A Taste of Texas

by Lucy Saunders

So, you want to blaze new trails on the map of your tongue? Head to Texas, where the Lone Star State bubbles with new brewpubs opened since legislators lifted its Prohibition-era ban in 1993. First stop: Dallas, where palate-pleasing combinations of beer and food are offered by Yegua Creek Brewing Co.

Founded in February 1994, Yegua Creek's menu offers specialty foods made in the area, from the ancho chile infused cacciota of the Mozzarella Company, to fresh pasta made by the nearby Raviolissimo, to ranch-raised game and venison. Chef Toby O'Brien explains, "We wanted to offer real Texas ethnic foods, from all kinds of grilled meats and game, with lots of spicy, robust flavors from chiles and other spices. What could be more perfect to go with that kind of cooking but the full-bodied flavors of freshly brewed beers?"

Brewer Rob Cromie waxes rhapsodic about the Valentine's Day introduction of the Yegua Creek Raspberry Wheat beer. It's made in the American wheat style with 29 percent Great Western white malted wheat and two types of raspberry flavor, an extract to enhance the aroma and real raspberry puree added almost at the end of the fermentation to kind of jumpstart fermentation again. The result: a crisp, refreshing wheat beer with blushes of pink and an immense bouquet of raspberry.

Imagine such an effervescent brew paired with a rich appetizer of spicy black bean ravioli with an asiago cream sauce, gently seasoned with achiote, an earthy spice commonly used in Southwestern and Mexican cooking. Or try the "beerbecued" buffalo brisket tacos and chicken-cilantro tamales, paired with the hoppy, copper-colored pale ale known as Icehaus (not icebrewed, but named after the original moniker of the vintage building occupied by Yegua Creek, the Republic Ice House).

"We had imagined that tastes for craft beers in Texas might be a little on the lighter side," says Cromie. "But we've been pleasantly surprised by the reception for the pale ale and our Sarah's Brown Ale, which won a gold medal at the 1994 Great American Beer Festival." To further educate the drinking public in Dallas, Cromie put out the first cask conditioned ale in Texas, an E.S.B. dry hopped with East Kent Goldings, served at the proper temperature from a cask placed on the bar every Thursday night.

Traditional Texas prairie cooking also gets a lift from lighter lager and pilsner style brews. Matt Martinez, chef-owner of Rancho Martinez and No Place Restaurant, serves simple, straightforward Texas classics, such as chicken-fried steak, chili, and Gulf seafood. "Basic TexMex cooking is still very hot," says Martinez. But the nuevo rancho style of cooking with field mushrooms, wild game and American-made queso blanco, is gaining in popularity. For example, Martinez serves an appetizer of corn pancakes, topped with grilled Gulf of Mexico shrimp, sauteed bell peppers and onion, portabello mushrooms, and lean wild boar chorizo, drizzled with warm melted cheese thinned with chicken stock.

Most people order a simple, quenching Lone Star or Shiner Bock with this one, says Martinez. The smoky flavor of the sausages go great with beer. In Texas, most people consider beer to be the natural partner to Mexican food. Tex-Mex food is spiced with cumin, garlic, oregano, chiles, salt and pepper. With foods that are this flavorful, you want to drink something that is sparkling and cool, like a lager.

But the appeal of Texas foods extends beyond pairings with Texas-brewed beers. The natural affinity between the intensely flavored ingredients of Southwestern food extend to pairings with a wide range of brews.

At the Culinary Institute of America, Southwestern flavors took top billing at a recent beer dinner at St. Andrew's Cafe. Co-hosted Bill Newman of Newman's Brewing Co., Albany, N.Y., the menu featured little-neck clams steamed in Newman's Albany Amber with a tomato, fresh lime and cilantro salsa, paired with the refreshing Saratoga Lager. A tortilla soup, laced with garlic and smoked chicken, was served with Catamount Gold and Olde Heurich Maerzen beers. Mesquite-grilled beef tenderloin was sliced thin and served with a smoky black bean, corn and ancho chile sauce, paired with a hoppy Santa Fe pale ale that cut through the smoky, grilled flavors.

To receive copies of recipes for Cowboy Drunk Beans and Rancho Martinez Beef Brisket, write Lucy Saunders here.

The column originally appeared in All About Beer magazine in May of 1995.