Some great food pairings for tequila

Despite the recent increase in interest in Mexican street food like tacos consumers in the UK still have to take to tequila (maybe because they’re too busy drinking gin) but in fact it’s an attractive and versatile spirit to pair with food

The style you’re most likely to come across is silver tequila, the type that’s most often used in a margarita, but you may also come across reposado tequilas which are aged in wood and anejo, older tequilas which are ideal for after-dinner drinking. (Think of them like rum: Silver is like white rum with a herbal twist, reposado like a golden rum and anejo like an aged sipping rum).

Obviously the natural starting point is Mexican food but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t drink tequila with other cuisines such as Latin American, Caribbean and newly fashionable African.

Here are the type of dishes that I think work best

Tacos
The street food of 2017, especially fish tacos which with a white or silver tequila. Try a reposado if you’re eating meatier tacos like pork

Raw fish
Particularly ceviche and punchily seasoned fish tartares but there's no reason why you shouldn’t try a silver tequila with sushi or sashimi

Grilled seafood like squid or prawns
Especially with garlic or a touch of chilli. Silver, again

A wide range of vegetables especially asparagus, green peppers and tomatillos (silver) and corn (reposado) Also avocado which of course is technically a fruit but counts as a veg in my book - guacamole being the obvious option

Recipes with fresh herbs especially coriander
Again this appears regularly in Mexican food but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t sip a silver tequila with Indian street food like samosas or puris and green chutney. It should go with middle eastern grills and salads too.

Recipes with citrus especially lime and orange
Citrus works particularly well with the flavour of agave (the plant from which tequila is made)

Pork
Pulled, grilled, served with corn (like posole) - all good with a reposado. Think also empanadas with a pork filling

Steak
You can partner a good steak or burger with a reposado or an anejo. Even fajitas though I probably wouldnt drink anything tooo fancy with them.

Chocolate
Like most aged spirits anejo tequila goes well with dark chocolate - or even milk chocolate if it’s Mexican which has a particularly delicious fudgy texture.

There's a useful longer article on pairing food with tequila here.

Six of the best drinks to pair with tacos

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6 things you need to think about when pairing wine and vegetarian food

If you think it’s difficult to pair wine and vegetarian food, think again. It’s no trickier than it is for those who eat meat or fish.

True, vegetarian dishes tend to include more ingredients than a simple steak or piece of fish but if you focus on the style of the dish and the way it’s cooked it’s not hard to come up with a delicious wine match.

Here are six things to think about:

How the food is cooked

Is the dish a light dish like a salad or a hot dish like a casserole. The former will call for a lighter wine (generally a crisp dry white or rosé) than the latter which is more likely to go with a medium to full-bodied red. Fried foods like fritters always pair well with sparkling wine.

Which wine pairs best with salad

Does one vegetable e.g. mushrooms or asparagus dominate?

If so match that ingredient. Mushroom dishes for example generally work well with pinot noir, butternut squash with a rich white like a chardonnay and asparagus - contrary to the general wisdom - with all kinds of different wines.

Which wines and beers pair best with mushrooms

Top wine pairings with asparagus

Does it contain a meat substitute?

Veggie sausages and burgers or soy mince behave very much like their equivalent meat-based versions with wine so check the website for recipes and ingredients like sausages or spaghetti bolognese.

Top wine matches for sausages

6 of the best matches for spaghetti bolognese

Does it come from a particular country or region e.g. Italy or the middle-east

In which case match the wine to that style of food - a southern Italian red works well with baked pasta dishes such as lasagne for example and a crisp dry white or rosé with mezze

What to drink with lasagne

Lebanese mezze and Côtes de Provence rosé

Is the dish spicy?

Spicy food tends to benefit from wines with a touch of sweetness like riesling and pinot gris. Full bodied fruity rosés also work well. But remember there are different kinds of spice - a zesty Thai green curry pairs better with an aromatic white like pinot gris or a punchy New Zealand sauvignon blanc while a rich aubergine curry would work better with a red.

What wine to drink with curry: my top 5 picks

Are pulses involved?

If so, good news! As they’d tell you in Tuscany pulses like beans and chickpeas are an excellent foil for a fine red wine like a good Chianti Classico or Brunello di Montalcino.

The best wine pairings with beans

The only other thing that need concern you is whether the wine is suitable for vegetarians i.e. whether any animal products are used in the fining process. Most supermarket own brand wines will give this information on the back label otherwise you’ll need to check with the producer or shop you buy from.

For more insights and ideas see this post I wrote for Decanter on which wines to drink with vegetarian food

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Food pairings for wheat beer I: witbiers (bières blanches) and lighter wheat beers

Wheat beers are fabulously flexible when it comes to food matching - the beer world’s equivalent of a crisp white wine.

There are two main styles - the cloudy, citrussy, aromatic Belgian-style witbier (aka bière blanche) and the richer banana-and-clove flavours of German hefeweizen which you can read about here.

In between are a range of wheat beers from different sources which fall somewhere between the two but are basically suited, like witbier, to salads, seafood and dishes flavoured with citrus and herbs

Matches for Northern French and Belgian style witbiers:

Seafood such as crab, mussels, oysters and clams - witbier is great for a beery version of moules marinières

Simply prepared fish like fried or grilled sole or plaice

Fish cakes

Smoked salmon or trout

Dim sum and other light Chinese dishes such as stir fries

Sushi

Raw fish such as ceviche and tartares

Fried fish like fish and chips, calamari or whitebait

Seafood pastas and noodles like crab linguine with chilli and coriander or pad thai

Seafood and light vegetable risottos

White pizza or seafood-topped pizza

Spring vegetables such as peas, beans and asparagus - as you can see from this article

Light fresh cheeses such as young goat cheese, sheep cheese and feta. Beer and food matching guru Garret Oliver recommends an omelette with sharp apple and goats cheese

Salads, especially mozzarella basil and tomato salad, Greek salad and caesar salad

Brunch dishes

Potjevleesch - a chunky jellied terrine of pork, chicken and rabbit you find in north-east France

Lighter Thai and Mexican dishes flavoured with citrus and herbs

Thai green curries

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Which food to pair with South African chenin blanc

You might think it odd to pick out South African Chenin rather than Chenin Blanc in general but I do think the wines are distinctive, particularly when it comes to the crisper styles which are much zestier than they tend to be in the Loire

It struck me while I was there that food matching with Chenin is quite easy to explain. Treat young, fresh unoaked styles like Sauvignon Blanc - in other words think about seafood and salads and richer, fuller styles in the same way as white burgundy or Viognier.

Here are some suggestions - some of which will, of course, apply to other Chenin Blancs.

Fresh crisp young zesty Chenin Blanc

All kinds of fresh seafood including crab, prawns and, most particularly, oysters

Seafood tartares like tuna tartare or salmon and avocado tartare

In fact, avocado generally

Smoked salmon or trout

Fish and chips

Salt and pepper squid

Fish patés

Sushi

Spring vegetables like asparagus and peas (see this pairing with asparagus mousse at Rust-en-Vrede)

Salads, especially chicken, cheese or ham salads or ones containing apples or pears. Chenin Blanc can handle an element of fruit

Light seafood pasta dishes and risottos

Goats cheese

Medium bodied smooth or old vine Chenin Blanc (made more in the style of an unoaked Chardonnay or a Pinot Blanc) will work with many of the dishes above but also:

Scallops (wonderful with Chenin)

Simply cooked fish dishes

Fishcakes

Cooked egg dishes like quiches, frittatas and omelettes

Onion tart

Mild cheeses like Caerphilly and white-rinded cheeses like Brie so long as they're not too ripe.

Richer, fuller styles more similar to an oaked chardonnay or Viognier:

Almost anything with a creamy sauce - a good fish pie, for example or chicken with a cream and mushroom sauce.

Richer fish dishes such as salmon en croute

Scallops (again)

Lobster

Roast chicken

Roast pork belly, especially with apple sauce

Roast root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips and sweet potatoes

Roast butternut squash

Medium-dry chenins with a touch of sweetness

Can handle spicy food particularly those containing some kind of fruit such as Cape Malay or other mild, fruity curries

Southeast Asian-inspired salads

Gravadlax - Chenin is one of the few wines that can handle that devilishly difficult sweet mustard sauce

Sweet chenin

Always wonderful with apple or pear tarts

Peach and apricot-flavoured desserts like a peach and blueberry cobbler

And try with cheese served with a fruit compote like this white cheddar and spiced apricot compote

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Do you have any favourite pairings for Chenin I've missed out?