Make your holiday (or everyday) meals merrier with these tried and tested food combinations
Christmas is among the most celebrated holidays around the world for so many reasons. One is, of course, food. The occasion allows us to eat to our heart’s content. Festive vibes enhance our dining experience and food becomes twice as delectable. We end up overindulging and, by some unspoken rule, that’s okay when it’s Christmas.
To make Noche Buena as perfect as it could get, San Miguel Foods Culinary Center (SMFCC) organized a food pairing session, which recommended a five-course meal to its patrons.
I was over the moon when I found out that SMFCC was still doing these kinds of events. It reminded me of pre-pandemic times; of the dinners and pairings that opened my eyes (and palate) to the wonders of food combinations. I recall taking great pleasure having joined San Miguel Foods’ vino pairing activity “Wine Walkabout” when it first launched Woomera wines in the Philippines. To my delight, two years later, I was able to cover another SMFCC pairing.
This year’s affair was purely online but just as impressive and insightful as the physical iteration from 2019. Participants were sent a crate of all kinds of San Miguel spirits and a box of tantalizing treats whipped up by SMFCC chef Victor “Viboy” Miranda. Similar to the walkabout event, this year highlights the various ways to play around with food as well as what drinks to pair with dishes for a complementing or contrasting effect. This easy-to-prepare five-course meal is guaranteed to make your midnight Christmas feast memorable.
Pleasure is just as often a function of our emotional associations as it is of our physical sensations—and for this reason, there can be psychology as well as physiology at play when it comes to pairing beverages with food. —Andrew Dornenburg
Bar snack and beer
The first plate is a Spanish hors d’oeuvre. Pintxos is appealing because it is stress-free to put together but tastes incredible. Toasted baguette slices (crostinis) come with either cheese or butter spreads, both of which Chef Viboy recommends preparing two to three days prior to serving. Doing so allows the flavors to blend well.
The cheese variant uses drained and pureed Pimiento topped with cubes of Magnolia Milky White Cheezee as well as sliced olives marinated in olive oil and Ginebra San Miguel (GSM) Premium Gin.
As for the roasted garlic butter, Purefoods Chorizo Bilbao style and onions are stewed in San Miguel Premium All-Malt Beer. Seething the beurre à la bourguignonne with beer gives it maltiness. Overall, the dish is full-flavored.
Alan Sienes, San Miguel Brewery Inc. (SMB)’s brewmaster, explains that beer is a fine match with most dishes. Familiarizing oneself with the character of a brew helps determine which pairing works well. Temperature is also a major factor in a good beer and food coupling. The ideal temperature of beer to bring out its full taste is between six to nine degrees Celsius.
Beverages with a clean and crisp taste profile complement complex flavors. Alan suggests the San Miguel Super Dry to drink with the pintxos. The Super Dry is one of my favorite local brews and, in my opinion, it is one of the cleanest-tasting beers available in the country. The pica-pica/beer combo was a wonderful starter.
Tortellini and Martini
Next is the Cream Cheese and Spinach Tortellini Style in Beetroot Beurre Blanc Sauce with Crisp Basil. It is tortellini or pasta dough filled with cream cheese and spinach on top of a delicate, emulsified butter sauce. The stuffing is made from Magnolia Gold Butter, Magnolia Full Cream Milk, red onion, beetroot, and GSM Premium Gin, which refines the butter sauce’s aroma and taste. A crisp basil leaf topping adds texture to the Italian fare.
The tortellini can be simplified by utilizing dumpling wrappers instead of creating pasta dough from scratch, and store-bought frozen spinach packs mixed with softened Magnolia Cream Cheese for the stuffing.
Ginebra San Miguel Inc. (GSMI)’s mixologist Tabitha Rice suggests the Sweet Lemony Martini, one of GSM’s classic recipes as the partner of the Tortellini. The cocktail demonstrates the tang of the premium gin. It is a simple mix that consists of lemon juice, sugar syrup, and fresh lemon peel. True enough, the fresh zing of the cocktail cuts through the carb-heavy dish.
White meat and wine
The third dish is Gin Chicken Confit on Squash-Potato Mash and Balsamic Drizzled Green Pea Puree. Magnolia Free Range Chicken is marinated for 24 hours in a blend of herbs, spices, and Ginebra’s 1834 Premium Distilled Gin. It is slow-cooked in olive oil, then seared until golden brown. Underneath is mashed squash-potato and a vibrant green puree. Drizzled with a balsamic reduction, the dish is a combination of several textures.
Confit Chicken is an excellent dish to prepare ahead of time since it can be kept in the freezer for a whole month. Marinate the chicken days or even weeks ahead to let the flavors seep in. For a perfect sear, have the meat at room temperature for a few hours before cooking so the fat softens enough to fry evenly.
Woomera’s dry wine, the Sauvignon Blanc, has a subtle flavor profile that balances the herbal notes of the chicken.
Wine Brothers Philippines (WBP)’s winemaker Mike Davies believes that Sauvignon Blanc, while often overlooked, is actually a right fit for the Philippines. Vibrant tasting and light, Sauvignon Blanc is a perfect accompaniment to the hot, humid weather of the tropic country. The wine also has enough acidity and weight that it harmonizes with similar flavors, such as the herby chicken. On the other hand, it also cuts through strong, salty, and spicy flavors common in homegrown dishes.
Dressed beef fillet and gin
The Mini Beef Wellington shows how contrasting flavors result in a balanced dish. The English steak is composed of baked Monterey Beef Tenderloin enclosed in a layer of Purefoods Honeycured Bacon and mushroom duxelles wrapped in a golden puff pastry. It is served on a bed of greens and beer gravy made of San Miguel Super Dry and Magnolia All Purpose Flour.
Sautéing the mushroom duxelles prevents this festive spread centerpiece from drying and the pastry from becoming soggy. The 1834 Premium Distilled Gin, a uniquely Filipino gin infused with calamansi and sampaguita, has a neat taste that cuts through the intense flavors of the mushroom, buttery pastry, and salty bacon.
Moist chocolate cake and Cerveza Negra
To cap off the degustation is a decadent moist cake using Magnolia’s Devil’s Food Cake Mix infused with Woomera’s Sweet Red Wine and covered in a smooth ganache from the same wine, dark chocolate, and Magnolia All Purpose Cream. The Sweet Red Wine alone is a vibrant and fruity drink, that suits the Filipino’s sweet tooth. The vino gives depth to the chocolate.
Among SMB’s line of premium beers, the Cerveza Negra goes well with this cake. Alan says that decadent dessert emphasizes the unique caramel flavor of the dark lager. Beer and chocolate may seem like an odd combo, but the two share a lot in common. Both are better when produced by master craftsmen. The two also mingle bitter and sweet flavors to excite the taste buds.
The event titled “Pairing” is made possible through the collaboration of food and drinks experts from SMFCC, SMB, GSMI, and WBP. homefoodie.com.ph