Perfect Pairs

Every once in a while, I stumble across a truly synergistic food and beverage combination. You know the kind, where the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. I discovered one such pairing this weekend: Bar B Que Bob's lemon cheese pie and chilled vodka.

By itself, the pie is very good. It is basically a less dense type of cheese cake in a pie crust. The lemon gives it an initial tart punch which then gives way to a sweet and smooth creaminess which coats the tongue, setting you up for the next lemony zing. I am not really a hard liquor drinker, but the pairing of the pie with vodka was phenomonal. In between bites of the pie, the alcohol disolved away the residual cream cheese filling, preparing the tongue for the next creamy bite. Moreover, the astringency of the vodka really intensified the lemon flavor.

Another favorite combination of mine is a very rare feta cheeseburger with a glass of retsina (an aquired taste).

I am interested in learning about perfect pairs that others have discovered, not just involving alcoholic beverages, but also fruit juices, coffees and teas.

For those with long memories, forgive the repetition, but in a post entitled L'Amore dell'Amaro, I mentioned one such -- to my mind -- perfect combination:

«To me, a perfectly balanced little lunch, involving the best sandwich imaginable, is the following: first-rate Italian bread with just prosciutto di parma and fresh mozzarella or fior di latte and a good grind of black pepper, accompanied by a Chinotto... Sweetness, , a little sourness, saltiness, a little piquancy, and, as in life, a dose of bitterness at the end.»

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=2761#2761

Antonius

A,

We are so in sync. I had forgotten about your post (unbelievable as that may sound), but I just posted about bitters, using the same play on amore/amaro -- I copy-catted you and didn't even know it (at least not consciously). Didn't this happen with some other post recently? A Mexican place...

For my perfect pair, I would like to nominate Bourbon and Pecan Sandies.

David

Schwa's lobster with gooseberries, lavender and chard paired with a glass (or bottle) of 2004 Kim Crawford Sauginon Blanc. Floral with fruity.

Antonius wrote:first-rate Italian bread with just prosciutto di parma and fresh mozzarella or fior di latte and a good grind of black pepper, accompanied by a Chinotto

Sounds delicious. Is this beverage commonly available in Chicago? I have never had one, but I like Campari and soda, which I guess would be pretty close in flavor. Does Chinotto have sugar added?

d4v3 wrote:

Antonius wrote:first-rate Italian bread with just prosciutto di parma and fresh mozzarella or fior di latte and a good grind of black pepper, accompanied by a Chinotto

Sounds delicious. Is this beverage commonly available in Chicago? I have never had one, but I like Campari and soda, which I guess would be pretty close in flavor. Does Chinotto have sugar added?

d,

Chinotto, named after the fruit itself in Italian (Latin citrus myrtifolia) is lightly carbonated and sweetened but the bitter element is dominant. It's available in all the Italian specialty stores (Conte di Savoia, Bari, Riviera, Joseph's) and the Italian groceries under the Caputo flag(s).

Antonius

Another invocation of a perfect pairing I wrote about in the past, namely in a thread called...

A la Mort Subite
Brussel /Bruxelles / Brussels

... is the combination of kriek and a boterham of plattekeis.


«Grijsbrood met boter, radijskes, ajuintjes, zout, peper, en een potje plattekeis...
daarbij een glas kriek van 't vat: da's lekker.


Perhaps the kriek was a little sweeter this time than I remember but other than that, I felt somewhat as if I had managed to step into a time machine and, frankly, it was a very good feeling.»

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=45657#45657

Antonius

In "'Tis", his follow-up to "Angela's Ashes", Frank McCourt writes about his greatest luxury when he first started working as a teacher in New York - smuggling a whole lemon meringue pie and ginger ale into the movie theater. I have recreated the combination (in the comfort of my own home and abstaining from eating a whole pie, but close enough) and can attest to the fact that it works beautifully.

Oh man, what a challenge!

OK here's one of two, the easiest: a *really* heavy-duty late-harvest waaaay over-alcoholed zin plus HerrenSchokolade, the darkest bitterest chocolate in the universe. The high alcohol plus residual sugar in the zin just merge wonderfully with the rich, bitter chocolate.

The second is controversial. Well, at least it's been subject to controversy§: belon oysters plus a muscadet sur lie. Oh boy. I don't even need to describe this one to you--I'm sure you can imagine it.

Geo

http://www.stollwerck.de/index1.html


§ Kevin Zraley and I were giving a series of tastings at the American, and we got into an argument about oysters and what should accompany them. Zraley, most naturally, argued that sancerre would be the best choice. For my part, I argued from First Principles: since muscadet was pretty much in the homeland of the belon, they belonged together for reasons of terroir, tradition, etc. Needless to say, upon tasting, neither of us lost this particular debate! Both combos were superb! :^)

In the vast majority of Belgian cafés, when one orders a cup of coffee, there comes alongside the coffee a small bit of snoep, a little treat. Two very common ones are 1) a small bar of dark Côte d'Or chocolate; 2) a small Spekulaas cookie, most often Lotus brand. Now, I have very little inclination to eat sweets but the combination of a cup of strong Belgian style coffee and a small piece of plain Belgian chocolate (mind you, I wouldn't turn my nose up to a first rate Belgian pralineke in this context!) or a nice koekske are for me and for most other people irresistible.



The Vermeiren spekulaas pictured above I brought back from Belgium last time I was there; these are made with whole wheat and are particularly good.

Antonius 'de Waal' Flamingantus