Alabama’s Best Food And Wine Pairings
I hope I am not the only one who has a problem matching which wine goes with which meal. A good glass of wine can enhance any meal unless you serve the wrong one.
So to save you any heartache or the crying into your Chardonnay, I have spent hours upon hours searching the World Wide Web to find the answer to this dilemma.
The basic principle to follow is you pair the wine with the main ingredient, the sauce, or the spices you will be using. So if you are cooking chicken but let’s say mushrooms are in your gravy, your wine pairing would go with the richness of the mushrooms. Again let’s say if you are using chicken but you are making a citrus-based sauce, base your wine selection by pairing it with the citrus.
Chicken is a great protein but doesn’t have much of a flavor till you season it.
So how do you know which wine is which? …Keep reading!
Ok, you're grilling some salmon and what pairs well with it? Chardonnay. This is a dry but medium-bodied wine that’s perfect with hearty seafood meals and chicken dishes.
So now I know what pairs with fried chicken…Chardonnay.
If you are like me and enjoy a great steak, then your choice should be a Cabernet. It’s a bold red wine that compliments any meaty dish like stew, lamb, venison, and of course a nice porterhouse steak.
Ok, an earthy or savory dish should be paired with a Pinot Noir. PS…earthy means like mushroom gravy, yes I looked that up too. This is also red wine.
Pinot Grigio is a light refreshing white wine that pairs amazingly with light seafood dishes. I could see a glass of this at my table with some pan-seared scallops.
Rieslings are a sweet wine that helps balance dishes that are hot and spicy.
Let’s just say this is a lot of information to take in and of course I understand. So to save you the brain cells needed to remember this info I found one wine that is considered a universal wine!
Yes, a wine that goes with almost any dish!!
Sauvignon Blanc
Sauvignon Blanc is a white wine. Now from what I have read up on, and I have read a lot, this is considered a universal wine by so many experts. So if you are in a pinch and want to impress a dinner guest, I have found you a wine to pair with practically any meal you serve!
So all my hard work and time spent researching this could have ended with just one sentence.
Buy a good Sauvignon Blanc.
Yet I think maybe just maybe, I may have to do some taste testing this weekend just to be sure the experts are truly experts in this field.