Which is the Best Wine or Craft Beer Pairing With Persian Kabob?
I was pretty stoked when I read A Famished Foodie’s pairing challenge for January – Persian Kabob. Any excuse to fire up the grill in the middle of January is a good time to me. And, as Famished wrote, this winter has been unseasonably warm. I’ve never cooked Persian Kabob before, but what the heck! Grilled meat can never be bad as long as it’s not cooked to a crisp, and I’ve cooked kabobs before, just not Persian. I began to google recipes.
Then Mother Nature gave us the cold shoulder and pissed all over us.
Literally. Mother Nature threw us temperatures in the teens for the entire weekend followed up with non-stop rain.
Carry out it is then!
Lucky for us a new Greek restaurant just opened in our neighborhood – Olives Mediterranean Grill. That happens to be owned by a Syrian. Hmm. I guess that’s close enough, right? Thus the experimenting began with perfectly cooked – we’re-talking-red-in-the-center-without-even-having-to-ask-cause-that’s-the-only-way-beef-should-be-eaten – beef kabobs.
Looks like we had some other experimenters as well who wanted to shed the cold this month by feasting on some summertime hot Persian Kabobs. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite. The poles close on Wednesday, January 21. The winner is announced on Thursday, January 22.
- TalkAVino – So if you are going for the chicken kabob, of course with all condiments as described, I would go with an American Chardonnay – it should be classically made (say no to the stainless steel), with touch of butter, vanilla, medium to full body and good acidity – it would stand up nicely to the flavors of Chicken kabob.
- Le Calabash – Sid would insist on a Cobra or Kingfisher Beer with any Persian dish as he always does with a Biryani which is a Indian dish of Persian influence.
- Beer In My Belly – This one is definitely a challenge. I think you want to keep this pairing light and simple, to let the complexity and variation in the foods do the talking. For this, I would reach for a nice old pilsner with a good carb to keep the tongue light as you feast. Personally, I’ve been loving the Pivo Pils from Firestone Walker, a lot lately, and I think this would be a fun pairing. The heavier hops in the beer should play well with any spices, while the bready malts will dance with the meat’s flavors. The only thing I am leery of is the cucumber yogurt, but I think the pilsner’s nice carb and lighter character should simply keep the yogurt light on the tongue, while still allowing its fresh flavors to express themselves beside the hops. Personally, I think I go for the filet kabobs because steak…, but I can see the Pivo working with chicken quite well, too.
- The Wandering Gourmand – For some reason I had IPA on the brain for this one. But which IPA was a tough decision as each IPA is so uniquely and creatively brewed and possible pairings are all over the charts. We experimented with what we had on hand – New Belgium’s Avalanche White IPA and Lagunita’s IPA (On draft in my man cave, yeah!). Lagunitas was the clear winner. The Avalanche lacked any sort of malt backbone needed to pair with beef. Also, the bitterness factor was a tad higher with Lagunitas helping to wash away the many flavors of this dish.