Pairing with steak
I apologize in advance for making you hungry.
Imagine for a moment that you have in front of you a big, thick, juicy steak, cooked exactly the way you like it — beautifully browned on the outside, tender and succulent on the inside. You take one blissful bite of this heavenly hunk of meat, savoring it, marveling at the fantastically mouthwatering flavor. You reach your hand out to take a sip of your delicious pint of…
Oops, sorry, I forgot to apologize to the vegetarians too. That probably sounded disgusting.
Anyway, for the rest of you: What beer are you drinking with this marvelous slab of beefy goodness? What could possibly enhance the sublime experience that is eating a steak?
The wonderful thing about pairing beer and steak is that there are so many options. Steak can be served in a number of different preparations, which should help you to decide the appropriate beer to pair it with.
Beef has a fairly robust flavor on its own, so as a general rule of thumb, you’ll want to stay away from anything too delicate.
If we’re talking about a straight-up steak, grilled or pan-seared, without any sort of sauce or seasonings (beyond salt and pepper), an ESB is my favorite pairing. The malty, caramel flavors of the ESB meld so beautifully with the flavors of the beef and its browned crust.
Really any beer with malt character that could be described as rich, robust, nutty, toasty, or caramelly would compliment a steak nicely. Brown ale, amber ale, ESB, porter, stout… Any variation of these would allow a steak to really sing.
Let’s say the steak is accompanied by a rich, red wine/butter sauce. The previous pairings would still hold, as long as the beer had enough carbonation to cut through the fatty sauce. A strong bitter backbone would also help to contrast the slick, buttery flavor of the sauce.
What about steak and IPAs? Absolutely. Especially if the IPA is on the darker, maltier side. Bitterness and hop flavor compliment steak well, as long as they are not so intense as to completely overwhelm your palate.
IPAs work particularly well with a spicier preparation. Say for example your steak is crusted with peppercorns (au poivre) or coated with some kind of spice rub. An IPA would be an excellent pairing, since the interplay of bitterness and spice is just fantastic.
Others would argue that a sweeter, maltier beer would do better to cool the fire and provide a nicer contrast to the spice. This would work as well, and it’s really a matter of personal preference. Me, I prefer the bitter/spicy combo.
And really, what it all comes down to with beer and food pairing is personal preference. To really learn how to pair beer and food, you just need to practice. Try out different combinations, see what you like. Steak is a great meal to start with since it’s pretty hard to come up with a bad pairing.
So, grill up a steak, and pick a beer you think might compliment it. Alternate between sips and bites. Take note of how each tastes on its own, and how the flavors of each affect the other. Try to find both common and contrasting flavors in the beer and the steak. Are they balanced? Do they enhance one another? And most importantly, do you like it?
21 Comments to “Pairing with steak”
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The very best beer/beef pairing I ever had was a Fullers Vintage Ale (think it was 1998 and it was about 3 or 4 years old when I did this) with a standing rib roast I made for Christmas. The Vintage ale has that great sweet malt presence with a complementary spicy hop profile.
I’m a fan of high octane browns but the ESB pairing sounds interesting! I’ll have to try it. My recent, most favorite discovery was Le Merle with pan-seared scallops.
I never really thought about it, but an IPA with a very well-peppered steak (how I take mine) could really work. I’ll give it a shot next time I’m grilling.
A while ago on vacation, I enjoyed a nice dinner at a steakhouse with some Chimay Premieres.
It would be interesting to try some different steak-dubbel combos.
Struise Pannepot; Westvleteren, Ur-Marzen, hopefully Sierra Torpedo IPA, definitely Rochefort 10.
Beef, Peppercorns and IPA is a classic pairing. (While not steak) One of my favorite examples is a Black and Blue burger (peppercorn crusted burger with Blue cheese) and an IPA or double IPA.
Now I’m hungry
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by StephWeber: Just in time for take-off! My latest @Hop_Press article: Pairing with STEAK –> http://bit.ly/db0jWZ...
I agree and my favorite choice would be Fuller’s ESB, other options, Victory Hopdevil or Rogue Brutal Bitter.
wow… this is like dirty, dirty food-beer porn…
the very best kind.
I would say “Well done, Steph!” but I prefer mine medium rare…
I’m with Beer for the Daddy on this one!
Borderline rare for me.
I have always preferred stouts and porters with my steaks. But, I tend to get a nice crust using cracked pepper and various other spices so I’m gonna have to try a good IPA with my next steak.
Great post Steph!
I´ve had Chimay Grand Reserva with steak, which was excellent. I quite like pairing beer with lamb, but never with a bloody steak. My personal opinion; a huge Bourdaux is the way to go…
great post though
Nice piece. I’m always interested in pairing, especially when they are not so esoteric that I will never get to try them. I like a nice porter with a bluecheese and pepper filet. I also think the suggestion of a Belgian dubbel sounds good. I get too dependent on IPAs.
In my opinion a great beer with a great steak is a dark robust brown ale, or even a barleywine. The writer of this article shows no knowledge of beer, she listed several beers. If you’re going to have an opinion in an article, stick to it, don’t flutter around. Not all beer goes with all food.
Firstly, I do in fact pride myself on my knowledge of beer. I brew beer, I’m planning to open a brewpub, and I’m currently preparing for professional brewing school in 2011.
Secondly, when it comes to beer and food pairing, there is no one right answer. And I’m not here to tell anybody exactly what to eat and drink, as if mine is the only opinion that matters. There is more than one kind of steak, and certainly more than one kind of beer that pairs well with steak.
Pairing is a very subjective matter. I prefer to give readers some ideas that may help them choose the right beer for their meal, rather than just giving the definitive answer. It’s the old “teach a man to fish” proverb.
A lot of what I know about pairing has come from Garrett Oliver’s book The Brewmaster’s Table. In it, he gives several different beer options for each dish. So clearly, I’m not the only one who has this philosophy.
As with wine, pairings change based on food preparation. There is not one single rule that says an ingredient can only pair with one varietal of wine or style of beer.
Steph, you make an excellent argument about the importance of pairing beverage with the PREPARATION of food. Regardless of the main ingredient (steak for example), the method of preparation, spices used and format in which it is being served is the key to a good pairing.
I completely agree with you that steak pairs well with a spectrum of beer styles. Your recommendations are excellent and I anticipate enjoying a perfectly grilled (Med Rare) steak with an ESB in the near future.
Cudos on an excellent post!
The Beer Wench
Thanks Ashley! Do tell me what you think of the ESB/steak combo. It’s one of my faves!
@bandit and the faceless Internet troll strikes again. How about you read a book before bashing the author on her knowledge. Here’s what you do… go to the book store, pick up a book on beer and flip to the section on pairing with food, and read it. Or I will tell you what most say. Don’t overpower the beer or the food. There are multiple styles of beer that will go with a food. Match the intensity of the food with the beer. From what I read the author did just that. Sounds like you are the one who has no knowledge of beer.
While you’re at it, maybe you should re-read the article, she pairs different beers with different preparations of steak, giving reasons why she chose those styles.
That said, in “MY OPINION” your pairing of steak with a Dark Robust Brown Ale and especially a Barleywine would not work at all. Both would overwhelm a good steak. Maybe you just like the alcoholic warmth of the beer rather than actually experiencing the balanced flavors of a good pairing.
The negativity expressed in your comment is bad for the beer community and just makes you look like an pretentious a@@ hole. It’s not a competition of who has more knowledge. Beer is something to be enjoyed and shared and not something to get uppity and snobbish about. Elitest comments like that put off people new to craft beer, and that’s the real shame.
Maybe bandit44 had a very strict MOMMIE! Maybe he can’t take in a little guidance and make his own decisions.
I would also like to point out that there is one hell of a lot of proof of Steph’s knowledge of beer floating around the internet. And who even knows who the hell bandit44 is?
Maybe we should check the Bud Lite sites for his good beer selections.
Excuse me all you band wagon confomists, I pair beer and food for a living and get paid very well for it. I’ve gone through extensive training on the subject as well. Sorry I dont have time to rate a hundred beers on this site to seem credible to you novices, but I have better things to do with my time. If you wanna go ahead and believe that an IPA or as ESB go well with steak that’s fine, but I am entitled to my opinion. Hey BIGKAHUNA there’s no need to rip on my mom. Also Steph I’m glad your friends back you up, but just because they do doesn’t mean that you or they know what they are talking about. There’s plenty of people that respect what I do and pay me for my services. Talk about negativity in the beer world, looks like all the responses to my post were, thus contradicting yourselves a@@holes.
Eep! The Hop Press is a happy place! Let’s all try to stay positive and friendly here. I like discussion, but let’s try not to bash one another. Thanks!
[...] last two pairing articles were very beef-centric, so I thought it might be time to move on to poultry. [...]