Top pairings
What food to pair with coffee
For many people coffee is a regular companion to food whether it’s breakfast or that great German institution of kaffee und kuchen (coffee and cake) - only the amount of caffeine they might consume holding them back.
But apart from the time of day there are specific ingredients and dishes that make great coffee pairings
Coffee of course comes in many guises from a flat white to a double espresso to a delicate single origin filter coffee. In general I’d say milky coffees such as cappuccinos and lattes lend themselves better to sweet foods and darker more intense coffees such as espressos and black americanos to savoury ones but it is of course a question of taste and how you like your coffee. (I generally like mine black)
Here’s a general round-up, some of which may be familiar to you, some not.
Sweet coffee pairings
Almost any kind of chocolate bars, cake or cookies, especially brownies and chocolate chip cookies.
Coffee-flavoured cakes and desserts such as this Austrian coffee cake, espresso and hazelnut cake and Turkish coffee cake.
Tiramisu (with black coffee, I’d say)
Nut-flavoured cakes and desserts - especially hazelnut and walnut cakes, biscotti, almost anything with Nutella, walnut or pecan pie.
Ice cream - in fact to pour espresso coffee over vanilla ice cream is a recognised dish called affogato
French-style breakfast pastries such as croissants and pain au chocolat
Cinnamon buns (in fact cinnamon generally as you can see from this post
Doughnuts and beignets (see these doughnuts with hot chocolate sauce)
Waffles
Toast and marmalade
Banana bread
Cheesecake especially ones with caramel or nut toppings
Savoury coffee pairings
Bacon, in practically all its guises - in a fry up, in a sandwich, in a roll
Smoked salmon bagels
Cheese - especially sliceable Swiss, German and Scandinavian-style cheeses or Dutch Leerdammer
Rich fatty triple cream cheeses
Coffee-rubbed cheese such as Barely Buzzed from Utah
Cheese toasties/grilled cheese
Cured meats such as salt beef and frankfurter sausages (so hot dogs)
Coffee-rubbed ribs and steak
Chilli con carne
Burgers
Coffee is also often consumed with spirits such as brandy (especially cognac) and grappa
The best food pairings for orange wines
More and more people have been drinking orange or amber wine but what’s the best kind of food to pair with it? In this post, I’ll guide you through the best food pairings for orange wines, drawn from my own experiences and tastings.
What is Orange Wine?
Orange wines, as you may know, are made from grapes that normally produce white wine but get their distinctive colour from leaving the juice in contact with the skins in the same way you do with a red. The flavour depends mainly on how aromatic the grape variety is in the first place (pinot gris and malvasia both make a fragrant style of orange wine, for example) and how long the juice remains in contact with the skins: the longer the darker, more tannic and more intense it will be.
There’s often a flavour of quince about an orange wine which to me makes them a natural match for eastern Mediterranean and middle-eastern, especially Georgian, food. (Many of them are, of course, produced in Georgia.)
Here are the ingredients and types of dishes I think pair with orange wine best - many of which often appear in conjunction with each other.
Foods that pair well with orange wines
Lamb
The number one meat with orange wine. Spicy slow-cooked shoulder, kebabs, lamb (and mutton) tagines and biryanis. Goat runs it a close second. Even better if it’s combined with one of the ingredients below.
Aubergine
Think roast aubergine, grilled aubergine, any kind of smoky aubergine like baba ghanoush. Especially in combination
with . . .
Walnuts which really need a category of their own though this aubergine and walnut dish may be the perfect orange wine pairing
Tahini
Another ingredient that is often combined with lamb as in these amazing koftas from Sami Tamimi’s latest book Falastin. And hummus obviously
More savoury than fishy and deeply umami and on those grounds perfect with orange wine.
Roast and/or caramelised veg
Especially root vegetables like Jerusalem artichokes and celeriac. Also think of serving orange wine with a whole roast cauliflower or with caramelised endives
Nutty grains like farro, freekeh and bulgar (cracked wheat). It’s good with whole-wheat couscous too.
Hard - and semi-hard - sheeps cheese
So good with manchego and similar hard sheep cheeses but also with grilled halloumi and a salty sheep cheese like feta.
See also this account of an orange wine dinner from sommelier Donald Edwards.
RSS
Most popular
.jpg)
9 great wine pairings for duck (updated)
My latest book
How to Drink without DrinkingNews and views
.jpg)
Fine Wine and Fast Food
About Fiona
About Matching Food & Wine
Work with me
