China Daily Global Edition (USA)
MIX AND MATCH New course aimed at educating diners on how to pair the right beer with their favorite dish has been brewing up a storm
As the great Chinese poet Bai Juyi wrote more than a thousand years ago, “Green foam on fresh, unfiltered rice wine; on a little terracotta stove. It’s getting late and looks like snow; might you like to drink a cup?”
Chinese people love to drink, especially in the depths of a cold, snowy winter. Fast forward hundreds of years, and this habit has not changed: a drink with food and friends always grants a good time. But while people tend to pair their beautifully-prepared food with fine wine, they often pay less attention to their choice of beer, which is more associated with hotpot dinners or a street barbecue on a summer’s evening.
Last week, global beer producer Anheuser-Busch InBev teamed up with popular Chinese question-andanswer website Zhihu and We-Media’s gourmet lifestyle brand, Noob Huang, to launch China’s first beerthemed, pop-up consumer education program. The Beer Selection Philosophy course, which took place at Beijing’s Bosch Experience Center, was an experienced-based event aimed at demonstrating how best to match culinary treats with beer servings.
The course was among the beer Wei En, Wayne Kitchen industry’s first attempts to include a portfolio of fun-packed interactive sessions, such as DIY beer-based cocktail classes, baking and cooking classes, and quiz sessions. These programs were aimed at improving people’s dining experience by understanding how beer is made using different types of wheat and hops, and showing consumers how to approach food-pairing.
It also invited a renowned team of food and online opinion leaders, including Wei En, author of We-Media food channel Wayne Kitchen, who specializes in creating tempting recipes that bring the best out of the four major categories of beer — easy-drinking lager, classic lager, wheat beer and malt ale.
“Steaks can be fatty and oily, especially if it’s a really nice thick cut of quality beef. These go best with a fragrant IPA (Indian Pale Ale) that’s slightly bitter,” says Wei, an established food and drink writer with over 800,000 microblog followers, and a beer aficionado capable of cooking up a mean steak.
Cutting the meat into bite-sized pieces and mixing them with diced king oyster mushrooms, Wei finishes the dish by giving them a quick stir-fry with thick black pepper sauce before serving the dish with a Goose Island IPA, introduced to China by the company last year.
“In pairing food with beer, there is a principle of ABC: A is for align, B for bridge, and C for cut,” says an AB InBev spokesperson during the introduction. “A mild IPA with a hint of bitterness can cut down the oiliness of steak and the saltiness of the sauce. It’s a demonstration of principle C.”
And when paired with steak and mushrooms, the beer did a surprisingly good job of balancing the saltiness and bringing out the sweet juices of the fresh steak, while the large helping of diced mushrooms added an interesting, chewy texture.
Wei also made three other interesting combinations — a Boston lobster salad served with a crisp Budweiser and fried king pawns accompanied by a glass of Hoegaarden.
But what really stood out was the steamed sticky rice with sliced Cantonese sausage and chicken wrapped in lotus leaf. Paired with a classic Stella lager, it was a wonderful example of the magical chemistry that happens when East meets West.
Mixed with diced chicken thigh and sweet sausage, the sticky rice was coated with a shiny layer of oil from the sausage after being steamed, as the lotus leaf acted to balance out the oiliness by adding a refreshing, but not too overwhelming, herbal aroma.
When faced with this classic southern Chinese dish, you might think that a small bowl of warm Chinese yellow wine, preferably an aged one made in Shaoxing and served in a ceramic flagon, would better fit the bill. But when accompanied by a glass of Stella Artois, a golden premium Belgian lager, the beer rounded off the dish perfectly.
Starting with a soft layer of froth, the pale liquid’s crisp texture blended with the rich taste of sweet malt held a delightful hint of bitterness for balance. The bitter note of this Belgium lager may not be to everyone’s taste initially, but when paired with the sweet southern Chinese dish, it successfully bridges the herbal aromas from the lotus leaf with the golden, malty alcohol.
In another pop-up class, creative bartenders showed the audience how not only spirits can be used to make cocktails — beer is just as flexible a base mix to serve in a delicate goblet.
“White beer like Hoegaarden is a light choice for a casual drink, but it can also make a very interesting cocktail when you mix it with thick, sweet tomato juice,” explains one bartender.
To build on the success of the event, AB InBev has partnered with Zhihu to develop an online Beer Selection Philosophy portal, and has commissioned video platform Yitiao to produce a special video series to help develop the unique relationship between beer and food.
Steaks can be fatty and oily, especially if it’s a really nice thick cut of quality beef. These go best with a fragrant IPA that’s slightly bitter.” author of We-Media food channel Wayne Kitchen