Pairings | Fish & shellfish

The best wine and beer pairings for mussels/moules

The best wine and beer pairings for mussels/moules

Just as with every other ingredient the ideal pairing for mussels depends how you cook them, starting with the classic moules marinières.

  • Moules marinières is made with a dry white wine such as Muscadet so you might as well drink the same wine with them. Picpoul de Pinet would be equally good or you could try a dry Alsace Riesling
  • If you cook them with witbier/bière blanche as they often do in Belgium, again drink the same beer with them. Witbiers like Hoegaarden are cracking with moules.
  • Mussels cooked Thai style with coconut, lime and coriander also go well with witbier or try a Grüner Veltliner, Pinot Gris or New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
  • Mussels topped and baked with garlic and breadcrumbs suit a crisp dry white like a Pinot Grigio or other Italian white but an unoaked Chardonnay or fruity Sauvignon Blanc such as Sauvignon de Touraine will match well too.
  • If they’re stuffed with sausagemeat, as they often are in the south of France where they’re known as moules farcies, and served with a rich tomato sauce you’ll find an inexpensive Languedoc red or strong southern French or Spanish rosé will probably be a better match than a white.
  • With mussel and saffron - or curry - soup (mouclade), try an oaked white Bergerac or Bordeaux or a Viognier.
 The best food pairings with white burgundy

The best food pairings with white burgundy

White burgundy includes a multitude of wines from generic bourgogne blanc to the grandeur of a Bâtard-Montrachet or Corton-Charlemagne. But it’s the affordable wines that I’m focussing on in this post. What type of food do they pair with best?

White burgundy - and that includes Chablis - is of course chardonnay but ranges from the lean minerality of Chablis (which I’ve dealt with in a separate post on food and Chablis) to the sumptuous richness of a Meursault.

The two things that will affect your food pairing is whether the wine is oaked and the age of the wine. Oh, and the price. It’s safe to assume, barring some Chablis, that most of the more expensive wines will have received some oak ageing. Oak-aged wines like Meursault can carry richer sauces or deeply savoury dishes like roast chicken - and even turkey. But to sum it up in one word you’re on safe ground with dairy, especially cream and butter.

Anything buttery

Fish cooked in butter (like sole meunière), a buttery roast chicken, buttery sauces like hollandaise or béarnaise, potted shrimps (a British delicacy - small brown shrimps preserved in spiced (generally mace and a touch of cayenne) butter). The richer the dish the fuller-bodied wine it can take.

Creamy and even slightly cheesy sauces

So dishes like chicken pot pie, chicken with a creamy mushroom sauce or fish pie - or a cauliflower cheese (see below). Random discovery - bacon with a parsley sauce is magnificent with Meursault!

Simply cooked fish

Most fish pairs well with white burgundy but salmon - cooked simply rather than, say, given the teriyaki treatment is particularly good. That includes salmon fishcakes

Wine with salmon: 10 ways to serve salmon and the wines to pair with them

Seared scallops

Good - as you can see here - when you have a classy white burgundy such as a Puligny-Montrachet (or cheaper Saint-Aubin) to show off

Top wine pairings with scallops

Crab

Delicate white crabmeat is lovely with a young unoaked or subtly oaked white burgundy. Brown crabmeat, particularly served baked with cheese is better with a richer or more mature one

Which wines would you pair with crab?

Mushrooms

Think button or wild mushrooms such as chanterelles rather than dark, richly flavoured porcini or portobello ones which tend to be better with a red burgundy. White burgundy is great matched with a mushroom risotto (but that’s back to that creamy texture again) or even mushrooms on toast.

Which wines pair best with mushrooms?

Cauliflower purée or soup

Cooked cauliflower with a degree of caramelisation really shows off a good white burgundy. So it’s perfect for a dish that includes cauliflower purée, a cauliflower soup or on-trend cauliflower steaks.

The best wine pairings for cauliflower

Braised fennel

The ideal side to enhance the match with a good piece of fish. Fennel purée does the trick too

Chalky cheeses

Like Caerphilly and Chaource. White burgundy can be a great pairing with cheese provided it’s not too strong.

For more food pairing ideas see

Matching food and Chablis

The best food to match with chardonnay

The best pairings with red burgundy

4 good wines to pair with fish pie

4 good wines to pair with fish pie

Whether it's topped with mashed potato or pastry fish pie is a relatively straightforward dish to pair with wine but some styles work better than others.

In general smooth dry white wines work best. I would emphasise dry though - I personally don’t want peach, pineapple or tropical fruit flavours with my fish - not with this traditional dish, at least.

Here are some examples:

* Unoaked or lightly oaked Chardonnay - Chablis being the classic example. A very sound, crowd-pleasing pairing. With a richer, more luxurious pie containing salmon, scallops or added cream or with a pie with a pastry lid you could go for a slightly richer style of white burgundy or other cool climate Chardonnay but don’t overdo the oak

* Chenin Blanc - works much in the same way as Chardonnay. Again a more minerally style works better than a fruity one in my opinion

* Blanc de Blancs champagne or sparkling Chardonnay - same reasoning - with a few bubbles. I’d suggest a non-vintage wine rather than a vintage one. Keep it fresh.

* Soave, Gavi and other smooth dry Italian whites - but not Pinot Grigio which is a bit lightweight for a creamy sauce and mash

Photo ©freeskyline at shutterstock.com

The best pairings for fino and manzanilla sherry

The best pairings for fino and manzanilla sherry

Manzanilla, as you probably know, is a fino sherry made in the port of Sanlucar de Barrameda rather than in the cities of Jerez or Puerto de Santa Maria which gives it its characteristic salty tang.

Like fino it needs to be served chilled and drunk fresh so always buy from a shop or online retailer that has a good turnover of bottles

From a food point of view the two are very similar though I would tend to go more for manzanila with seafood and fino with meat and cheese. What both have in common is that they can handle strong flavours like garlic and chilli and tricky to pair ingredients such as asparagus and artichokes.

Both are obviously very good with Spanish cuisine (especially tapas) but lend themselves well to other dishes such as smoked salmon, fish and chips and sushi. Treat the suggestions below as just that - suggestions - and don’t be afraid to swop them around:

Food matches for manzanilla

All kinds of seafood including:

grilled and fried squid

octopus and octopus salad

mussels, especially with chorizo

anchovies

oysters

raw fish such as sashimi or tartares

fried fish (and chips)

fried soft-shell crab

fish soups

feta cheese (such as this dish of beetroot borani from Morito)

pickled fish such as mackerel en escabeche

grilled fish, especially oily fish like sardines

garlicky prawns or shrimp

smoked salmon

smoked mussels

smoked dried beef


Food pairings for fino

nuts, especially almonds

olives and olive pastes like tapenade

jamon/ham

grilled or preserved artichokes

hard sheeps’ cheeses such as Manchego

chorizo

tortilla

grilled asparagus or leeks with romesco sauce

white asparagus

pimientos de padron

clams cooked with sherry

cider-battered onions (from my good friends Dan and Elly of The Basement supper club

croquetas

tandoori salmon and teriyaki salmon

smoked eel

white gazpacho

sushi, sashimi, tempura and any kind of Japanese food where you would drink sake


Food matches for 'en rama' styles

These are unpasteurised versions of either fino or manzanilla which have a limited shelf-life but a more intense flavour and texture

richer, hot or sauced fish dishes

grilled tuna

black rice with cuttlefish arroz negro

deep-fried sweetbreads

hake with allioli (garlic mayonnaise)

Japanese food generally

 

101 great ways to enjoy sherryMore food and sherry matches:

 

Download the e-book

If you love sherry but haven't got beyond sipping it with a few nuts and olives, then download my e-book, 101 great ways to enjoy sherry, packed full of pairings, recipes, cocktails, and more. Click here to download.

 

Top photograph © delarue - Fotolia.com

15 Easter wine pairings to learn by heart

15 Easter wine pairings to learn by heart

If you're wondering what wines you should buy for Easter weekend here's quick guide to what I think are the best Easter wine pairings.

As with my previous ‘learn by heart’ posts it's a simple way to remember great food and wine matches at a busy time of year. There are of course other possibilities to which the links will guide you.

Colomba Pasquale and extra dry prosecco

Colomba Pasquale is the traditional Italian Easter cake and ‘extra dry’ prosecco perversely a slightly sweeter style that is perfect with sweeter things.

Lamb and rioja

You can drink so many red wines with lamb (Chianti and Cabernet being two other favourites) but rioja is such a crowd-pleaser. I’d go for a reserva myself.

Roast chicken (or turkey) and pinot noir

Hey, it’s spring (or supposed to be) so lighten up with a brighter, fruitier red. Pinot is perfect

Easter ham and Beaujolais

Baked or roast ham or gammon could also take a pinot but I’m rooting for a good Beaujolais like a Morgon

Duck and pinot

And yes, here’s pinot noir again! But you can’t find a better pairing with duck. Especially with peas.

Roast kid and Chianti

Kid would be a traditional Mediterranean choice for the Easter feast so I’d be inclined to go for an Italian, Greek or Portuguese red. Chianti is the easy-to-memorise option.

Salmon and chardonnay

Depends how you cook it but salmon pretty well always works with chardonnay. Especially en croute or in a creamy sauce. (If it’s smoked salmon try sauvignon blanc.)

Fish pie and Chablis

Maybe you’re planning a fish pie for Good Friday? Again chardonnay is a reliable match - I’d go for a Chablis.

Asparagus and Sancerre

There are major arguments over which wine suits asparagus best but Sancerre (or Pouilly Fumé) does it for me. Especially if goats cheese is involved. Other optionshere

Scrambled eggs and champagne (or cheaper fizz)

What else are you going to drink for Easter brunch? Seriously - eggs and bubbles is the way to go. (It works with eggs benedict too)

Torta pasquale (Italian spinach and ricotta pie) and Soave

Or any other smooth dry Italian white come to that. Like Gavi. Here's a lovely recipe from Gennaro Contaldo or, following the recommendation below, from Rachel Roddy. A great option for vegetarians.

Simnel cake and orange pekoe tea

Perfect combination!

Hot cross buns and marsala

I owe this one to the Italian wine buyer at M & S Jeneve Williams. (They have a really well-priced half bottle of marsala you should try which is no doubt why they came up with the suggestion!). Nice recipe here too.

Easter eggs and Brachetto d’Aqui

If you’re scoffing the remains of the kids’ Easter eggs this sweet, gently sparkling Italian red is hard to beat. But also hard to find, unfortunately. If you’re stumped try a rosato frizzante (pink prosecco by another name though they’re not allowed to call it that)

Lemon tart and late harvest riesling

Lemon tart can be tricky with wine - the more intensely lemony the tougher it is. The trick if you want to serve a dessert wine with it? Add cream either to the tart or a good splodge over the top. Late harvest riesling has the acidity to cope

You may also find these posts useful:

What sort of food to pair with prosecco

20 food and wine pairings to learn by heart

The best wine matches with salt cod (traditional Good Friday fare in Mediterranean countries such as Spain and Portugal.)

Photo by Elena Veselova at shutterstock.com

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