The best Food pairings with a Cabernet Sauvignon
If you’re looking for the ideal food pairing for cabernet sauvignon you don’t have to look very far. Almost any red meat, especially served rare, is going to do the trick. That said there are different styles of cabernet – powerful new world cabernets from California, Chile and Australia with their intensely flavoured cassis fruit and more restrained elegant cabernets from Bordeaux, often blended with merlot and cabernet franc.
With young cabernets it helps to have an element of charring or spice to offset the sweetness and tannins. With older, more mellow cabs braised or more subtly sauced, classically European dishes come into their own. Seasonings that tend to flatter cabernet are garlic, rosemary, mint and porcini (dried mushrooms). Dishes that are cooked in red wine and combinations of meat and cheese (as in a burger) are also successful.
- Steak or a Good Burger
- Braised Short Ribs or Roast or Grilled Lamb
- Portabello Mushrooms & Varieties of Cheeses
sourced credit: matchingwineandfood.com
Below we’ve tried to categorize the best pairings for the bolder tastes of a Cabernet Sauvignon. You’ll find an assortment of red meats, mushrooms, and cheeses to round out our best six recommendations for pairing a Cabernet Sauvignon with food.
We’ve chosen to begin with the Top 3 Red meat choices to pair with a strong Cabernet.
Steak – The obvious choice! Especially slightly fattier steaks like ribeye and sirloin, served rare to medium-rare.
Beef short ribs and other braised beef dishes – Slow-braised beef – or venison – can be great too especially when cooked in red wine. Fashionable ox cheek dishes are also a good pairing – even a chilli con carne: a good match for an inexpensive, jammy cabernet.
Below we’ve tried to categorize the best pairings for the bolder tastes of a Cabernet Sauvignon. You’ll find an assortment of red meats, mushrooms, and cheeses to round out our best six recommendations for pairing a Cabernet Sauvignon with food.
Roast or grilled lamb – A butterflied leg of lamb or a lamb steak with rosemary is always a winner especially with red Bordeaux. Add a gratin dauphinoise on the side and you’re in clover.
Portabello mushrooms – If you’re not a meat-eater, a big juicy grilled Portabello mushroom (or two) with butter and garlic is a great pairing. The intense flavour of dried porcini mushrooms will also make a cab shine.
Cheese – If you’re wondering what the best cheese is with cabernet sauvignon you’ll find it’s a good all-rounder for a cheeseboard, especially with hard cheeses such as an aged cheddar or gouda. Blue cheeses like Gorgonzola work well too especially in combination with a steak or a burger. A side of cheesy polenta will also help show off a good cab.
teak – is such an obvious choice to pair with red wines, especially the bolder tastes of a cabernet sauvignon.
With Red meats, and steaks in particular, the more fatty steaks like for instance a ribeye or a top sirloin,coupled with sides like cheeses and mushrooms, or braised flavorings, served as arare to medium-rare liking.
The right steak is are a perfect compliment to your rich red wine.
Grilled steaks with a thick char best pair with big, bold cabernets. The char masks the excess of tannins. If you prefer this style of wine, leave some fat on your steak and give it a good char (with fresh pepper) to help the steak stand up to the powerful wine.
