You’ve heard of pairing wine and food to create the perfect balance of flavours (and ideally impress your dinner party guests in the process), but what if you’re more into margaritas than malbecs or merlots?
Just as one might pair a creamy pasta with a light-bodied white wine like Chardonnay to highlight the qualities of both, it’s also possible to pair your favourite cocktails with dishes that compliment their flavours and sweetness. Read on for tips on how to develop your own pairings, plus a list of five of our favourite cocktail and food combos!
Flavour pairing techniques
As the wine blog Wine Folly notes, flavour pairing is about more than just preference – in fact, it’s a science. All ingredients are made up of flavour compounds, and pairing involves combining those ingredients that share compounds.
Scientific though it may be, it doesn’t take a trained food scientist to pair flavours. Even the most casual foodie would be able to express why a dish containing chocolate pudding and anchovies, for example, is objectively off-putting.
Besides flavour, there are several other factors at play in pairing. You can also create a winning combo by creating a balance between the six tastes: sweet, sour, salty, spicy/pungent, bitter and umami/astringent. You may have heard the suggestion, for example, to pair highly acidic wines with rich foods so as to “cut through” the richness.
Texture and temperature play a role, too – think crisp, warm apple crumble with velvety ice cream. When planning a menu, you may also want to consider the region of origin of the dishes or flavour combinations you want to serve.
If you’re still not confident in your flavour mixing abilities, rest assured that the internet is full of suggested pairings for virtually every cocktail, budget and preference… below are a few of our favourite pairs!
No time to toil away behind the stove and embrace your inner mixologist? All of the following cocktails are available in a pre-mixed (and zero-waste!) form from Meetini!
- Negroni + Plant-Based Salumi Board
Gin, red vermouth, campari and a slice of orange make up the negroni – a bittersweet, botanical beverage that’s best enjoyed as a happy hour refreshment. First mixed in Florence, Italy in 1910, the negroni’s bitter taste and status as a classic aperitif make it a perfect match for the decadent flavours of a pre-dinner platter of plant-based cheese and salumi (the Italian term for fermented meats). Verdino Green Foods does a great salami, or you could try making your own. For the cheeses, opt for pungent, salty options, like Honestly Tasty’s gorgonzola-esque blue cheese.
2. Margarita + Baja Ceviche Tostadas
While the origins of the margarita are unclear, there’s no denying its association with Mexico. The beverage, which traditionally features tequila, triple sec and lime juice served in a salt-rimmed glass, was invented by one of several possible Mexican bartenders in the 1930s or 40s, and has since become one of the world’s favourite mixed drinks – arguably more so outside of Mexico than within the country. For many marg-lovers, nothing compares to the combination of the salty, sweet and sour drink with casual, Mexican street food-inspired fare, like these Baja ceviche tostadas by Mexican food blogger Dora Stone.
3. Old Fashioned + Spiced Nuts
The old fashioned may indeed go back hundreds of years, but its popularity has managed to persist into the 2020s. Consisting of bourbon or rye, Angostura bitters muddled with water and sugar and a slice or garnish of orange, the old fashioned is sweet, bitter and spicy – a perfect match for smoky, nutty flavours, like these spiced nuts (we recommend going heavy on the pecans!).
4. Espresso Martini + Chocolate Brownies with Raspberry Compote
Coffee is, naturally, the dominant flavour in the espresso martini – a creamy, bittersweet dessert in a glass. The drink’s sweetness makes it a great dessert option… especially if your guests are in need of a little pick-me-up after a big meal. It’s not so sweet, however, that it doesn’t leave room for a little extra sugar in the form of a decadent, chewy brownie served with warm raspberry compote (raspberry coulis or fresh raspberries work, too). Coffee and chocolate are a timeless pair, and the raspberry is sweet enough to compliment both but sharp enough to cut through some of the richness of the brownie and the coffee liqueur.