Monday, June 20, 2022

Wine For Breakfast Foods

I wondered "When one has breakfast food for dinner, what wine is supposed to go with it?" I thought I would start googling french toast as the most likely dish to have attracted an answer.  I was wrong. This question has of course been answered by many people who care about wine pairings. There is no unanimity, but there are some trends.  For Eggs Benedict - which I had not considered - champagne or prosecco is repeatedly preferred.  For the various griddle breads, pancakes, waffles, and french toast, a Riesling is recommended, especially if there is bacon or another breakfast meat along. However, if you have chicken and waffles, the sweet reds, especially sparkling are supposed to come to mind: lambruscos, shiraz. Or if it is blueberry pancakes, then Moscato D'Asti, a sweet white wine in a blue bottle is the thing. Omelettes take a rose, as do crepes. Those sound lovely, actually. Breakfast burritos a red, preferably a rough-and-tumble one.  Quiches take a chardonnay, chablis, or other uncomplicated white.

Exceptions: I had forgotten that avocado toast was a food that people eat at all, let alone a breakfast, but most lists were eager to give it a pairing.  I continue to harbor ill-will against it because of my difficulty in getting a simple waffle for breakfast while visiting West Asheville. (I later learned I would have done better in East Asheville, near the mall.) All the hipster restaurants had avocado toast but no waffle, and the only pancakes were a whole wheat ("oh, but you can't tell") so heavy that I thought they had brought the wrong order and I had gotten someones cake of sorts.  And I could tell, BTW, even upon inspection. Not a pancake. So I shall not tell you what is the proper wine to pair with it. I have not had a frittata and have no plans to. So I give you no help there either.

I read down the lists, wondering what people would do with oatmeal.  Dessert wines, such as port - yes of course, I should have seen that coming, and two even suggested putting two ounces in the oatmeal itself, much as one might do with fruit or jelly. 

One site mentioned breakfast cereal but refused to name a wine for it.  Fair.

Update: This should get put up, the way the comments have been going.



10 comments:

Grim said...

Champagne is often served at brunch, alone or as a mimosa, so that may be a generally satisfying answer.

Oatmeal is of course paired with Scotch.

Grim said...

In fact sometime you should try mixing the Scotch into the oatmeal, with just a bit of honey. Wonderful stuff.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I can no longer drink Drambuie, but I'll bet that would work as well.

Sponge-headed ScienceMan said...

Any Pop Tarts on your list?

james said...

Leftover pizza?
One bachelor morning there wasn't anything left in the fridge with my name on it but some ice cream.

Donna B. said...

The only alcoholic beverage appropriate to pair with breakfast cereal for supper is Everclear.

Grim said...

...and that for the purpose of setting fire to it.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

One college freshman morning the only thing in my refrigerator on a Sunday morning was a third of a bottle of Boone's Farm. I drank it. As for leftover pizza, I thought flat root beer was traditional, so maybe a hard flat rootbeer would have to be it. What else is rooty? Jagrmeister, perhaps, though that is more like whiskey and Moxie. Which reminds me of a song...

Donna B. said...

ooohhh... Fruit Loops Flambe!

Pebo said...

I have found that Wild Irish Cream Liquor pairs quite well with Rice Krispies for that early morning Snap, Crackle, Pop feeling