Fish n’ Fizz

By Katie Goodchild

It’s a subject that can divide crowds. Some relish the thought of matching food and wine and others balk at the idea, dreading the moment their wine friends insist on coming over for dinner. For me, pairing the two together brings joy and curiosity. I often think of what wine to pair with a dish, or what to eat with a certain bottle of wine I’m opening that day or week.

I should note, I’m something of an oddity for someone who has worked in the wine industry for the past eight years because I don’t actually drink a lot. Maybe twice a week - but it is these weekly moments when I find myself sitting down to dinner with family or friends. So to choose a bottle of wine to match a dish, or vice versa, has become something of a habit. Each of us have our own preferences which will steer us in a certain direction when creating pairings, however there are core flavours in dishes that, when considered, can really elevate a pairing. Those core flavours are sensitive to our taste buds and include salt, sweetness, acidity, bitterness, umami and fat.

Salt: Salt and acidity can be brought together in pairings, but it’s important to ensure both are high in their own flavours. For example, pairing a low acid wine with an overly salty dish will only make the wine taste flat. But pairing Prosecco or Champagne with salty nibbles at the start of a meal will taste fantastic.

Sweeter wines also make excellent matches to salty dishes, especially cheese. Blue cheese paired with Port

or Sauternes really is delicious - and should be part of everyone’s festive activities.

Acidity: Trust me when I say, pair acid with acid. Acidic food needs acidic wine and pairing it with a wine that is anything other will make the wine taste flabby. Sweetness: Sweet foods can make wine taste bitter, which is why dessert and fortified wines are recommended for pairing with pudding. A glass of red wine after ice cream is always going to taste disappointing. If pairing wine with dessert, pick something that is sweeter than the dish. But don’t just think of sticky dessert wines - demi-sec (a sweeter style of) Champagne can be a great match too. If sweetness is part of a savoury dish, opt for an off-dry style of wine.

Bitterness: Bitter foods can be slightly harder to pair with wine. In her book The Wine Dine Dictionary, Victoria Moore suggests pairing bitter foods with a wine that has astringency (tannin) and acidity.

Umami: Soy sauce is rich in umami flavour - and is fantastic paired with Sake - but we most often associate the savoury, meaty taste of umami in foods such as mushrooms, anchovies and aged Parmesan cheese. These flavours are a great match to oxidised wines, like Oloroso sherry and the Fat: Pair fatty foods with wines that have good acidity or tannin and which will cut through the fat. Examples of this are fried chicken with Champagne, and pork belly with young, fruity Pinot Noir.

Helen McGinn, author of The Knackered Mother’s Wine Guide and regular wine host on Saturday Kitchen, suggests paying attention to the weight of a dish too, “and try to match that with a wine of similar weight of flavour”. These guidelines are written to lead you to discovering pairings that are interesting, delicious and maybe they’ll even open up new taste sensations for you. Of course, there will be disappointments. One that always sticks in my memory is an off-dry Riesling (from a favourite producer of mine) with Chinese food. All the rules hint that this pairing would be a match made in heaven, but the food completely changed the taste of the wine. Luke Harbor, Head Sommelier at THE PIG Hotels explains it so brilliantly; “[food and wine pairings] strike a chord with powerful emotion and leave a tattooed memory. At worst, well nothing too serious will happen to wine or dish, it may just leave a sense of dissatisfaction”.

When asked what surprised her

about food and wine pairings when she first joined Saturday Kitchen, Helen explains; “I cook the recipes on the show during the week to get the matches right and often the one I think is a shoo-in isn’t necessarily the winner. I kind of love it when that happens, to be honest”. And herein lies the discovery and pure joy.

A simpler rule of thumb, and one relished by food and wine lovers the world over is the idea of what grows together goes together. I’ve had many triumphs with this notion, and I find it’s the easiest way to start your journey into matching food and wine. Fancy Italian? Pair pork ragù with Chianti Classico. France: goats’ cheese with Sancerre. Spain: Manchego cheese with Manzanilla sherry.

“Cheese is a fabulous food with which to explore both food and drink pairings” explains Clare Jackson of Slate (Cheese & Provisions). “These will broadly fall into two categories: those with matching flavour profiles where creamy, buttery flavours complement those qualities of cheese. Then there are contrasting choices that cut through the creaminess with a hint of acidity or effervescent texture.” I have been collaborating with Slate on cheese and wine pairings the last two years and I’ve discovered some fantastic, and unexpected, pairings. A favourite being Caws Teifi Traditional Welsh Caerphilly baked in a leek gratin and paired with Flint Vineyard Bacchus.

But whilst I love exploring food and wine pairings, I couldn’t agree more with Luke Harbor’s sentiment: “don’t become bogged down by the food and wine pairing gospel and use a takeaway as an excuse to open something special”. Just so you’re clear, that takeaway should definitely include fried food and that special bottle should be sparkling wine. Fish and chips with Champagne is a real treat. (I’ve also enjoyed a chippy tea with Crémant, Cava and English sparkling wine.) Fried chicken with fizz is equally excellent - KFC and Moët & Chandon have famously been served at more than one international awards show. Whilst caramel flavoured popcorn and Ruinart Brut NV is the ultimate movie snack.

If cooking’s not your thing or you feel bewildered by the range of wines on sale, I asked Helen McGinn for her recommendations on which chefs and restaurants have done the work for us by pairing food and wine together; “So many [chefs] love their wine as much as their food. Ollie Dabbous suggested white vermouth with his mussel and monkfish bourride recently and it was a sensation. Also, Theo Randall’s restaurant at the Intercontinental Hotel in London has an incredible seasonal menu with a different wine

matched with each dish. Amazing food and such good value!”.

Whether you’re cooking, dining out or eating a takeaway on the sofa there is a wine to match the food and the occasion - and once you’ve decided on that initial step, you’re half way there to creating a food and wine pairing.

What the experts are pairing:

Helen McGinn, Knackered Mother’s Wine Club: Unoaked Chardonnay with an omelette, and “champagne and gougères. That’s actually my desert island dish”.

Katrina Smith, Founder of Tipper Talk: Dry, traditional method sparkling wine with sushi.

Chris Haywood, Head Winemaker at Astley Vineyard: Astley Vineyard Kerner with a vegetarian dish of mushrooms and cauliflower, and Astley Vineyard Bacchus with asparagus.

Luke Harbor, Head Sommelier at THE PIG Hotels: 2012 Geoff Merrill Reserve Shiraz with turbot, and Egon Muller Scharzhofberger Alte Reben, Kabinett, 2015 with salt crusted beetroot and Oscietre Caviar cream. Clare Jackson, Owner of Slate: Chapel Down Chardonnay with Waterloo, and (for a non-alcoholic option) LA Brewery Lemongrass Kombucha with Cornish Yarg.

—— The Knackered Mother’s Wine Guide by Helen McGinn is out now (£8.99), plus find fantastic wine recommendations for every occasion at: www. knackeredmotherswineclub.com.

SUNDAY IN BROOKLYN

By Eve Tudor

Me: I want pancakes!!! Mate: That sounds intense. Me: They are, and they are happening. Mate: I don’t think I can eat that. Can I have a healthy option? Me: Hahaha sure. You have what you want. I’ll be ordering two.

And so I did. And he ate his healthy option and then one of my pancakes as well!! This happened because I knew. I knew just from the look of these pancakes on social media that this place was special, that they know what they are doing! And so did I. And I got right in there.

Kicking off with the true gentlemen of coffee, The Gentlemen Baristas, and a flat white to wake up my mind and my stomach, as it had gone into shock waiting for 10 o’clock for its brunch (no breakfast was going to ruin this for me!!!).

The nicest waiter brought our coffee and I chatted with my friend as we sipped the hot goodness in the beautiful restaurant, full of natural light and plants. Our breakfast arrived and admittedly I took a few photos first before we dived in as quickly as we could. It all looked so scrumptious.

My friend was having a healthy breakfast, of eggs, avocado, sausage, bacon and their classic signature potatoes. I had, as you will know, the amazing double stack of pancakes. Yes, my eyes were far bigger than my stomach and no, I did not eat it all. But as predicted I didn’t have

to and I had indeed ordered the correct amount for ‘the table’. This admittedly was to my delight and his initial disgust in himself that ended in not caring one bit as they tasted so damn good. One bite was all it took for us both to roll our eyes into sweet heaven.

Their soft fluffiness and sweet hazelnutty, chocolatey, caramelly goodness were an absolute delight. This is how you know what pure joy tastes like. It tastes like these pancakes! And I feel good about that statement being true. When I’m right about a place I’m right.

A couple more coffees and some time just relaxing and chatting with my friend made it the perfect brunch. Honestly, Mondays never tasted so good and as much as I know you can have a great meeting there, yeah, I loved that chat over coffee, with no rush to go anywhere and time to enjoy my food, the ambience and of course, my friend’s company.

www.sundayinbk.co.uk

DISHOOM AT HOME

By Eve Tudor

Having bought the book during lockdown I’ve been waiting to go to Dishoom for dinner. But as that table is most definitely booked, I thought why not, in the spirit of the breakfast issue, order their now infamous breakfast box to get my taste buds going for my imminent dinner.

Now this is a bacon butty box with a difference. It comes with dough balls for naan bread and really simple instructions on how to cook them. It also comes with an extra one as let’s face it 99.9% of us are going to screw up at least one!

Once you have cooked your bacon and got your head around your naan you can assemble your breakfast. It’s a simple recipe of naan half covered in cream cheese, to which you then add your bacon, an egg (if you like,) their signature chilli sauce and some coriander. Fold your naan over and there you have it. The Dishoom Breakfast Sandwich!

Sounds simple? It is. But it’s also a flavour combination that I’ve not tried before if I’m honest. Altogether it’s just delicious. I sat at home all comfy and happy having made naan for the first time and I ate it fresh and warm, filled with the perfect team of bacon, cheese and chilli sauce. It was perfect.

Also, it wasn’t expensive, it was really well priced, and I ordered the one with the breakfast cocktail (obviously) - a lovely Mimosa - and it was just a really wonderful morning! Why didn’t I get this before? I’m definitely going to order this again. Soon.

www.dishoom.com