Hi.
Howdy! I like to drink finely crafted beverages, eat great food, and then think about how well the two go together!
Howdy! I like to drink finely crafted beverages, eat great food, and then think about how well the two go together!
image courtesy of croatia.hr
Peka is a traditional Croatian stew cooked in an earthenware vessel that is kind’ve shaped like a bell. In practice, it isn’t much different from using a dutch oven at home. The name may sound intimidating, but the dish is anything but. Chop up some potatoes, add some garlic, carrots and onions, and throw on some sprigs of Rosemary. Cover with salt and pepper, and then add a meat of your choice on top, preferably chicken or lamb. Drizzle the whole thing with a lot of olive oil, cook it for a few hours in the oven, add some white wine (or our featured beer selection) and boom! You have created an exotic Dalmatian dish. Congratulations, you are a sophisticated culinary aesthete.
Here are a few of my favorite recipes/explanations of how to make the dish. I love Peka because it’s simple but still makes me feel fancy for making it.
https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/campfire-lamb-peka
A relatively new entrant to the world of Belgian Beer Styles, Belgian Pale Ale/Strong Pale Ale was created to compete with the onslaught of Pilsner. Using pale pilsner malt but local ale yeast, the style is spicy and refreshing with enough alcoholic muscle to stand up to a wide variety of food pairings, no matter their intensity.
Between the liberal amounts of olive oil applied, the potatoes, and the drippings from the meat, Peka can be pretty heavy. Belgian Pale Ale has the intensity to match up to the heartiness of the Peka and a high carbonation level to cut through the weight of the dish and leave the palate refreshed. The spicy Belgian yeast, meanwhile, complements the liberal amounts of rosemary and garlic added to the dish, providing some clove and white pepper ester driven flavor.
Recommendations
De Konick is the classic Belgian Pale Ale and works wonderfully with this dish. Delirium Tremens is a standard bearer for Belgian Strong Pale Ale, and has more than enough muscle, carbonation, and flavor to slice through the creamy intensity of the Peka. My personal favorite recommendation though, is Trader Joe’s Providential Ale, sourced from Unibroue in Canada. At 7.5% ABV, it is neither too strong and overwhelming nor too weak and overrun to hang and bang with the stew, it complements without overpowering, and accentuates without assaulting. Plus, Providential Ale is widely available. Sub in the beer for wine in the traditional recipes and you have a recipe/beer combo that is even more complimentary to each other than it would be otherwise!