Guaranteed Not Fresh post - Plate Magazine serves up great beer issue RECOMMENDED READ

[Wendy Littlefield]

We were introduced to Alison Lara, (a food writer and editor of the Chicago edition of First Bite) by Michael McAvena of the Publican a great Chicago beer and chow bastion.
Alison interviewed us for her story “Good Things Brewing in Belgium” for Plate Magazine. Plate is published in Chicago (one more sign of the vibrancy of the food scene here) for professional chefs nationwide. Even if the September/October issue weren’t entirely devoted to beer cuisine, we’d still say that it is a terrific publication. What we especially like is how the recipes are organized and “searchable”. The sensational online component www.plateonline.com (once you register) allows you to search for more than 3000 recipes by ingredient, menu price, food cost, daypart, cooking method and more. Some of the very best recipes in the beer issue are posted online.

Reading the issue prompted a bit of reverie and exultation. Back in the 1980’s when we were getting started only very occasionally a “serious” restaurant would host a beer dinner – but rarely did the beers featured remain on the drinks list for the rest of the month. Boy have things changed. This issue does a great job of illustrating how broad, deep, creative and varied the world of cooking with beer and pairing beer and food has become. Nowadays a restaurant that doesn’t have a beer list carefully calibrated to its cuisine can be called downright lazy.

Plate’s editor Chandra Ram deserves a shout out for this issue. She did her homework and made intelligent choices in assigning stories. This issue is a keeper. The home cook will find it useful and the professional chef with an interest in cooking with beer will find it indispensible.


Peter Davis of Henrietta’s Table in Cambridge; Robert Weidmaier of Marcel’s and Brasserie Beck in DC; Bart Vandaele @ Belga Cafe in D.C., Ben Sheagren of Hopleaf in Chicago; Neville Stoddart @ Markt NYC; Bobby Hellen at Resto in NYC; Tom Peter’s at Monk’s in Philly; Sean Doty of Sean’s in Atlanta; Justin Philip’s at Beer Table in Brooklyn; John Manion @ Goose Island Brewpub in Chicago; Sam Reed at Cassidy’s in Portland; Brian Huston at The Publican in Chicago; Gyanendra Bhandari of Jaipur Brew House in Omaha, Ross Bachuber chef at Cafe Hollander, Andy Farrell @ Brigid’s, Craig Fass and Mandy Franklin @ Bad Apple in Chicago, Davin Nesbit @ Dickie Brennan’s Bourbon House in New Orleans, Alec Lopez at Armsby Abbey in Worcester MA, Walter Staib at City Tavern in Philadelphia, Cory Guyer at the Matt in Omaha, Bruce Paton of Cathedral Hill Hotel in San Francisco are just some of the chef/owners of restaurants in the forefront of pairing beer and food who share recipes and insights in this issue.

And here’s a sampling of the dishes they’ve cooked up:
Brown ale braised pork shank with beer braised greens
Chicken with artichoke hearts and figs in beer
Pappadam shrimp with beer infused raisin chutney
Oatmeal stout lambstew
Ale braised short ribs
Caraway gnudi with jasmine consomme, hen of the woods mushrooms and pig’s ears
Here is a link to the site (you’ll have to sign up to read the article, but it’s free…). www.plateonline.com
If you have recently made up a great dish using one of our beers – we’d be so appreciative if you forwarded a recipe to us. We will post it online.
For more posts have a look at www.belgianexperts.com