Sticky chicken ‘tulips’ with vintage Sercial madeira

It’s not often you get eight pairings in a single session, any one of which could have been a match of the week which makes this week’s choice particularly difficult but I’m going for a combination that surprised me as much as, I suspect, it will amaze you.

It was one of the mini courses in a tasting to launch a spectacular new book on food and wine pairing - Wine and Food: the perfect Match from Master Sommelier Ronan Sayburn and chef Marcus Verbene of the wine-themed members club 67 Pall Mall.

I’ll post the rest when I have a moment.

I would certainly never have thought of pairing chicken with madeira but neither was in the slightest way ordinary. The chicken ‘tulips’ (basically chicken wings turned inside out) were coated in a sticky glaze flavoured with smoky bacon, prunes, cinnamon and star anise and sprinkled with honey-roasted pecans to which the wine, a 1989 D’Oliveiras Sercial was the perfect nutty, smoky counterpoint with madeira’s typical acidity cutting through the richness and sweetness of the glaze (which also includes madeira but a more humble one).

At 67 Pall Mall it’s served as a bar snack or ‘pre-dinner nibble’ and theoretically serves four* but I would treat yourself and a madeira-loving pal to a whole pile of them at home!

*the recipe is in the book.

I attended the event as a guest of 67 Pall Mall.

Three surprisingly good pairings for sparkling wine

Last week I had three dishes that went unexpectedly well with sparkling wine - for slightly different reasons:

The first was a food and wine pairing exercise at Denbies Vineyard Hotel in Surrey where they paired their Cubitt blanc de noirs with baguette and Marmite butter which I can strongly recommend to Marmite addicts. Why did it work? The combination of the umami in the Marmite and the toasty fizz (which came from the 2013 vintage).

Then I had the most incredible dish of macaroni cacio e pepe (a cheese and pepper sauce) with deep-fried crispy chicken wings at Wild Honey St James. This was perhaps more predictable match as deep-fried foods generally go with fizz but the cheese added an extra dimension too. The wine was another English fizz - the Westwell Estate Pelegrin Brut.

And finally - this was an exceptionally good week, wasn’t it? - a cheese course at a game dinner at the Pony & Trap in Chew Magna which was essentially a giant gougère stuffed with Baron Bigod, a British Brie-type cheese with gooseberry purée and walnuts with an Etienne Fort Crémant de Limoux from Vinetrail who supplied the wines and devised the pairings. This was really quite bold as we’d just been drinking a substantial Rhône red - the Fréderic Agneray Mitan with the main course of pigeon. It was the pastry of the gougère - also crisp and cheesy - that made the match sing.

Champagne would, of course, have worked equally well with these dishes.

I ate as a guest of Denbies Vineyard Hotel and the Pony & Trap. Wild Honey St James gave me a complimentary glass of the Westwell though I paid for the rest of the meal.

Smoking Goat ‘fish sauce wings’ and Peter Lauer 'Fass 16' Saar riesling

It’s well established that riesling is a good match for spicy food but you don’t often get as good a pairing as the new Soho bar Smoking Goat’s already fabled ‘fish sauce wings’ and Peter Lauer’s 2013 ‘Fass 16’ Saar riesling..

If it’s not on your radar, Smoking Goat is one of London’s hottest restaurants right now serving ‘Thai barbecue’, cocktails and some surprisingly good wines thanks to the restaurant’s wine consultant (and occasional contributor to matchingfoodandwine.com), Zeren Wilson (aka @bittenwritten).

Although the riesling was light (only 11.5%) and comparatively (for German wine) dry it took the sticky, chilli-spiked wings totally in its stride, providing the perfect refreshing contrast to the crunchy, sticky meat.

We’d managed to polish it off by the time we got to the equally fêted duck legs which were slow-roasted, confit-style with galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime and went surprisingly well with a 2012 Cote de Puy Morgon from Jean Foillard. (You’d expect duck to work but not duck that spicy). And with an elegant Vespaiolo (yes, it was *quite* a boozy evening.)

It underlines how one shouldn’t be too timid about hot food or feel it’s only suitable for cheap wines. A well-chosen wine can take it to another level.

Picture courtesy and copyright of the lovely Paul Winch-Furness who was in the bar when we arrived and still partying when we left ;-)

Ribs, bourbon and picklebacks

It’s not often these days that I hit on a totally new discovery but this combination at the newly opened Pitt Cue Co, a southern American-style ribshack is the business.

They do amazing beef ribs slathered with a sticky, smokey but not oversweet marinade and serve it with homemade pickles. Quite a challenging combination for any wine to cope with but spot on with a pickleback - a shot of bourbon served with a sweet and sour chaser of home-made pickle juice. It’s also great with the St Louis ribs - and, I almost forgot, the smoked hot wings. The wings are awesome.

Even better it’s only £4. (The ribs are a very reasonable £9.50)

The downside? Pitt Cue, which is in Newburgh Street which runs parallel to Carnaby Street, is a tiny 30 seater which doesn’t take bookings. Still, worth it to taste some of the best, if not the best barbecued food in London. If you can’t face the queue to sit down they do pulled pork buns to takeaway.