The Perfect Pairing Pair These With Your Burger!
It’s the sauce, not the protein. That’s the sommelier adage. It has allowed me to confuse countless guests with a condensing glass of white looming over their steak, and glistening with golden béarnaise sauce. But if you trust this old somm—it works. That’s why there are a half dozen pairings for any old burger, and many of them boil down to the sauce. ‘Big Mac’ Style Burgers One of the experiments in a primitive tasting menu I did, was a chef’s take on a Big Mac, fluffed up with brioche. Artisan pickle. After consulting the sommelier scrolls, and meeting with the sommelier elders on a mountain top, we settled on white zinfandel as being the best pairing for a Big Mac. However, without that thousand island dressing style sauce, ample pickle, and pillowy soft bun, you might be wondering what maniac would reach for a sweet, plush rosé. There is even a book out now titled Big Macs & Burgundy by Vanessa Price. It’s fabulous and it would have saved a lot of guests their sour faces before the plunge into their cloying white zin. A stand-out moment for me was when famous chef Jeremy Charles slathered the buns with peanut but‑ ter at a social gathering. In this instance, although we didn’t have it, I would be inclined to serve the moist burgers with, you probably guessed it, a dry amon‑ tillado sherry. Two steps away from the sticky syrup that my grandmother would drink, and maybe three dollars more in price.
Plain Burgers with Ketchup If you’re doing plain hamburgers with ketchup, say for your children, or if you’re a supertaster, and all other condiments repulse you. Serve yourself, but hopefully not the children, a Sangiovese. You can find this grape at the forefront of Chianti or Brunello di Montalcino.
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