The offices of Foodpairing are located on the outskirts of one of Belgium’s most beautiful cities, Bruges. We were of course very happy when the city’s brewery “De Halve Maan” contacted us and allowed us to do flavour analysis on their beers. For this post we picked out the Straffe Hendrik Heritage.
The Foodpairing® potential of Straffe Hendrik Heritage
The Straffe Hendrik Heritage is a dark quadrupel beer of 11% alc vol. Heritage is a beer with a refermentation in the bottle, so it can be kept for several years, during which time the taste will further evolve.
When it comes down to aromas, the beer has a fruity spicy flavor with flowery and cheesy undertones. A baseline of caramel is underlined by a maturation in oak casks. This adds an oaky complexity to the beer that fades into chocolate, maple and coffee notes.
Furthermore the cask adds a touch of vinous acidity taste to the beer that makes it a complaint food companion that does not overpower, even with its high alcohol.
Foodpairing® Recipes with Straffe Hendrik Heritage
A green theme lies submerged under the fruity and caramel oaky powerhouses. This interesting observation let us to specifically search for Foodpairing matches in that green direction, in an attempt to highlight this fresh quality of the beer. We found that cucumber and tomato excel in doing just that, the latter also plays on the fruity theme of the beer.
Straffe Hendrik Heritage – crab – rammenas – Granny Smith – tomato – cucumber
It is well known that crab and other crustaceans pair well with dark and black beer types, this can be backed up by flavour analysis and Foodpairing® theory. Our first recipe can surely be added to the list of pro evidence; it pairs a crab salad to the Straffe Hendrik Heritage. Cucumber and apple – remember the green theme – were added to the salad providing bite and freshness. A tomato coulis was prepared with candied tomatoes in order to give body to the dish and strongly match the beer.
Straffe Hendrik Heritage – cucumber – coffee – white chocolate
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Thrilled by the green theme and the subtle links it makes with the beer; we took it one step further and went all in with a cucumber dessert paired with the Straffe Hendrik. White chocolate was used to add richness, and a texture contrast is being provided by broken coffee meringues.
Straffe Hendrik Heritage – oxtail – goat cheese – aubergine – miso – bell pepper
A third recipe that we designed to pair with the Straffe Hendrik Heritage is an oxtail stew with aubergade and bell peppers. The links are somewhat more straightforward compared to the previous recipes; focusing on the big roasty and caramellic themes present in the beer. Though we could not resist adding a touch of stubborn innovation in the form of goat cheese, providing freshness while going along with the cheesiness in the beer.
