Why I’ve put part of matchingfoodandwine.com behind a paywall

Those of you who consult matchingfoodandwine.com regularly may have noticed I have put the Top Pairings section of the site behind a paywall.

You may wonder why after all this time. After all the site has been free to use since I first set it up back in 2006.

At that time it wasn’t common to charge for online content - Jancis Robinson was one of the only writers who did - and then, working for the Guardian, I felt it was all part of the service.

But in many ways it’s been a victim of its own success. Loads of people were using it and not paying for it - something I didn’t mind in the case of private individuals but found slightly galling in the case of large companies. But hell, why wouldn’t they? I wasn’t asking them for money despite offering them over 18 years of expertise!

So, having left the Guardian in the summer, I finally decided to put the key Top Pairings section behind a paywall which you can access by buying a bundle of credits, a model those of you who subscribe to photographic libraries will be familiar with. Or think a ‘carnet’ of Paris metro tickets if you aren’t.

You can either buy them as a monthly or annual subscription where they get automatically topped up or a on one-off basis. 

One credit buys you access to one article so it’s basically pay-as-you-go. You can get an idea of what the article is about from the first couple of paragraphs.

Once you’ve paid for an article you have permanent access to it and there’s no time limit by which the credits have to be used.

Many sections of the site still remain free - the regularly updated Match of the Week slot and Recipes, Entertaining, Wine Basics and Food & Wine Pros among them so there’s plenty to browse.

But if you’d like to access the key recommendations here’s how to go about it;

How to buy a bundle of credits

It’s actually really simple.

Head for the Purchase Credits page and sign up or sign in, choose from the credit packs and you’ll then be able enter your payment details.

(Prices start at £6 ($7.82/7.20€*) for a one-off bundle of 10 credits i.e. 60p (78 cents /.72€*) an article or you could take out an annual membership for £55 (/$71.76/66€*) which would give you 120 credits which works out at only 46p (60 cents/.55€) an article. There is a range of other options.

If you’re a business and would like to set up access for more than one member of your team you can take out a corporate subscription. Only one person needs to sign up but you can then add the email addresses of up to four other colleagues to give them access to the content. If they sign in with that email and hit “forgotten password” they can set up their own password.

Here’s the link you need again

* at the current rate of exchange 20/10/24

When to pair red wine with fish

Few people now throw up their hands in horror at the idea of matching red wine with fish. But how many realise just how often you can pair the two?

Here are six occasions when I think you can:

When the fish is ‘meaty’
If that doesn’t sound a contradiction in terms! Tuna is an obvious example but swordfish, monkfish and, occasionally, salmon fall into that category. That doesn’t mean they should only be drunk with a red (think of salade Niçoise, for example, which is more enjoyable with a rosé) simply that reds - usually light ones like Pinot Noir and Loire Cabernet Franc - generally work.

When it’s seared, grilled or barbecued
Just like any other food, searing, grilling or barbecuing fish creates an intensity of flavour that cries out for a red, especially if the fish is prepared with a spicy marinade or baste. Even oily fish like mackerel and sardines can work with a light, chilled red if they’re treated this way.

When it’s roasted
Similar thinking. The classic example is roast monkfish, especially if wrapped in pancetta and served with a red wine sauce (see below) when it differs very little from a meat roast. You could even drink red with a whole roast turbot or brill (though I generally prefer white). Accompaniments such as lentils or mushrooms will enhance a red wine match.

When it’s served with meat
Surf’n’turf! Once meat is involved one inclines towards a red, certainly if that meat is steak. Spanish-style dishes that combine chorizo and fish like hake are a natural for reds (like crianza Riojas) too.

When it’s served in a Mediterranean-style fish soup or stew
A recent discovery - that a classic French Provençal soup with its punchy accompaniment of rouille (a mayonnaise-type sauce made with garlic, chilli and saffron) is great with a gutsy red (I tried it with a minor Madiran but any traditional southern or south-western red that wasn’t too fruit driven would work). It’s the slightly bitter saffron note that these soups and stews like bouillabaisse contain that seems to be the key. A sauce that had similar ingredients would work too as would this dish of braised squid above.

When it’s served with a red wine sauce
You might not think that you could serve a really powerful red wine sauce with fish but with a full-flavoured fish such as halibut or turbot it works. And the natural pairing is a substantial, but not overwhelmingly alcoholic or tannic red. Like a fleshy Merlot.

Photo © Belokoni Dmitri at shutterstock.com

Introducing Eat This, Drink That

Many of you will have already discovered my new subscription newsletter Eat This, Drink That and might be wondering where the idea came from and how it fits in with Matching Food & Wine.

As you no doubt know Matching Food & Wine is free to read but as I hope you’re also aware a lot of work goes into it and it costs money to run in terms of web hosting, design, marketing and the small but brilliant behind the scenes team who keep it on the road. (Thankyou David, Monica, Helen and Chantal!)

Many of you have generously made a donation towards its running costs over the years but that only just covers the costs let alone creating enough income to develop and improve the site - or pay its author a living wage 😉 Newsletters, in particular, had become really expensive because of the significant size of our subscriber base.

Then I heard about Substack which is a platform designed to give readers the opportunity to fund writers whose work they enjoy and it really appealed to me. It also gave me the opportunity to write more than I currently do about food which is where I started my career in journalism and for my readers to get the benefit of the 30 plus years I’ve spent writing about food and drink.

So I decided to do one myself and Eat This, Drink That was born.

The basic offering is a weekly newsletter called The Friday 5 which goes out, as the name suggests, on a Friday and includes five different types of recommendation which change from week to week.

Most weeks there will be something to cook, a bottle and some ingredient or ready-made product you can buy but it will also include cookbooks, the odd cocktail, restaurants and hotels I’ve been grabbed by - in short, the kind of places and things on which I’d be prepared to spend my own money and encourage my friends to spend theirs.

There are other monthly posts including:

• Raise your Game (how to cook, eat and drink better. Here’s one on perfecting your gin and tonic for example and another on how to cook perfect fluffy rice.
• The ETDT recipe edit, (sifting through the hundreds of recipes out there so you don’t have to. I did one for Easter here and there's one coming shortly on recipes you might want to make for the Jubilee weekend,
• So you think you don’t like …a feature on food dislikes and how to overcome them. So far I've tackled mushrooms and chardonnay.

There will also be the occasional feature as the mood takes me such as this one on what to eat if you lose your sense of taste (from first-hand experience of having Covid recently).

Meanwhile Matching Food & Wine will continue to focus on its main aim of being the most comprehensive food and wine pairing site out there - at least I like to think so! And there will still be a monthly newsletter updating you on what’s recently been published on the site. And all for free but you can support it by subscribing to Eat This Drink That.

By the way there's a 25% discount on an annual membership until the end of May 2022, bringing it down to £27 a year or just £2.25 a month, less than the cost of a flat white . . . Or sign up to a monthly subscription at £4 a month - still only £1 a week!

If you’d like to get a clearer idea of what you'd be signing up for you can see some of the free posts I published in April here. (You may have to scroll down to find them!)

Hope you’ll come on board!

20 Christmas wine pairings to learn by heart

One of the most popular posts I’ve ever written on this site was one called 20 food and wine pairings to learn by heart - an easy reference guide to commit to memory.

Here’s a special Christmas version to help you through the next few days along with links to longer posts on the site which will give you more options

1. Smoked salmon + champagne or sauvignon blanc

Champagne is the more festive pairing but Sauvignon is the better match IMO.

2. Oysters + Chablis

A French tradition so a French wine. Muscadet and Picpoul de Pinet, both from oyster producing areas are also good options.

3. Duck (or chicken) liver parfait + pinot gris

I've chosen this in preference to foie gras as I don't personally eat it but like foie gras it can also take a wine with a touch of sweetness. You could even go for Sauternes or a similar sweet Bordeaux.

4. Seafood cocktail + Riesling

An off-dry riesling from, say, Washington State or New Zealand

5. Roast turkey + Rhone reds such as Chateauneuf du Pape

There are many other options but it's hard to beat this one.

6. Christmas ham + bright fruity reds such as shiraz or Beaujolais

The sweeter the glaze, the riper and fruitier the wine you need

7. Goose + Barolo or Chianti

Whites like spätlese riesling work too but most people would expect a red

8. Duck + Pinot Noir

Always works

9. Roast beef + Cabernet Sauvignon, red Bordeaux

Or, to tell the truth, almost any medium to full-bodied red you enjoy

10. Roast pork + Côtes du Rhône

Or, if you prefer a white and it's served with apple sauce , German or Alsace riesling

11. Baked salmon + white burgundy

Salmon and chardonnay is always a winner

12. Christmas pudding + muscat

Such as Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise or (a bargain this) Moscatel de Valencia

13. Christmas cake + tawny port

Sweet oloroso sherry is good too

14. Mince pies + cream or oloroso sherry or sweet madeira

Or port if that's what you happen to have open.

15. Chocolate Yule log + black muscat

Or any other sweet red wine

16. Stollen + auslese or other sweet riesling

But do check out the other options which are great too!

17. Panettone + prosecco

Cook's treat!

18. Trifle + Moscato d'Asti

Depending on the trifle and how boozy it is! Check my full post for more options.

19. Stilton + vintage port

THE Christmas pairing. Other types of port like Late Bottled Vintage (LBV) and 10 y.o. tawny are good too

20. Vacherin Mont d’Or + vintage champagne

Not the classic pairing of the region but a great way to end a meal!

You may also find the original 20 food and wine pairings to learn by heart useful.

Is there any other pairing you regard as classic or wouldn't miss over the Christmas period?

Image copyright jasoncoxphotography at fotolia.com