Jamaica is the land of wooden and water…oh…and beer, which was a supply of the inspiration behind the culinary pairing classes held on the Jamaica Meals and Drink Kitchen (JFDK) for its inaugural Kingston Beer Fest. When that culinary expertise is curated by the award-winning caterer and chef Jacqui Tyson, the result’s an impressed merger of inventive expression and meals tradition.
In right this moment’s culinary world, “innovation is the magic phrase” articulated Tyson, who performed head cook dinner and ‘bottle pourer’ for the session, the place she guided a gaggle of 20 members by way of three recipes utilizing Crimson Stripe Sorrel Beer, Heineken, and Crimson Stripe.
“Folks are likely to cook dinner rather a lot with wine; those self same meals will be paired with beer. In Jamaica, we at all times see the pan hen man flashing a bottle of Crimson Stripe beer on the meats, that’s as a result of it enhances the flavour from the jerk,” she informed The Gleaner in an interview following the culinary pairing session.
Globally, wine is called the common beverage used within the kitchen for cooking owing to its acidity, however in any recipe that requires pink or white wine, beer normally affords a novel various, she mentioned. Top-of-the-line locations to start out innovating was with a marinade or sauce from the barbecue sauce used on meats for grilling to plates of pasta.
“When pairing beer and meals, all of it comes right down to matching the meals’s flavours to the flavours of the beers. There are two foremost methods to method the pairing; you possibly can both distinction or complement,” Tyson defined.
TRANSFER FLAVOURS
She additional defined that, like wine, the alcohol helps to switch the flavours of meat into the sauce, as she demonstrated the preparation of hen legs with Crimson Stripe Sorrel Beer which had been cooked in an air fryer.
“There isn’t a different modern beer aside from Crimson Stripe – the flavoured beers are a product of innovation. The flavours are mild and are referred to as fusion beers, (so) they can be utilized to marinate the meat or be put right into a seasoning mixture of your selection,” she mentioned. “In all honesty, I’m not a beer drinker, however I found sorrel and prefer it; I like to make use of the unique Crimson Stripe beer to marinate with it, particularly when cooking jerk hen and pork. And when folks ask what wine to have with jerk, I at all times say there’s no wine that would examine to a chilly Crimson Stripe with that dish. I like to cook dinner with Heineken in my seafood dishes.”
Tyson ready a Heineken Seafood Lo Mein dish of shrimp and lobster cooked with sesame oil, soy sauce and greens, which she dubbed the “apology meal”.
“Heineken is so good with seafood; I can’t stress it sufficient. The sturdy flavour cuts into it and lends itself like a meals stadium; that contrasting finally ends up complementing the flavours. It’s a kind of beers that can be finest for pairing with cheese. Easter is arising, seize your bun and cheese and have a Heineken. As an alternative of wine once more, it may be used with a cheese board, and the carbonation (in beer total) is nice for protecting the cheese collectively in an Alfredo; and also you get the flavours beneath with out it being overpowering. Beer makes it signature,” she shared.
Different dishes or recipes that may be paired with beers within the cooking course of embody steamed meals and stews in addition to jellies and glazes. Tyson left the third culinary creation – a pizza – as a problem for the members, who needed to create a pizza from scratch utilizing Crimson Stripe. From the cooking of the meats and greens for toppings to the tomato sauce, teams of 4 to 5 had been requested so as to add their contact of innovation utilizing the beer.
Nicola-Kaye Barnett, digital and stuck media supervisor at Eating places of Jamaica Restricted, mentioned, “I loved all the expertise of the beer and food-pairing occasion, particularly the problem. I additionally favored the hen legs that had been ready, which weren’t solely flavourful – I might style the distinct sorrel flavour of the beer, and it was mixture of savoury and candy.”
Davida-Mae Chambers, undertaking supervisor and content material producer, mentioned, “I believed Jacqui’s cooking session was attention-grabbing, as a result of I’m one of many individuals who would by no means suppose to make use of beer as a base, I’m used to wine. The recipes turned out good.”
