Day 17: Tea brined Pheasant, Cherry and Jasmine IPA sauce, Green Tea Soba, and Fried Enoki

This dish started out at the liquor store, I found a Jasmine Tea IPA that I was curious about trying. Then I wandered down to the asian supermarket nearby, found a pheasant that I figured could be brined with some green tea, saw some nice cherries that I decided could make a nice sweet compliment to the bitter IPA. To round out the dish I bought a starch (green tea soba noodles) and a veggie (enoki mushrooms).

I started by brewing some green tea, adding some salt and sugar to it, then putting the pheasant in to brine for a few hours. I cooked the pitted cherries with some of the IPA until they resembled a cherry beer sauce. I deep fried the enoki mushrooms until they were crispy, and I boiled the noodles 'til al-dente - all while oven roasting the pheasant.

In the end, the dish paired very well with the beer, but it did turn out a bit different than I had anticipated. I ended up describing the dish as a rich man's bar food, as it just didn't stand up on its own very well. I realised after eating the dish that I had been trying to bring out a subtle tea flavour while dealing with very strong flavour notes of bitter IPA, cherries, and pheasant.

Still a tasty meal with the IPA pairing.