Spicy beef and Barbera d'Asti

Barbera wouldn’t have been the wine I’d have generally turned to with a beef dish that came accompanied by a spicy Thai relish but it worked surprisingly well.

The dish, you might be suprised to learn, was not in Shoreditch or Hackney but at a pub called The Black Bull in a picturesque small town called Sedbergh on the edge of the Lake district and the Yorkshire dales.

The kitchen is run by Nina Matsunaga who was born to Japanese parents but brings influences from all over Asia into her cooking. Intriguingly much of this is based on local native cattle breeds

The beef in this dish was Hereford beef sirloin from Howgill and had a rich flavour of its own but came with a spicy nam prik noom, a roasted green chilli dip from northern Thailand.

Nina's husband James, who is responsible for the really excellent wine list, suggested a vivid, juicy 2018 Barbera d’Asti called Bandita* from a natural Piedmontese producer called Cascina Tavijn. It was absolutely delicious - great with the beef and able to stand up to the spicy relish (though Nina had cleverly offset that with soy beans which did a similar job to rice in mitigating the heat.

Unfortunately it seems to be sold out in the UK but you could try a similar unoaked barbera or an orange wine which I think would also work well.

For other barbera matches see Top food pairings with barbera

I ate at the restaurant as a guest of the Black Bull.

Miso and malt whisky

I’ve been away in Scotland for a couple of weeks and seem to been drinking more beer and whisky than wine but the standout pairing was with an innovative dish at The Macallan distillery of fermented barley with a confit egg yolk and caramelised yeast which was like a savoury marmitey risotto. (Much tastier than it looks in my particularly rubbish photo).

It was paired with a Broglia Gavi di Gavi which was a perfectly good combination but I had a hunch it would work with the Macallan 12 y o and got them to bring along a dram. It really did which makes sense really when you think that whisky is made from malted barley too. And if fermented barley why not any dish with miso? I’m sure that would work too.

Maybe the Macallan is particularly well suited to the pairing because of its rich sherried style and viscosity but it's definitely an idea worth playing with.

Other good pairings while I’ve been away were the 2011 Vina Tondonia Rioja rosado gran reserva with grilled lobster at Hawksmoor in Edinburgh (a pre-birthday treat from my son, Will) and a crisp fruity Austrian Funkstille riesling with a smoked fish platter at a nice little wine bar called the Giddy Gannet in St Monans in Fife. (Dry riesling works really well with smoked fish)

I ate at the Macallan as a guest of the distillery as part of The Mastery Experience .

Spanish ham and orange wine

There were other dishes on the table* - but it was the jamon de Teruel, a lesser known ham from Aragon in Spain, that was the standout pairing with the orange wine I was drinking last week.

It came from a company called Oranj which operates a subscription scheme curated by different sommeliers and restaurateurs who choose the wines that go into the monthly selection. It has the rather splendid name of Dinamo Nucleo X, comes from Umbria and, as you can see, has a glorious amber colour and an appealingly soft apricot and quince-like character which made it good introduction to orange wine. It's also only 11%.

It doesn’t seem to be available currently from Oranj (a good reason for subscribing) but you can buy the 2019 from Natural Born Wine though it might not be as charmingly fresh and fruity. (It comes in litre bottles).

You could try other orange wines too, obviously. I also liked the 2021 Airene from Vinos Ambiz I also bought from Oranj which is sadly out of stock now too. (You do need to subscribe to take advantage of the more interesting wines they get in)

I think it’s the slight saltiness and umami in Spanish ham that made the combination sing. The iberico ham above would also work brilliantly. For other great pairings with orange wine click here.

*we also had a punchy potato salad with a gribiche (egg, cornichon and caper) dressing and a tomato and green bean salad

Top image by Aves y estrellas at shutterstock.com

Peaches, burrata and white vermouth

I knew that peaches and burrata were a perfect pairing but what to drink with them?

I happened to have a glass of Cocchi’s Extra Dry white vermouth to hand which I hadn’t really expected to work - vermouth is generally the sort of drink you sip before a meal rather than with one - but it was utterly delicious.

Although it states on the label it’s ‘extra dry’ it’s actually not. Not quite a bianco but definitely fruity - like a charentais melon with a citrus twist. I suspect the basil also enhanced the subtle herbal notes of the drink - it's definitely a modern and very accessible take on vermouth.

I just drank it over ice though you could have made it a longer drink with a light tonic or soda

I think the dish would also go with a rich aromatic sauvignon blanc, with a southern Italian white such as a Greco di Tufo or, as here, with a Cape White blend

Lovely and summery anyway.