Fried red gurnard and chips and Devon red cider

It was a bumper week for food pairings last week a number of which I’ll be flagging up elsewhere on the site and my Facebook page but I’ve gone for this very straightforward combination because its so simple to replicate at home

It was served at Mitch Tonks’ Rockfish seafood restaurant in Dartmouth this weekend where I was down for the food festival. Red gurnard isn’t normally a fish you find fried - it’s more commonly used in a Provençal-style fish soup or stew but this was obviously super fresh.

The cider, which I didn’t know either, is made by Sandford Orchards near Crediton and is incredibly refreshing and fruity - just on the dry side of medium dry. You can buy it from their farm, online and from various local stockists.

It worked so well, I think, because the sweetness of the fish mirrored the slight sweetness of the cider. Or maybe it was the dash of Padsters Lemon Vinegar - another find.

Perfect Friday night drinking anyway!

Click here for other good fish and chip matches.

Cider and Camembert

I know we always think in terms of wine and cheese but sometimes other drinks can be just as good, if not better. Like this week’s pairing of medium-dry cidre traditionnel and Camembert I came across at a simple roadside restaurant just north of Domfront in Normandy.

You could tell it was worth stopping by the number of cars that were lined up outside and the fact that the local postman and dustmen had come in for their lunch.

It was nothing remarkable - just honest, home-cooked food - a plate of salade de museau and céléri rémoulade, hachis parmentier and salad and a generous selection of cheese and fresh fruit with cider thrown in - all for the amazingly cheap price of 11 euros (just over $13 or £8.50)

Camembert is the local cheese in that part of the world and cider the local drink* so it was an obvious ‘terroir’ based match but none the worse for that. It was also excellent with the museau (a kind of sausage made out of pig's snout or muzzle. Nicer than it sounds.)

It’s easy to forget if you live outside an area that produces cider what a good - and incredibly inexpensive - match it is for all kinds of food. Much better to drink good cider than bad wine!

*This one came from Chais Briouzains in Briouze

Mackerel pasty and Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs 2006

This actually wasn't the dish with which I drank this brilliant new sparkling wine at Rocksalt in Folkestone last week - I'd unfortunately finished my glass by then - but it would certainly have been a knockout wine pairing.

You can see my full account of the meal on my Food & Wine Finds blog here. The mackerel pasty - a combination of mackerel and pork sausage meat - might sound weird but was surprisingly light, savoury and absolutely delicious.

By then we'd moved on to a carafe of Birgit Eichinger Hasel Grüner Veltliner but to tell the truth the Gusbourne, a new sparkling wine which comes from a vineyard just five miles away from the restaurant in Kent, would have been a better match. (Fizz is generally a good call with pastry and fish.)

It was an interesting wine - softer and richer than a comparable Champagne. It won a silver medal in this year's IWSC competition - a considerable coup from a new wine producer. You can buy it direct off their website for £24.99 a bottle.

Other good matches would have been a best bitter or a medium dry cider. Or even a perry.