Pairings | Barbecue

The best food pairings for Zinfandel

The best food pairings for Zinfandel

Like most wines made from red grapes Zinfandel comes in a number of styles from light and juicy to blockbuster ‘killer’ zins but they have a common thread of ripe brambly fruit and in most cases a richness that makes them a good match for red meat and other hearty dishes, especially those with a hit of smoked chilli.

Six of the best food pairings for Australian Shiraz

Six of the best food pairings for Australian Shiraz

What most people probably think of in terms of Australian red wine is a Barossa or McLaren Vale shiraz - big, lush, sweet and ripe, the ideal pairing for grilled or barbecued beef. Hunter Valley shiraz typically has a more savoury character that suits meats like venison and kangaroo while Western Australian shiraz is made in a more elegant style, almost like a red Bordeaux, making it a good pairing for lamb.

What's the best type of wine for a barbecue?

What's the best type of wine for a barbecue?

Beer is still seen as a more common pairing than wine with a barbecue but if you’re planning one this weekend - or barbecuing any other weekend this summer - and you prefer drinking wine you may well be wondering which one to choose.

Which wine to pair with Texas BBQ

Which wine to pair with Texas BBQ

US-based wine writer and educator David Furer reports on an epic tasting in the homeland of American barbeque, Austin, Texas pairing a selection of international and home-grown reds with different meats.

The best food pairings for Pinotage

The best food pairings for Pinotage

Like any other red South Africa's Pinotage comes in different styles - some lighter and fruitier than others. When you're matching it with food you take a cue from the sort of ingredients and dishes that go with its two ancestors - Pinot Noir and Cinsault.

The best food pairings for Mencia

The best food pairings for Mencia

When I scoured the website for existing pairings with mencia I was amazed how many dishes I’d suggested it with. It really is an incredibly versatile food wine.

The best food pairings for Lambrusco

The best food pairings for Lambrusco

If you’re wondering why I’m devoting a post to Lambrusco you obviously haven’t tasted the real thing and today, Lambrusco Day, is your ideal opportunity to try it.

The best food pairings for cabernet franc

The best food pairings for cabernet franc

Cabernet franc can be the most food-friendly of wines, as good with fish and veggies as it is with meat but as I pointed out in a recent Guardian column it comes in several styles.

Food pairings for Apothic and other sweet red wines

Food pairings for Apothic and other sweet red wines

Heavily promoted Apothic is just one of a range of sweeter red wines that have been launched on the market recently. Not having much of a sweet tooth, I must confess it’s not particularly to my taste but I can see that it would greatly appeal to wine drinkers who find drier reds unappealing.

What type of wine works best with a barbecue?

What type of wine works best with a barbecue?

This week is National Barbecue Week in the UK and if you're planning a barbecue this weekend you might well be wondering what to drink. Here's an article I wrote for Decanter a few years ago which still holds good today, I think.

Win a Weber barbecue ‘bundle’: a Smokey Joe portable charcoal barbecue, chimney starter and briquettes.

Win a Weber barbecue ‘bundle’: a Smokey Joe portable charcoal barbecue, chimney starter and briquettes.

As it’s high summer we thought you might be in the mood for a beach barbecue so we persuaded top BBQ company Weber to offer two of their barbecue ‘bundles’: a snazzy green premium Smoky Joe portable charcoal barbecue, a chimney starter, a set of briquettes and some lighter cubes. THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.

Women on fire: top tips from two of the UK’s best BBQ chefs

Women on fire: top tips from two of the UK’s best BBQ chefs

In most households men are in charge of the barbecue but there’s a small but influential band of women moving onto their territory and transforming the way we think about grilling

Why Cava is cool for a barbecue

Why Cava is cool for a barbecue

Advertising feature: Cava might not be the first bottle you’d think of taking to or serving at a barbecue but if you think of it simply as a meal cooked over fire rather than under the grill or in the oven why not? And being an exceptionally food-friendly wine it will sail through.

Win a Netherton Foundry black iron barbecue and a copy of Charred

Win a Netherton Foundry black iron barbecue and a copy of Charred

After the blazing Easter we had it’s hard to believe we’re in the same season but let’s remain optimistic and think about all the amazing opportunities we’re going to have to cook out of doors this summer. THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.

10 ways to barbecue better - top tips from TV chef Henry Herbert

10 ways to barbecue better - top tips from TV chef Henry Herbert

A report on an all-day butchery and barbeque course at Hobbs House cookery school I went to a couple of summers ago. A great day out for any BBQ enthusiast (or women who live with one who want to keep their end up ;-)

 Six top tips for creating a vegan and gluten-free barbecue

Six top tips for creating a vegan and gluten-free barbecue

Just because you're gluten or dairy-intolerant doesn't mean you have to miss out on the barbecue fun as food writer Monica Shaw demonstrates.

Practically every barbecued meat you can think of and an amazing Aussie grenache

Practically every barbecued meat you can think of and an amazing Aussie grenache

Normally my matches of the week are quite specific - a dish and a drink - but it’s always great to find a wine that sails through everything on the table as this gorgeous grenache did at London’s latest barbecue restaurant Temper last week.

Real Texas Style Beef Brisket

Real Texas Style Beef Brisket

With July 4th falling on a Saturday chances are you’re going to be thinking barbecue this weekend. Here’s an authentic Texan style BBQ recipe from “Slow Fire, The Beginners Guide To Barbecue” by Ray Lampe, aka Dr. BBQ.

Craft beer and BBQ

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.

Coffee and maple syrup-brined pork with Saint Joseph

Coffee and maple syrup-brined pork with Saint Joseph

Occasionally a wine pairing comes along that you simply don’t expect. Invited to a barbecue at the weekend, I took along some reds I’d been tasting which I frankly wasn’t sure would go with the sweet marinades you generally encounter at a BBQ.

Can Can chicken

Can Can chicken

Continuing with our series of South African Braai recipes to celebrate the World Cup, here’s winemaker Paul Cluver’s version of beer-can chicken made with apple juice rather than beer.

Hang Fire Southern Kitchen, Barry

Hang Fire Southern Kitchen, Barry

It’s only in the last few years that barbecue has meant more to us Brits than cheap burgers and undercooked chicken legs. Now even Marks & Spencer has an authentic southern barbecue range

Spiced, Grilled and Swaddled Chicken Thighs with the Works

Spiced, Grilled and Swaddled Chicken Thighs with the Works

A great recipe from US food writer Molly Baz's brilliant new cookbook Cook This Book which is full of clever hacks to help you become, as they describe it on the cover, 'a smarter, faster, more creative cook'

Duckstrami

Duckstrami

Last weekend our cooking group cooked up an American barbecue of which this brilliant recipe from the Hang Fire Cookbook was the standout dish so I really wanted to share it with you.

Which BBQ book to buy this summer

Which BBQ book to buy this summer

Barbecue, as you may have observed, has become big business not only in terms of increasingly flashy bits of kit but a whole raft of books telling you how to up your grilling game. I got blogger and instagrammer Dan Vaux-Nobes, aka Essex Eating, to take a look at three of the titles that have been released his summer. Here's his verdict on which to choose.

Two great prawn recipes to grill on the BBQ

Two great prawn recipes to grill on the BBQ

Talking to food writers Helen Graves and Genevieve Taylor about recipes that might get beginners - particularly women - into barbecuing they both came up with one based on prawns, aka shrimp. Both are super-easy.

 Watermelon, halloumi, lime-pickled red onions

Watermelon, halloumi, lime-pickled red onions

There have been a lot of great veggie cookbooks this summer but one of the most useful is Genevieve Taylor's Charred which finally empowers vegetarians to enjoy barbecues as much as meat eaters. That said this isn't the recipe in the book that makes the most extensive use of the grill but it's such a sublime combination of ingredients it's really summer on a plate.

 Pulled pork and pinot

Pulled pork and pinot

The problem about discovering your match of the week at someone’s else's house is that you can’t really take a photo of the food if you don’t know them that well.

Win an amazing Catena malbec and asado experience

Win an amazing Catena malbec and asado experience

Some of the best barbecues I’ve had have been in Argentina where they have perfected the art of ‘asado’ - and have one of the best wines, in the form of malbec, to drink with it. THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.

Wine of the week: Monfil Garnacha 2020

Wine of the week: Monfil Garnacha 2020

I came across this exuberant garnacha when I was tasting wine at Lea & Sandeman in Notting Hill the other day and it struck me as the most incredible bargain at £8.95 (or £8.25 if you’re buying a case).

4 of the hottest new London restaurants (updated)

4 of the hottest new London restaurants (updated)

It's hard to keep up with London restaurant openings these days. The latest hotspot seems to change from week to week but these four should definitely be on your radar in spring 2015.

Roast vegetable stacks

Roast vegetable stacks

Another recipe for your World Cup celebrations from the Van Loveren family. It comes from the new Wines of South Africa cookbook Cape Wine Braai Masters but you could equally well cook it with a conventional oven and grill.

 Tahini BBQ lamb chops with fresh plums and spiced plum sauce

Tahini BBQ lamb chops with fresh plums and spiced plum sauce

Barbecue no longer automatically means burgers and ribs as Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich of Honey & Co's recent book Chasing Smoke amply demonstrates. This is a gorgeous way of grilling and serving lamb chops

The 10 best wines for spring and early summer drinking

The 10 best wines for spring and early summer drinking

The last two days have been quite, quite beautiful, starting mistily, basking midday in an unseasonally warm sun and finishing with an extended dusk that announces that spring is finally here. I immediately want to eat lighter meals: the new season’s vegetables are not quite in yet but I can at least plan for summer and that means a spring clean of the cellar, pushing the full bodied reds to the back and assessing what whites, lighter reds and rosés I still have lurking in the racks.

Pulled pork roll and a smoked Belgian-style pale ale

Pulled pork roll and a smoked Belgian-style pale ale

As those of you who follow our Facebook page may have spotted I was in France last week so you might expect a pairing with a wine from Languedoc. But no: the outstanding match, as with the previous week, was with a beer - and a rather unusual one at that . . .

Grilled sardines and - eeek! - Sir Cliff's Onda Nova Verdelho

Grilled sardines and - eeek! - Sir Cliff's Onda Nova Verdelho

As the best summer for a barbeque for some years it’s been a frustrating time for us flat-dwellers but when I was sent some fresh sardines* the other day I knew I was going to have to find some way to grill them outside if the flat wasn’t going to smell of fish for days.

Win a Char-Broil Gas2Coal BBQ and 3 cases of Beefsteak Club Wines

Win a Char-Broil Gas2Coal BBQ and 3 cases of Beefsteak Club Wines

Sponsored feature: We’ve got a absolutely brilliant prize this month for all you grillophiles!

Win a Big Green Egg Minimax worth £680!

Win a Big Green Egg Minimax worth £680!

If you’re into barbecuing you may already have heard of the Big Green Egg, a brilliant multi-purpose outdoor cooker and barbecue which is regarded as one of the best in the business. THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.

Wine of the week: Zarper malbec

Wine of the week: Zarper malbec

I was going to recommend a rosé this week having got the misguided impression from the heatwave last weekend that summer was on its way. But today in my home town of Bristol it’s cold, windy and about to rain so I think malbec is more the order of the day.

Wine of the week: Rafala Tinto Tempranillo

Wine of the week: Rafala Tinto Tempranillo

It may be so-called flaming June but the weather is anything but summery this weekend so I’m abandoning rosé for the time being and thinking about red.

Wine of the week: Black Star 2016

Wine of the week: Black Star 2016

This is the second of two really good German reds I’ve come across this summer*. It may surprise you that Germany makes red wine at all but it now makes up a significant amount of what the country produces

Jerk chicken and rum punch

Jerk chicken and rum punch

Despite the beautiful weather we’ve had over the past couple of days there’s a distinct late summer feel to the air which combined with the fact that the nights are drawing in reminds one - sadly - there aren’t that many evenings left for barbecuing this year. (Unless you’re one of those die-hards who grills all year round . . . )

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