Ginstronomy; the art of pairing gin with food
Just like wine and food matchings, you need to know the taste profiles of both the food and drink you are about to marry. And while gin is not the easiest drink to pair with food, it has its own distinct flavours too that can go together perfectly with the right foods.
Faith Kyoumukama @PeopleDailyKE
Let’s talk gin… I know its just Thursday, but didn’t they baptise it the new Friday?
Oh well, gin has taken its place on the top shelve poll, with other gin lovers opting to have it in pink (Pink Gin).
I had a chat with the East African Breweries Limited Innovations Manager Victoria Mbugua during the launch of Chrome Gin recently, and I asked why they opted to have gin instead of whiskey.
Her response was there is a current boom of gin in the market and consumers seem to love it.
“People are loving gin and since chrome is a lively brand, we thought let’s add it to the collection,” she said.
Gin has gained a lot of popularity around the world and even foodies are giving it a chance on the pairing table.
Well, because I am a foodie, I will introduce you to the world of ginstronomy, the art of pairing food with gin. A sniff of fresh information, is it?
Brings flavours to life
Having perfect pairings, especially when hosting is a great responsibility. So what’s the best pairing with gin?
Let’s get into it. One of the best dishes when paired with gin is seafood. When having crab salmon or prawn, we like to garnish and drizzle lime or lemons for that tangy taste.
Those zesty treats when taken together with gin, bring out the flavours to life. Chips and fish also make it to the list, even when tossed over the tangy tartar sauce.
Another great pairing has to be a good roast, grilled with herbs. Gin acts as the perfect complement to lemon and herbs used on traditional roasts. A rosemary chicken roast, for example, will do the trick.
I recently had a proper gin party at my house, ordered some roasted pork, grilled beef and chicken that were mixed in caramelised onion.
The roasted pork and beef were a perfect pairing with the gin, but when I tried it with the chicken, the onion was overpowering the gin, even when soaked up.
So a perfect duo would be roasted chicken preferably one that is charcoal roasted with gin.
Gin with dessert
Curries, be it chicken, lamb or paneer cheese all go well with gin. Lemons limes cucumbers, as well as many other botanicals found in gin, can enhance the flavours found in curries and perfectly compliment the spices used.
For chilly lovers, a sip of gin from that curry can be a cooling effect to the heat from the chillies.
Last, but not least, just because we gin doesn’t mean we leave desserts out.
You can make a gin tart dessert or simply have it with cheesecake.
A good gin has a fresh taste with many herbal and floral notes, which go so well with cheese.
