the importance of drink

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

how do you guys think about drinks when you're planning a meal? Wine-matching is the sort of classic example, I guess, but do you think about matching other drinks?

I feel pretty strongly that there are certain drinks that work well with a meal and some that don't work well at all. I really really can't handle sweet drinks with a meal, they totally wreck my palate. (big exception: mango lassie with hot indian food, but here there is a reason for sweetness rather than ug ug primal urge for easy calories.)

Milk is about the sweetest drink I can normally deal with, I usually have dry red wine or beer with my meals, or water if it's not appropriate to have alcohol. Or coffee or tea in the morning of course. But that's about the limit of what I experience, and although there's a huge world of wine and beer and coffee and tea out there, I still feel like I'm limiting myself.

So I want to know:
does anyone else have this sweet-aversion?
what drinks do you think are the perfect matches to certain foods and why?
are there some non-sweet drinks I'm missing?
what sweet drinks should I give a try?

― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 20:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought this was an alarming thread for I Love Comics, but I clicked the wrong link.

I usually stick to water and wine. Though when I was kid, I really liked a big glass of milk with spaghetti.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 18 January 2005 20:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm losing my taste for sweet drinks. Soda just seems gank to me now. When I order iced tea down here the default is (extremely) sweet tea, so I have to specify unsweetened, then add just the tiniest bit of saccharine, and sometimes not even that.

I don't know why, but mexican food cries out for a glass of milk.

― I Am Curious (George) (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

because it's spicy, and dairy cools you down! When I was little I needed to have a glass of milk with my enchiladas, but now I'd rather have a dollop of sour cream and drink a supercold mexican beer.

the aversion to sweet is much more pronounced now that I'm an adult, but there was never soda in the house when I was little, so I guess I never got addicted/accustomed.

― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Iced tea is great with Lebanese food. At some point I rediscovered the joy of a nice clear lemon soda (Sprite). I remember when I was a kid and discovering that orange juice didn't really go with tomato sauce...

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 18 January 2005 23:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Sweet drinks are normally a no no during a meal but before, say a very chilled muscat de rivesaltes, floc, sweeter Dubbel or a cocktail ( not that I like a cocktail to be that sweet really). During water, wine, beer, cider. Some would have a dessert wine but port is wholly acceptable, but good port is never cloyingly sweet.

Exceptions would be a sweet or mango Lassi with indian food, at barbecues anything goes really.

― Ed (dali), Wednesday, 19 January 2005 09:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I want to hear what Tepper McSodapants has to say about this.

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 19 January 2005 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

We drink a lot of limeade in the summer, made not too sweet (the one thing we use Splenda in). The tartness of it goes nicely with lots of summery foods (salads, grilled meat).

I'm very much a diet Coke person though. That's my lunch drink preference, for the caffeine and the slight bitter/not too sweet edge. I'm finding that the new sweetener combinations they are starting to use are much too sweet though - acetylsulfame K, etc.

I also like tonic water on the rocks, again for that bitter/hint of sweet thing. And you can always drop some gin in.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 19 January 2005 18:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Bitters and soda - splash some bitters over ice in a tall glass and fill with soda water.

I don't know; I have a thing for bitter, esp. with a rich meal. Maybe the contrast.

If you don't want a sweet milky drink with spicy Indian food, a salt lassi is nice.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 19 January 2005 23:20 (twenty-one years ago)

With Indian food? Spicy, floral whites.

― Matt (Matt), Thursday, 20 January 2005 10:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Yep, we had a bottle last night of Red Truck White from Cline in California that would be perfect with Indian food - blends sauvignon blanc and viognier, then adds marsanne and rousanne. Floral, citrusy, a bit herbal.

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 20 January 2005 13:49 (twenty-one years ago)

That's the ticket, I made a seafood and chilli noodle soup tonight, which went down a treat with a bottle of viognier

― Matt (Matt), Thursday, 20 January 2005 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.