So often on wine boards, we see folks asking for pairing recommendations for various foods and dishes. Especially with some of the more challenging pairings, the recommendation is frequently to turn to Champagne. While that’s often great advice, I’m curious is to what you all feel is the ideal pairing for Champagne. I don’t drink a ton of it, but I’m planning on opening some NV Krug Brut Grande Cuvee this weekend and I’d like to have something with it. What would you prepare to eat with that particular wine? For good Champagne in general? I see it as a likely way to start our evening. TIA!
Champagne pairs well because it has good texture, acidity and aromatics.
when pairing a special bottle of wine, I most often recommend keeping it very simple.
I like pairing champagne with a simple roast chicken or roast pork. you want something with salt and some fat to extend the palate, but not cloying and no butter, cream sauces or eggs which would coat your mouth and inhibit tasting the champagne. you want simple aromatics on the dish too. you might consider roast potatoes as an accompaniment.
My answer might change slightly if the champagne in question were a BdB or BdN.
There are many traditional and contemporary pairings for Champagne. Since you’re going to start your evening with the Krug Grande Cuvee, these foods come to mind:
Caviar
Smoked fish
Egg dishes
Triple-cream cheese like Brillat-Savarin
Fried chicken
I agree with Paul’s above post about the desirability of salt, though we obviously disagree about eggs.
yes, you might be able to drink champagne with eggs but my point is the eggs aren’t going to improve the champagne. a pairing tries to create a synergy that’s better than the two things on their own.
Disagree, buttery, custardy scrambled eggs on toast (done like Ramsey) with Champagne is a wonderful pairing.
I think cream sauces can also be a great foil to the acidity of champagne. I make a pork loin roasted with apples, onions, sage which I then emulsify with cream into a sauce and it’s a great dish with a heavier champagne.
Obviously anything fried is great (the fat and the acid are great together)
I also love steak tartar with a heavier rose champagne.
Twenty or so years ago, Steve Verlin introduced me to truffled popcorn with Champagne. I haven’t found a better pairing since as long as the Champagne isn’t more than a couple of decades old.
He also went way over the top and cooked hot dogs in yquem, but I had stopped eating meat years earlier so I can’t comment on their taste.
A recent pairing at Republique of their Imperial Kaluga Caviar and potato mousseline on potato chips with 1999 Salon was fully synergistic. Granted, in this dish, though, the flavor from the caviar was balanced by the flavor from the potato.