For beer lovers, the excitement begins when you realise that you can infuse the alcoholic beverage in everything. Ugali, mutura and beef.
For over two years now, Kenyans have been adding beer as an ingredient to their nyama choma to add to the flavours. Barbequed meat marinated in Guinness explodes inside your mouth with flavours you relish for days.
EABL (East African Breweries Limited), under their Tusker brands and beers, collaborated with Fairview Hotel to put together a three-course meal that had everything on the menu fully infused with beer.
Chef Rami Saloum, who goes by the nickname Kamau due to his love of nyama choma, mutura, ugali and (in his own words) dhufu (goat soup), prepared the dishes, together with a starter and dessert from ingredients that wouldn’t be hard to find in most Kenyan homes.
Chef Rami Saloum pictured during the ''Beer Fest X Fairview Hotel meal pairing'' event held at the Fairview Hotel in Nairobi on November 26, 2024.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
The welcome drink was a malt that had strawberry, smashed ginger or chilli in it, had lemon juice added to it sat out for a day, and then put in the fridge to chill.
The one with strawberry in it tasted like a spicy margarita due to the masala on the rim while the one with whole chilli in it could pass for a flavoured draught beer. The thing about this drink is that it borders on tasting flat.
“It took about three hours to do the mix. The secret is not to shake the bottle because anything you add to the beer wants to take out the gas. So I carefully added the ingredients and sealed the bottle quickly. But when serving the drinks again, I added more malt to introduce more gas to it,” said Chef Saloum.
The starter was mutura that had been cooked completely in premium lager with only onions, carrots and chilli, for 40 minutes. The mutura was then barbequed on charcoal.
The stew that was left over was then strained and mixed with flour, butter, salt, black pepper, and lemon juice to make the cream on which the “mutura” was served with kachumbari.
The onions were also pickled in lager. This mutura was moist and the flavour creamy with a hint of beer. One of the guests, who had never tasted mutura before, due to fear of her sensitive stomach, said it was “delightful and dreamy”.
Chef Saloum said he was incorporating the beer mutura into the hotel’s menu together with the regular plain one and the clients’ favourite; one infused with wine.
The main course was nyama choma and ugali, served with carrot caramelised with beer, orange, honey and butter. The carrot was prepared through blanching (scalding vegetables in boiling water or steam for a short time, before quickly and thoroughly cooling in very cold or ice water to stop enzyme actions which otherwise cause loss of flavour, colour and texture).
Beer mutura with beer sauce and kachumbari served during the ''Beer Fest X Fairview Hotel meal pairing'' event held at the Fairview Hotel in Nairobi on November 26, 2024.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
The ugali was then prepared using lager instead of water and a little bit of salt, in otherwise the normal way. The goat meat was marinated in dark malt beer.
After that, the meat was cut and holes made in it and further marinated with salt and pepper. The salt took out water such that when the beer was added again during basting (which is also done with beer), it started to bubble as the beer softened meat when put on the charcoal to barbeque.
It was interesting how this flavour was best tasted on the fatty parts of the meat. The caramelised carrot gave the meal a savoury flavour on top of everything.
For dessert, there were poached pears. Fresh pears were peeled then boiled in water mixed with pineapple and mint cider, sugar, cinnamon and Star Anise for 40 minutes.
Some of the liquid and residue was removed for a second before beetroot was added to give it a nice colour. Then, it was left to sleep in the fridge until the following day.
The water was used to make gelatin cubes after cooking with aga-agar (a plant-based substitute for gelatin) and it was like eating beer in the form of a jelly.
Remember the liquid that was put aside? That was used to make “fake” crème anglaise. Instead of being a light custard sauce, we had lightly cooked ugali to give a soft texture but sweet taste.
The final touch to the dessert was a slice of glass pear chip. A slice of pear was baked in the oven between two trays, to keep it flat, for 30 minutes at 90 degrees.
Poached pear dessert cooked in Manyatta cider with cinnamon, star anise and cardamom served during the ''Beer Fest X Fairview Hotel meal pairing'' event held at the Fairview Hotel in Nairobi on November 26, 2024.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
To prepare it, you remove the tray that’s on top and dry it at a temperature of 70 degrees for a few minutes. You then take 150 grammes of sugar mixed with 50 millilitres of water and five millilitres of vinegar.
Dipping the pear chip, which looks like a normal chip, into this solution makes it become like a see-through piece of glass. This is the garnish!
The dessert, especially when finished off with the glass pear chip, was a real treat for any sweet tooth but might be overwhelming for those who take their sugars in moderation. But the flavour trip this entire meal put together takes one on is worth a try.
The moment you start boiling any type of alcohol, you are only left with the flavour and the smell as the alcohol evaporates. So these meals can be enjoyed by the family. The only effect of beer can be felt in the pickled onions of the kachumbari.
