As I have mentioned in a post 3 seconds ago, I love the food~beer
combination.

My top 3 are,,,, Ritz crackers topped with sharp cheddar and a splot of
yellow mustard washed down with Molson Ice or I suspect a good ale like
SN pale.

A meaty spicy pizza with Anchor Steam.

A thick burger from an Applebees type place with a good ol Sam.

My question for you is,,,,,,, Your secret discoveries. Any food~beer
matches that stick out in your mind?
Please, no Budweiser~corn chip connections. Just real beer.

Thanks, Jim

Jim Wild wrote:

My top 3 are,,,, Ritz crackers topped with sharp cheddar and a splot of
yellow mustard washed down with Molson Ice or I suspect a good ale like
SN pale.

You "suspect?" Haven't done it for real then? How about some aged
Chimay cheese with artisanal crackers (never seen the inside of a box,
y'know) washed down with Jewbelation 5766 from Schmaltz Brewing?

A meaty spicy pizza with Anchor Steam.

Tends to wipe out the flavor of the beer. You're better off with
something that isn't so easily overwhelmed by tomato sauce, spices,
and stuff like pepperoni and Italian sausage. Anchor Steam goes
fine with a lot of things, bit gimme something a bit bolder to
go with a "meaty spicy pizza."

A thick burger from an Applebees type place with a good ol Sam.

Ho. Ly. Shit. APPPLE****ingBEE's?? You voluntarily set foot in those
places, while claiming to hate "mass produced crap?" There must be a
really different concept of "mass produced crap" on your planet. Do you
realize that every second spent in Applebee's is time you'll never get
back in your life?

My question for you is,,,,,,, Your secret discoveries. Any food~beer
matches that stick out in your mind?

Sure, but I don't want to scare you too much.

Please, no Budweiser~corn chip connections. Just real beer.

Yeah, 'cause Molson-Ritz cracker connections are just so gour-met.
You bet.

Okay, you talked me into it:

Mussels cooked in lambic sauce with fries accompanied by Drie Fonteinen
Oude Kriek

Belgian black sausage and "stoemp" accompanied by Girardin Black Label
Gueuze

A hearty platter of Zwetschgenbames served with with the house Keller-
bier at the Winkler brewery in Melkendorf, Germany

A Tafelspitz lunch accompanied by Staropramen at Beim Czaak in Vienna,
Austria

But before I ramble on forever... Enjoy the burger at Applebee's.
Boo-yah!
--
dgs

Applebee's in Raleigh NC has the worst Burgers, they are like hockey
pucks and the beer selection is poor at best.

Applebee,s (glorified McDonalds)

"dgs" wrote in message
...
Jim Wild wrote:

My top 3 are,,,, Ritz crackers topped with sharp cheddar and a splot of
yellow mustard washed down with Molson Ice or I suspect a good ale like
SN pale.

You "suspect?" Haven't done it for real then? How about some aged
Chimay cheese with artisanal crackers (never seen the inside of a box,
y'know) washed down with Jewbelation 5766 from Schmaltz Brewing?

A meaty spicy pizza with Anchor Steam.

Tends to wipe out the flavor of the beer. You're better off with
something that isn't so easily overwhelmed by tomato sauce, spices,
and stuff like pepperoni and Italian sausage. Anchor Steam goes
fine with a lot of things, bit gimme something a bit bolder to
go with a "meaty spicy pizza."

A thick burger from an Applebees type place with a good ol Sam.

Ho. Ly. Shit. APPPLE****ingBEE's?? You voluntarily set foot in those
places, while claiming to hate "mass produced crap?" There must be a
really different concept of "mass produced crap" on your planet. Do you
realize that every second spent in Applebee's is time you'll never get
back in your life?

My question for you is,,,,,,, Your secret discoveries. Any food~beer
matches that stick out in your mind?

Sure, but I don't want to scare you too much.

Please, no Budweiser~corn chip connections. Just real beer.

Yeah, 'cause Molson-Ritz cracker connections are just so gour-met.
You bet.

Okay, you talked me into it:

Mussels cooked in lambic sauce with fries accompanied by Drie Fonteinen
Oude Kriek

Belgian black sausage and "stoemp" accompanied by Girardin Black Label
Gueuze

A hearty platter of Zwetschgenbames served with with the house Keller-
bier at the Winkler brewery in Melkendorf, Germany

A Tafelspitz lunch accompanied by Staropramen at Beim Czaak in Vienna,
Austria

But before I ramble on forever... Enjoy the burger at Applebee's.
Boo-yah!
--
I agree with your taste dgs, but that doesn't mean that we have to be snobs!
To each his own! Maybe Jim will start experimenting and expand his
repertiore!

I love food and I love beer, but to be honest, I don't think they enhance
each other. If I've had a bunch of beer, I really enjoy a great, hearty
meal--but I don't think its a function of combination. In Prague last
summer I had the black stuff at U Fleku and then a wonderful dark beer with
three dumplings and three meats at a corner place nearby--but they don't
actually seem to make each other better--both were spectacular
independently, but not made better by being had together.

With wine it's different. White wine with anything garlicky is explosive.
(In fact, anything garlicky with ANY wine is huge). White wine with fish
also builds dimension upon dimension. Red wine with meats develops powerful
dimensions of earth-moving richness.

But great beers are phenomenal in and of themselves. They have hundreds of
flavors, while some excellent wines only have a few.

Wines and foods seem to interact in dynamic and powerfuly symbiotic ways,
whereas beer and food seem just to get along, at best--but could do just as
well taken separately.

(Jim Wild) wrote:
My question for you is,,,,,,, Your secret discoveries. Any food~beer
matches that stick out in your mind?

Old Australia Stout (or Mackeson Stout) with ginger snaps.
--
//*================================================= ===============++
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|| 847-952-9729 [NEW!] VIDEOGAME COLLECTOR! ||
++================================================ ================*//

dgs wrote:

.... Do you
realize that every second spent in Applebee's is time you'll never get
back in your life?

Which "casual family restuarant" chain is it that gives you back the
time you've spend there? I suppose it works like this- you go in at
11:45 am, wait for a table, wait for a beer, wait to order, wait for
another beer, try not to get annoyed at the cluster of waitresses [or is
it the varsity cheerleading squad?] giggling in the corner ignoring the
customers, get food, push it around the plate and think "I can't believe
they serve people this crap and are still in business...", wait for the
check, pay, walk out past the cheerleaders saying "Thanks for coming!"
and IT'S 11:45 AM.

I guess it's a chain, but if it's a "mom & pop", I hope it's near where
I live. Is there a chain where you get the time and MONEY back? Any
that take care of that heavy, slightly sickly feeling one gets after
eating the "food"?

Well said.

In article lIMlf.13580$Qf5.4284@trndny07, Barb wrote:
I agree with your taste dgs, but that doesn't mean that we have to be snobs!
To each his own!

Exactly. That's why we love dgs so much. He's his own
person. Why tell to not be hisself?

Maybe Jim will start experimenting and expand his
repertiore!

Maybe Jim will realize he's the worst kind of faux snob,
running down what he doesn't like while revealing his
ignorance.

As for food and wine being the pinnacle of pairings while
beer and food are mere acquaintances (who said that? Douglas?),
I say I have had wonderful food/beer pairings. I've also
concluded that for the most part chefs just aren't familiar
enough with beer to make the effort to make such pairings.
--
Joel Plutchak "Too often, our cultural emphasis on freedom and individual
plutchak@[...] rights gets taken to the extreme, becoming a kind of selfish
entitlement that undermines our ability to function as a
civil community.�

" (In fact, anything garlicky with ANY wine is huge).

That is a meaningless generalisation.

White wine with fish also builds dimension upon dimension.

In principle, it's OK - just keep off the lemon or lime, in that case, or
goodbye to your expensive delicate white wine. Just try a draught old lambic
next to it, or a gueuze...



whereas beer and food seem just to get along, at best--but could do just
as well taken separately.

Exactly, they can stand on their own. And if you like a combination, go for
it. Just leave the "musts" out of the picture.
Joris

Douglas W. Hoyt wrote:

I love food and I love beer, but to be honest, I don't think they enhance
each other.

[...]

Wines and foods seem to interact in dynamic and powerfuly symbiotic ways,
whereas beer and food seem just to get along, at best--but could do just as
well taken separately.

As a rule I agree with you, but the exceptions to that rule are
significant.

First, BELGIUM. Belgian beers tend to get along with foods in
general every bit as synergistically as wine. No surprise there,
they were designed to, just as wine was. In contrast, English
ales were designed for long evening sessions with little or no
food, and they tend to be best taken that way. Other beers
are just as you say-- at best they get along, but they rarely
synergise.

Second, CHEESE. I don't know how the ancient myth that
wine and cheese make a good pairing got started, but it's BS.
Wine is blown away by cheese. Beer and cheese, OTOH,
tends to be a fantastic, synergistic pairing-- especially super-
estery beers, like Belgian abbeys, or Bavarian hefe-weizens.

Third, CHOCOLATE. Nothing pairs better with chocolate than
beer, especially roasty beer or intensely bitter beer.

Thanks Joel for coming to my defense after being stepped on by these
sophisticated socialites.

It was an innocent question. I simply pointed out a few examples that I
remember. And yes the cheese on a ritz with Molson was good. Thats the
way we like it in the hood. Applebees was a bad example. We have an
independent gathering place that really does have the best burgers.

Next time I post here I will be sure to appear to be more sophisticated
and worldly.

Well, sorry I didn't meet your high expectations. I go buy some beer
with a name I can't pronounce and try it with some Klaverem Flambe' in
scouvnech sauce and let you know how my senses became excited. And I'll
post it in French.

Jim

Me, I like a good IPA to go with the hot Indian curry that I love so much.



"Jim Wild" wrote in message
...
As I have mentioned in a post 3 seconds ago, I love the food~beer
combination.

My top 3 are,,,, Ritz crackers topped with sharp cheddar and a splot of
yellow mustard washed down with Molson Ice or I suspect a good ale like
SN pale.

A meaty spicy pizza with Anchor Steam.

A thick burger from an Applebees type place with a good ol Sam.

My question for you is,,,,,,, Your secret discoveries. Any food~beer
matches that stick out in your mind?
Please, no Budweiser~corn chip connections. Just real beer.

Thanks, Jim

I agree, those places like Applebees, Fridays, and Chillys are bad. The
reason I mentioned a place like that was due to our independent place
here in town. One differance, this place has great food and service.

A few years ago, I got an invite to a free meal for a new Chillys that
was not opened yet, but needed the staff to practice. So us lab rats sat
there and waited forever to be served after the orders were placed. Of
coarse I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu. After and hour, a
ribeye arrived. I cut through that thing deperately only to obtain 3
bites of meat. It was a huge slab of fat. The potato product thing was
under done and the other portion was poked with my fork a few times but
not eaten. It was terrible. Yet, as bad as it was, these places are
always packed, I assume with collage kids who don't know the differance.
There are good places that have the same atmosphere, but certianly not
the chains. I think those were geared towards 20 somethings, who drink
Coors Light and munch on wings because it is hip.

Chillys was not good, at all.

Jim

"Joris Pattyn" wrote in message
...
" (In fact, anything garlicky with ANY wine is huge).
That is a meaningless generalisation.

All right, I'll rewrite it: anytime I have food that includes clove upon
clove of garlic, the wine makes it explode stratospheric. A local wine bar
used to sell whole giant roasted bulbs of garlic over the counter (illegal
in some states?). They knew what they were doing (but I think it was
spouses, girlfriends, and other significant others that must have made them
go out of business). In any case, wine uniquely sends the garlic vapors to
parts unheard of. I hope this is not just another meaningless
generalization.



White wine with fish also builds dimension upon dimension.
In principle, it's OK - just keep off the lemon or lime, in that case, or
goodbye to your expensive delicate white wine. Just try a draught old
lambic next to it, or a gueuze...

Sounds great! Will do!