Food Pairings. Why? and a thought or two on Bert Grants book.

[An Ankoù]

The Ale Master: How I Pioneered America's Craft Brewing Industry, Opened the First Brewpub, Bucked Trends, and Enjoyed Every Minute of It

Just finished reading Bert Grant's outrageously titled book and I can't say I was particularly impressed. I'd hoped to get some insights into his so called "Perfect Porter" of which I've already knocked up a trial batch, and got very little except to discover that he didn't use any kind of Scottish yeast (as recommended in many of the "tribute" recipes), in fact he isolated his own strain from a Midlands brewer's house yeast cocktail. What really pee'ed me off though, was the gratuitous reference to food pairing "I like to drink this with burgers or pizza", obviously interpolated by his co-writer to make the book more attractive to the Seattle coffee-table reader (look at the coffee table in Frazier's flat appartment and you'll see what I mean.) Which brings me to my point: Why, oh why, do some writers insist on providing food pairings with beer recipes? Look at the Brewdog recipe book and the stuff they recommend to be paired with each beer. Does anybody ever eat that shi'ite? Has anybody even heard of most of it? Is Ellon, Scotland at the cutting edge of international gastronomy? I didn't see any reference to lardy cake or deep fried chocolate bars in the book. What about Tess and Mark of the unpronouncable surname and their Clone Brews? The same thing. What's it for? What does it add? More importantly, what does it take away?
Let it be declared here and now that I'm an unreconstructed philistine and proud of it. I don't eat, while I'm drinking beer. I go to drink beer because I want to enjoy the beer. if I do eat, it's because I want something to soak up the booze so that I can drink more beer. When I'm eating, I usually don't drink anything- certainly not beer. When I eat, I want to taste the food, not muddy the flavours of both by swilling them around together. I might have a bottle of red with a pizza, but that's "foreign practices" innit! I'll happily have a skinful and then go for a curry, and probably have another couple on the way home. But the Kingfisher isn't a food pairing, it's something to drink while you're waiting for the popadums or the next course to come.
So what do people think? Are food pairings useful or are they just pretentious claptrap that writers think might sell a few more copies?
Content:
Some genuine questions
Some dark and hidden humour
A bit of rant

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I don’t usually drink beer with food. I prefer to drink beer before the food and wine with the food.

 

[Clint]

Drink lots of beer...develop raging hunger...eat curry,kebabs..drink more beer.

 

[Sadfield]

I drink beer with food all the time, it's far more diverse a drink than wine. Its hardly new and pretentious, stout and oysters was the fuel of the lower classes and you only have to look at 17-18th century ale glasses to see Brits weren't necessarily quaffing pints in isolation.

Evidence from the fine art world (1661). Pretentious? moi?

Saison with curry, barley wine and a cheese board, pint and a pie, moule frite and bottle of Gueuze. Heaven.

 

[Erik The Anglophile]

Bitters are a very versatile table beer, goes well with a lot of food.
Brown ales and stouts imo go very well with savoury stews and hot food, stouts more with savoury hot food though, like an American style Chili stew.
Pairing food and beer is not inherently pretensious, although the way it's done in many hipstery craft beer circles certainly is.
Yes I am a food nerd aswell thanks for asking.

 

[An Ankoù]

Hmm. Must be a cultural thing then. Or a philistine thing in my case.

No, no, no, guvna! I'm not suggesting the reader is pretentious, but the recipe book writer, and I think I must insist. At random, Brew Dog book: 5 am Saint paired with Cheddar cheese melted on crisp rye toast or Moroccan chicken tagine and cheesecake topped with kiwis! Sure I'm going to knock up some couscous and cheesecake to help my beer down! At random, Clone Brews, Thames Welsh ESB: partners deliciously with potato-crusted salmon atop a bed of baby greens drizzled with fresh avocado mayonnaise. Lucky I've got one knocking around in the fridge somewhere.
Nar. It's totally random in my opinion. I'll stick to a fine pint of draft Sarson's with my chips.

 

[Sadfield]

I'll stick to a fine pint of draft Sarson's with my chips.

Sarson's artisan barrel aged sour malt liquor? Get you.

 

[hop-a-long]

To me pairing beer and food isn't that much different to pairing different malts, hops and yeast to get a certain taste and aroma in my beer. I designed one of my beers along those lines.
Moreover as i'm not much of a wine drinker, I will try to pair beer with my food if I'm going out for a bite. If the available beer selection isn't up to par, then I'll stick to water.