We recently hosted a pot luck where invitees were instructed to bring a dish as well as a beer they would pair with it. If you have the chance to, I totally recommend this undertaking. It doesn't take too much planning as you can find beer score ideas on the net as well as pairing hints. We ranked aroma, mouthfeel, taste and overall impression as well as pairing. Depending on your guests you can take all or some scoring from the bjcp program.
We paired Fernie's grapefruit IPA with samosas and it worked well. The grapefruit worked well with the spice. We also paired pulled pork with Longboat chocolate stout and, well, it won.
