DRAFT Magazine

You read Chef Todd Ginsberg’s basic guidelines for pairing food and beer in DRAFT’s May/June Food issue. Here, the Atlanta chef gives us some of his favorite pairings plus two recipes to chew on.

Cowboy Bean Soup paired with Atlanta Brewing Numbers Ale: The beans and vegetables bring an earthy component, which enhances the beer’s grassy hops. See recipe below.

Buffalo Fried Calamari with Peroni: The simplicity and cleanliness of Peroni cleans up the spiciness and saltiness of the calamari dish. See recipe below.

Chocolate Chorizo with Guinness: This is more of a complement than a contrast. The chocolate undertones of Guinness match with the chocolate in the dish.

Yogurt Sorbet, White Poached Summer Peaches and Champagne Gelee with a Peach Lambic: Again, another complement instead of a contrast. The peach in the dish and the lambic pair perfectly while the blank canvas of the yogurt sorbet allows the champagne undertones to shine.

Halibut with a Hazelnut Curry Oil and English Pea Purée with Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale: The beer by itself would overpower the fish, but the hazelnut curry oil brings the two together really nicely by adding more depth to the halibut.

Endive, Roquefort, and Pear Salad with J.K. Scrumpy’s Hard Cider: This is a classic apple pairing. Scrumpy’s is so clean with the taste of apples fresh from the orchard. Apples and blue cheese are a natural fit as the apple’s acidity brings out the Roquefort’s saltiness.

Spicy Cowboy Bean Soup
1 cup cooked white beans
1 pint chicken stock
1 jalapeño, sliced
4 ounces onions, diced
4 ounces tomatoes, diced
4 ounces Numbers Ale
4 ounces bacon lardons
1/8 bunch cilantro, tied up with string
5 garlic cloves, chopped

* Render bacon slowly with a little butter in a soup pot. Add onions and jalapeño. Sweat onions until translucent. Add tomatoes and beer.
* Reduce down by half. Add everything else, and cook for 30 minutes.
* Garnish with fresh cilantro.

Buffalo Fried Calamari
2 pounds calamari, sliced tubes
8 ounces Texas Pete Hot Sauce
1 ounce butter
1 ounce dark brown sugar
6 ounces cornstarch
6 ounces flour
4 ounces Cashel Blue Cheese
2 each celery stalks, bias-sliced
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

* Bring the hot sauce to a boil and add the brown sugar and butter. Stir to emulsify the butter into the sauce. Take off stove and keep warm.
* Toss the calamari into the flour mixture.
* Set fryer to 375 degrees. Fry calamari until it’s light golden brown, 45 seconds to 1 minute.
* Place calamari in a bowl and drizzle warm hot sauce over it. Crumble blue cheese onto the calamari and garnish with celery.