8 great wine and other matches for Stollen

Although stollen is a bit lighter than the classic British Christmas baking some of the pairings I suggested with mince pies (like sweet sherry and tawny port) will work too . . .

As you no doubt know it’s a delicious yeasted German fruit bread, lightly spiced, filled with marzipan and dredged with icing sugar.

It’s the kind of thing you’d most likely have mid-afternoon or as a mid-morning snack so the most likely accompaniment would be coffee or tea. That said if you’ve got some in the house and are disinclined to make a pud you could have it after dinner with a glass of sweet wines. 

Here are 8 ideas that appeal to me.

Coffee

So obvious, perhaps that it doesn’t need saying but the great German tradition of kaffee und kuchen points to coffee with stollen rather than tea. 

Schnapps

Of all the fruit-flavoured schnapps I’d favour an apple or pear-flavoured one or similar Alsace eau-de-vie, apples and pears and almonds being a well-tried and tested flavour combination 

Spätlese, auslese or beerenauslese riesling

Germans make some great sweet wines with lovely acidity that would be a real treat with this festive bake. The Wine Society suggests a vendange tardive gewurztraminer. 

Dark rum

I like this idea more than malt whisky. It should work beautifully given the vanilla and brown sugar notes in many rums

Pineau de Charentes

An interesting suggestion from contributor Lucy Bridgers - this blend of grape must and cognac is normally drunk as an aperitif but would work really well with stollen. As would . . .

Cognac and other oak-aged brandies such as armagnac or Spanish brandy

Stollen recipes like this one often have a touch of brandy though a large cognac might possibly not be appropriate at tea-time ;-)

Marsala dolce

Less common than sweet sherry or madeira but I think rather well suited to pairing with marzipan and dried fruits. As is malaga.

Amaretto

Possibly an overkill on the almond front but if you like the taste of marzipan you may enjoy this extra level in your drink. I’d serve it well chilled or on the rocks, though.

Champagne, prosecco or sekt

It’s often forgotten that champagne is sweetened with a sugar solution called a dosage so although it might strike you as dry there’s a residual sweetness that makes it compatible with cake. And stollen isn’t that sweet. Sekt would of course be the more authentic choice but it’s hard to find a good one in the UK. And prosecco works well with panettone so should with stollen too.

Photo © Olga Bombologna at shutterstock.com

8 great drinks to match with mince pies (updated)

Mince pies are so popular we all start eating them well before Christmas so what’s the best drink to pair with them?

If you’re sneaking one as an afternoon snack it’s most likely to be a cup of tea but they do pair particularly well with fortified wines like port, sherry and madeira, wines that also go well with Christmas cake in case that’s on the menu too.

For those of you who don’t live in the UK and are unfamiliar with mince pies, they’re a small sweet pie traditionally made from minced meat but nowadays made with dried fruits such as currants, raisins and sultanas.

Although there lots of variations on mince pies nowadays I’m thinking mainly of the classic mince pie ‘cos Christmas is all about tradition ... 

* Mulled wine - Never mind the match it’s just what you offer the carol singers on Christmas Eve isn’t it? To tell the truth - whisper it - mulled cider is just as good. Find my favourite recipes here

* Sweet sherry - again a traditional pairing and I think a good one. One of my favourites is Matusalem but own label cream sherries are perfectly good.

* Sweet madeira - less traditional than sherry, but just as delicious. Basic blended madeiras like Blandy’s Duke of Clarence, are fine otherwise look for a Bual or Malmsey

* Tawny port - you may be used to drinking a ruby port like a Late Bottled Vintage but why not try a nutty 10 Year Old Tawny for a change? Otima is a modern interpretation that goes particularly well with mince pies

* Sweet port-like wines from the south of France like Banyuls, Rivesaltes and Maury - maybe a little harder to track down but ideal if you want something different

* Barley wine - which is not actually a wine but a strong, sweet-tasting beer. Any indie with a decent beer range should have one.

* Christmas ales - I’m never totally convinced about Christmas ales with savoury food - except perhaps ham - but they’re great with Christmas baking.

* Black tea Which you might think hardly bears saying but try making it from loose leaf tea, in a pot rather than with a teabag and taste the difference.

photo by Monika Borys For Unsplash+

What wines (and other drinks) pair best with noodles?

If you’re wondering what to drink with noodles you need to think about the way and the flavours with which they’re cooked rather than the fact that they’re noodles. (Yes, I know pasta counts as noodles too but I’m thinking more of Asian recipes.)

They’re not an obvious dish with which to drink wine particularly if they’re served in a broth like this recipe for Khao Soi noodles. In fact you don’t actually need to drink with them at all. But dry dishes do go quite well, particularly Japanese noodle recipes.

Here are some wine and other pairings to try:

Aromatic white wines

The most obvious go-to with a bowl of noodles. My favourites would be a dry riesling or grüner veltliner or try a Hungarian dry furmint or harslevelu. Often it’s the sauce or broth that dictates that as with this laksa.

Crisp dry white wines

Crisp whites like albarino, picpoul de pinot and koshu pair well with cold noodles like this prawn noodle salad

Inexpensive red burgundy

Maybe not the most obvious choice but it did the trick with this sukiyaki. It would probably go with a beef pho too

Lager

Probably most people’s choice when it comes to beer. It certainly works with ramen and pad thai (below) though if you’re eating a cold noodle dish like this one try a weissbier.

Sake

Particularly with Japanese noodles for obvious reasons

Green tea

Especially genmaicha - a particularly savoury green tea flavoured with roasted brown rice. Again good with Japanese noodles.

Kombucha

Being a fermented drink kombucha (fermented tea) has a tiny amount of alcohol but unless you’re avoiding it altogether it’s negligible. A good match for many noodle dishes too

Sour plum tea

A recent discovery that worked really well with some spicy Sichuan noodles

A fruity cocktail

A fruity cocktail like this Guava Collins works well with hot spicy noodles

What food to pair with coffee

For many people coffee is a regular companion to food whether it’s breakfast or that great German institution of kaffee und kuchen (coffee and cake) - only the amount of caffeine they might consume holding them back.

But apart from the time of day there are specific ingredients and dishes that make great coffee pairings

Coffee of course comes in many guises from a flat white to a double espresso to a delicate single origin filter coffee. In general I’d say milky coffees such as cappuccinos and lattes lend themselves better to sweet foods and darker more intense coffees such as espressos and black americanos to savoury ones but it is of course a question of taste and how you like your coffee. (I generally like mine black)

Here’s a general round-up, some of which may be familiar to you, some not.

Sweet coffee pairings

Almost any kind of chocolate bars, cake or cookies, especially brownies and chocolate chip cookies.

Coffee-flavoured cakes and desserts such as this Austrian coffee cake, espresso and hazelnut cake and Turkish coffee cake.

Tiramisu (with black coffee, I’d say)

Nut-flavoured cakes and desserts - especially hazelnut and walnut cakes, biscotti, almost anything with Nutella, walnut or pecan pie.

Ice cream - in fact to pour espresso coffee over vanilla ice cream is a recognised dish called affogato

French-style breakfast pastries such as croissants and pain au chocolat

Cinnamon buns (in fact cinnamon generally as you can see from this post

Doughnuts and beignets (see these doughnuts with hot chocolate sauce)

Waffles

Toast and marmalade

Banana bread

Cheesecake especially ones with caramel or nut toppings

Savoury coffee pairings

Bacon, in practically all its guises - in a fry up, in a sandwich, in a roll

Smoked salmon bagels

Cheese - especially sliceable Swiss, German and Scandinavian-style cheeses or Dutch Leerdammer

Rich fatty triple cream cheeses

Coffee-rubbed cheese such as Barely Buzzed from Utah

Cheese toasties/grilled cheese

Cured meats such as salt beef and frankfurter sausages (so hot dogs)

Coffee-rubbed ribs and steak

Chilli con carne

Burgers

Coffee is also often consumed with spirits such as brandy (especially cognac) and grappa