10 different drinks to pair with smoked salmon

Smoked salmon is most commonly associated with champagne but in fact it goes with many other wines as well as with beer, whisky and vodka.

I tend to go for lighter, crisper whites and beers with lighter smokes and sherry and spirits with stronger ones.

Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé and other Loire Sauvignons
The ultra-dry minerally Sauvignons of the Loire with their delicate gooseberry fruit are perfect for simply served smoked salmon. Other top new world Sauvignons will work too so long as they’re not too ‘herbaceous’ as the green bean/asparagussy notes of some Sauvignons are sometimes described.

Chablis
Especially young, unoaked Chablis which has the freshness and clean, crisp acidity to counteract the slight oiliness of smoked salmon. Richer Chardonnays go well with hot smoked salmon.

Dry Riesling
Dry being a relative description when it comes to Riesling. Young German Kabinett Rieslings with their vivid green apple flavours work especially well, but young Alsace and Australian Rieslings are also good. Avoid medium dry and sweeter Rieslings though.

Gewurztraminer
I’m not a big fan of Gewurz and smoked salmon myself but many people swear by it. Again, Alsace would be the obvious source.

Manzanilla and very dry fino sherry e.g. Tio Pepe
If you like dry sherry this is one of the best matches. The tangy salty taste of dry sherry is perfect with smoked fish. Serve it freshly opened and well chilled.

German or Czech Pilsner
Another excellent match, the freshness and slight bitterness of a pils is just what you need with smoked salmon. (Think smorgasbord . . . )

Weissbier/Witbier/Wheat beer
‘White’ beers go with most kinds of seafood, smoked fish not excepted. The slightly spicy coriander flavours are great with smoked salmon.

Malt whisky
Maybe not the ideal party tipple but an outstanding match for an impromptu smoked salmon snack. Choose a lighter, more fragrant malt with delicately smoked salmon (Springbank is my all-time favourite), a peatier ‘island’ malt if you’re dealing with a stronger smoke.

Aquavit
In particular the glorious Aalborg Jubilaeums Akvavit from Denmark, flavoured with dill and coriander, the best match bar none for gravadlax

Vodka
Good, well chilled Polish vodka works a treat.

You may also find this post 20 Christmas wine pairings to learn by heart useful.

Beer and Cheese: my 5 favourite pairings

Beer blogger Steve Lamond has been matching beer and cheese for the past seven years and has compiled an invaluable guide on his blog Beers I’ve Known. Hare are his 5 all-time favourites which include some cracking combinations.

Fiona asked me if I’d like to do a guest post on beer and cheese pairings. Never being one to eschew blathering on about my two favourite topics I of course said yes. I’ve chosen my top five pairings. I’m not saying they’re the best in existence but they’re the five that have most impressed me over the years.

I’ve not tried to put them in any order as that would be just too hard! Note that all of my favourites are British cheeses and unpasteurised (with the exception of the Colston Bassett) highlighting what fantastic producers of both beer and cheese we have in this country. Most of the beers should be readily available within the UK, but alternative beers have been suggested in case of difficulty (or if you want to try more than one beer!)

Bristol Beer Factory Hefe and Fresh Ragstone Goats Cheese

This pairing was tasted at Fiona’s own Cheese School and just really worked. The creamy lemon in the cheese complemented the wheat spice and yeast clove esters in this Hefeweizen beer. A light carbonation to titivate rather than scrub the tongue. A great lunchtime pairing.

Alternatives: Weihenstephaner Hefeweissebier, Schneider Weisse

Flying Dog Gonzo Imperial Porter and Colston Bassett Stilton

A classic American beer with a classic British cheese, I can still taste this in my mind one year on. Sweet funky blue marries fantastically with the umami of dark malts in the Imperial Porter. The piquant fruitiness of the cheese complements the yeast and malt fruit flavours. Our friend carbon dioxide works wonders at cleaning the palate after each bite. I’d also love to try this with Stichelton for even greater flavour heights.

Alternatives: Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout

Franciscan Well Bellringer and Sparkenhoe Red Leicester

Until I’d tried this unpasteurised version, I’d written off Red Leicester as plastic and avoided it. This cheese is fantastic however. As pungent as a mature cheddar and with a lot of fruit too the beer pairs very well with the Extra Special Bitter “style” of beers. The beer brings seville marmalade and candied citrus peel to the table on a chunky raft of malt. Just enough alcohol to ensure it doesn’t get lost under the cheese. The unexpected pairings are often the most rewarding.

Alternatives: Fuller’s ESB, Marble Old Manchester

Marble Saison Special 2011 and Stinking Bishop

I have a soft spot for washed-rind cheeses and Stinking Bishop by Charles Martell is my very favourite. Those slightly funky fruity aromas pair oh so well with Belgian yeast used in Saison beers, placed together they enhance each others’ flavours to a new level. There’s a fairly meaty savoury flavour brought to the fore and the New World hops that Marble loves to use are also accentuated by the pungent cheese. I could polish off a whole bottle easily.

Alternatives: Saison Dupont, Dark Star Saison

Fuller’s Vintage Ale and Keen’s Mature Cheddar

Bottle conditioned and released on an annual basis using the best of that year’s ingredients, Fullers Vintage is a fantastic Barley Wine. It changes with age but all vintages should pair just as well with the Keen’s cheddar. Being of higher alcohol the beer is able to deftly grapple with the tongue-tingling cheese whilst the cheese coaxes more fruity flavours from those malty depths. A perfect nightcap.

Alternatives: Thomas Hardy Ale, JW Lees Harvest Ale

Steve blogs as Beers I’ve Known and posts a monthly cheese and beer pairing. He has a guide to beer and cheese matching available at tinyurl.com/beer-cheeses

For more tips on pairing beer with cheese, check out this guide from Culture Cheese.

What are your favourite beer and cheese pairings?

Image by Alexey Klen from Pixabay

Which wines and beers match best with Chinese food

With Chinese New Year coming up this weekend you may be planning a trip to a Chinese restaurant or planning a Chinese meal at home. But which wine to serve?

I’ve talked to Chinese chefs and food writers about their own personal preferences and you’d be surprised how many of them reach for a full bodied red rather than the floral whites that are usually recommended. My own personal failsafe recommendation if you want to pick just one wine is a fruity rosé - the Merlot based ones from Bordeaux such as Château de Sours are perfect.

Better still treat a Chinese meal like any Western meal and serve a lighter wine with the lighter dishes and a more robust one with more robust dishes such as glazed ribs or dishes in black bean sauce

• Delicate dishes such as dim sum and steamed or stir-fried vegetable dishes

Champagne or sparkling wine is the ideal answer with dim sum - both the steamed and deep fried variety, especially when stuffed with shellfish. It also goes well with lighter stir fries and steamed fish and vegetable and with the more delicate flavours of Cantonese food.

A clean minerally citrussy Sauvignon Blanc (rather than a grassy, herbaceous one is also a good match with seafood - just as it is in other cuisines - and dry Rieslings such as those from Germany, Austria and Alsace work well with these kinds of dishes too.

• Sweet-sour dishes

This is where off-dry wines score best and why fruity rosé works so well. Even those who don’t like White Zinfandel concede that it’s in its natural element with these types of dishes. Aromatic whites such as Riesling, Pinot Gris and Austrian Grüner Veltliner are good matches as is Argentinian Torrontes. And if you’re feeling extravagant ‘rich’ Champagnes like Roederer’s and Veuve Clicquot’s also handle sweetness well.

• Duck

The wine-friendliest dish of all in the Chinese repertoire, fabulous with lighter reds such as Beaujolais (or the very similar Australian Tarrango) and Pinot Noir as well as more intensely flavoured Merlots (including Merlot-dominated blends from Bordeaux) and lush Australian Shiraz. (The latter two wines benefit from a couple of years of bottle age to mellow the tannins)

Duck is also in my view the best partner for Gewürztraminer which can overwhelm some of the more delicate elements of a typical Chinese meal.

• Powerful dishes with sticky sauces

Such as glazed ribs or crab in black bean sauce. Here fruity reds again come into play. When leading Chinese Food writer Ken Hom introduced a range of varietal wines to go with Chinese food a couple of years ago he picked a Mourvèdre and a Grenache, both big wines but without excessive tannins. Ripe fruity reds certainly tend to deal best with the hotter, spicier dishes like Szechuan beef

If you prefer a white wine consultant and MW Peter McCombie who has worked with a number of oriental restaurants favours rich waxy Pinot Gris from Alsace, Oregon or New Zealand which he has found works with tricky-to-match customers such as eel and black beans. He put together the list at London’s fashionable Bar Shu

Another Chinese restaurant where the wine list is exceptionally well thought out is Hakkasan where buyer Christine Parkinson pairs all the wines she considers with food before she puts them on her list

Which beers match best
I haven’t done as much research on beer as I have on wine with Chinese food but I’ve found that light wheat beers such as witbiers and Bavarian weissbiers generally work well with Chinese-style snacks such as prawn dumplings and spring rolls and can also handle sweet and sour flavours.

Belgian ‘brune’ beers like Leffe Brune are a good match for duck with hoisin sauce. Dishes like glazed ribs or beef in black bean sauce also pair well with brown ales and Belgian triple beers.

And what about tea?
The Chinese drink tea all day long, just as we would drink water says Edward Eisler of specialist importers Jing Tea and that obviously includes meals too. With lighter foods he recommends a green tea like Dragonwell or jasmine tea like Jasmine Silver Needle. Fried or heavier foods go well with aged teas like Puerh while rich and sticky dishes like ribs benefit from a dark high-fired Oolong tea such as Great Red Cloak.

Image credit: Cats Coming

Best beers for Christmas

How many of you will be putting beer on the table at Christmas? Not that many, I suspect, but if you can bring yourself to break with tradition you could be in for a treat. Most supermarkets now carry a sufficiently wide range for you to be able to serve a different beer with each course, should you be so minded. And here’s how to do it:

• As an aperitif or with the smoked salmon I suggest a good quality pilsner or a fragrant cloudy witbier like Hoegaarden or a Bavarian weissbier

• With turkey I’d go for a blonde beer like Leffe, a strong Belgian ale such as Duvel or an American IPA such as Goose Island IPA

• With the pudding - or Christmas cake - you could try a stout or a porter such as Meantime’s (the strong, dark, bitter flavour of the beer will be a great contrast to the sweet, sticky dried fruits) and with the cheese, especially the Stilton, I recommend a vintage ale such as J.W.Lees Harvest ale or other barley wine

There are a number of seasonal beers around such as Young’s fruity, spicy Christmas Pudding Ale but I suggest you again drink those with the cheese or enjoy them on their own rather than pairing them with Christmas pudding, as the name perhaps suggests. The sweet, spicy pudding will knock out the same flavours in the beer leaving you with a dry thin-tasting drink.

For more seasonal beer drinking ideas, check out these posts: 

• Which beer to drink on New Year’s Eve?
• 5 great beer pairings for roast turkey

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