A giant shout out and thank you to M.H.A. Innovations for picking us as the winners of the HopChef Competition Giveaway. We had a blast at this unique food and beer pairing dinner. Seven Capital Region chefs prepared a dish incorporating and paired with a beer from Brewery Ommegang and the winner gets to compete against the other winning Hop Chefs from Chicago, Philly, and Boston in a finale during Ommegang’s Belgium Comes to Cooperstown event in August. Max London's Mark Graham won the judge's pick and Mazzone Hospitality's Will Brown won People's Choice. More from the judge's perspectives at Table Hopping and Notes on Napkins.
J is more of the beer expert than I am but we enjoyed sampling and critiquing each dish. We channeled all we learned from watching Chopped marathons on Food Network and were impressed by the Chefs' creative and sophisticated dishes. Here's our take on the HopChef creations, starting with our favorite:
1. The City Beer Hall (Chef Dimitrios Menagias)-Beer: Hennepin
This was by far our favorite out of all seven pairings, so much so that both J and I stopped for second servings and almost contemplated a third sample. Obviously our taste differed from the judges and that's ok. Menagias made a hoisin and Hennepin marinated hanger steak that was seared to a perfect medium rare that was tender and juicy. The togarashi dusting was spicy and gave the meat quite a kick but we loved it. It was the perfect pairing with Hennepin; a sip cooled down the palate enough so we could enjoy more spicy bites of meat. In addition to the steak, Menagias made a fried daikon rice cake with egglant puree (neither J or I like eggplant and we were both raving about this version) along with a deviled quail egg for a whimsical play on steak and eggs. For a tiny little egg, it packed a punch with horseradish mustard and since J and I are both sushi freaks, we also loved the salty brininess of the tobiko. Pretty sure J and I are going to try to recreate this at home but Menagias, if you read this, we wouldn't mind a larger portion of this wonderful dish on your City Beer Hall Brunch Menu :)
2. Mazzone Hospitality (Chef Will Brown)-Beer: Rare Vos
Winner of the the People's Choice, Brown's beer braised veal with pretzel crust and gouda spaetzle with horseradish sauce was a close favorite of ours. The Rare Vos was a good pairing to cut down on richness of the dish. But the highlight for us, which we greedily had second helpings of as well, was an extra special treat of Rare Vos milkshake made with the beer of course and wheatberry gelato and secret other things that chef kept from us; although we're pretty sure we detected some citrus. First of all, we were impressed that you can even make gelato with wheatberry, but the cold creamy concoction worked surprisingly well with the beer and we foresee making beer milkshakes ourselves throughout the summer.
Man do we love a good pork belly. Fatty and deliciously unctious, the beer braised pork belly played well with the acidity of the asian slaw and sweetness of the Asian BBQ sauce. The balance of flavors here was perfect and very well seasoned. The Three Philosophers was a good pairing to balance the richness of this dish too. However, I found the corn fritter to be too greasy and the texture was a bit of a disappointment. Albany Distilling Co. was on hand with a cocktail too. Dubbed the "Fourth Philosopher," this beer cocktail was made with a mix of bitters, carbonated corncob juice and their signature Coal Yard Whiskey infused with sundried tomatoes and topped with Three Philosophers beer. There were a lot of flavors going on here but we didn't hate it.
4. The Merry Monk Saratoga (Chef Brady Dillon)-Beer: Ommegang BPA
We found that the beers paired well with rich, fatty dishes the most like Chef Dillon's beer braised short ribs with tart cherries, sweet potato mash, kale, and pickled asparagus. We often braise meat with beer at home too so we loved how tender these pork ribs were, not to mention we got a huge portion!
5. The Ginger Man (Chef Ian O'Leary)-Beer: Abbey Ale
The Abbey Ale here paired very well with the gaminess of Chef's roasted venison. The dish also came with a delicious sweet potato gratin made with Abbey Ale tilsit cheese. However, we found the citrus flavor in the dinosaur kale to be too overpowering. Kudos to chef for making such a tender venison, it's a cut of meat we rarel eat but thoroughly enjoyed.
6. Max London's (Chef Mark Graham)-Beer: Rare Vos
Oddly enough, the winner of Judge's Pick was one of our least favorite dishes. While the boudain of sweetbread and rabbit was quite delicious we found the beer pairing to be average and the pickled radishes to be overpowering, the mushrooms too salty, and the apricot mustard to be too sweet. The one bite that I did combine all the elements tasted better but individually they were too disconnected. We also got a sprinkling of caper power compared to that of the judge's so I don't whether that would have made a difference in taste. Presentation wise, it was the most beautiful plate of the night.
Sadly, our last tasting of the night with our favorite beer was also the most disappointing of the night. We had such high hopes, especially after hearing that the egg was boiled in beer. Every bite lacked salt and seasoning, and in turn the dish barely had any flavor. I adore duck confit but this one was so bland and so was the chicken stock aspic that accompanied the soft-boiled egg. The only saving grace, besides the beer, was the orange-cardom dressed greens. It's amazing what salt can do, or can't in this case.
HopChef has certainly inspired us to be more creative and make our own beer-inspired and beer-incorporated dishes. We'll be sure to share our recipes along the way. J's got a summer beer brewing away and I can't wait to make cheddar beer soup and so much more!
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