Your mead and food

[themoldycow]

What do you like to eat with your mead?

Beer and wine are fairly common and so I don't have much trouble thinking what beer or wine to have with a meal, either because I have had experiences of my own with beer or wine and food, or because its not hard to find out what other people are doing. Mead is, however, a bit trickier because it is less common and publicly known. So please share your ideas.

 

[Brad Dahlhofer]

The types of food that pair well with mead are as diverse as the meads themselves. We recently did a mead dinner at the Busy Bee in Raleigh, NC and the 5 meads were paired with different foods that were as far ranging as you can get.

I really like a traditional buckwheat mead with BBQ meat. A tupelo mead goes real well with Indian or Thai food. Pick a food that pairs well with the spices in a methaglin. How about a basil mead with italian, or a corriander mead with Indian curry.

Fortunately (and unfortunately), we have a blank slate to work with here.

 

[skunkboy]

Desserts and mead, like tart raspberry mead and chocolate cake...hhmm....

 

[Dan McFeeley]

There is a section on mead and food over in the archive section, try taking a look there. Quick link is:

http://www.gotmead.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=205

A forum search will turn up more info -- it's been a topic that's been discussed from time to time. Ken Schramm and Oskaar have had some excellent suggestions.

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[wildoates]

Well, last night I was at a birthday party with a crowd of friends, about half of whom were at the mead tasting last month. We had some of Brad's mead (the Wildberry Pyment, which took first in our competition), and found it went very well with veggie curry, salad, bread, asparagus, and pork tenderloin.

Although it was rather humorous...when the mead was offered (along with a lot of wine), the people who were not at the tasting party passed it by in favor of the "known," the wine. The people who WERE at the tasting and KNEW exactly what they were going to get? They pretty much fought to get some poured in their glass. They're all sold on mead, they like it better than wine. The others suffered in their ignorance.

Clearly some more education must be done within my circle of friends.

 

[Medsen Fey]

Brad, I'd love to hear the details of the NC tasting. Which meads were paired with what? What was the feedback? Inquiring minds want to know.

Medsen

 

[Dan McFeeley]

I've been experimenting with herbal metheglyns injected into poultry, using a barbecue injector. It's working our really well -- next project in the works is a rosemary metheglyn, to be used with roasted chicken, once it's finished out.

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[Dan McFeeley]

I've also tried substituting mead for pork recipes calling for hard cider, with good results. I'm thinking that mead itself pairs well with pork, does anyone else have any thoughts on that?

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[Dan McFeeley]

Another link to discussion on food and mead, this one has even more topics:

http://www.gotmead.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=147

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[wildoates]

I've been experimenting with herbal metheglyns injected into poultry, using a barbecue injector. It's working our really well -- next project in the works is a rosemary metheglyn, to be used with roasted chicken, once it's finished out.

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I am SO hungry. If only you lived closer, because I'd SO be there for dinner!

 

[Dan McFeeley]

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[Smarrikåka]

Some generalisations of what I think:

Sweet meads - pastry desserts, sweet desserts, stronger cheese, choclate

Semi-sweet meads - Pork, chicken, fowl, asian/indian/mexican/indian spiced foods

Dry meads - Smoked fish, shellfish, sushi, lighter vegetarian dishes, spicy food

Berry melomels - Spicy sausage, lighter cheese

Fruit melomels - Sour desserts

Spiced meads - In addition to sweetness category, may work with things like game, lamb


I think overall it's pretty comparable with what white wine goes well with, but with an even wider range. It's tougher to find meads that can replace a red wine.

 

[Brad Dahlhofer]

Brad, I'd love to hear the details of the NC tasting. Which meads were paired with what? What was the feedback? Inquiring minds want to know.

Medsen

I'll post the menu as soon as I get home. I've been on the road for 3 out of 4 weeks. I'm in NJ now, launching our meads and serving it up at the Atlantic City Beer Festival.