Today we’ll take you to one of the most interesting attractions in Poznan, that is, Lech Brewery – a place located a bit off the beaten track, visible from afar due to its sharp-green colour and unique character. We’ll tell you the story of one Saturday, when, together with Jakub Kasprzak, the Chef at Lumiere Restaurant, we stood behind the kitchen counter. Let’s sharpen a knife and… begin!
Although Saturday at 11 a.m. doesn’t seem to be a typical time for performing valuable activities, we were ready and willing to go to Franowo, a suburban district of Poznan. We must admit we were a bit scared, because, as you know, we weren’t cut out to be chefs (though we could definitely call eating our strength), but we took our seats at the table and let our cooking adventure begin.
Our task was to prepare two starters that would best go with the beer “Książęce Pszeniczne”: fried squids with garlic mayonnaise and shrimps with bacon and Asian dressing. “We’ll do it!” – we thought. Under the watchful eye of the Chef Jakub, Mateo began to prepare the mayonnaise from scratch, and Madzix took the squids challenge. In the meantime, other teams were overcoming the obstacles and creating their own starters matching their selected beers! Among them there were: brioche with bacon jam, with yolk and pecorino cheese; focaccia with tapenade and colorful tomato salad; duck terrine with red onion dressing, fried scallops with blood sausage and mango relish, braised beef with horseradish in panko; and chocolate truffles with mushrooms and beer.
Both dishes turned out delicious! Especially excellent shrimps with Asian salsa, which won the hearts of all, no joke! Although preparing the sauce requires a lot of ingredients – you are still able to prepare it in a few minutes.
We give you the recipes so that you can try your skills in the kitchen like we did!
Preparation:
Cleanse and cut squids. When they get dry, coat them with smoked peppers, salt and pepper. Fry them in deep fat for about 40 seconds. Prepare mayonnaise from other ingredients.
Preparation:
Stick bacon, prawns and pineapple slices on skewers. Simmer other ingredients in a pan until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. Smear shrimps and bacon with the prepared sauce and put them the oven for about 10 minutes (200 degrees) or fry them in a pan.
After the short workshop and the introduction of the basics of sensory evaluation of beer, it was time for the main event – visiting Lech Brewery and getting to know all the secrets of making “hop soup”. Then our crew got bigger because the winners of our and other bloggers’ contests joined us. We altogether set off on a journey around the spot with our guide!
We really saw a lot! From the brewhouse dominated with the gold-pink vats and the strong feeling of stuffiness, through the places of the process of fermentation and maturation, to our favorite element – the bottling plant! Now we know a lot more about each stage of beer making. In the meantime, our group bombarded the guide with questions. We learned quite interesting things … Did you know, for instance, why most beers are sold in green bottles? It turned out that some research showed that 80% of respondents pick green over brown driven by ecological and aesthetic reasons. And if you were asked which of the beers produced by Lech Brewery (Tyskie, Lech, Żubr) sells best, what would you bet on? The answer is … ŻUBR. We bet it’s a matter of a well-planned advertising campaign, but also the price that is surprisingly advantageous compared to the competitive beers.
After the trip, we had a huge hankering for beer and the taste of hops, which had been the main conversation topic for so long! We went for a quick quizz (where the #girls & #boys team drew) and finally… we got to the point of beer tasting!
That was the moment when we got blackout drunk. Joke.
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This article was made in cooperation with Lech BROWARY WIELKOPOLSKI ZWIEDZANIE & PUB.
This article was made in cooperation with Lech Sightseeing & Pub.
Translation: Katarzyna Mrówczyńska