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smile and rapid-fire delivery, Schafer relays the ingredients; pork with ground hops, herbs, chopped garlic, his proprietary black garlic hop salt seasoning and Primal Brewing’s Lawnboy [American lager]. He doesn’t stop there. After nestling the sausage into its bun, he covers it with sautéed shitake mushrooms, onions, sweet peppers, butter and herbs all cooked in beer. Top it off with a Gorgonzola cheese crumble and a pomegranate balsamic glaze, and boom, you’ve got not only an incredible meal, but also by far the best start to any interview I’ve conducted. It’s at this moment that it hits me. This is what he does. He makes great food and brings it to people. It should come as no surprise, then, that Schafer has
found a niche in the popular beer dinner concept by adding his own twist. Over the years, Schafer has hosted countless beer dinners in his restaurants, but it wasn’t until this past winter that he decided to take his beer dinner concept out to breweries. With a bustling catering business in place, all he needed were a few breweries willing to take a chance. The concept was simple enough, five courses and five beers, and with that Schafer began making calls. The response was immediate, and within weeks beer dinners were booked at Primal, King Canary, Ghostface and others. True to form, all of the dishes at Schafer’s dinners include beer as an integral ingredient that imparts flavor, not a gimmick. His signature
dish is none other than a dessert he gleefully calls “Beeramisu.” Served in a beer glass, Beeramisu features a mascarpone mousse with framboise [a Belgian lambic beer] and raspberry syrup, and ladyfingers dipped in espresso, stout and sugar. “Often duplicated, never replicated,” he says confidently. Schafer’s title as The Brew Chef extends back more than a quarter century. It was at the Great American Beer Festival in 1993 when a fortuitous meeting between Schafer and the publisher of Ale Street News led to regular column writing about the intersection of beer and food. Two years later, a trip to Belgium opened Schafer’s eyes to the infinite possibilities of cooking with beer. Since then, Schafer has made beer
a mainstay in his menu, developing a reputation as one of America’s top brew chefs along the way. “I like the simplistic value and appreciation of beer,” says Schafer when espousing the virtues of his favorite ingredient. His advice to those of us not steeped in the culinary arts is to consider the style of beer, the application and final product. He finishes with a few last words of wisdom. “It’s hard to cook with beer if you don’t drink it. It’s important to understand what’s going on in that glass before it goes into a dish.” I’ll never be mistaken for a chef, but I think I’ve got that first part mastered. Keep up with The Brew Chef at Facebook.com/TheBrewChef.
LAKE NORMAN CURRENTS
Schafer says it’s important to enjoy drinking beer if you’re going to cook with it.