One of many people’s favorite foods is a good cut of beef cooked to perfection. Many also enjoy a good glass of wine along with the beef. The question for a lot of us is what wine to pour to go along with your perfect beef selection. What wine would enhance the flavor of beef if accompanied with a heavy sauce? Of course, it matters what one’s personal wine preference is, but it also matters how the beef is cooked.
A common rule of thumb is to match the wine with the how the beef is prepared. With every rule, there will always be an exception. The exception in this case is when a heavy sauce accompanies the prepared beef. In this case, you should select the wine to match the sauce. Many websites offer suggests for pairing wine and beef.
If you prefer red wines, select a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Bordeaux to compliment that beef dish. If the red wine selected is
“young”, cook your beef to be on the rarer side. For “aged” red wines, cook the beef a little longer than normal. There is a consensus that a red wine best accompanies steaks, beef stew, beef stroganoff, short ribs and burgers. If grilling the beef fits your taste or you like steak tartare, try the Cabernet Sauvignon. Peppered beef will taste better if complimented with a Merlot.
If your wine preference resides in the white wine category, select a Beaujolais or white Pinot Noir. Sweet wine lovers might prefer a White Zinfandel, Syrah/Shiraz or Rhone wine with their beef. White wine and barbequed beef make a great combination. If garlic seasoning is dominant to the beef preparation or the beef is smoked, try a Shiraz. A complete discussion of wine can be found on Wikipedia.
One of my favorite ways to prepare beef is to slow-cook it in a crock-pot all day long. The beef ends up tender enough to just “melt” in your mouth. The other neat thing about cooking beef this way is you can add your favorite wine to the “brew” to obtain a delectable, combination of flavor. Crock-pot recipes are limited only by your imagination on what to toss in the mix.
Many combinations of wine and beef can compliment each other and add to your overall enjoyment of food. As I always say, each person’s palette is different. Even if your favorite wine is not necessarily touted for drinking with a beef based meal, drink it anyway. The fun of combining different wines and food together is the experimenting required in doing so.
Find out more about keeping your wine stored properly so it won’t spoil before you get to the store to get your beef.
Author: Ronald Senn, Vice-president, Ideal Wine Coolers
