Food pairing
Beer with satay
Grilled skewers with a sweet, spiced peanut sauce.
Satay is grilled meat under a sweet, spiced peanut sauce, and for pairing purposes the sauce is the dish. It brings sweetness, roasted nuttiness, mild chilli and a great deal of savoury depth at once, with char from the skewer underneath.
Nutty, gently sweet malt meets all of that simultaneously, which is why a Czech dark lager or an English porter suits it better than anything hop-forward. Bitterness fights the sweetness of the sauce and sharpens the chilli; a little residual sugar in the beer does the opposite.
Satay 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 aromatic spice.
What to drink
Czech dark lager — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
English porter — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Munich Dunkel — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Rauchbier — outstanding
Smoke in the beer meets smoke on the plate — the same family of compounds on both sides.
American porter — strong
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
American brown ale — strong
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Belgian dark strong ale — strong
Enough residual sweetness to stand up to the dish rather than being flattened by it.
Caution: Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.
Czech premium pale lager — strong
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
What not to drink
- Session IPA — Sweet food makes a drier drink taste harsher than it is.
- American lager — Sweet food makes a drier drink taste harsher than it is.