What to Drink with What you Eat

Award-Winning Authors Create the Definitive Guide for Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Fruit Juices, Water & More

By Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page

Photography by: Michael Sofronski

reviewed by Marty Martindale

When it come to pairing, there are two schools of thought. The original one is certain foods will not taste their best without an appropriate accompanying drink. This book is for them. The second school states your favorite beverage is the perfect beverage to go with your favorite foods. Some purists demand water without ice for a third option.

The authors have consulted with some of the top authorities, experts from dozens of America’s finest restaurants. While suggesting a perfect match in a beverage, the book also suggests great foods to highlight a particular spirit.

In over 350 pages, glossy pages, admid the advice, If It Grows Together, it Goes Together, they explain the functions of a sommelier, an interesting chart separates wines by body and they don’t stop with wines but go on to beers, bottles waters and teas.

After over 70 pages of useful introductory information they commence the first of two major sections with “Matching Beverages to Foods.” For instance with grouper, they suggest Arneis, white Burgundy, Chardonnay, Rose, Sauvignon Blanc or Semillion. With shrimp, they like Chardonnay or Souve. With an oyster po’ boy, they like beer or Barq’s root beer.

The second major part, “Matching Foods to Beverages,” starts with their classification of wines into types, i.e. fruity, herbaceous, low-acid, New World, Oaky and more. Then they launch into wine families – Bandol, Barbera, Beaujolais and the foods they enhance. For instance, they suggest White Macon with artichokes, calamari, charcuterie, French goat cheese, French fries, gourgers, ham, sausage and stewed seafood. When it comes to Sparkling Shiraz, the list is very long, and they quote Joshua Wesson, wine director, Best Cellars, “Sparkling Shirza picks up anything with red fruit like strawberries or raspberries … It can also hold its own with maple syrup where you want something sweet that can also cut through the intensity.”

Near the end they have a section, “At the Table with the Experts, Pairing Menus from some of America’s Best Restaurants. They will go into some of the thinking of experts and how they designed some of their most outstanding menus, and some are included.

Keep a copy of this book in your libarary for an arbitrary last word next time a wine issue comes up among friends.

Authors, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg have previously written books entitled: Becoming a Chef, Dining Out and The New American Chef.

Find the authors at their site: http://www.becomingachef.com/what_to_drink.php

Marty Martindale’s website is: http://foodsiteoftheday.com