BTW, on my list of dishes to make, this one when the weather turns a little cooler, is jambon chablisienne ever since I saw it on a Burgundy episode of Anthony Bourdain’s show. I agree with earlier posts that cooking what the locals eat with their wines may be worth pursuing. I’ve made eggs meurette (same show) several times but still need to try drinking a burg with it.
Oh, I’m your Huckleberry…
First Level: pan frying mushrooms with herbs and butter is a must, particularly as you can adjust herbs to what notes you find in your Chard. This is simple AF cuisine, but there can be layers in your technique, and if you invest in good herbs (and mushrooms) you can bend them to your palate and your wine. Do not neglect this Fundamental, as ‘tried and boring’! Really explore the space. Repetition into Improvisation, into flavor development.
Second Level,: I highly recommend bacon-fat in the pan and then pan roasting good quality chicken. Marinated breasts are obviously super easy, but you can take different cuts time/preparation depending. To me, a high quality, thick bacon, adds a tremendous foundational structure for chicken. Having a good mix of bacon fat, white wine, and fresh herbs, I find gels with the chicken and so as you finish off in the oven, it adds a smokey, unctuousness to the chicken, and I find that smoky, meatiness really unlocks some good quality French Chard (i.e. not tropical fruit chard).
Third Level! If you do the above, or just play around with the 2nd level (like making chicken wings or something fun in the oven), if you put the drippings back in a frying pan, add some more wine or herbs (Again, bacon fat goes a long way, here), and simmer for a little while. You can then use this foundational, herbal, smoky bacon/chicken fat into a jam.
Pour the pan drippings/bacon fat/wine combo into a glass container to cool. Then put in fridge for 48 hrs. Then you can scrap the top fats off as the congeal on the top, and you’ll basically have a homemade chicken/bacon fat jam. If you have a good bakery and can get a beautiful rustic white or what around here the french bakery refers to as a Pain de Mie, you can cut two thick slices, put on top some sort of good quality, mild cheese (Gruyere, Gouda, et al), sprinkle some herbs, place in the oven to warm up and slightly brown/melt, remove, spread the jam on top, and maybe something else (I like to warm some lettuce in the pain with herbs and olive oil). This is my favorite “Bistro style” Croque, and I think pairs very favorably with White Burg. Sometimes I add a little bit of Raita (i.e. Indian yogurt herb mixture) on top. You can get layers of flavor, which, again, I think helps unlock the Chard, whether it’s playing up the grassiness, or using the chalk, or the minerality.
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Ok now we’re talking! None of this scallops and butter or shucked oysters. Too obvious!
But homemade chicken/bacon fat jam for the win! I can imagine that spread on a quality baguette with a glass of Lamy St. Aubin.
I bow down to you sir.
As usual, all roads lead back to bacon.
Its the ideal and obvious choice when serving pork, but my wife hates Riesling. This week I cooked pork chops in Dijon mustard sauce with risotto and paired it with a 2016 Chablis Fourchaume. I served it to my wife blind, and the first words out of her mouth were “why did you open a Riesling, you know I hate them”. She still thinks I poured Riesling into a Chablis bottle, but she did agree that it did pair well with the meal. In a pinch, I think youngish Chablis can be an adequate substitute.
I know what you mean! I’m working through via coravin of the Billaud - Simone 2014 for my midweek wine. I almost paired it with a turkey burger ( but switched with Brunello at the last minute , and saved the rest for the next days scallops).
Just love Chablis.
Haha Chablis, the Riesling of Chardonnay! I think Jay began by saying, Chardonnay and pork certainly works. I visited Chablis a few years back and can confirm - Chablis and jambon à la chablisienne is a tremendous match. And as Marcu$ writes above, Chablis indeed goes with pretty much everything you’d eat in Chablis.
pretty much all my iron skillet efforts start with a good brushing of bacon fat on the pan. saving a jar of it on the counter also keeps your trash can from catching on fire, or your sink from getting clogged up after you make a rasher of bacon.
some of the sugary bacons fat will screw up your jar though. it never really renders quite the same.
A little off topic but to me, the only perfect pairing you can get with Comté is Vin Jaune. Get yourself 2 bottles of Chateau Chalon (Tissot will do it). Start the meal with champers with an oxidized profile (Georges Laval for example), empty the bubbly and pop open the first Chalon and follow suite with hare with morels in cream sauce. Wait until the first clavelin is completely empty. Open up number two and bring out a young and aged Comté. You had me at Vin Jaune.
I will never get myself to cook “poulet au vin jaune”. I can’t waste a single drop of that stuff.
Sorry about that. You can go back to Chard now…
Whole roasted chicken (lemons, fresh herb(s) of your choosing, salt, and pepper in the cavity; salt and pepper rubbed on outside) with roasted potatoes and roasted veggies underneath (carrots; onion; celery). Yes, it’s simple. It’s also amazing.
Crab
Any pasta tossed with butter and parmesan.
Pan-seared scallops in a brown butter-sage sauce, with sauteed shallot
Many kinds of roasted squash (butternut squash raviolis is insane with Chardonnay)
To be clear, I’m not saying Chardonnay is the best pairing with each of the above-listed foods, but rather that it works very well with them. There’s no getting around personal preferences, of course, so YMMV. Good luck!
Definitely roast chicken w/ some crispy skin is great with White Burgundy, one of my fave pairings.
Simply prepared scallops are great with Chardonnay too. Think that’s the key is keeping the sauce to a minimum, like with pasta as well.