Favorite Champagne and Food pairings

What are your favorite foods to eat with Champagne, and why? Do particular Champagnes tend to perform better than others with certain cuisine?

I’d be interested in hearing everybody’s thoughts, not just Richard’s. [cheers.gif]

For a not over the top bottle I love bubbles and fried chicken.

A nice young acidic Champagne works wonders with a nice fatty beef stew.

gosh, I love champagne with just about anything and it’s fine all on it’s own too.

We do a quarterly gathering in Monterey for Champagne Dim Sum. It is a nice pairing.

Gougeres, triple creme cheese, sushi.
I agree with the above mentioned fried chicken.

Homemade potato chips with truffle salt

Anything salty and crunchy:

Calimari fritti

Quality potiato chips with a dab of creme fraiche and mayber some tobiko

Those dried shrimp with wasabi you can get at Asian markets

Balcalhão

I know that Richard Geoffroy has sponsored tastings with sushi.

Dear Brian,

Possibilities are endless. As long as the dish doesn’t display an excessive amount of the basic taste components (sweetness, saltiness, bitterness or acidity), it is owrth having a go. The pairing should not be restrictive: I encourage everybody to be as open-minded and bold as possible. Take risks and you will be rewarded. I think there is a lot of room for creativity, and feel that too many chefs and sommeliers are too shy and not trying hard enough.

To quote a few concrete examples, I would mention iodine (in caviar is a must, oysters on the shell, sea urchin or even saffron which is surprisingly iodine like) as a great pairing with Dom Pérignon. White truffle is another potentially difficult pairing that works very well with Dom Pérignon. I should mention cured ham as well (iberico or parma/culatello). When it comes to cheese, Dom Pérignon is most of the time a better option than red wines…

I encourage you to have a look at some previous dinners highlighted on the blog, e.g. the Kyoto dinners (kaiseki cuisine) or our recent Silk Road dinners, to see how far we push the idea of wine and food correspondences in order to showcase Dom Pérignon wines.

Best regards,
Richard

wow! thanks for the detailed response, Richard! [cheers.gif] … (making my way to the blog now …)

EDIT: just read both of those blog entries;
Firstly: Richard, you have a gift for writing! I hope you enjoy writing as much as I enjoyed reading your writing.
Secondly: both of those dinners sound fantastic, but the Kyoto one, especially, is quite intriguing. I would strongly encourage everyone to click on at least that particular link and take a quick read – it should only take you a couple min…

Chips, creme Fr., and Chattanooga Beluga… So damn tasty…

Depending on the fizz-- 4505 chicharrones are pretty snap, crackle n’ pop with Chapagne
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IMO the best pairing with young Champagne is true Belgian Frites with mayonnaise. Yum.