Reverse Pairings

Most food and wine pairings go like this: Decide what you’re eating, and then choose a suitable wine to pair with it. But you can do the opposite as well, and begin with the wine, just like I did for last night’s dinner.

The wine was an Australian Chardonnay. From the description on the back label I was able to gather that it was from a cooler parcel of the vineyard, and it had no mention of oak. It also described notes of citrus and it being, " a textured wine."

I decided to make one of my favorite French dishes, blanquette, but this time instead of using the traditional veal, I went with chicken legs. This dish is finished with lemon juice, egg yolks, and crème fraîche. The addition of the lemon juice would match the wine's citrus notes, and the yolks and crème fraîche would add texture to balance with the wine's body. And voila, it worked! I'm not trying to say that this is the only possible pairing, but this was a fine one and a delicious dinner. Give it a try.