Shrimp Pad Thai accompanied by Three Floyd’s Robert the Bruce Scottish style ale, Three Floyds Alpha King Ale, and Mad Anthony’s ‘Ol Woody Pale ale. Dessert: Gulden Draak.

You will need:

8 oz broad rice stick noodles, 2 tsp peanut or veg oil, 2 eggs, 1 clove of garlic, 4 tbsp fish sauce, 3 tbsp sugar, 2 limes, 2 tbsp ketchup, 1 tsp thai red chili paste, 3/4 lb shrimp, 1 cup bean sprouts, 4 tbsp chpped roasted and salted peanuts (suggest shelling during cooking), scallions

Disclaimer:  In this our first experiment we did not actually cook with beer, rather we attempted to pair beer with food.

We started our first project on a sunny Saturday evening.  After getting the ingredients together for Pad Thai, we cracked a couple of Three Floyd’s Robert the Bruce Scottish style ale.  Very dark copper in color, sunlight would barely penetrate the glass.  It’s rich, lightly hopped, and lightly carbonated, which proved to be a perfect companion for mixing things up.  It’s time to put on some jazz and soak the noodles.

After placing the noodles in water we proceeded to make an egg pancake.  Just crack and beat the eggs and put in a frying pan over low heat.  Flip when done on one side.  Looks more like an omlette than anything.  Wait, it IS an omlette.

The lime juice (about a full squeezed lime), minced garlic, ketchup, fish sauce, garlic paste, and sugar go in the blender.  Don’t blend yet, shell some peanuts, chop them up and drink more Robert The Bruce.  There’s no hurry.  Note:  It’s good to buy a big bag of peanuts so you can snack while working on dinner.  Don’t forget to sip Robert The Bruce.

At this point things are going to move quickly, so forget about cooking and finish your beer. 

Now cut the egg pancake into thin strips.

Now you can blend the ingredients by pulsing the blender a few times.  That smells good! Let sit.

Place the bean sprouts in a big frying pan with a little vegetable oil and sizzle a bit.  Then add shrimp and stir around a while.  Then add noodles and stir in.  Add egg strips, stir in, then add blended sauce and bring to sizzle. 

Put on plates, sprinkle on the shallots and peanuts, garnish with lime.  You’re done!  Add more garlic paste if you like it hot but be careful.

For this meal we tried two beers, Three Floyds Alpha King Ale and Mad Anthony’s ‘Ol Woody Pale ale.  Although I prefer Alpha King on its own, we both preferred the ‘Ol Woody Pale ale with our food because it was milder and didn’t have the hop bite.

On to Dessert!