Food and Wine Pairings

[kastle]

Hello this is my first post on egullet I am a Private Chef in Manhattan and I need assistance with wine pairings for a dinner that I'm doing soon. Here is my menu:

Celeriac Veloute

butter poached lobster, tarragon creme fraiche

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Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras

toasted brioche, walnut-mache salad, riesling gelee, blackberry gastrique

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Scottish Salmon wrapped in Apple Smoked Bacon

creamy leeks, tomato concasee, cassis vinegar jus

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Roasted Australian Loin of Lamb

port roasted shallots, potato-gruyere croquettes, black truffle jus, shaved black truffles

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A Tasting of Pear

pear-almond ice cream, vanilla-port poached, fried skin salad with golden raisins

I would appreciate any tips for wine pairing,

Thanks.

[Rebel Rose]

Welcome to eGullet, kastle! Are you looking for a specific wine for each course, or one or more wines that might do double-duty? Do you have an approximate cost in mind?

(The menu is mouth-watering, by the way.)

[Brad Ballinger]

First of all, Yum.

Second, my two cents. . .

Celeriac Veloute

butter poached lobster, tarragon creme fraiche

Meursault -- That lobster seems like it will be rich.

Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras

toasted brioche, walnut-mache salad, riesling gelee, blackberry gastrique

Vouvray Moelleux -- Sweetness to go well with foie gras with enough acid to be good with the rest.

Scottish Salmon wrapped in Apple Smoked Bacon

creamy leeks, tomato concasee, cassis vinegar jus

Riesling Spatlese -- From the Pfalz. It just seems right, but your guest may want you to move to red, so a northern Burgundy like a Marsannay or Fixin also seems right.

Roasted Australian Loin of Lamb

port roasted shallots, potato-gruyere croquettes, black truffle jus, shaved black truffles

Bordeaux -- Some are going to say Australian Shiraz, but with the perfume of the truffles, I think you need something less in your face. Alternatively, a 2003 Barbera.

A Tasting of Pear

pear-almond ice cream, vanilla-port poached, fried skin salad with golden raisins

Moscato -- not the fizzy stuff, though.

[kastle]

Brad, thanks for you're help and your pairings are great, Rebel as for a budget, Luckily its very high and my clients don't care about cost they just want to have a remarkable evening. Thanks for the reply's.

[Cook456]

I need a recommendation for a recipe in this month's Cooking Light. It's a pork tenderlion stew with tomatoes, white wine, fennel, onions, and nicoise olives. Seasoning is fresh thyme.

[tammylc]

So, I've posted a few times here in the past, looking for food pairing ideas for my wine club. You've all been very helpful - thanks!

April will be the one year anniversary of the wine club, and we want to do a special dinner. The group is really interested in food and wine pairing, so I thought it would be really fun to plan an event that can really highlight some "matches made in heaven" and maybe also show some of the downsides too.

Here's my thought - plan four courses (plus dessert), with a wine for each course. But we'll pour all four wines so people can compare and contrast and see how the food really does work with the chosen wine more so than the others.

But to pull this off, I need some advice! Anyone have any ideas for interesting combinations? (Note - we do have at least one vegetarian in the group, so suggestions that can be easily modified for her would be especially welcome, especially for starter courses.)

Thanks!

[DTBarton]

Some classics-

Champagne/sparkling wine with:

smoked fish, caviar, puff pastry with a sprinkle of parmesan

Burgundy/Pinot Noir with:

wild mushroom tart

Alsace Reisling/Pinot Gris with:

sausage, braised cabbage, onion tart

Zinfandel with:

smoky grilled meat, grilled portabello mushroom

Muscadet with:

steamed mussels

Sauterne with:

Foie gras on toast points, grapes and brie

Rhone red with:

Beef or lamb stew

[KatieLoeb]

As a couple of alternatives to Brad's excellent suggestions to go with your really lovely menu, I'll suggest:

Celeriac Veloute

butter poached lobster, tarragon creme fraiche

Savennieres - Clos de Coulee de Serrant if you can find it. It'll be delicious and pick up the earthiness of the celeriac and the herbal qualities of the tarragon in addition to having enough acidity to stand up to the richness of the butter and creme fraiche.

Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras

toasted brioche, walnut-mache salad, riesling gelee, blackberry gastrique

Riesling Auslese -- I'd want to stick with riesling just because of the gelee. I'd hate to overwhelm that flavor with a different wine, but that's just me. I guess it depends on how large a component of the dish that gelee really is.

Scottish Salmon wrapped in Apple Smoked Bacon

creamy leeks, tomato concasee, cassis vinegar jus

Oregon Pinot Noir - I prefer a lighter red wine with my salmon, and in this progression, it's time to move to red after two very sumptuous whites. If you can find a nice Burgundian-style Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley it should match well with this course. I think the more fruit forward style of the New World wine should compliment the cassis in the sauce. Brad's suggestion of a Northern Burgundy is an excellent one as well.

I don't even want to touch the other two courses. I think Brad's suggestions are perfect.

[Brad Ballinger]

I like Katie's suggestions just as well. If you get an auslese, go with a hot year like 1998, 2002, or 2003.

[Brad Ballinger]

Although I personally tend to not make a big deal about such things, here are some "classic" pairings not already mentioned...

Vintage Port and blue cheese

Champagne and oysters

Burgundy (red) and game fowl

Sancerre and goat cheese

Moscato d'Asti and zabaglione

Tawny Port and nuts

Fino Sherry and gazpacho

Barolo and game

[Rebel Rose]

A Tasting of Pear

pear-almond ice cream, vanilla-port poached, fried skin salad with golden raisins

Definitely seconding the suggestions made so far. I think I'd also like to suggest a dessert viognier or late harvest chardonnay or pinot blanc, if you can find one, for the pear course. Late harvest whites often have a distinctive nutty character that would match the dish, and I see that the pears are poached in port, so a more exotic and layered dessert white would help keep the dessert lively by making it seem lighter and more ephemeral in comparison.

[TongoRad]

In the Rosengarten/Wesson book Red Wine With Fish they have a section that deals with throwing this sort of event. In short, specific food items are listed as well as three pairings for each- one good match, one neutral match, and one bad match. I've done this with friends and it was both fun and enlightening. There are some downsides, though. #1) even with four couples the stems got out of control, you need a minimum of 4 stems per person (3 wine and 1 water) and even at that there is a lot of rinsing. #2) you will be opening a lot of wine- 3 per food item. #3) a lot of the $$$ that you spend will be on something specifically set up to be unpleasant.

If you can mentally get past these issues then this may be an approach you shuld consider. I can IM you the pairings if you like.

[tammylc]

In the Rosengarten/Wesson book Red Wine With Fish they have a section that deals with throwing this sort of event. In short, specific food items are listed as well as three pairings for each- one good match, one neutral match, and one bad match. I've done this with friends and it was both fun and enlightening. There are some downsides, though. #1) even with four couples the stems got out of control, you need a minimum of 4 stems per person (3 wine and 1 water) and even at that there is a lot of rinsing. #2) you will be opening a lot of wine- 3 per food item. #3) a lot of the $$$ that you spend will be on something specifically set up to be unpleasant.

If you can mentally get past these issues then this may be an approach you shuld consider. I can IM you the pairings if you like.

←

That sounds very cool, and just the sort of thing I'm looking for. I'm wondering if there's a way to do it so that we don't have to open so many bottles - look for combinations where the good match for one course is a neutral or bad match for another course, for example.

If you could PM me pairings, that would be great. I think I'll also see if I can get a cheap used copy of the book via Amazon or something.

[JohnL]

As a couple of alternatives to Brad's excellent suggestions to go with your really lovely menu, I'll suggest:

Celeriac Veloute

butter poached lobster, tarragon creme fraiche

Savennieres -  Clos de Coulee de Serrant if you can find it.  It'll be delicious and pick up the earthiness of the celeriac and the herbal qualities of the tarragon in addition to having enough acidity to stand up to the richness of the butter and creme fraiche.

Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras

toasted brioche, walnut-mache salad, riesling gelee, blackberry gastrique

Riesling Auslese -- I'd want to stick with riesling just because of the gelee.  I'd hate to overwhelm that flavor with a different wine, but that's just me.  I guess it depends on how large a component of the dish that gelee really is.

Scottish Salmon wrapped in Apple Smoked Bacon

creamy leeks, tomato concasee, cassis vinegar jus

Oregon Pinot Noir - I prefer a lighter red wine with my salmon, and in this progression, it's time to move to red after two very sumptuous whites.  If you can find a nice Burgundian-style Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley it should match well with this course.  I think the more fruit forward style of the New World wine should compliment the cassis in the sauce.  Brad's suggestion of a Northern Burgundy is an excellent one as well.

I don't even want to touch the other two courses.  I think Brad's suggestions are perfect.

←

Great picks especially the pinot with the salmon.

I would have some potential problems with the Coulee though. This is a wine that needs some time/age IMOP-many younger versions are ok to drink but really do not reveal a lot of the wine's real pleasures. It may work really well or maybe not so well with the lobster dish in question. To my palate Brad's Meursault is close to perfect for this.

The Coulee is a really interesting thought--it does have the herbal thing--this wine can be very complex--and the acidity but I think it might not "stand up" to the richness of the dish-- I would think that it would be more recommendable with a simple steamed or grilled lobster (and a bit extravagant--I saw the wonderful '02 on sale for eighty bucks a bottle).

I just had the 1990 and all I can say is--wow--absolutely magnificent.

[SBonner]

Here's my suggestions as well.

Celeriac Veloute

butter poached lobster, tarragon creme fraiche

Burgundian styled Chardonnay from Western Australia. These big boys are rich, nutty, complex, and have the stamina for the butter and lobster.

-

Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras

toasted brioche, walnut-mache salad, riesling gelee, blackberry gastrique

A minimum of an Auslese Riesling or TBA from Austria both will meld with the Riesling gelee and create some great acidity balances with the blackberry

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Scottish Salmon wrapped in Apple Smoked Bacon

creamy leeks, tomato concasee, cassis vinegar jus

I'm all for Pinot Noir as well. Tori Mor from Oregon would be a nice match

-

Roasted Australian Loin of Lamb

port roasted shallots, potato-gruyere croquettes, black truffle jus, shaved black truffles

Something different...Reserva or Gran Reserva Rioja from a vintage like 1998 or if you can find some 1994. You've got power, elegance, and complexity of flavour that will work with this dish.

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A Tasting of Pear

pear-almond ice cream, vanilla-port poached, fried skin salad with golden raisins

A very tasty Muscat de Baume-de-Venise.

Cheers,

Stephen Bonner

Vancouver

Edited March 9, 2006 by SBonner (log)

[KatieLoeb]

My suggestion for the Clos de Coulee de Serrant came after kastle said money was no object.

I agree it's a risky choice, but has the potential to be utterly transcendant and brilliant if it works. There are few dishes short of a butter poached lobster that I'd consider a spot on match for such an unusual wine. But it's just soooooo delicious and inspiring I thought it would be worth a shot. If nothing else, it will certainly leave an impression with the clients. It remains the most interesting and unusual wine I've certainly ever tasted.

Sadly, I don't have enough Clos de Coulee de Serrant cross my path to suggest a specific vintage (), but a bit of research of online tasting notes for whichever vintages might be available to kastle locally ought to reveal enough information to take the plunge, if so desired. Any of the biodynamically grown wines from Nicholas Joly would be a safe bet for quality.

[JohnL]

My suggestion for the Clos de Coulee de Serrant came after kastle said money was no object. 

I agree it's a risky choice, but has the potential to be utterly transcendant and brilliant if it works.  There are few dishes short of a butter poached lobster that I'd consider a spot on match for such an unusual wine.  But it's just soooooo delicious and inspiring I thought it would be worth a shot.  If nothing else, it will certainly leave an impression with the clients.  It remains the most interesting and unusual wine I've certainly ever tasted.

Sadly, I don't have enough Clos de Coulee de Serrant cross my path to suggest a specific vintage (), but a bit of research of online tasting notes for whichever vintages might be available to kastle locally ought to reveal enough information to take the plunge, if so desired.  Any of the biodynamically grown wines from  Nicholas Joly would be a safe bet for quality.

←

I guess I find Coulee from good vintages and aged well so beguiling an experience that maybe I would prefer to drink it alone--just savoring it.

this is one wine that has the potential to draw one's attention away from the lobster!

as with most wines--Coulee is not always on point (nor Joly) the wines have been a bit erratic in quality over the years--recently mostly on form though.

it is nice to take a risk once in a while--as you point out the payoff could be really wonderful!

[kastle]

thanks for the reply's It was very helpful.

[KatieLoeb]

thanks for the reply's It was very helpful.

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kastle:

I'm certain I speak for all of us when I say it was a pleasure to help. But now, of course, you are obligated to report back after this meal and let us know which wines you served and how they were received by the guests. Our curiosity will kill us (or at least mine will!) otherwise.

[SBonner]

thanks for the reply's It was very helpful.

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kastle:

I'm certain I speak for all of us when I say it was a pleasure to help. But now, of course, you are obligated to report back after this meal and let us know which wines you served and how they were received by the guests. Our curiosity will kill us (or at least mine will!) otherwise.

←

I'd like to hear what wines you went with as well.

Cheers,

Stephen

Vancouver

[SBonner]

I need a recommendation for a recipe in this month's Cooking Light.  It's a pork tenderlion stew with tomatoes, white wine, fennel, onions, and nicoise olives.  Seasoning is fresh thyme.

←

Try a lighter bodied Cannonau from Sardina it should compliment the tomatoes and herbal elements in your dish.

Stephen

Vancouver

[adrian1]

This is my first post as an eGullet member. I look forward to more.

I was recently handed the following menu to match wines with. I would appreciate hearing other members' thoughts on appropriate matches.

1. KOBE BEEF CARPACCIO with sesame pickled ginger and a wasabi dressing

2. SOFT SHELL CRAB with a fennel wakame salad & a blood orange vinaigrette

3. BRAISED DAIKON with organic carrots, honeycomb mushrooms & organic miso

4. YUZU, LIME BUTTER POACHED LOBSTER with kimchee spaetzle

It's quite the interesting challenge!

Look forward to hearing from you.

[PCL]

I have found that aromatics work well with this thing called "fusion."

As a matter of fact, I've just come back from lunch at a great Modern Thai place, called Longrain, here in Melbourne, and I can report quite assuredly that the following drops work well with the flavour profiles you've described in your menu:

Pinot Gris/Grigio

Riesling (New World)

Rose (as in the pinky light red stuff)

Semillon Sauvignon Blanc (NZ especially, Marlborough)

Sparkling whites do well too, and if you want to funk it up, try a sparkling Australian shiraz

[adrian1]

Thanks PCL for your quick reply.

My thoughts were, exactly, on Riesling & especially Sparkling as well as Rose. Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc had never crossed my mind. Here in Toronto your Aussie wines are hugely popular. Sparkling Shiraz...I wonder???

[Syrah]

What about Verdelho?