Fiona Beckett, Food Matching guru, gives us the best food pairings for our cider.
Cider is a fantastic match for food as any West countryman, Norman or Breton will tell you. If a dish goes with white wine it will generally go with cider.
There are many different styles, obviously but here are the type of dishes I think suit cider best.
Creamy or cider-based sauces
It’s much more helpful to focus on the way something is cooked and the sauce that goes with it rather than the base ingredient such as chicken or pork which can be cooked so many different ways. Think of the kind of sauces you find in Normandy which, of course is cider’s heartland. And of chicken casseroles or pies cooked with cider and sausages with cider (in fact any dish cooked with onion and apples). All obvious pairings.
Creamy pasta bakes
Same reasoning as above.
Quiche
Especially leek, broccoli or salmon quiche.
Creamy vegetable or chicken soups – onion, mushroom, celery, leek, carrot . . .
Creamy seafood or vegetable risottos.
Pizza bianco, i.e. without tomato, especially topped with seafood or veggies.
Fish and chips (honestly!).
Ham and other cold cuts.