So what DO you pair with a blockbuster cabernet?

Talk to chefs and sommeliers about the wines they like to match with food and only rarely will Cabernet Sauvignon crop up. Many are, in fact, quite openly critical of the blockbuster style of many modern cabs.

Even Robert Parker, when I interviewed him a few years ago, expressed a preference for simple unoaked wines from the Rhone for much of his everyday drinking. Presumably though purchasers of the new world’s top cabernets are not just buying them to lie around their cellars. Somebody out there is enjoying them - but with what?

The obvious answer would seem to be large hunks of rare, red meat but not everyone is convinced about that. “I find that simple grilled meats like steaks have insufficient power to keep up with some of these wines” admits South African chef Pete Goff-Wood of Eat in Capetown. “The only way to prevent the wine from taking over completely is to go the slow-braised route with something like oxtail or a good daube of beef.”

Some fattiness in the meat is also a help with younger cabernets. Dishes like braised belly of pork or shoulder of lamb can kick a tannic cab into touch better than a super-lean cut like fillet. That needs to be balanced with a certain amount of acidity in the view of John Campbell, chef of The Vineyard at Stockcross who has many top quality Californian Cabernets on his list. “Sherry vinegar is ideal as it allows the fruit and the tannins in the wine to overlay the dish harmoniously.”

“In general the younger the wine the saltier, sweeter and fatter the food needs to be to go well with it” says former sommelier Larry Stone, now general manager of the Rubicon Estate. Undoubtedly there is a difference between European and American palates when it comes how meat is seasoned and what is served as an accompaniment which makes the American palate more tolerant to intense fruit flavours. “American chefs like to cook with fruit and serve it as an accompaniment to savoury courses probably more than our European counterparts” says Karen Cakebread of Cakebread Cellars. “One example that comes to mind would be venison or other wild game like duck with huckleberry sauce. The wild berry flavours in the sauce act as a natural bridge to the wines picked at these higher sugar levels.”

On the other hand one of the US top experts in food and wine matching Andrea Robinson points out that bitterness can also contribute to a successful match. “Bitter-edged veggies like broccoli rabe, grilled radicchio and roasted brussel sprouts are real winners. I also find the more pungent, piney herbs like rosemary basil and thyme really work well to pull out the cedar/eucalyptus elements in these wines.” (To which I would also add mint)

Australian food writer Lyndey Milan author of ‘Balance: Matching Food and Wine’ reckons the flavours of North African cuisine are particularly sympathetic to Australian cabernets. “Red meats flavoured with sweet aromatic spices like cumin, coriander and cinnamon (not chilli) work well especially with the older ‘two tooth’ type of lamb.” Cakebread backs her up on Moroccan flavours, pointing to the softening effect salty ingredients such as capers, olives and preserved lemons can have on the tannins of more robust wines.

Richly flavoured carbs also build a bridge to big cabs. A luxurious mash with plenty of butter and cream, a rich cheesey polenta or some earthy, mealy beans all have a mouthcoating quality that will mitigate tough tannins.

The way a wine is treated can also make it more food-friendly. “Critics of high alcohol wines are often complaining about temperature” says John Campbell. “If a wine is above 18 degrees C the alcohol volatility is increased and takes over from the true flavour of the cabernet. These wines really need to be drunk between 14 and 16 degrees.” Larry Stone agrees. “Many people who complain about the alcohol in Californian wines are very happy to recommend sake which often pushes to 17% ABV. Part of the reason for its greater acceptability is that it is served cool. I also tend to pay attention to the temperature a big, bold wine is served and may serve it at a cooler temperature if I feel the balance of fruit intensity is being outweighed by the perception of alcohol.”

Economic pressures and consumer demand on scarce wines also result in wines being released earlier than they ideally should be. Once no-one would have dreamt of drinking a top Bordeaux within the first five years of its life yet according to Janet Trefethen of Trefethen Vineyards “over 90% of US consumers age their wine in the back of their car en route from the grocery store to the dinner table. We are drinking our cabernets too young” she admits. Michel Roux of Le Gavroche, author of Matching Food and Wine, agrees. “The minimum should be 5 years - 7 years to be food-friendly. Ten years is better.” (I agree with him up to a point though I’d probably drink my cabernet a couple of years younger than he would.)

My own tips would be to avoid vast pools of intense winey reductions which are too similar to cabernet in flavour and consistency. Just serve a couple of spoonfuls of the accompanying jus and let the cabernet help with the job of saucing. Caramelised onions always seem to help matching big wines as does roasted or slow-cooked garlic. My ideal match would be a spice crusted barbecued butterflied leg of lamb which included salt, rosemary and cumin in the spice mix. I’d defy anyone not to enjoy a cabernet - blockbuster or otherwise - with that.

Love it
I don’t see a problem in matching big red wines especially not with such a classic grape variety as cabernet. To take such a position as a sommelier or wine writer seems oddly narrow-minded to me
Larry Stone, Rubicon Estate

Linguine pasta with mushrooms and caramelized onions with a touch of thyme leads me to the Cabernet/Bordeaux section of the cellar.
Janet Trefethen

Loathe it
I hate this fashion for big, extracted wines - the Parkerized wines of high alcohol and low tannins. I find them obvious and vulgar.
Raymond Blanc

They (blockbuster reds) are made to explode in front of the competition at wine tastings but they’re not that food friendly.
Heston Blumenthal

Cutting edge cabernet pairings:
Squab, treacle and rhubarb - John Campbell of The Vineyard at Stockcross

Lievre a la royale - Benoit Allauzen, sommelier at the Greenhouse, London

Well hung loin of wildebeest - Pete Goffe Wood, Eat, Capetown

Pot roast pork shoulder with prunes - Michel Roux, Le Gavroche

A good macaroni and cheese - US food and wine writer Andrea Robinson

Venison with huckleberry sauce - Karen Cakebread, Cakebread Cellars

This article was first published in the November 2006 issue of Decanter

Photo © Davidoff777 - Fotolia.com

Pairing whisky with Indian food

Among the many invitations I get to food and drink matching events a recent one to attend a dinner at the Bombay Brasserie in London where each course was paired with whisky sounded the most intriguing. But pairing a high strength spirit with spicy food was surely a recipe for disaster?

As it turned out it was a) not that unusual - a number of Indian whisky dinners have been held before and b) a revelation - the whiskies went much, much better with the food than I could have imagined.

The pairings had been devised by the restaurant’s head chef Sriram Aylur in conjunction with whisky expert (and old friend and colleague) Dave Broom, a brilliant master of ceremonies. The whiskies, which were served blind, could be from anywhere in the world, we were told.

It was a relief to find that almost all the assembled company of whisky experts got at least one of them wrong (at a wine event a few clever clogs would have made the rest of us feel totally inadequate). The gentle sweet aperifif whisky, for example was not Scotch, not a 10 year old as suggested, but a 3 y.o. Indian single malt called Paul John (it turns out there are quite a few Indian whiskies).

We then had a delicious bitter-sweet cocktail created by mixologist Ryan Chetiyawardana, a mixture of Eagle Rare 10 y.o. bourbon which Ryan described as ‘grown-up Buffalo Trace’, Cocchi Americano which is rich in quinine and a homemade turmeric liqueur infused with cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and coriander seed. There was also a basil garnish though I didn’t pick up a lot of flavour from that.

The first food pairing was palak patta chaat, crisp baby spinach with a mango dressing that was paired with a sweet, fragrant Balvenie 14 y.o. aged in Caribbean casks seasoned with three types of rum. The tropical fruit flavours chimed in really well with the mango.

Next we had two spicy fish dishes with a big chilli hit - prawn tokri and a masala-coated tilapia which was successfully partnered - to everyone’s surprise - with Johnnie Walker Blue Label. (Several thought it was a whisky aged in a Sauternes cask.) Dave said that blends were often easier to match with food because they were ‘inherently complex spirits’ whereas “single malts are all about the intensity of a single flavour.”

The main course, although plated individually, was much more what people would think of as a typical Indian meal: lamb rogan josh, chicken biryani, a dal, a spicy potato dish called aloo Katliyan, paratha and yoghurt. The lamb was possibly the hardest element to match but the other components all went well with another surprising choice of whisky: the fragrant, honeyed, slightly smoky Barry Crockett Legacy Single Pot Still whiskey from the Midleton distillery in Ireland.

Unfortunately I had to leave before the dessert (probably just as well . . .) but the last two pairings were apparently Ardbeg Uigeadail with a milk pudding with berries andmalai kulfi (not totally convincing, I was later told) and Glenfarclas 20 y.o.105 with chocolates.

Two thoughts overall: first of all that some degree of sweetness - as with wine - is the key to matching whisky with spicy food. None of the whiskies had a powerfully woody flavour, particularly when diluted, thus avoiding the tannins that can cause problems with chillies and spice.

And you do need to water them down. Nick Morgan of Diageo, who I was sitting next to, says that you shouldn’t hesitate to dilute them to 12-13%, a similar strength to wine, i.e., in some cases, less than a third of their original strength. I found that made them much more palatable but it does diminish their individual character. You could also serve them with soda, Dave Broom suggested.

So maybe it’s India - and other Asian countries who don’t hesitate to put whisky on the table - who’ve got it right and not us? “In India they don't have our hang-ups about whisky and food not going together” said Dave. “We can learn something from the rest of the world.”

This article was first published in September 2012. I was invited to the dinner as a guest of Diageo.

Craft beer and BBQ

Although I regularly recommend wines to pair with barbecue - most recently in my Guardian column - I’m actually an equal fan of beer. In fact I think many types of barbecue work better with it.

It appears that a majority of you agree. Craft beer came out top in a straw poll I put up on my Facebook page last week with almost twice as many votes as the most successful style of wine, a gutsy shiraz. You have to allow, of course, that beer fans are always more ready to fight their corner than winelovers but still . . .

So what kind of beer? It depends who’s coming and what kind of barbecue it is. If it’s all about the event - just a relaxed cook-up for family and friends I’d say the emphasis should be on a beer that’s refreshing and by that I don’t mean an ice-cold flavourless lager (not a popular choice in my poll).

If you’re looking for something different why not try a cloudy witbier or wheat beer, maybe even with a slice of lemon as they serve it in Lille or a citrussy single hop beer made from citra hops. Those would also work well with a seafood barbecue. A seasonal summer beer would be a good one to kick off with too.

For a real crowd-pleaser I’d pick a hoppy IPA, my favourite match with pulled pork and sausages. Amber ales and lagers are also good all-rounders and a saison or saison-style beer should impress any beer geek - a good match for beer-can or barbequed chicken.

With American-style barbecue like slow-cooked ribs or brisket I’d prefer something darker. A brown ale, a dark lager, a stout, porter or even an on-trend black IPA. And if you like to ramp up the smoky flavour you could try a smoked beer but that might be a little too much of a good thing.

You might notice that I’ve mentioned almost every style of beer. The message? Beer goes with barbecue. Period.

Image © saschi79 - Fotolia.com

If you don't agree - or want some wine options - see my article on which wine pairs best with barbecue.

10 practical steps you can take to improve your food blog

Like most delegates to Food Blogger Connect, I'm sure, I came away full of ideas about how to improve my website. You might think as an established writer I’d have it all sussed by now but not at all. You can - and should - always learn.

I’ve already touched on some of the points in my previous post on What makes a great food blog - that blogging should be about storytelling, for example. And I wouldn’t hold myself up as any kind of expert on design, branding or photography though I did last year hire a local Bristol designer Miller Design to give my site a makeover.

But what the two days I spent at FBC5 reminded me is that - in the corny old phrase - content is king. Forget the stats, the SEO tips and tricks and concentrate on giving people a good reason to visit and return to your blog. They’ll come.

How does this translate into practical steps you can take to improve your blogging? Here are a few you might want to bear in mind:

Take your time

As a professional journalist used to having to turn round features to a tight deadline I was really impressed by the time and trouble some of the bloggers took with their posts. Days rather than hours. Regula Ysewijn of Miss Foodwise (right), for instance, blogs on British food traditions, well-researched posts which can take 3 weeks to put together (particularly impressive as she’s Belgian-born.).

You might not have either the time or inclination to spend that long or even to do it for every post but putting that extra care and attention into your blog undoubtedly pays off. Don't post for the sake of posting.

Create original content

A point emphasised by photo-journalist Penny de los Santos. Initiate stories, don’t react to them. Look out for the quirky, the unusual. Niamh Shields of Eat Like a Girl is particularly good at this, always finding a home cook on her travels who will teach her an authentic recipe.

Alright for Niamh, I hear you mutter, but I can’t afford to go on foreign trips and no-one’s offering to take me.

There are stories everywhere. Somebody is doing something interesting with food and drink right on your doorstep. Or think of an original angle like Jenny Hammerton’s brilliant Silver Screen Suppers. Don’t let your blog be hijacked!

Edit more rigorously

A point well made by David Lebovitz. Not just for typos but for sentences that are unclear or which repeat a point you made earlier. These things are sometimes hard to spot if you’ve been gazing at a piece for some time (which is why newspapers and magazines have sub-editors) so ask a housemate or your other half to read a post through before you click the publish button. (See also Blog Buddy below)

Break your text up

Not necessarily with huuuuge photos but in easy-to-read chunks. Like this post, hopefully ;-)

Test your recipes - and retest them, several times if necessary.

My notes from the conference say David tests his up to 17 or 18 times which is a bit much for us mere mortals. Emma Gardner of Poires au Chocolat, three or four.

Again those of us who have written cookery books are lucky enough to have editors who ask probing questions. Like ‘Where are the tomatoes in that tomato soup? (I managed - believe it or not - to leave them out of the ingredients list in one book I was writing. So you can’t be too careful.)

Improve your English (unless, obviously, you’re blogging in French, Italian, Spanish etc)

Especially if you’re not a native speaker. Again I was massively impressed by Regula who told me she learnt to write better English by reading Jane Austen.

Which brings me to . . .

Read, read, read...

The route to writing - and blogging - better is to read a lot. Not to copy other people’s blogs but to absorb different styles and find the one that best suits you. And not just articles about food and cookery books. Biographies, chicklit . . . anything.

Write as you speak

The best piece of advice I’ve been given about writing. OK, there are people who craft their posts in beautiful flowing prose but if writing doesn’t come easy to you imagine telling a friend about the subject you’re writing about then just type those thoughts as fast as you can. You can refine them later. Reading your post out loud can also help.

Be less self-centred

The whole point about a blog is that it’s about you, right? Yes, but . . .

If your reader has to wade through paragraphs of unfocussed waffle about what it was like when the in-laws came for the weekend they’re not necessarily going to stick around for the brilliant barbecue marinade you invented. Don't leave it too long to get to the point.

Knackered Mother Helen McGinn has this off to a tee. A bit about herself (usually very funny). Some genuinely useful tips about wine. Perfect for her audience (knackered mums).

Find a blog buddy

I know from freelancing that writing can be lonely and that sometimes you just get stuck with a piece and can’t see the way forward. It undoubtedly helps to have someone sympathetic to talk to about it. (My husband is a good, if fierce, critic.)

It’s also useful to have a fresh pair of eyes on your blog. I won 5 minutes with David Lebovitz at Food Blogger Connect and he came up with a really useful couple of things I hadn’t thought of. (An FAQ section and an email subscription box, if you’re wondering. I know. THAT obvious. We all need help.)

I've discovered how useful having a diet buddy has been while doing the 5:2. Find someone you like and trust who'll be your blog buddy. You support them. They support you.

The message of this post, of course, is that a blog requires work if you're in it for the long haul. But don’t let it put you off blogging, just see it as a possible way out of problems you might be encountering. I hope it helps.

What do you find most difficult about food blogging and what ways have you found round it? And what ways do you think I can improve my own site and make it a better visitor experience?

If you enjoyed this post you might like to read my two other posts from Food Blogger Connect:

What motivates food bloggers?

What makes a great food blog?