December 4, 2019

Guinness Flavour by FIRE

Any excuse to party, really, and Guinness’ Flavour by Fire Festival at Gasket Alley, PJ over the weekend was precisely that!

But no one’s complaining as who doesn’t love a cookout, and especially if it’s a big time outdoor-sy barbecue with Guinness to quench our thirst!

So what’s the deal with the fire? I learned that it’s because the barley used to brew Guinness is roasted at 232° Celsius for that distinctive dark colour and flavour notes. No wonder Guinness pairs perfectly with smoked food!

Five standout chefs kept the two evenings lit with their hot presentation.

L-R: Kok Fung, Sherson Lian, Sapna Anand, Suren Krishnan and Johnny Fua.

Celebrity chef Sapna Anand, from GOA by Sapna, still looked camera-pretty despite the heat from the charcoal grill. Her recipes, tender Kashmiri lamb chops and chicken skewers, demonstrated that Indian spices and rich flavours have a special relationship with the stout. There were vegetarian options too such as smoky marinated paneer and barbecued corn, coated in a chili rub.

I tried the outback style duck confit with Guinness-infused rosemary sauce and the red pepper-marinated leg of lamb with pineapple by chefs Sherson Lian and Johnny Fua from Kitchen Mafia, as well as the dry-rubbed beef brisket by pitmaster Kok Fung from Burnin’ Pit, smoked for over 12 hours to get that juicy, tender meat. What I really liked though was the layers of fat which provided the lubrication to the whole ensemble. Darn lot of calories, but oh-so-worth the guilt!

My one regret? That I didn’t get to try the tempting Artisanal chorizo and German sausagesby Suren Krishnan from Tipsy Boar as the queue was waaay too long.

Tempting strings of sausages were snapped up.

Band performances were aplenty with music coming from Kyoto Protocol, Crinkle Cut, Church Mouse, Dani Komari, Samantha Diana and Muzza, among others, to heat things up. Those with a strong shove tried their hand at the long bar and crowd-puller of the day was the Guinness STOUTie machine which uses a malt extract to print a selfie directly onto the head of a glass of Guinness.