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?

What makes a great food blog?

So many people are blogging about food these days so how do you stand out from the crowd? This weekend’s sessions at Food Blogger Connect - and my own observations - suggest a few answers.

What do the best blogs have in common? Your blog can’t be all things to all people - if you’re serious and scholarly your text won’t be peppered with smart one-liners. If it’s based on your life at home with small children it won’t be filled with exotic foreign trips.

Taking it for granted that your blog looks good and that your recipes work (er hem . . .) here are some qualities I reckon a blog needs to attract a big audience. You can’t embrace all of them but if you’re ambitious for your blog you should take on board at least some:

Stories

Perhaps the most important thing I took away from Food Blogger Connect is that the best blogs tell great stories. Two presentations drove it home - a talk from Niamh Shields where she had to extemporise when her audio visual presentation wouldn’t work so she simply stood up and chatted about the quirky things she’d come across on her recent trip to Canada. (When the technical issues were resolved her presentation was just as good - and that’s what makes her blog, Eat Like a Girl, so strong)

And Penny de los Santos*, a journalist-turned-photographer who tells powerful stories with her pictures. She tells equally mesmerising tales about taking them, such as the time she spent nine days inside a prison in Mexico and the struggle she had to get the authorities to let her in.

What has this got to do with food? Everything. Tell the story behind the recipe you’re sharing. There a hundreds of thousands of cake recipes out there. If you post one make it clear why it’s special to you.

Passion

An over-used word. We’re all passionate about food but can we convey it in a distinctive way? The best food blogs can. They make you want to cook the food, eat at the restaurant, visit the place. They do not shriek OMG!, YUMMY!!! and - God forbid - nom, nom, nom. Read Helen Graves’ blog Food Stories if you want to see passion applied to an unlikely place, the south London neighbourhood of Peckham.

Integrity

The best food blogs are not littered with giveaways, blogger challenges and accounts of blogger events. That’s not to say don’t do them if you enjoy them - I offer a monthly prize on my site, come to that - but to write about something that a dozen other bloggers are covering is not going to make you unique. Yes, you’re right, newspapers and magazines do it too - the world is PR led - but it doesn’t make for great journalism any more than great blogging.

It’s your movie, don’t be in someone else’s . . . (My husband’s favourite piece of advice to the children.)

Authority

Good blogs radiate know-how even though they may pass it on in an accessible, easy-to-read way. David Lebovitz knows Paris (and pastry), Giulia Scarpaleggia of Juls Kitchen, Tuscany and, an interesting new find, Michael Kiser of Good Beer Hunting, beer (of course). When you’ve read their posts you’ve learnt something. If you aren’t a natural extrovert draw people to your blog by researching your subject as well as you can.

Bravery

In other words a willingness to stick your head above the parapet. Don’t try and be all things to all people. Don’t be afraid to ruffle feathers. I don’t mean of course that your blog should be gratuitously offensive but don’t let it become bland.

There’s absolutely no harm in expressing a controversial viewpoint and expressing it vigorously, a stock in trade of the exuberant Ms Marmitelover and the lesser known Jack Monroe of A Girl Called Jack, a young blogger who’s made an immense impact in a very short time. She was invited to the G8 to talk about living on the breadline, for goodness sake.

Flaws

This might sound surprising but it was a point made by David Lebovitz and he made it well. Don’t feel your blog - and especially your pictures - have to be perfect. Admit those recipes that went wrong, snap those plates you were half way through eating when you remembered you were supposed to shoot them. Your audience will identify with that and love you for it.

Humanity

Some people bare their souls more than others. If it doesn’t suit you, don’t but what keeps on making me come back to certain blogs is their frankness and honesty. Two examples: Esther Walker’s Recipe Rifle which I suppose is not strictly a food blog but a mummy blog and Emma Gardner’s sometimes painfully revealing Poires au Chocolat although this has other virtues too - including beautiful, original photography and painstakingly tested recipes.

Generosity

Respected food bloggers acknowledge their sources and inspiration. They do not nick recipes without attribution. They praise other cooks and writers, especially up-and-coming ones. They acknowledge and reply to their readers (unless they’re rude and arsey in which case they stamp firmly all over them).

Humour

Not everyone has the ability to make people laugh and if it doesn’t come easily don’t force it but the most effective food blogs for me are the ones who make me smile. Often at the author’s own expense. Again, look at the blogs I’ve mentioned already, David Lebovitz, Eat Like A Girl, Ms Marmitelover, Recipe Rifle and, a wine blog you might enjoy - the award-winning Knackered Mother’s Wine Club - a great example of what you can do with short posts.

Discipline

Discipline might sound an odd word to use of a food blog - maybe professionalism would be better - but the top bloggers post regularly. Not tooo regularly but at least once a week. That requires forward planning if posts are not to be a hastily cobbled together scrawl (an art form in which I specialise). More on this tomorrow . . .

If you missed my first post in this mini-series (goodness knows what possessed me to embark on this) on What Motivates Food Bloggers, it’s here. Tomorrow the practical steps you - and I - can take to make our blogs and websites better. Should you want to . . .

What do you think makes a great food blog and which ones would you single out?

* You can also see her expound her philosophy in this TEDx talk in Austin.