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Pairings | Best bitter

5 wine and beer pairings for shepherd’s pie

5 wine and beer pairings for shepherd’s pie

Posted on January 18 2022 at 07:39

You’ll always find people argue about shepherd’s pie but in my view it should be made with lamb rather than beef (that’s cottage pie) and with very little, if any tomato - apart from maybe a dash of ketchup for sweetness.

Tags: shepherds pie Vacqueyras beer Côtes-du-Rhône red Bordeaux claret Rioja drink:red wine best bitter cottage pie drink:beer & cider pale ale food:beef & lamb shepherd's pie
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Northern Monk Ronseal Medium Oak best bitter

Northern Monk Ronseal Medium Oak best bitter

Posted on August 29 2021 at 17:17

I have to say it was pure genius for Leeds brewer Northern Monk to come up with this collaboration* with Ronseal which of course carries the catchy slogan ‘does exactly what it says on the tin’.

Tags: saison best bitter beer drink:beer & cider
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6 of the best matches for fish and chips

6 of the best matches for fish and chips

Posted on January 7 2022 at 07:39

Now that fish and chips can found in every posh fish restaurant, wine has become as popular a pairing as a nice cup of builders' tea (good though that is). But which one?

Tags: chips fish black tea drink:tea & coffee sparkling perry perry best bitter pale ale Rueda Sauvignon Blanc drink:white wine cava Champagne drink:champagne & sparkling mushy peas tartare sauce fish and chips food:fish & shellfish
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Mackerel pasty and Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs 2006

Mackerel pasty and Gusbourne Blanc de Blancs 2006

Posted on August 8 2011 at 08:34

This actually wasn't the dish with which I drank this brilliant new sparkling wine at Rocksalt in Folkestone last week - I'd unfortunately finished my glass by then - but it would certainly have been a knockout wine pairing.

Tags: medium-dry cider bitter best bitter Kent drink:beer & cider Gusbourne blanc de blancs drink:champagne & sparkling sausagemeat mackerel mackerel pasty food:pork food:fish & shellfish cider Rocksalt restaurant
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Bit of a rubbish pic but a quick riff on the TikTok baked feta pasta adding sundried tomatoes as I didn’t have enough fresh ones. Otherwise everything from the store cupboard and fridge. #givingupstockingup. . . . #pasta #bakedfetapasta #tomatoes #sundriedtomatoes #storecupboardcooking #frugalmeals #lovefoodhatewaste #loveyourleftoversTea and cake at the very charming @ospreylondon café St Albans. Great deals on bags and purses too (which means, yes, I bought one 😉). . . . #cake #café #almondcake #tea #earlgrey #osprey #stalbansStews also act as a useful receptacle for random freezer finds. The first shot is a fish stew made from a couple of chunky fillets of hake, a few queen scallops (goodness knows how long they’d been there) and a few frozen prawns. I made a base from onion, garlic, a slosh of white wine and half a tin of chopped tomatoes, then added the fish and a few parboiled new potatoes. Oh and the magic ingredients - a few drops of nam pla (fish sauce) which boots the flavour of any fishy dish and a pinch of saffron soaked in warm water. And some of that flat leaf parsley that went into the tuna and bean salad at the end. The other dish was based on an odd chunk of meat I thought was mutton but turned out - not disastrously - to be a ham hock. I slow roasted it with onions, carrots and a bit of beer then served it with a root veg stew made from onions, carrots, swede and potatoes finished off with brown miso and a dash of soy. Took the meat off the bone and added it back to the stew. It WOULD have been better with mutton but was pretty good nonetheless. Except that I now have to think what to do with the leftover root veg as I inevitably bought too much 🙄. Useful reminder that IT REALLY DOES HELP TO LABEL AND DATE THINGS YOU PUT IN THE FREEZER. And then remember that they’re there. When I was first married I used to have a freezer book, believe it or not. Not a bad idea. What have you found lurking in your freezer lately? . . . #stew #fishstew #hake #prawns #shrimp #hamhock #rootvegetables #miso #freezermeals #loveyourleftovers #lovefoodhatewaste #givingupstockingup #frugalmealsMore fridge foraging over the weekend built around half a jar of @boldbeanco’s fabulous queen butter beans which my generous neighbour @jennychandleruk had passed on to me as I’d run out and she knows I love’em. I used them to rustle up this quick tuna and bean salad with a tin of very good tuna from @thetinnedfishmarket, a handful of delicious cracked green Lebanese olives from @shorkk.food and a small preserved lemon it took me at least 5 minutes to find in the back of the fridge. I used the oil from the tuna tin and the brine from the olives and lemon as a dressing and mixed in some freshly chopped flat leaf parsley from my local greengrocer @regthe_veg. (I AM allowing myself fresh herbs) The sharpness of the olives and lemon really made it for me as I normally find tuna salads a bit bland. Incidentally the sharp-eyed among you may notice that there are two different shots of the dish - actuall 3 as I forgot to delete one. I recently bought some vinyl backdrops from @blackvelvetstyling in an attempt to raise my food styling game. Ideally there should have been a vase of flowers, some Scandi cutlery and a folded napkin in the shot, I know 😂. I still have a lot to learn. Which pic do you like best? . . #beans #pulses #tuna #tunaandbeansalad #olives #pickledlemons #fridgeforaging #storecupboardcooking #lovefoodhatewaste #frugalliving #givingupstockingup #foodphotograpy Follow on Instagram

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