/GODT SULTEN

As this is an entry to the TGRWT blogging event, this post is in English.

The first ingredient that came to mind when reading this month’s food pairing challenge with malt and soy sauce was the malt beer that I often use when baking rye bread.

Ceres Malt Øl is a sweet and full-bodied malt beer from Denmark. It’s brewed with Münchner-malt, which gives it a slightly burned and sweet taste. Further sugar and glucose is added to heighten the sweetness.

Together with the soy sauce, I thought the sweet and bitter notes of the beer would work really well as a sauce for a piece of fish served Asian style with noodles and vegetables.

My entry is therefore:

Baked cod with soy and malt beer sauce (serves two)

300 g cod
100 g broccoli
½ red capsicum
Noodles
Sea salt
Sugar
Olive oil

Start with the fish. Clean and remove bones and skin, if necessary. Divide the fish into two or four equal-sized pieces. Place in a tray that will go into the oven. Sprinkle a little sea salt and sugar on both sides of all the pieces, cling-film the tray and place in the fridge for half an hour or longer.

Preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Clean the broccoli and capsicum and cut both into small chunks.

Give the fish a small splash of olive oil, put the cling-film back on, creating a tight seal and place the tray in the oven. Don’t worry, the cling-film should be able to handle temperatures up to about 150 degrees Celsius. Bake the fish between 10 and 15 minutes depending on thickness. After 10 minutes gently press with a finger on the fish and if the meat is just starting to come apart, its done. Otherwise, give it an few minutes extra.

When preparing fish this way, you’re basically steaming it in its own juices, leaving the fish very succulent and tender.

While the fish is in the oven, cook the noodles according to the package. Three minutes before the noodles are done, add the broccoli to the water.

For the sauce:
100 ml malt beer
30 ml soy
30 ml rice vinegar
1 tsp honey
Lemon

Combine 90 ml malt beer, soy, rice vinegar and honey in a small casserole. Bring to the boil. It will foam a lot to begin with, so keep an eye on it. Turn down the heat slightly and let it cook for five to eight minutes until it has thickened.

I found that the malt flavour subsided a bit after cooking, so I suggest that right before serving you add the final 10 ml beer together with a small squeeze of lemon juice in order to get the full flavour of the malt.

Arrange the noodles with the cooked broccoli and raw red capsicum in two deep plates. Place the fish on top and pour over a bit of the sauce. Bring the rest of the sauce to the table.

The verdict:
The sauce was quite potent. First you get the salt from the soy, then the fresh notes from the lemon and then the bitter from the beer. I felt that the malt beer enhanced the umami flavour of the soy sauce and together with the honey, vinegar and lemon juice made for a complex but well balanced sauce that went well with the dish.