Beer and food matching: Thai fishcake
Sorry, you won't get in without a tie. A Thai fishcake, that is. This time around, we asked our beer and food matching panel to come up with beers to complement an oriental favourite.
John Keeling, Fuller's head brewer: These are a spicy little number, and I recently tried some spicy tuna which we put together with a Kriek beer. Not an obvious match, but it was quite revolutionary and very delicious. Any good Belgian fruit beer would be a good choice. Alternatively, for the less adventurous, a nice chilled Discovery will refresh the palate between mouthfuls.
Ben Bartlett, catering development manager, Union Pub Company: Most standard ales would not suit the unique spicing of Thai food. Maybe a wheat beer could be made with lemon-grass and coriander at the secondary fermentation stage. Robert Cain brews the pleasant Cupid's Ale, which I tried from a 500ml bottle. The beer is copper-coloured with a distinct blush of red. The brew includes ginseng as an ingredient and this adds to the quite fragrant hop aroma, which is similar to lemon-grass.
The beer has a fruity plum flavour that is both soft and tart and would sit well with Thai fishcakes.
Paul Drye, catering development manager, St Austell Brewery: With a standard, good-quality home-made fishcake I would probably choose a nice cold Pilsner, but with the Thai influence bringing flavours like lemon-grass, coriander and chilli to dish, I must recommend a wheat beer. These often have echoes of citrus, coriander and spice that would complement Thai fishcakes perfectly.
Clouded Yellow from St Austell Brewery is delicately flavoured with whole spices and vanilla, resulting in a rich, spicy beer with a delicate citrus tang that is a superb match for this dish. In fact, I would offer this beer with all manner of fish and Asian dishes, so this is doubly good.
A couple of Belgian wheat beers well worth trying are Hoegaarden Speciale, a slightly stronger version of the original Hoegaarden, and (a particular favourite of mine) Blanche de Namur. This again has spice and coriander notes with a hint of bitter orange that reminds me of marmalade. Here we are, matching the flavours of Thai spices and Belgian marmalade - now that's what you call fusion!
Phil Vickery, chef and broadcaster: Hoegaarden or Budvar would be great with this dish.
Ben McFarland, beer writer and piscatologist: It would be too easy to go for something inoffensive yet drinkable when searching for a partner to Thai fishcakes. But assuming that the dish in question is light, fluffy and flavoursome (and not a turgid pebble of stodge), something more complex is called for. Something that will fire-fight the oriental spices and bring out the coriander but won't smother the delicate fish.
That something is Rooster's Yankee, a refreshing, floral and fruity straw-coloured beer from an incredibly innovative brewery in Yorkshire. Neither too bitter nor sweet and, at a modest 4.3 per cent, it is a marvellously quaffable all-rounder.
Richard Fox, chef and broadcaster: There are many different ways to prepare Thai fishcakes; from shallow-frying a loose fritter batter, to coating with flour, egg wash and breadcrumbs and deep frying. However, one of my favourite methods is to make a mixture with lemon-grass, kaffir lime leaf, coriander and chilli, blitz it up in a food processor with a load of salmon and some egg white, and then poach. It's pure flavour with loads of juicy succulence.
The flavours and texture are kept really light, and nothing goes with it better than a Belgian wheat beer. The flavours work in absolute harmony, while the beer continues to cleanse and refresh the palate after each delicious mouthful.
Richard's beer and food series, Fox on the Run, will be screened on BBC1 Look North throughout November
John Rudden, member of the Craft Guild of Chefs, and chef and director of the White Hart Inn, Lydgate, in West Yorkshire: To accompany Thai fishcakes I would recommend Greene King IPA, because the hoppy, refreshing flavour of the beer really complements the spiciness and exotic ingredients of the dish, without swamping or masking the flavours of the fishcakes. IPA is a cask ale made with barley, water, yeast and hops, and has a clean, bitter finish that goes really well with all Thai food, or in fact any spicy food.
At the White Hart we serve Thai fishcakes as a starter with a coconut and chive mayonnaise. For the fishcakes I generally use haddock, salmon or crab, and occasionally a great farmed bass called meagre, which I combine with potatoes, ginger, garlic, and chillis.
Rupert Ponsonby, Beer Academy: Thai fishcakes demand either zesty citrus hops or light, easy flavours. My ultimate for 'zest' would include beers such as Wychwood's bottled Wychcraft, a former Tesco Beer Competition winner, which has a base of delicately flavoured English Fuggles hops, but with lime-flavoured Styrian Goldings hops added late in the brew to give fragrant lemon zest on the finish. Wychwood's clever use of light-coloured, light-flavoured lager malts also helps this ale to highlight its signature hop character, while creating a wonderfully fragrant, fish-friendly beer.
My other favourites for citrussy character would include the likes of Harviestoun's Schiehallion lager, Arran Blonde, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Hop Back's Taiphoon.
For light, easy flavours I would partner the fishcakes with nearly any Belgian wheat beer, or a wide array of Thai and Japanese lagers. But of all the beers I have tasted recently, my prize for delicacy goes to the palely perfumed Black Isle organic lager from Inverness, brewed, apparently, to please the nearby fish.
Next month: As the festive season looms, our panel will suggest beer matches for Christmas pudding.
