Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!
Champagne pairs wonderfully with a variety of foods. When it comes to these bubbles, we have an extensive list to choose from. One option that’s only available at BLACKBARN, in NoMad along Madison Square Park, is our Dom Pérignon by the glass. Yes, you heard right….
Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!
— Dom Pérignon
Champagne, France is one of the most northern grape growing regions in the world. Since the wine itself has such a high acid content, it works well with foods cooked in oils or rich meats. Think everything from foie gras to french fries!
We sat with Champagne Specialist Alyse Mizia to discuss pairings, recommendations, and facts. A few menu pairings we highly recommend with Champagne are:
• Shellfish Tower served with lobster, shrimp, oysters, Jonah crab claws, ceviche, and lump crab.
• Mushroom Toast with robiola, taleggio, parmesan, and purple watercress on sourdough toast.
• Butternut Squash Ravioli with swiss chard, toasted pumpkin seeds, and bacon lardons.
• Diver Sea Scallops with morel mushroom risotto, fresh peas, lemon zest, and scallop jus.
• Crispy Skin Chicken with parsnip ravioli, fava beans, arugula, grilled spring onion, pioppini, and parmesan.
• And even a side dish of our Truffle Parmesan Gnocchi.
5 things you didn’t know about Champagne:
1. It is recommended to drink Champagne from a wine glass instead of the traditional flute, where you are unable to get your nose in the glass to smell the wine. Since your smell and taste receptors are connected, to experience all that Champagne has to offer you have to be able to both smell and taste it.
2. Bigger is better! Large format bottles of Champagne don’t only come with great names such as Balthazar (12L) and Nebuchadnezzar (15L), the Champagne actually ages at a slower rate, given the smaller ratio of surface area of wine to oxygen exposure through the cork.
3. Enjoy the effervescence, it takes a lot of work to create! The bubbles in Champagne come from a second fermentation, where yeast is added to a bottle of still white wine and sealed. When the yeast eats the sugar in the wine, carbon dioxide is produced and trapped in the bottle, creating the bubbles.
4. Champagne is under immense pressure. The average amount of pressure in a Champagne bottle is 70-90 pounds per square inch – that’s three times as much as a car tire, so be careful where you point it when opening!
5. Drink it now! Many people save bottles of Champagne for special occasions, but in fact, the Champagne producers have done the aging for you in France. By law, Champagne has to be aged a minimum of 18 months before release, but most producers go above and beyond that. When Champagne arrives in the market, it’s ready to drink, and in most cases will not benefit from any further aging.
So start your days with a smile, and finish them with champagne! Ask about our sabering experience during your next Chef’s Table. View it below as seen on Inside Edition on CBS.