Duck and waffle and saison beer

Unusually this week’s match is speculative - an imagined pairing rather than an actual one.

It’s the signature dish of the Duck & Waffle which occupies a dramatic site on the 40th floor of the Heron Tower with spectacular views over the City of London. We were there for breakfast and it went perfectly well with the black Americano coffee I’d ordered but as it’s available at other times I was wondering what I’d drink if I’d ordered it at 2am (the restaurant is open round the clock).

The dish is an intriguing mixture of sweet and salty. A spicy confit duck leg on a waffle, topped with an egg with mustard-spiked maple syrup poured over the top. Outrageously good though I struggled to think of a wine that would match. Tokaji might though I think a dessert wine would overdo the sweetness.

My friend Sig suggested bourbon which would certainly work flavour-wise but might be a touch too strong. A Manhattan maybe …

Then I had a chat on Twitter with the chef Dan Doherty and we decided that what it needed was a beer - a rich strong saison for preference. You could probably also get away with a blonde ale or even a strong golden ale like Duvel. Or maybe Deus, a Belgian Tripel brewed with champagne yeast. In fact once you start thinking about beer there seem limitless possibilities. You could even drink a breakfast beer - if the Duck & Waffle had one. (I’m hoping this post will encourage them to enlarge their beer list!)

If you’re not able to get to the Duck and Waffle you can find the recipe in Dan’s recently published book of the same name.

Spiced parsnip soup with Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted

Although I’ve tasted some good wines this week it’s beer that has provided the highlights. The Magic Rock Rapture amber ale I drank at The Pint Shop in Cambridge with their awesome beer brined chicken was pretty good but it’s pipped into the ‘drink of the week’ slot by this pairing at The Hole in the Wall in Little Wilbraham

It was the first course of a tasting menu: a spiced parsnip soup with warm pork rillettes and some julienne strips of apple, a perfect contrast to Harviestoun’s Bitter and Twisted a smooth, slightly sweet 4.2% blonde ale which picked up perfectly on the sweetness of the parsnip and savouriness of the rillettes.

Soups are quite difficult to match with drinks - one liquid with another never seems entirely appropriate - but with some ingredients like root vegetables beer does a better job than wine.

The pairing was one of a number of immensely clever pairings by the restaurant’s sommelier Joel Servy who (unusually for a Frenchman!) turns out to be quite a beer aficionado, albeit the other matches were wines.

You can read more about the Hole in the Wall - a strong recommendation if you’re staying in Cambridge or want a day out of London - in my latest restaurant review here.

Chicken caesar salad and blonde ale

It’s so automatic to think of a wine match these days that one sometimes overlooks the fact that a beer will work just as well, if not better. So it is with that great restaurant favourite, chicken caesar salad.

On the face of it, chicken, lettuce, croutons and parmesan makes a pretty easy pairing but the dressing which typically contains garlic, anchovies and mustard has quite a kick. A blonde ale, particularly a Belgian blonde like Leffe or a northern French blonde ale, provides a touch of sweetness that complements the dressing perfectly. A strong golden ale like Duvel would also work well as would a golden lager like Schiehallion.

Winewise I find that Chardonnay makes the best match - unoaked or lightly oaked like Chablis, if the dressing is particularly piquant, oaked if the parmesan note is uppermost or the chicken is chargrilled.

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