Food pairing
Beer with omelette
Set egg, plain or filled, mild and savoury with a texture that offers a beer almost nothing to work against.
Cooked through, egg loses the coating quality of a runny yolk and becomes something much plainer: savoury, faintly sulphurous, soft the whole way through. There is no acidity, no crunch and very little salt unless it was added.
The absence of structure is the problem rather than any strong flavour. A beer that brings its own — carbonation, a dry finish, a little bitterness — makes the plate work; a soft, sweet beer sits on top of a soft dish and the whole thing goes flat.
Omelette rules a lot of beer out, but several beers do the job it needs equally well. Pick between them on preference — the reasons matter more than the order. The attribute doing most of the work is umami.
What to drink
Gueuze — outstanding
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Berliner Weisse — outstanding
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Australian sparkling ale — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Grodziskie — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Saison — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Belgian single — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Cold IPA — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Grisette — strong
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
What not to drink
- American barley wine — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
- British strong ale — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
- Doppelbock — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.