When it comes to fine dining, there often seem to be a lot of rules that we’re all expected to follow. We’ve all had those strange moments where we’re not sure which fork to be using or which one is the soup spoon. But if there’s one thing that often leads a lot of people to feel incredibly tense when they’re at a dinner party or out for a meal with friends, it’s the moment that they’re asked to choose a drink to go with the food.
It can often feel as though this is some kind of test to see if you have as sophisticated enough palate. However, that’s not the way it has to be. The truth is that the right drink paired with the right food can be a wonderful way to enhance your dining experience. With that in mind, here are just a few simple things to remember when pairing drinks with your food.
Wine
The most obvious place to start is with wine. After all, wine it the drink of choice when it comes to trying to pair food and drink. The first and most obvious question is always red or white. Generally speaking, the way to look at it is if your food has a lot of very rich and intense flavours like any kind of tomato sauce or red meat, then red wine is always going to be your best bet. Within that, you have to think about the specifics. If you’re having a rich cut of steak then something like a Malbec from Argentina is going to be perfect.
If you’re having some kind of rich pasta dish with something like a ragu, a Chianti or other slightly drier style of Italian is a great choice. When it comes to white wine, the key is to understand that one of the major features of white wine is its acidity. This means that if you’re eating something with a great deal of fat like pork belly, rich white wine with a decent amount of acidity like a Chardonnay is always going to be a great choice. If you’re having something spicy then a wine with just a touch of sweetness to it like a Riesling or a Gewurztraminer is going to help bring out those flavors beautifully.
Whiskey
Of course, wine is far from the only drink to be paired with food. If you’re having dessert and you’ve opted for something rich, dark and chocolatey, whiskey is a surprising but absolutely wonderful accompaniment. Dark chocolate and whiskey bring out huge amounts of interesting flavours in one another. Plus it lets everyone know that you really do know what you’re talking about.
Of course, this kind of knowledge and information is valuable but the most important thing is what you actually enjoy. There is so much pretentiousness surrounding a lot of drinks, especially wine, but the truth is that there is as much of it that’s smoke and mirrors as there is real information out there. If you find a combination of flavors that you enjoy, never let anyone try to tell you that there’s anything wrong with that whatsoever.
