Top food pairings for cider (updated)

Cider has been going through the same quality revolution as beer did a few years ago. In the last 12 months I’ve tasted more interesting ciders than I have in the last 12 years.

So it’s a shame we don’t take it more seriously as a partner for food especially as many are now bottled in handsome-looking full-sized bottles.

There are many different styles, obviously, but here are the type of foods I think pair best with cider and some avenues that I think might be worth exploring:

Creamy or cider-based sauces

This is cider’s natural territory and the most useful type of dish to think to think in terms of (rather than focussing on chicken, pork or seafood which can be prepared in so many different ways). The sort of sauces you find in Normandy which, of course is cider’s heartland.

Think also of chicken casseroles or pies cooked with cider and sausages with cider (any dish cooked with onion and apples is an obvious match. Try this West Country Chicken Casserole with cider, apple and celery).

Creamy pasta bakes

Same reasoning as the above

Quiche

Especially quiche lorraine and leek quiche

Creamy vegetable or chicken soups - onion, mushroom, celery, fennel, leek . . .

Creamy risottos with similar flavourings

Ham and other cold cuts

Hot or cold. Cider is a good partner for boiled or roast gammon (and can also be used in the cooking liquid) and lovely with fat chunks of ham cut off the bone. It’s also good with other pork-based products like patés, terrines and rillettes (without too much garlic) and brawn or jambon persillé, Melton Mowbray (and other) pork pies and Scotch eggs.

Salads

Particularly those based on chicken, ham or cheese with a light creamy dressing or with apple as an ingredient though this smoked mackerel salad with pickled cucumber (below) was a winner with a traditional Spanish ‘ancestral’ cider.

Salmon

Try a dry cider with smoked or cured salmon like this dish with pickled apple and a dill emulsion I had in Norway last year. 

Brittany/Normandy style savoury crèpes

A terroir-based match. I particularly like buckwheat pancakes filled with ham or spinach and cheese and a Normandy cidre bouché (literally cider with a cork or sparkling cider)

Roast pork, especially with apples

Roast pork belly is great with cider. Especially with black pudding. Roast chicken too as you can see from this pairing.

Cheese

A great area to explore. Camembert and Camembert-style cheeses are the outstanding pairings but Cheddar and other English territorial cheeses such as Cheshire and Caerphilly, semi-hard cheeses like Gruyère, Beaufort and Appenzeller are all good. Pick a drier, lighter cider with goats’ cheese and a slightly sweeter one with washed rind cheeses like Pont L’Eveque and Stinking Bishop (neither of which should be too far gone) or a mellow, creamy blue like Barkham Blue. Cooked dishes like cauliflower cheese work with cider too.

More speculative matches

Pheasant and other feathered game

This is more speculative territory but I have a feeling more rustic, dry unfiltered ciders would go with dishes like pot roast pheasant with apples in much the same way as a gueuze. It works with a pheasant terrine as you can see from this Match of the Week so why not?

Mild curries

You could also try a medium dry cider with spicy Indian snacks or with a mild curry like a korma

Sweet and sour pork

So long as the ‘sweet’ element wasn’t too sweet and the cider had some sweetness of its own.

Basque style dishes with pimenton (paprika) and peppers

The Basque country either side of the Spanish border is also a big cider drinking area so it stands to reason they must drink it with Basque cuisine. Definitely worth trying.

Apple or apricot-based cakes and puddings

With sweeter ciders. I suspect they would work well with bread pudding and gingerbread too.

Image ©JPC-PROD at Shutterstock.com

Some top food pairings for pear cider and perry

Pear cider - also known as perry - has a different taste from apple cider. It’s generally lighter, drier and more fragrant, a better match for delicate ingredients like fish.

You can treat drier styles like a dry white wine, sweeter ones almost like a dessert wine. And sparkling perries like champagne. But cheaper. Good news all round!

Here are some suggestions:

* The drier styles work particularly well with simply cooked fish or fish with a creamy sauce. Avoid strong flavours like tomato and garlic.

* Fried fish like goujons or even fish and chips

* Fishcakes and fish pie

* Fresh crab

* Seared scallops though you might want to go for a medium-dry style

* Mussels in a cream sauce marinière-style but cooked with a medium-dry perry

* Prawn or seafood cocktail or salads (medium dry styles)

* Delicate or gently spiced chicken dishes: roast chicken with tarragon. Creamy chicken pies like this chicken and leek pie. Chicken salads. Chicken terrines (but watch the chutney!)

* Pork dishes with apple or pears like this dish of pork chops with apple, fennel and onion I wrote about earlier this year. And pork sausages of course. But not with onion gravy (too strong)

* English-style cold cuts like ham sliced off the bone, cold roast pork, pork pies, Scotch eggs

* quiches

* Boxing Day leftovers

* Mild cheeses - young goats cheese, Delicate regional cheeses like Caerphilly and Cheshire. Medium sweet styles work well with mellow blue cheeses like Stilton

* Vegetable soups with a touch of sweetness like carrot, pea or leek soups, especially with a little cream

* Fresh-tasting salads with peas, broad beans or fennel

* Sweeter styles, which often have a touch of honey go well with salads with fruit and milder blue cheeses and with simple puddings like a simple apple or pear tart or pannacotta and raspberries as I suggest in the Guardian today.

* Sparkling perry will go with typical party nibbles (especially cheesy and fishy ones) and with midly spiced Indian snacks.

So mild is the word with perry. Treat it gently and stay clear of fierce flavours.

Image © Yevheniia - Fotolia.com

The best wine and beer pairings for savoury pies

We Brits don’t need much encouragement to eat pies—they’re a staple of comfort food culture. But when it comes to enjoying a drink with your pie, the question arises: which is the better match—wine or beer? The answer, as always, depends on the type of pie you’re talking about and the flavours it brings to the table.

Steak pies with gravy
Almost always better with a strong ale or porter in my opinion.

Steak pies with red wine sauce
Should work with any full-bodied red. I normally tend to favour Languedoc or Rhône-style reds but a new world red like a malbec or an Australian shiraz would work well too

Chicken pies with a creamy filling
I’d go for an unoaked or subtly oaked Chardonnay, old vine Chenin Blanc or any other smooth dry white. Cider and perry also work well with chicken pies.

Pies with a tomatoey filling
Whatever the other ingredients I generally find cooked tomato works better with wine than with beer - I’d suggest an Italian Sangiovese or a Tempranillo-based red like Rioja, especially if there’s chorizo in it.

Cheese and spinach pies
I generally prefer crisp whites such as Sauvignon Blanc or even a more neutral white such as a Picpoul de Pinet with a light vegetarian pie like this but a light red like a Beaujolais would be delicious too.

Fish pies
Pair with the same sort of wines as creamy chicken pies.

Cold pies
With a classic pork pie I’d always go for an English bitter. A cold game pie however is a great match for a good red burgundy or Pinot Noir.

Photo © Richard M Lee at Shutterstock