1.BEER BITES (Chronicle Books, 2015, 168 pages, ISBN 978-1-4521-3524-3, $24.95 US soft covers) is by Christian DeBenedetti and Andrea Slonecker. He's a food and drinks writer (The Great American Ale Trail) and brewery owner; she's a cookbook writer (Eggs on Top) and food editor. Together they have produced about 65 recipes for beer pairings, ranging from snacks to major dishes. Plus several desserts. Each recipe comes with at least five recommended beers from specified named breweries. They've got introductory material on how to taste beer and the principles of food matching. Each prep comes with extensive notes on how to match beers to the flavours. It is arranged by beer style, so neighbouring preps can be close to similar beers listed for other recipes. First up in "crisp & clean" as in lagers, "fruit & spice", "hoppy & herbal", "sour & complex", "malty, rich & sweet", and "deep, roasty & smoky" (stout territory). Preparations have their ingredients listed in both metric and avoirdupois measurements; there is no table of equivalents.
Audience and level of use: beer drinkers, those interested in matching beer to food.
Some interesting or unusual recipes/facts: duck carnitas nachos; sweet corn griddle cakes; Irish oatcakes; smoked trout board with cabbages; chicken hearts!; hoisin-glazed pork belly lettuce wraps with daikon carrots; seafood ceviche with crunchy quinoa.
The downside to this book: I wanted more.
The upside to this book: quite a series of complex matches, first rate job!
Quality/Price Rating: 92.
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