Welsh Food and Drink Pairings
Something that will forever annoy me is the tendency to leave drinks (as well as economic feasibility, but that's for another day) out of the discussion surrounding the importance of eating seasonally and locally.
Restaurants in Wales will proudly declare the Welsh origins of their menu whilst simultaneously presenting you with a drinks list containing not one beer, wine or cider from Wales. Dishes constructed with regional ingredients will be paired with a wine from a different hemisphere. When working in front of house I could guarantee multiple questions each service about why the lamb was sourced from Ireland and not Wales, but not one concerning the lack of Welsh beer on offer.
Wine, beer and cider, just like meat, dairy and vegetables, are all products of farming and agriculture. They are made from ingredients that are grown, harvested and transported in similar ways. Arguably, freshness comes into play here and alcohol’s ability to self preserve gives it room to go a little further but I do think that drinks’ inclination to shy away from tackling it’s labour and environmental issues has something to do with a wine from Australia being accepted in ways where poultry shipped from further afield is not.
To focus on wine for a second, the fact that a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is more acceptable, accessible and affordable than a Welsh equivalent is something that needs addressing. It’s a conversation that is touched on in my Behind The Bar with the wonderful Sara Hobday of Vin Van Caerdydd that I would encourage you to read. I’m excited to see the moves she makes in promoting Welsh wine over the coming years.
Today, in an attempt to put my money where my mouth is, and in honour of March being the month of St Davids Day, I’ve paired some Welsh wines, beers and ciders with some traditional Welsh dishes. It’s not a solution to my annoyances, but it is the start of a larger discussion we’ll be having on Burum Collective to address and understand them. As always, let me know what you think, and if you have any favourite Welsh pairings of your own I would love to hear about them.
Laverbread and Fizz
Laverbread, much like sweetbreads, disappointingly has absolutely nothing to do with carbohydrates in any form whatsoever. It is, in fact, a type of seaweed that, once harvested from the West Coast, is cooked until soft and then minced into a paste. It can be served rolled in oats and then fried, on its own as part of a cooked Welsh breakfast or incorporated into the wonder that is the Glamorgan Sausages. One of my favourite places to eat in Cardiff, The Heathcock, serves it warmed, on top of a crumpet, surrounded by cockles. It’s like eating a hug.
As you may expect, laverbread has quite the salinity to it. Richard Burton once famously described it as ‘Welshmans caviar’ and, unnecessarily gendered tone aside, I can see where he’s coming from. It very much tastes of the bracing Welsh coast.
Crumpet hugs notwithstanding, I personally like to consume laverbread as part of a brunch or as some form of fun appetiser situation. The venn diagram of drinks to pair with both breakfasts and entrees is, of course, traditional method sparkling wine and thankfully Wales has a lot of those to offer. Drink Welsh has collated all of Wales’ vineyards in one place, making it easy for you to browse and pick your fizz of choice.
Rarebit and Stout
If for some reason you don’t know what Welsh Rarebit is, I need you to go away, read this Felicity Cloake piece, make some of your own and then rejoin me when you’re done. It is, in essence, the best cheese on toast you’ve ever had. When done well, rarebit is unholy in it’s goodness.
One of the reasons rarebit tastes so fantastic is because it is made with the addition of alcohol. This can be anything from cider to port but Felicity Cloake decrees that Stout works best and to be honest I’d have to agree with her. I’m gonna go one step further and say that not only is Stout the best liquid to go into Rarebit, it is the best thing to be drunk alongside it as well. (Craft Devil’s Safe as Milk Stout is a particular favourite).
Picture this, you’ve just made your Rarebit, it’s oozing delight in front of you, radiating warmth and comfort. You’ve got half of that Stout leftover from cooking, you bring it with you as you sit down to eat. Sweet, cozy, rich maltiness entwines with soft, salty, gooey tanginess. For a perfect ten minutes everything is good and right and safe in this world.
Every pairing piece I have read about rarebit states that pairing it with the beer used to make it is the ‘obvious’ choice and the ‘lazy’ option. Here’s what I have to say to that: Sometimes things are obvious in their goodness! The sun, a shining example of this! Also toddlers in snow suits and going to bed in clean sheets! I’m not always here to be clever and different, sometimes I’m gonna say the obvious, because the obvious is good!
Glamorgan Sausage and White Wine
I see your ‘tech meat’ vegetarian sausages and I raise you Wales’ no tech Caerphilly cheese, leek and breadcrumbs vegetarian sausage. Look, I’m a fan of Linda McCartney as much as the next person, but there’s something about the crunch and the ooze and the complete not sausageness of a Glamorgan Sausage that’ll always make this my preferred vegetarian option.
I’ve put ‘White Wine’ as a pairing for this which I appreciate is incredibly vague of me, but hear me out. The aforementioned crunch and ooze of a good Glamorgan sausage requires something sharp to cut through that salt and fat. The high acidity found in any cool climate Welsh white will be perfect for this and gives you room to explore the growing range of white wine that Wales has to offer.
Bara Brith and Whisky
I’m going to upset a lot of people here and say I don’t really like whisky. It’s a drink I can stomach on the sad and the bad days, but I associate it too much with a past me who drank it only to impress men to get any real joy out of it any more. I’m relieved to tell you I love myself now and that means saying goodbye to ordering whisky and saying hello to white wine spritzers instead.
Bara Brith on the over hand, buttered to an inch of its life in all it’s tea-soaked, fruit studden, softly spiced glory, is a joy to behold. It’s sweet and sticky and perfect, so obviously I’m going to pair it with a drink I don’t see eye to eye on.
In all of its peat and smoke and fire, whisky mingles with sugar and spice so perfectly. Penderyn Whisky is a pretty accessible option if you want to try it for yourself. It all makes for a warming, soothing, remedial pairing. Almost good enough to make me order whisky of my own free will.
Lamb Cawl and Pale Ale
The first thing I ate after completing Veganuary this year was a Lamb Cawl from the cafe around the corner from my flat. It wasn’t something I’d found myself craving over January, I’m not a huge meat eater, but it was raining and I was cold and my heart was aching and the stewed comfort it promised spoke to me.
Varying both seasonally and regionally, as all good dishes should, lamb cawl is a broth that makes excellent use of cheaper cuts of meat and whatever vegetables are to hand. Rioja is always a phenomenal lamb pairing I’ve found, but we are sticking firmly to Wales today so I’m going to suggest a Pale Ale instead, Beer Riff’s Easy Lover is a great example from our friends in Swansea.
I should make it known at this point that Helen disagrees with my pairing here, they would prefer a more Amber Ale, and you know what, who am I, really, to tell you what to do? Taste is very much personal and subjective isn’t it. But as a spokesperson for my taste buds and my taste buds alone, I enjoy the way the crisp, light, fruitiness of a Pale Ale sits with the ever so slightly sweet broth of a Lamb Cawl. I look forward to more people disagreeing with me in the comments.
Crempog and Cider
I’ve lived in Cardiff for almost ten years now and (perhaps ignorantly) I have never heard of a crempog, but I was so delighted by the name of this traditional Welsh delicacy when researching this piece I had to include it.
A crempog sounds like it could be some form of pig adjacent alien or a brand of scooter perhaps. It is in fact neither of those things, but a Welsh pancake instead. Not only that, a crempog is one of the oldest Welsh recipes there are around. Veering towards American style, crempogs are traditionally made on bakestones and incorporate buttermilk and a touch of vinegar to give them a pleasant tang.
Cider is a fantastic pancake pairing, in my opinion. Ripe, fruity, keeved cider, such as that from Skyborry in Powys, sits really well with light, fluffy, ever so slightly crisped pancakes, especially when they’re topped with a stewed rhubarb or a syrupped stone fruit. So well in fact, it almost makes a perfect excuse for having cider for breakfast.
