Match of the week

Steak with an Old Fashioned

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on March 5 2018 at 09:24

Red wine is such an established go to with steak that it’s hard to consider anything else as a pairing but it struck me this week after a few days tasting rum with Philippines producer Don Papa (yes, it’s a hard life … ) that dark rum might also be an interesting match.

Don Papa is a rich dark small batch rum that I thought would go well with the caramelised surface of a grilled steak - and so it proved when we tried it at Elbert’s Steak Room in Makati - the upmarket CBD of Manila. It was especially good on the rocks but I reckon an even better pairing would be an Old Fashioned cocktail made with the same 7 year old rum.

Would you actually order it at a steak restaurant though? I don’t see why not if it’s a drink you enjoy. If you didn’t feel like having it during a meal it would also be good with a bar snack of a couple of sliders, a burger or a steak sandwich

*If you want to run up the cocktail yourself the Don Papa team call it the Don Fashioned and it’s 50ml (2 shots) of Don Papa, 1/2 a bar spoon or teaspoon of agave syrup and 2 dashes of Angostura bitters. Pour the ingredients into a tumbler filled with ice, stir and garnish with an orange twist - and a maraschino cherry, if you fancy it though the version I tried was excellent without one.

My 5 top wine and steak pairing tips

I visited the Philippines as a guest of Don Papa rum.

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