Comfort Food Wine Pairings

The following is an interview I had with StarChefs a few months back about Comfort Food Wine Pairings... http://www.starchefs.com/


Star Chefs: At SugarToad, you paired a Farmer's Board: Pate de Campagne, Corned Beef Heart, Face Bacon, and Chicken Liver Guanciale with Clendenen Family Vineyards, Tocai Friulano And a S'More, Panna Cotta, Graham Cracker Tuile, Burnt Meringue with a drink called "George Washington's Eggnog" Can you tell us about these pairings, and how your “somm” sensibilities kick in with "comfort food" pairings?


Tim: “Somm” sense kicks in with a point of reference. Growing up, my favorite soda was Dr. Pepper, and this is my comfort non-alcoholic beverage of choice. I have trained myself not to let these flavor profiles I subjectively prefer to effect my objective decision making process in pairing wines and beverage with comfort food.


The Farmer’s Board Pairing was at the beginning of the meal, so I felt a clean refreshing white was needed. The Clendenen Family Tocai Friulano fits this need. There were several elements within the Farmer’s Board—the housemade pickles, richness of pates, and some floral pickling spices that the wine pairs well with. The wine sees neutral oak treatment and has a floral pear component with enough complexity to mimic many of the elements on the Farmer’s Board.


I believe I intended to pair The Rare Wine Co. “New York Malmsey” Madeira with the S’mores Soup, and the GW Eggnog as a “Liquid Mignardises,” if you will. There is nothing more American than Madeira. It is rich with toasty caramel notes and plays well with the “burnt” components of the S’Mores.


Star Chefs: What would you consider comfort food?


Tim: Food that evokes memories and alters our psychological state for the positive. It can be savory of sweet and tends to be filling. I think there are national comfort foods like Mac N’ Cheese and Peanut Butter and Jelly, but great regional ones. I live in Chicagoland and some of the great comfort foods here are Lou Malnati’s Deep Dish Pizza, Vienna Beef Hot Dogs with all the “Chicago” garnishes and Portillo’s Italian Beef with sweet and spicy peppers.


Star Chefs: How do you pair with it?


Tim: The approach I take with comfort food pairings tend to be non-cerebral, pleasurable, and to help us to relax.


Star Chefs: Do you feel more freedom pairing with "comfort food," than with an "upscale" dish?


Tim: Yes, I think comfort food let’s you get more creative. When there are “upscale” dishes you tend to have more elements on the plate and the pairings become more difficult and technical. With more complicated dishes, you have very specific wines that need to be paired with them. Comfort food allows for pairings with very simple one-dimensional wines and Domaine Leroy Grand Cru Burgundy!


Star Chefs: Do you feel lower price point pairings apply b/c it's comfort food, e.g. pair with a cheaper wine or beer or spirit?


Tim: No, in fact, I remember being at a tasting with Master Sommelier Fred Dame and he told a story about drinking a 1910 Haut Brion in Magnum with a pepperoni pizza. I think that we have a responsibility to our clients to be flexible to pair wines at all price points, but generally speaking, we tend to drink lower priced beverages with comfort food.


I currently pair a lot of local craft beer with a short rib “burger.” Clients tend to look for their “comfort” beverage. If a client asks for their comfort “beer” from a national brand, I try to at least guide them to something local from Chicago like Goose Island or Two Brothers Brewery.


Star Chefs: How do you play around with the character of comfort food?


Tim: My Comfort scale is: Strong character needs strong wine. Delicate character needs delicate wine.

Star Chefs: Do you think expectations for pairings change as culinary presentation changes?


Tim: Yes, especially with all the Avante Garde to Molecular things going on right now. I find clients talking more and more about cocktail and beer pairings all the time, which makes it challenging. A client might request a cocktail to be paired with their entrée and craft beer with dessert.


Star Chefs: In "comfort food" flavor you're looking at key players like salt, sweet, spicy, and seriously savory. Key "comfort food" textures are crunchy, smooth, and of course the richness of fat. What does this mean for you as a sommelier? And what else have you encountered?


Tim: This question immediately evokes a memory of a “Simpsons” episode where Homer tastes baking soda that had been in the fridge for a while and says “So many flavors!” As a sommelier, I want to understand the “why” and “why not” of all the flavor and texture players. In some of my strange experiments I have tasted things I know which are horribly offensive together, just to understand why they are offensive to my own subjective palate.


Star Chefs: What is one of your favorite comfort food pairings, either at home or at work?


Tim: PB & J with Malbec.

Assessing Wine Weight

As a sommelier I will often describe a wine as light, medium, or full bodied. This is in reference to the weight and texture of the wine in your mouth. The weight and body, or viscosity in winespeak, may be attributed to several factors including grape physiology, the winemaking process, tannins, residual sugar, and alcohol by volume (abv). Everyone’s palate is different, subjective, and we perceive wine at varying thresholds.

When sommeliers are blind tasting and objectively assessing wine for faults, we look at the color and intensity of the wine. We also will look at rim variation, to see if there are different “rims” and colors around the edge of the wine in the glass. Next time you’re drinking a glass of wine, look at the color. Can you see through the wine or does it completely block what’s behind it? Is it reflective? How intense in color is it? These are some visual cues sommeliers look for in determining the weight of the wine.

Sommeliers will often swirl the wine and look for tears to form around the outside of the wineglass, more commonly known as the “legs.” This lets us determine how much color and extraction the wine may have, the residual sugar, and most importantly alcohol content. The faster they form and fall, usually the higher the alcohol content. These are several factors in helping to determine the weight of wine from a visual sense.

The following exercise helps us learn to distinguish different wine weights. I take four wine glasses and fill one with skim milk, one with 2% milk, one with whole milk, and the final glass with half and half. I begin by tasting the glass containing the skim milk, letting the milk coat my tongue. I will then repeat the process with each respective glass two to three times. The skim milk represents a glass of wine that is light in body. The half and half represents a wine that is full bodied. The 2% and whole milk represent the spectrum that is in between. This is a great exercise to determine if you like light or full bodied wines, or perhaps both!

Tomato Wine Pairings

Tomatoes are one of the more tricky food and wine pairings. Tomatoes generally are highly acidic and can make a wine flat. Depending on how they are prepared, depends on what type of wine I will pair with them. There are so many different types, sizes, colors, and shapes of heirloom tomatoes.


Chardonnay, oaky, and low acid wines generally do not pair well with tomatoes. Opposites do not attract in this pairing. This is a pairing where acid and acid go hand and hand. So I generally like to stick with high acid varietals.

My go to white is usually sauvignon blanc for raw tomatoes. This wine usually does well with a classic Caprese salad with sliced heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, balsamic, and olive oil. Depending on what type of tomatoes also might dictate what type of sauvignon blanc I will pair. With more acidic green tomatoes I might go for a New Zealand sauvignon blanc from Marlborough with a racy acidity. With sweeter ripe tomatoes I might lean towards a Napa Valley sauvignon blanc with a little more ripe citrus and softer acidity.

Other whites I have experimented with success are riesling, gewürztraminer, and pinot grigio. These whites are generally unoaked, stainless steel fermented, and have moderate to high acid. Rieslings and gewürztraminers pair well with tomato dishes that have some spice and peppers in them. Pinot grigio pairs well with a gently cooked tomato and pasta dish.

My favorite red to pair with tomatoes is sangiovese, the classic grape of Chianti, and it grows all over Tuscany. When I think of cooked tomatoes I immediately think of Italy and a classic red sauce with pasta. Sangiovese has bright acidity, not too much oak, and is medium in body. Another red I enjoy with tomatoes is barbera. It grows all over the Piedmont in northern Italy and has similar characteristics to a pinot noir, but with an Italian twist.

These are just a few thoughts on tomato and wine pairings.

Things on a Sommelier's Desk

I have had several recent conversations about what might be on my desk.  The following pictures will help to explain...



Different Types of Soil From Vineyards in Oregon.




Topographical Map of Napa Valley




Champagne Yeast to Ferment Things




Antique 1920's Champagne Coupe




Oak Barrel

 NOT PICTURED--QUININE POWDER, CITRIC ACID, WINE BOOKS, TASTING NOTES

ICE cubed

In cocktail making, ice is very important. I have begun experimenting with different types of shaped ice to minimize cocktails becoming diluted and watered down. The filler ice most commonly used at most bars is good for mixed drinks like vodka tonic, but dillutes drinks at a quicker rate that may be served on the rocks.  The thicker and denser the ice, the slower it melts. Also, as a general concept of physics, as things become colder time slows.

For practical purposes I generally like to use one inch cubes. At the restaurant, we use one inch square molds that we fill with filtered water and freeze. The molds are made of silicon and may be procured at a specialty cooking store like Sur la Table. The molds run about $12-15 and are well worth the investment.

One recent phenomena that has evolved out of Japan is the perfect ice sphere. It is literally a sphere of ice that is perfectly round and melts at a very slow rate. It is perfect for vodka on the rocks or anything that you want really cold. To make these, one could take an ice sculpting class, purchase a special mold, or purchase an ice sphere machine that is about $4000. These sphere ice methods are neat, but not practical. I have been experimenting with freezing water balloons and have achieved a similar shape. It is not perfectly round, but offers an economical alternative in a slightly tear-drop form.

Some Science Behind The Ice

While attending the world’s largest engineering school I often heard the term thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is essentially the study of heat transfer. In the restaurant business, one often hears the term in relation to refrigeration, cooling systems, and food science. The following two concepts in thermodynamics help to explain how ice melts in a rocks glass at a bar.

Enthalpy, simply put, is a way to measure the transfer of (heat) energy. It usually is measured in joules, calories, or BTUs. Assuming all things are equal within the bar’s isolated system, (ambient air temperature, atmospheric pressure, altitude) the temperature of the liquor poured over the ice within the rocks glass will fall and the crystal structure of the ice cube will become disordered and begin to melt with its temperature rising. The liquor is now suitably chilled for consumption.

The second law of thermodynamics states the theory of entropy. Ice melting in a glass within an isolated system moves to create greater disorder. Theoretically, everything is spontaneously interconnected creating an infinite amount of disorder. The variables in a bar’s isolated system might consist of a rocks glass, ice, alcohol, the thermal heat from one’s hand that lifts the glass from the bar to one’s mouth, and the ambient temperature of the room. With all these variables and disorder, the ice will melt and the liquor will be chilled to create and entropic equilibrium. Entropy also helps to explain why the longer the bartender shakes, the colder the drink. By shaking longer, the bartender is creating more disorder, resulting in a colder cocktail.