty lagers
  • Lighter ales with hop character

Red Meat

  • Fruity full bodied ales
  • Brown ales especially Goudenband from Belgium

Salads

  • Try a raspberry beer salad dressing!

Cheeses

  • Stilton and Chimay Grand Reserve
  • Cheddar needs a hoppier beer

Desserts

  • Belgian white beers with fruit dishes
  • Dried fruit puddings marry well with barley wines and strong sweet beers
  • Chocolate desserts with beers like Forbidden Fruit
  • Of course kriek with a cherry dessert!