mana wheat and caesar salad

Every year there is a snow sculpture festival in snowy sapporo, this year I decided to go. I brought back some cheese from a local cheese maker and decided to use it last night in a caesar salad. I have had a liking for caesar salad ever since i knew what they were, cheese, spice, just tasty. Used to use eggs in the dressing, until that time i got vicious stomach pains from it, so now I use this recipie, and it tastes better anyway. its simple, and you already have most of this stuff lying around your kitchen, just waiting to be thrown together.

Greens:
Whatever you want. don't buy that nonsense about how you have to use romaine or whatever, get some variety in there. last night i used the infamous "baby leaf" and some samchu? , the leaf used in yakiniku to wrap the meat up. threw in some tomatoes as well.
Dressing:
Cheese:
Parmesan or other hard type cheese, get a block and grate it ( if all you can be bothered to get is the powered stuff, don't make this recipe)
Olive Oil
Pepper: Lots of it!
Mustard
Salt
Worcestershire Sauce: optional really

Basically the whole "complex" caesar thing is just hard cheese olive oil, and pepper. If you throw those things in a bowl its gonna taste good. After that just make it too taste.

The pairing was alright, not not amazing. The beer, a wheat beer with a dash of pineapple ( i guess) was good in terms of impact, neither overwhelming nor being overwhelmed. And as usual the carbonation and bitterness worked to clear off the tastes of the salad. there was some minor harmony between the peppery dressing and the hops, and between the rich cheese and the sweet pineapple/malts, but over all no real resonance between the beer and the salad.

-Eric

cheese + beer + melt = tastiness

A friend did me a good turn and wanted to repay her in fondue, so last week I gave it a whirl. Fondue is a good example of a dish which is, at its heart, very easy and tasty too make, but which is regarded, for some reason as fancy and not something you can make at home. So I stepped up to the challenge and also decided to use beer rather than the usual wine. 

After doing a bit of research I came to the conclusion that I was going to have to wing it in the beer arena as there are recipes using all kinds of styles of beer, with little agreement. So after a little shopping. I came up with the following recipe:

Cheese: Gruyere, Emmentaler, Gouda. The first two are classic fondue cheeses or the "base" and the gouda was the "fun addition"

Beer: Gouyasse Tripple. Avaliable at my local liquor shop. It was a toss up between a triple style beer ( sweet, heavy, high in alcohol) and an amber ( slightly sweet, hoppy, med alcohol). I went with the triple because its the white wine of the beer world, and so makes an appropriate substitution without venturing into hoppy territory.

Spices: Salt, Pepper, Nutmeg, Parsley

Method: Basically just melt the cheese into the beer and throw the spices in. I used a nabe pot, no need for fancy double boilers really. Any thick pot will do, just keep the heat low, stir alot, and dont burn anything. Then enjoy.

Taste: Amazing. Best fondue I have ever had. The cheese quality, and combination was good, and the beer added a wonderful sweet, spicy, umami flavor to the whole thing which just put it over the top. I had meant to have a serious conversation but completely failed as we were far to busy enjoying the deliciousness. Will be bringing this one back again soon.


-Eric