The best food pairings for Lambrusco (updated)

If you’re wondering why I’m devoting a post to Lambrusco you obviously haven’t tasted the real thing!

Forget the weedy, sickly-sweet lambruscos you may have tasted in your youth - most authentic lambrusco is seductively crimson, frothy and totally dry.

So what should you eat with it? Well, in Emilia-Romagna where it’s made they almost certainly go for pork as I’ve suggested before - salumi (cold meats) such as salami, prosciutto (ham), mortadella and bresaola, porchetta (rolled pork with herbs) and Italian-style sausages with fennel.

I love the idea of it as a Boxing Day wine with cold turkey and ham.

It’s fantastic with pizza (you should definitely try it with pizza!) You could even drink it with lasagne and other richly sauced pasta dishes.

But I reckon it’s also a brilliant barbecue wine - drink it lightly chilled with grilled chicken, lamb or pulled pork or even a burger or steak. It will offset fatty meats such as duck or goose - it would be great with confit duck. And there’s no reason not to drink it with meaty or oily fish such as grilled tuna or sardines.

Cheese-wise you could pair it with hard sheeps’ cheeses like pecorino and with aged cheeses such as parmigiano reggiano and grana padano - or drink it - as you would drink Beaujolais with a terrine, fromage de tête or brawn.

You can also find rosé lambruscos which again work well with salumi and other antipasti.

And sweeter (amabile) lambruscos are delicious with summer fruits, especially peaches and nectarines

Image by Vic E from Pixabay

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

Top food matches for Beaujolais (and other gamay)

Beaujolais - by which I mean red Beaujolais - is the most French of wines, the perfect wine pairing for a picnic or bistro meal.

It’s generally thought of as light and fruity, though it can also be quite full-bodied. In this post I’ll cover my favourite food pairings for specific types of Beaujolais (and other gamay). You’ll find it an enormously versatile wine.

Food-wise, it pairs with much the same ingredients and dishes as pinot noir, though gamay (the grape Beaujolais is made from) doesn’t have the best pinots’ complexity or silky, sensuous texture.

Beaujolais is almost always a winner with French charcuterie such as patés, terrines, rillettes, and saucisson sec and with white-rinded cheeses such as Brie and Camembert (provided they’re not overripe) but it’s a highly versatile wine that can easily take you through a meal where people are ordering different things.

Lighter styles of Beaujolais such as Beaujolais Nouveau, inexpensive Beaujolais, Beaujolais Villages, and lighter ‘cru’ (top level village) Beaujolais such as Fleurie or Chiroubles. (These wines can happily be served lightly chilled)

*Cold ham, especially the French jambon persillé (jellied ham and parsley)

*Cold turkey and chicken (Beaujolais is brilliant with Thanksgiving or Christmas Day leftovers)

*Salads, especially with chicken or bacon (think frisée with lardons) with pomegranate seeds, with berries like dried cherries or cranberries, or with goats cheese

*Seared tuna and salmon

*Fish stews like this cod pot au feu

*Sushi, if you like a red with it

*Strawberries (delicious with a young fruity Beaujolais poured over them)

More Full-bodied or More Mature Beaujolais

From riper vintages e.g. 2018, 2020 or weightier crus such as Morgon, Julienas, and Moulin à Vent

*Simply roast chicken, guineafowl, duck, or partridge

*Seared duck breast, especially with fruit like cherries or figs

*Classic French dishes in a creamy sauce like chicken with tarragon or kidneys with mustard sauce or even a retro boeuf stroganoff

*Simply grilled pork, lamb, or veal

*Toulouse or other garlicky sausages and lentils. (See also this quirky match with Toulouse sausage and prawn dumplings!)

*Steak tartare, as you can see from this post

*Bavette or hanger steak - the classic ‘steak frites’

*Confit duck

*Coq au vin or oeufs en meurette (Beaujolais makes a good red wine sauce)

*Fruity tagines like this lamb tagine with dates, prunes, and apricots

*Vegetarian dishes with butternut squash or sweet potato

See also What to Pair with Beaujolais Nouveau

There’s a more extensive list on the Beaujolais website

Photo ©jackmac34 at Pixabay.

Planning ahead: The best wines to pair with your Christmas dinner

I suspect many of you decide what you’re going to eat for Christmas and buy in wine without connecting the one with the other. From a food pairing point of view ,however, it would obviously be better to plan your drinking around the meals you’ve decided to make.

So what are the best wines to pair with Christmas dinner? Here’s a quick guide, pulling together the various Christmas posts on the website to help you choose what to buy

Which wine should I serve with the turkey

First of all the centrepiece of the traditional Christmas dinner. If you’re serving turkey what is the best wine to choose? Remember it’s more about the stuffing, sauces and sides than the bird itself - you want a wine as bright and fruity as the cranberry sauce you dollop on the plate! I’d go for a fruity red like a Central Otago pinot noir, a velvety merlot or a shiraz. You can find other suggestions here

Top wines to drink with turkey

What wine goes with Christmas ham?

There’s usually a glaze on Christmas ham which calls for a wine with a touch of sweetness - much the same type as you’d serve with turkey, actually which makes life easy if you’re serving them both at the same time. I also have a soft spot for Beaujolais, especially once the ham is cold or a rich jammy grenache

Six of the best wine pairings with Christmas ham

I’m having goose - what wine should I pair with that?

Ah, slightly different register here. Goose is a darker, more savoury meat then turkey but also quite fatty so you need a wine with the acidity to cut through. Personally I’d go for an Italian red like a barolo or chianti but a spätlese riesling from Germany or grand cru riesling from Alsace would also be delicious if the family don't insist on a red.

What wine to pair with goose

How do I kick the day off? Which wine should I serve before the Christmas meal?

Well champagne’s the obvious festive choice isn’t it or, a sparkling wine that's more local to you (an English sparkling wine in my case). Both are perfect if you’re having a few nibbles before the meal rather than a starter which is what we tend to do. You could also serve a good Chablis or Loire sauvignon blanc like Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé both of which go well with seafood like oysters or smoked salmon.

10 different drinks to pair with smoked salmon

Should I serve wine with the Christmas pudding?

Go for it! I prefer a richer dessert wine like muscat or moscatel rather than a light, lemony one like Sauternes. Moscatel de Valencia or passito di Pantelleria would both be delicious with all that dried fruit.

What’s the best wine to drink with Christmas pudding?

If you’re serving a French style buche de Noël or other chocolate yule log, you could could go for a sweet RED like a Maury or a recioto della Valpolicella

The best wine and liqueur pairings for a chocolate yule log

And does it have to be sherry with mince pies?

Of course it doesn’t *have* to but Santa might be disappointed if you forgot his glass. Cream sherry, of course! A sweet madeira is also great with mince pies as is mulled wine . . .

8 great drinks to match with mince pies

What about a pairing for Christmas cake?

Whisky! Honestly! Trust me. It’s so delicious particularly if it’s been aged in a sherry cask. Or a rich Irish whiskey like Midleton Rare. Or try an Aussie Rutherglen muscat.

What about the Christmas cheeseboard?

Cheese is a whole other subject! Port of course is traditional at Christmas, particularly with Stilton but there are other good options such as sherry (yes, again) and madeira. Or whatever red wine you’ve been enjoying with the main course ...

Dive into into one of these posts:

8 great drinks to match with stilton

How to create a great Christmas cheeseboard

Photograph ©Lightfield Studios at shutterstock.com