Food pairing
Beer with shakshuka
Eggs baked into a spiced tomato and pepper sauce, where the tomato acidity leads and the egg softens it.
The reverse of most egg dishes: the sauce is the assertive part and the eggs are what tempers it. Tomato reduced with peppers, cumin and paprika is genuinely sharp, and the yolk is there to round it off rather than to be rounded off.
Acidity leading changes the beer. Bitterness against tomato turns metallic, and a beer with residual sweetness sits under the sharpness better than a dry one — which is close to the opposite of what a plain egg dish wants, and a good illustration of why the sauce decides.
Shakshuka narrows the field sharply, and one answer stands clear of the rest. Most beer falls down on at least one thing this dish demands. The attribute doing most of the work is acidity.
What to drink
Weissbier — excellent pairing
The sauce leads rather than the eggs, and it is sharp: reduced tomato with cumin and paprika. Weissbier has the residual sweetness to sit under that acidity and a clove-like phenol that lines up with the spicing, where a dry, bitter beer would turn the tomato metallic.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Dubbel — outstanding
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Belgian golden strong ale — outstanding
Bitterness, carbonation and a dry finish scrub the fat off the palate, so each mouthful of food tastes as good as the first.
Caution: Capsaicin is an irritant rather than a flavour, and alcohol and hop bitterness both intensify it. A sweeter, lower-strength beer will do more for the heat.
Bière de Garde — outstanding
Beer and dish carry similar weight, so neither flattens the other.
Dunkelweizen — outstanding
Peppery and clove-like notes from the yeast pick up the warm spicing in the dish — the same aromatic family on both sides.
Caution: Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
Munich Dunkel — outstanding
Deep malt character matches the savoury weight of the dish instead of sitting apart from it.
Czech dark lager — outstanding
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.
What not to drink
- American lager — A light beer against a heavy plate tends to disappear.
- Belgian table beer — Expect the beer to refresh rather than to stand up to the food.
- Imperial stout — Delicate food needs a beer that stays out of its way.