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Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/504798
www.cheersonline.com 38 • May 2015 mussels ($14), with smoked paprika, chorizo, green onion and white wine, served with a heady Spanish G&T ($12) with Ford's Gin, tonic, fresh rosemary, grapefruit oil, lime and St. Germain elderfl ower liqueur. The restaurant's signature sip, the Kurosawa ($12), is made with sake, coconut rum, muddled jalapeño and mint. It works well with wild-caught white shrimp sautéed with chorizo, white wine and butter atop Mediterranean couscous. The coconut, spice of the jalapeños and acidity from the sake meld wonderfully, according to Mesa bar manager Julia Arjune and executive chef Niki Weyler, who work in tandem to create interesting, synergistic pairings. Opening up a line of communication between your bar and kitchen is a good place to begin the process of developing cocktail and food pairings, say Arjune and Weyler. They also advise researching the chemistry of why fl avors work together, picking up a copy of The Flavor Bible and doing some experimenting. START WITH SMALL PLATES Operators looking to add cocktail pairings to the menu may be best off starting with appetizers, says chef/mixologist Kathy Casey, president of Kathy Casey Food Studios and Liquid Kitchen in Seattle, WA. "Try a few different features with small plates and appetizers, or have a special appetizer paired with a special cocktail," she says. The popularity of small plates has helped guests better understand the concept of pairing libations with dishes, Casey notes. She has witnessed several other trends in this realm. "It's interesting to have the garnish be the appetizer, like homemade beef jerky added to a Bloody Mary, pieces of smoked salmon for a Martini, or grilled beef or smoked ribs for a Manhattan." And appetizers—especially seafood—can be spritzed with alcohol, such as Aquavit for oysters on the half shell, Casey says. (See the sidebar "Aw, Shucks!" on pg. 39 for more on oyster shooters.) When you're ready to take on a full pairing dinner or menu, select the food courses fi rst and then build the cocktails around them, Casey says. You want to pull out the dishes' key fl avor components by using complementary ingredients in the glass. For example, Casey onced helped plan a pairing dinner with Martin Miller gin. She matched the Miller's Golden Martini, with lemon and black peppercorn-infused Lillet and an edible cocktail gelée, with scallops with caulifl ower, lemon essence and Almond. Guests who tasted the cocktail without the dish thought it to be pretty potent, Casey notes, but when sipped with the dish, they found the creamy, rich scallops tempered its spirited nature. Another course at the event paired the Douglas Fir Citrus Sparkle—Martin Miller's gin with Cointreau, fresh clementine and a branch of Douglas fi r— with salmon smoked with juniper. The fresh, piney notes were woven through both the food and beverage elements. WHAT NOT TO PAIR As with wine and food pairing, Carson believes there are some tricky ingredients that are best kept separate—both in the kitchen and behind the bar. "Stay away from overtly bitter bar components in excess," he cautions. He recalls an off-the-mark pairing he ordered out one night that matched a libation containing whiskey, bitters and Averna with a shellfi sh mousseline. In a word: "Awful." You should also use caution with acidic ingredients such as capers, citrus-based dressings and certain olive varieties, which can make a cocktail taste even tarter, Carson says. Artichokes tend to be "problem children," he notes, at least in his experience. "Cynar is great in certain pairings used sparingly, but will overwhelm most food if used liberally." Though she eschews old-school pairing rules and keeps an open mind Mesa restaurant in Costa Mesa, CA, pairs its Spanish style mussels—made with smoked paprika, chorizo, green onion and white wine—with its heady Spanish G&T, mixed with Ford's Gin, tonic, fresh rosemary, grapefruit oil, lime and St. Germain. Mesa's signature Kurosawa cocktail— made with sake, coconut rum, muddled jalapeño and mint—is a good match with its wild caught white shrimp sautéed with chorizo, white wine and butter atop Mediterranean couscous. MATCH GAME [ [