Match of the week

White fish in cream sauce and Alsace Riesling

Posted by Fiona Beckett (Google+) on June 13 2011 at 08:02

It’s hard to pick out the best match from my trip to Alsace last week but I think it has to go to this classic combination you find in every traditional restaurant.

I admit it doesn’t sound that appetising - and the fish does have to be super-fresh for it to work. The best example was in a traditional family-runn inn in Itterswiller called the Vieux Pressoir - a perfectly fried fillet of zander served with freshly made noodles and a light cream sauce which made you wonder why you don’t serve fish like this more often. In other restaurants it’s often served with choucroute (sauerkraut) and plain boiled potatoes.

Both go brilliantly well with a crisp dry Riesling, preferably from a Grand Cru (although the classification of Alsatian wines is appallingly complicated, so don’t get overly stressed about that). It would also work with simply cooked chicken in a creamy sauce. Cream may have fallen out of favour in recent years but Riesling just loves it.

I’ll be writing more about pairing Alsace wines in a couple of days.

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