Red wine and a reduced meat diet

[robert_seattle]

As we are coming up on the season of four year, ten year and en primeur Bordeaux reports, I am thinking about what to eat with red Bordeaux and other reds with body.

I am a wine with food person. As such, I tend to go for European traditional wines that have a history of going with food, and their New World equivalents. Red Bordeaux, for example, which goes great with roast or grilled beef and lamb.

I have been trying, as many are doing, to adjust what I eat based on the environmental impact, particularly with climate change. Meat production has a high carbon footprint, especially ruminants: beef and lamb. In my case, that adjustment is a shift trying to eat vegetarian a couple of days a week, eating beef and lamb only once or twice a month and poultry, pork and fish the rest of the time. I know others are more aggressive in their cutting back on meat.

I have an issue now. I have a cellar with a fair amount of red Bordeaux, also some Pinot Noir, Rhone, Tuscan etc. I am trying to work out what I should be matching food-wise, in this less meat environment, with these reds, that will be good for both the food and the wine. Pinot Noir, of course, is lighter and goes well with poultry and is also good with Pacific Salmon. Southern Rhone red goes well with dishes with herbs, even if there is no meat. What I am a little stuck with is Cabernet and Merlot. Mostly currently, I have my better bottles of these when I am having beef or lamb, but I would like to expand my options. I suspect the solutions might be different depending on whether the wine is young or fully mature. Portabello mushrooms work. I think black beans work with AOP Bordeaux, but I am not sure they work with the finest.

Have other people made this adjustment? What have they found that worked? (Beyond buying lighter reds and whites, which I do).

[AMC_77]

Wild game in season?

[henry_lf]

We have cut down meat intake partly for health and partly for environmental reasons. But definitely wild venison! Though I think season is just ended on that in the UK. Whether pheasant in UK counts as wild is a matter of debate, they seem to be fed a lot of corn from what I can see.

Cod in tomato sauce is a well known mediterrean dish (either from salt or fresh) and that pairs with a range of reds in my view. But also tuna with a range of different sauces I think will be okay with a wider range of reds.

Then our favourite foods are lebanese and persian foods. There are lots of dips in these cuisisnes like baba ganoush, beetroot dips of different types or whipped feta. But also things like arancini which I think are probably sicilian.

Ottelenghi has some great ideas. His suggestion of turnip steak sounded like an abonimation to me when I read the recipe, but its actually good. I think in Italy then sometimes serve cheese and cured meats as starter and this is also a good idea way of going about it with non meat main course.

I dont know that the wines we drink are that grand, and we tend to drink more rioja/nebbiolo/syrah reds rather than bordeaux varieties. And we are not overly specifc about how we pair wines. My own feeling is that if the wine is not quite working with the food, as long as they are both nice you can eat the food then drink the wine. But I think we have found some good matches, and its better than I thought it would be.

[Bob_Harrison_SeattleArea]

Henry has hit on something I was going to mention: It’s not always about what the “main” ingredient or protein is, but rather what the sauce is. I have a recipe I’ve turned to for years for red snapper in a tomato/chili sauce designed to go with Merlot that works really well with a variety of red wines. (Mind you, the Merlot the author had in mind is more the New World sort rather than a more structured right bank Bordeaux, but it makes the point.) It works the other way too: Some red meats with a rich white sauce work much better with white wines.

[tamlyn]

This is such a good question!

And lots of excellent suggestions from people. I’m 100% with @henry_If and @AMC_77 that wild venison or any wild game meat is the most sustainable ‘flesh’ you can eat, especially if you can get hold of game from places where rangers/hunters are employed to routinely cull herds in order to manage population numbers (fairly common due to the lack of predators these days). Farmed venison is also relatively low-carbon and can be very eco-friendly in places such as the UK where there are very strict laws governing farming practices and animal welfare. Another plus is that venison is nutrient dense. From game pie to roast haunch, stew to steak, sausage to burger, game meat gives you the same full scope of wine pairings that beef and lamb would give to Cabernet and Merlot. Think about duck, as well, which is easy to rear in a welfare-friendly, low-environmental-impact and low-GHG-emissions way.

@Bob_Harrison_SeattleArea also nails it when he says that the sauce is way more important than the actual protein.

Merlot and Merlot-dominated wines often sit along the flavour spectrum of plums (from sour umeboshi to ripe and red, to intensely dark and damson), alongside of which there is usually some leafiness (I often find tomato leaf) and green anethole herbiness (tarragon, anise, sweet cicely). Merlot can also be a little dusty in an earthy way, like a battered chimney pot or the bottom of an empty tea-leaf tin. To pair with that, you’re looking for synchronous flavours. Puy lentils with sun-dried tomatoes, dried redcurrants, fresh herbs (finely chopped or blitzed into a dressing) and a generous dusting of sumac or paprika would work very nicely. For a more opulent, rich Merlot-based blend, try duck with star anise, five-spice and plum sauce. Another great vegan dish with Merlot is pinto bean ragu, which you can pimp up to make pretty complicated and elegant, despite its rustic roots. Pinto beans are particularly earthy, which makes them a good match for Merlot (as well as Nebbiolo and Sangiovese). And on that note, try a refried-beans burger with Merlot. In Victoria Moore’s Wine Dine Dictionary, she quotes Stéphanie de Boüard-Rivoal of Château Angélus as saying that she loves black-truffle risotto with her older St-Émilions, and she also loves turbot with her wines (although I’d serve it with a red-wine reduction).

For wines that are Cabernet Franc dominant, I’m with @henry_If that Lebanese and Persian foods are really good. Look for dishes that are loaded with fresh herbs, such as kuku sabzi (Persian herb frittata), rice-stuffed dolmades, spanakopita (which is also great if stuffed with wild or bitter greens as well as spinach. Greek briam (roasted vegetable casserole) is also a good option. Richard Hemming, in his book The Wine & Food of Asia, says that Cabernet Franc is ‘an uncanny match’ with kimchi! So you could try it with a kimchi-dressed tofu dish, with kimchi-topped fried rice, or (my favourite) a kimchi omelette. I’ll also go back to brown or green lentils here: in a warm, herb-laden, olive-oil drenched salad, topped with maybe a Cab-Franc reduction and something popping with red brightness (barberries, cranberries, sour cherries, pomegranate) on top.

For Cabernet Sauvignon and Cab Sav-led blends, I’m going straight back to Victoria’s book, where Vanya Cullen says that she thinks Cab Sav is fantastic with beetroot, and she makes a beetroot risotto with a side of watercress to go with hers (the recipe includes anchovy fillets and butter so it’s not vegan, but capers and cashew butter would work). Véronique Sanders of Château Haut-Bailly has her bdx with quail or fish in red-wine sauce, and sauce her chef makes a truffat de pommes de terres (pastry filled with potatoes, cream and truffles) which is brilliant with bordeaux. I think a vegan mushroom bourguignon would be brilliant. Or, picking up on the bell-pepper notes, grilled halloumi over a bed of slow-roasted, herby, sweet bell peppers.

[robert_seattle]

Thanks to everyone for their thoughtful replies.

I have had success with lentils and Merlot or Cabernet Franc – particularly in their earthier expressions. Generally in the past, I have avoided tomato or chiles with Merlot, pairing with Italian or Malbec instead – I should try some experimenting. I also will have to try experimenting more with pinto beans. I think I have that Ottolenghi turnip steak recipe: will need to try.

I can understand beetroot working well with young fresh Cabernet Sauv (as it does with Pinot Noir). I should make more risotto – usually I pair it with Nebbiolo.

Tricky bit about wild game is finding a decent supplier. Often can find frozen ground, but fresh cuts are harder to find. Last month decided at last minute to do haggis, neeps and tatties for Burns night. Simplified recipe called for ground lamb and chicken liver. Found farmed New Zealand ground venison, instead of the lamb. It worked good and rich (though I had under-spiced). Decided that something with Carignan would match. Only bottle I had was Ridge Three Valleys (Zinfandel led) – it was a nice combo (had some whisky as well, of course).

[Bob_Harrison_SeattleArea]

Another observation, since you mention Nebbiolo: it needs to have had time to shed some tannin, but mature Barbaresco can go stunningly well with salmon!

Closer to home: the Metropolitan Market near us usually has quail, rabbit, sometimes pheasant, sometimes other cuts of game in their freezer meat section. And there’s a supplier for pretty much any (legal) familiar or exotic game you want in the U District.