I love food’s that bring out my inner gastronomical caveman! There’s nothing like bone marrow, calamari tentacles, or elk chops to help get him beating my chest in delight. Soft shell crabs are another one of those foods. You’re actually eating the whole dang crab, shell and all. There’s a crunchiness and primitiveness to it that makes me want to drag a club and walk around in a loincloth. Thus, I was pretty excited when The Wandering Sheppard chose soft shell crab for September’s Beer Versus Wine Challenge. It also gave me a good excuse to try cooking them at home.
Entries were down from previous months, but that’s okay. Soft Shell Crab is a regional food and some of the landlocked regulars chose to sit this one out. What we did end up with were five very solid suggestions. Which of the following beer or wine do you think matches best with Soft Shell Crab!
- Talk A Vino – Albariño from Spain. Albariño comes from the region called Rias Baixas, which has a lot of marine influence from the Atlantic Ocean. The wine is generally bright with good acidity, and sometimes even shows the “salt water”, savory notes.
- Grapeful – Soft shell crab sushi (a hand-roll of course) with a chilled dry Gruner Veltliner.
- A Famished Foodie – As a Maryland girl, we grew up thinking beer is the only acceptable beverage to pair with crabs. I’d go for a nice, cold IPA, maybe Langunitas.
- Asueba – I find wine a tough match with soft shell crab, somehow in my past experience, the aftertaste can be sort of fishy. As I had some really good Sake over the weekend, I have a specific Sake in mind that I believe will go very well. Mildly sweet with some interesting notes of rock melon and fresh but mellow cedar (we were not drinking from a cedar cup). It was perfect with a tonkatsu (breaded pork chop), grill fish head with sea salt and ebi tempura roll. Preferably a Yebisu.
- The Wandering Gourmand – I’m stepping outside of the Perimeter as well by nominating a Spanish Sidra (hard cider). I know what you’re thinking, but this is not a girl drink. Spanish Sidra is dry, still, and somewhat funky, like a sour beer. We paired a Sidra Natural Fanjul with our soft shell crabs. It was a great match! The dry cider had a crisp acidity and slight tang that washed away any fish aftertaste from the crab.
I apologize for the extreme delay in the vote launching. This should have gone out last Wednesday but I was moving site servers. During the process, I was unable to post anything. The process should not have taken nearly as long as it did. Thus, to stay on schedule and still finish the Challenge this week, the polls will run until Thursday, September 18 with the winner announcement on Friday, September 19!
Poll Closed
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