Brunello and porterhouse steak
For me itâs always from Alsace. Dry or off-dry depends on the spice level, but surprisingly it doesnât seem as important as I would have thought. I suspect gewurz from elsewhere would also work as long as itâs balanced and not too sweet for the dish.
Yes! Also Dungeness crab and ChablisâŠwhich I had tonight! Can also substitute Champagne!
I think champagne should get a separate thread - which lists the foods that donât pair well with it. Much more efficient.
Iâm sure someone has already said it, but blue cheese with Port, Banyuls or similar.
Zero dosage BdB with real kettle corn popcorn.
Peking Duck with good rosé Champagne
litre-bottle GrĂŒner Veltliner and a gyro
unoaked Sauvignon Blanc with intimidatingly spicy fare or raw tomatoes
1er cru red Burgundy and Reggiano
Chimay Grande Reserve with a lobster roll
Belons natur and a Sapphire martini
Leaving out others that have already been mentioned.
2013 Dal Forno Valpolicella & Chocolate Cake (in 2020)
2001 ChĂąteau Suduiraut with blue cheese & mixed nuts (in 2017)
1996 ChĂąteau Thivin CĂŽte de Brouilly & duck sausage (in 2014)
2009 Michel Colin-Deléger et Fils Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru En Remilly & clam cakes (2011)
1999 Domaine Roulot Monthélie & Epoisses Berthaut (2006)
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very interesting. Was the sweetness really that strong? I still have yet to try any Dal Forno.
I like Burgundy with sauteâed mushrooms (both red and white).
I saw someone upthread mention goat cheese with Loire Sauvignon Blanc from. I also like it with Dry Chenin Blanc.
For me - Gruner Veltliner Federspiel with all sorts of home made Indian vegetables. Schloss Gobelsburg on the riper years seemed to do particularly well for us with a bunch of complex Indian cuisine.
I recently had a Charles Heidsieck Champagne Brut RĂ©serve with pan fried pork chops. That was insanely good.
What is your preferred preparation for the salted cod, TomĂĄs? I see it often in Italian grocery shops around Boston but never tried using it. Also, there has got to be a Portuguese wine that pairs well - isnât salted cod one of your national dishes?
Scallops and Chablis. Mmm!
Salted cod in Portugal is the king of the dinner table, and there are hundreds and hundreds of recipes - certainly more than Iâm aware of. Popular wisdom puts them at 1001, like the Arabic tales. Unlike the Italians we donât typically cook it with tomato sauce, though. I enjoy it most simply âna brasaâ (roasted), in garlic and olive oil, with a side dish of âbatata Ă murroâ (potatoes which are boiled, lightly smashed and then roasted. âMurroâ means âpunchâ). This is the Christmas Eve staple. Other famous recipes are bacalhau Ă braga/narcisa/minhota (fried together with onions), bacalhau Ă ZĂ© do Pipo (au gratin with mayonnaise and puree) and bacalhau Ă BrĂĄs (shredded cod cooked in the pan with very thin fries - âbatata Ă palhaâ - stirred eggs, olives and parsley). Bacalhau Ă BrĂĄs is a really easy, straightforward recipe for quick meals. I can hook you up with recipes if youâre inclined (I donât suppose there are a lot of them in English, but given the size of the Portuguese-American community in New England there just might be).
It is very important that you figure out whether the cod is already sold âdemolhadoâ (with excess salt removed through soaking) or not. If not, you must do this yourself, and the period of time it takes depends on its size - sometimes up to four days if the âpostasâ (steaks) are really tall, as in the picture I attached. They should be able to help you with that at the store, hopefully.
In its most ânobleâ setting, salted cod over here is often paired with red, and I find this to be abominable. The tannins highlight the saltiness, the saltiness makes the tannins harsher and ultimately no comfort is provided for the oily texture. However I also find that, for my taste, cod is too dense for Vinho Verde, Arinto from Bucelas or other lighter whites. A more structured white, often with appropriate oakiness, is ideal, and in Portugal the best examples are usually the Encruzados from the DĂŁo region, although there are other possibilities (many structured Douro whites, or Avesso varietal wines, or the nascent industry of non-perfumed, non-tropical, properly structured Alentejo whites). White Burgundy is excellent for the exact same reason, and Chardonnayâs occasional butteriness makes it even better, for my taste.
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No, in fact is tasted more akin to Bordeaux with a strong earth-driven component. A few months later I opened a bottle of the same wine to have with a steak & it was tannic & no where near as enjoyable. With the Chocolate cake, we finished that bottle in about an hour with four. That bottle of Dal Forno with the Steak had a 3-day life as I kept tasting & hoping for the same fireworks.
Tomas,
If the store cannot help you how do you know your soak is long enough? Taste it? If it were to take 4 days how often do you change the water, daily, 2x a day?
Iâm afraid this is not an exact science, and everyoneâs grandmother has a different established tradition to it. You have to judge the cod visually: some people say thereâs a 24 hour rule for each centimeter of height, others judge by dipping a finger in the water and tasting it to see how much salt it has (and, conversely, how much salt the cod has lost already). Some people change the water twice a day (every 12 hours), others prefer three times a day. Iâve had the experience of a 3 day soak being perfect and a 4 day soak being adequate, but not quite long enough for my taste (Iâm not a fan of super salty).
Itâs really subjective and takes some experience, so I would simply jump into it. What you absolutely must do is wash/rinse away the excess salt under a tap before soaking, make sure the skins are facing upward as you put the cod in the water (so the salt goes down to the bottom of the bowl) and leave the cod in the fridge while it soaks, so it doesnât spoil. If your fridge doesnât have enough room, you gotta play with ice cubes and keep the water temperature cold enough. Also, itâs up to you to take the thinner parts out before the thicker ones or to soak them separately, depending on which logistic is more convenient.
Actually, roast chicken is great with almost any red!
To add to Tomasâs points:
Youâll also notice the colour of the water change a bit, especially in the first day or two as the bulk of the salt leaches out into the water. I usually change it 2-3 times a day the first day or two and then daily after that. I also go by the feel of the âpostas.â As it hydrates the texture of of the bacalhau postas change when you pinch it with your fingers, it goes from very firm to springier texturee for lack of a better word.
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Smoked crispy duck and 04 Le Pin is my all time favorite pairing.
2000 Mouton with Chinese spiced fried South African lobster was pretty amazing also.
01 DRC Montrachet with⊠another glass was a pretty epic pairing also.
Virage Vineyard 2016 rose with hot Italian sausage. (Recommended by Emily and confirmed works really well.)