Food and Wine Pairings: Red Meat and Red Wine

Are you looking for something to get you through the tail-end of quarantine? Take it back to your animal instincts and get a hold of some red meat to pair with palate shocking red wines. For this month's Food and Wine Pairings, we are looking at high tannin wines to pair with fatty meat dishes. The paper towel licking mouth feel from the tannin makes the perfect companion for any of these hearty meals. These bold varietals are softened by the juicy fat of the delicious meat. Dive into the pairings below and keep an eye on your cholesterol.

Blue Cheese Burger Drizzled with Balsamic Vinegar Mayo & Petit Verdot

Ingredients:

For the patty:

*.5 pound 80/20 ground beef per patty

* Favorite rub or classic salt & pepper

* Dash of Worcestershire

Balsamic Vinegar Mayo:

* 1/4 cup of mayo

* 3/4 tsp of balsamic vinegar

* 4 grinds of pepper

Burger Toppings:

* Bacon

* Red Onion Slices

* Leaf Lettuce

* HighQuality Blue Cheese or Cambozola

* Bakery Bun

Instructions:

* Mix the patty ingredients together

* Start the grill

* Mix the balsamic mayo ingredients together

* When the grill is nice and hot, cook the patties to your desired done-ness level

* In the meantime, cook the bacon on the stove until crisp (or you can do this prior to cooking burgers)

* When the meat is done, slap that shit together!

* Bun, sauce, bacon, burger, cheese, lettuce, sauce, bun - voila!

Pro tip: Only make the amount of burgers you want to eat. Otherwise, you will be in a food coma with one too many burgers in your belly.

Why it Works:

Petit Verdot is the hottest wine in this line up. No... not trend wise, in the way of alcohol content and tannin. The fattiness in the beef and cheese mellow out the tannin, whereas the sharpness of the balsamic and the mold in the cheese compliment the earthy tones found in the wine. This is a wine that does best when paired with food.

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New York or Ribeye Steak & Cabernet Sauvignon

Ingredients:

For the Steak:

* Favorite rub or classic salt & pepper

* A spring or two of fresh sage

* Oil or Butter

Pro tip: An arugula salad with a reduced balsamic vinegar drizzle is a perfect side salad for this dish.

Instructions:

* Rub the steak down with seasoning

* Place sage on top of steaks

* Let it rest for at lease an hour to allow the salt to do its magic (steak should be at room temperature)

* Heat a pan with oil or butter

* Sear all sides of the steak

* On the highest heat for the Traeger, cook the steaks on each side for roughly 3 minutes for a medium well steak. Make adjustments as needed for your cooking amenities.

Why it Works: Keeping it simple is sometimes the best thing to do, especially when everything else in the world is so complicated. The tannin in Cab Sauv appropriately cuts through the bold flavors of the steak without muting its deliciousness. Complimented by notes of leather often found in the wine, it will feel like you killed the cow yourself! (Sorry Vegans)

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Meatloaf & Syrah

Ingredients:

For the Meatloaf:

* 1.5 lbs Ground Beef

* .5 lbs of Ground Sausage

* 1 Cup of Bread Crumbs

* 2 tsp Salt

* 1 Cup of Milk

* 2 Eggs Beaten

* 1/2 white onion diced

Instructions:

* Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees

* Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl

* Add the milk, beaten eggs, and onion to the dry ingredient mixture

* Combine with the meat, just enough to where the ingredients mix (do not overwork the meat)

* If the final mixture is too crumbly, add more bread crumbs

* Pam/Grease a baking sheet (not a bread loaf pan)

* Shape the meat into a loaf on the pan

* Bake for 1 hour

* Rest for 10 minutes before diving in!

Pro-tip: Let your dining companion apply ketchup liberally using their own techniques. Blake likes to drizzle it over the top and I like to make a ketchup lake to slide my meat slices into.

Why it Works: Syrah is a perfect choice for meatloaf because of the peppery notes in the wine that support the flavors in the dish. Syrah is also bold enough to stand up to the acidity of the ketchup, which can often dull a wine.

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I hope these pairings bring you some primal joy. These meals are pretty simple and the wines can be swapped between all of them. So if you know you do not like peppery wines, but are craving meatloaf - substitute for Cab Sauv. They are all interchangeable!

Thank you for reading and following along with The Wine Tails Blog. Remember to check out The Wine Tails Facebook page and the activities on Instagram. Comment below or reach out to me with any questions or suggestions - wine or otherwise. Until next time, CHEERS!