By Karen and Ken Geiszler, Winery-Sage.com —
Super Bowl is fast approaching and, if you’re like us, you’ll be glued to the TV watching the game and rating the quality of the commercials with your buddies. You may be interested in the halftime show but, to be honest, to an old fart like me, Justin Timberlake doesn’t hold a lot of appeal.
Being a native Californian, two teams roughly 2,900 and 3,100 miles away makes for a game without any local appeal but seeing the Patriots in one more Super Bowl gives me something to root against. In honor of my old friend Mike, who passed away a few years ago, I’ll be rooting for the Eagles. I suppose it’s too much to hope for an earthquake that swallows Bill Belichick and his eternally smug attitude.
I’m an avid football fan but seeing as there isn’t a Northern California team in it, I’ll watch with slightly less interest which means my attention will wander to food and drinks. I know this is a wine blog but most people associate Super Bowl with beer and truth be told, I’ll be drinking beer as well but I know a few who will indulge in a glass or two of wine so in honor of those few die hard wine fans, this post is for you.
With Philadelphia and New England (basically Boston) in the big game, it seems like a good idea to pick a few favorites from each city and come up with a food and wine paring. We’ll also throw in a few hints for many of the occasion’s favorites like sausages, chili etc..
Boston is a seaport, one of the oldest in the country, and much of its regional cuisine involves seafood. The most common dishes are, clam chowder, lobster in myriad form — broiled, poached, thermidor, lobster rolls… the list goes on — fried clams, steak tips and Boston baked beans.
Clam Chowder
This one screams for Chardonnay or Viognier. The soft, creamy texture is perfect for these two wines. Whatever you do, stay away from any wine with a lot of acid in it. You’ll get an unpleasant reaction with the acid and the cream in the soup.
Lobster
If you go with the regional theme for the game and decide that you are going to splurge for lobster, your best wine will be Chardonnay. It goes well with the subtle taste of Lobster and also with the omnipresent butter that accompanies it. If you’re serving Lobster, it also means you have far more disposable income than we do.
Fried Clams
Look for a dry Riesling to compliment the clam flavor but also to help cut through any oil left over from the fryer.
Steak Tips
These tasty morsels are a New England mainstay. They are made from the same cut of meat from which many of the Mexican markets make their Arrechera, called “flap meat”. The sauce is slightly sweet and the meat has some fat so go with a slightly sweeter Zinfandel for a great accompaniment. Because Steak Tips are pretty much unknown in California, I’ve included a link to a recipe.
Boston Baked Beans
These little guys were probably the inspiration for most traditional baked bean recipes in the US. There is often molasses and/or brown sugar cooked in so you don’t want to go with a dry wine that will taste quite sour after eating a couple of sweeter bites. A Gewürztraminer or a sweeter Riesling would be best with the beans.
Click here to read the rest of the article with tips for Philly fans!
Karen and Ken have been married for almost 25 years and to date have still not had a fight since being married, probably because Karen has the patience of a saint. They live in the Silicon Valley area but have had a cabin just south of Yosemite, in the Bass lake area, for roughly 13 years. They spend as much time up here as they can. The first 10 years was just relaxation. The last three has been lots of work recovering from damage caused by the Courtney Fire and then continuing on with a remodel. In 2018, they hope to spend as much as a third of their time up at the cabin.
They are now empty-nesters with their older son being married and living in London with his new wife for the next two years, and the younger one living in Ann Arbor, Michigan, getting his PhD in Bioinformatics. From where he got the brains is a complete mystery but the best guess is the dog. They are not sure what they did to drive their kids so far away but the only consolation is that both sons claim to want to move back in the future.
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