Lamb tagine with a chorizo-infused beer

It’s unusual for me to have two consecutive beer pairings as my match of the week but not surprising given that this week’s comes from an excellent beer dinner at The Bull, Highgate to mark the launch of Canadian beer and food expert Stephen Beaumont’s Beer and Food Companion

The menu was based on recipes in the book of which the most striking combination was based on a lamb tagine from chef Martin Bosley of Bosley’s Pantry in Wellington, a city which is considered the craft beer capital of New Zealand. I wouldn’t normally think of a tagine as the ideal match for beer even though the recipe includes a hefty 600ml of pale ale but the pairing with the London Brewing Co’s* Project Calavera (6.7%), an imperial mild flavoured with chorizo, cocoa, chilli and cinnamon and 'dry-hopped' with dehydrated chorizo, was just brilliant. (Beaumont also suggests Traquair House ale as a good match.)

Other pairings that worked particularly well were Alaskan Brewing Co’s Smoked porter with an oxtail soup and Stone & Wood Pacific Pale ale with a Galaxy hop-aromatized cheese - a great idea from another beer writer Lucy Saunders. You can apparently make your own quite easily with dried hops - see p 147 of the book.

I attended the dinner as a guest of publisher Jacqui Small.

*Which is based at The Bull.