Duck and rum

OK, this sounds like THE most unlikely pairing but bear with, as they say …

For a start the occasion was a spirits and cocktail lunch hosted by The Whisky Exchange where we were drinking their spirits of the year which included Four Square’s sumptuously rich Doorley’s 14 year old rum from Barbados. The kind of drink, you’d think, that you’d pair with chocolate or a dessert like the Dulce de Leche fondant pudding they were also serving at Sucre (which is where the lunch took place)

But TWE’s Dawn Davies who was sitting next to me reckoned it went really well with the duck and because she used to be a somm I had to try the two. And indeed it did, not least because it was accompanied by two sweet elements, chestnuts and roast pumpkin. You’d need to be a bit measured about it as it’s a hefty 48% but it wears its alcohol lightly

It made me think that if it dark rum worked with that dish it would also go brilliantly with a glazed Christmas ham. Worth a try anyway!

See also:

9 fine wine matches for duck

The best pairings for rum and rum-based cocktails

I attended the lunch as a guest of The Whisky Exchange.

Radicchio, pickled pear and blue cheese salad and Le Bistro Montmija white

This crisp white wasn’t chosen as an exact match more like a wine I thought would run along with everyone’s starters when we went out to lunch at The Bull in Totnes last week

But I chose it as match of the week to illustrate that you don’t necessarily need to drink port or a sweet wine with blue cheese. The dish was a fresh-tasting salad of radicchio, pickled pears, walnuts and Beenleigh Blue (a local sheep cheese) in which the cheese was offset by the slight bitterness of the radicchio and sharpness of the pickled pears.

It needed an equally fresh fruity white and it got it in this inexpensive organic Languedoc wine which is a blend of grenache blanc, marsanne and sauvignon blanc.

You can buy it online from Vintage Roots for £8.99 and it would make a great party wine. (I like the red, which is a little soft, slightly less)

Tarte Tatin and Pineau des Charentes

I had some great food and wine matches in Dublin last week but most were predictably good (albarino and seafood, Ribera del Duero and lamb …) so I’m going for this combination from the menu at a brilliant little restaurant called Mae.

The list is drawn from the wine shop below, The French Paradox, which as the name suggests, specialises in French wines. They work closely with the restaurant on the pairings and this was the unexpected finale to the meal.

The tarte tatin was in fact cooked with Calvados which would have been a logical match but the slightly lighter (17%) Merlet Pineau des Charentes from Chateau Chevessac added a contrasting almost vanilla-y sweetness and richness that worked really well. (Pineau des Charentes is a blend of grape juice and cognac which is aged in oak.)

The Good Wine Shop normally seems to have the Merlet though it’s currently out of stock. I reckon a Pommeau from Normandy would work pretty well too.

For other pairings with apples see The best pairings for apple desserts

Savigny-Les-Beaune and Chicken and Cep Pie

Finding something suitable to drink with a good red burgundy is a bit of a challenge as so many dishes are highly flavoured these days.

So - confession time - I made the rookie error of making an elaborate side dish (the herby cabbage and potato gratin) from the new Ottolenghi OTK book because I was afraid the pie which I’d ordered from the Marksman menu on Dishpatch wouldn’t be enough for three.

Had I had more confidence in the generosity of their portions and gone for the simpler accompaniment of mash and perhaps some buttered sprout tops it would have been the perfect match with the delicate, pretty Domaine Seguin-Manuel Savigny-les-Beaune ‘Godeaux’ 2018 I served with it. As it was the wine which was still quite youthful took a bit of a hammering from the herbs, garlic (2 heads of it, albeit roasted) and lemon in the gratin, a dish that probably would have been better with a sharp white, maybe even a Chablis.

You can buy the wine, which I was sent as a sample from Haynes Hanson & Clark for £29 (or £25.75 if you buy a full case) but would suggest it would benefit from a further year or two in your cellar - or wherever you store your wine.

Anyway I don’t hesitate to recommend the Marksman’s Chicken and Cep pie to you, with or without burgundy. It’s utterly delicious.

I paid for the pie. The wine was a press sample.

For other good red burgundy pairings see The Best Pairings with Red Burgundy