At Dos Cuerpos, we specialize in promoting the finest agave spirits and the best Mexican wines. Additionally, we aim to enhance your experience with these products to the fullest. That's why we want to share with you the 3 tips for selecting the perfect pairing for mezcal.
To find the ideal combination between pairing and the drink, we need to understand what flavors and taste sensations the spirit seeks: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, hot, cold, smoky, roasted, etc. This is achieved through trial and error, especially when one's palate isn't trained. We recommend starting with sweet, cold, and sour elements, as they are the easiest to detect. Once these flavors and sensations are identified, one will seek their opposites, their complements.
2.- Another crucial aspect to consider is the region where the product was created. The soil of a specific locality shares minerals, organic matter, millions of bacteria, liquids, and compressed gases. Animals that live and die on this land fertilize it alongside agave and other types of food growth. These factors, as well as climate and natural disasters, are reflected in the crops of a particular place. Therefore, pairing mezcal with other foods from the same region is a great tip to find the perfect match. For instance, a mezcal from Zacatecas might pair well with savory and strong-flavored dishes, like a meal featuring the spiciness of dried chilies or the dominant taste of garlic in a bean stew. In this regard, it's important to recall the products that existed in pre-Hispanic Mexico before the arrival of the Manila galleon from China carrying goods from Asia and Europe, such as tomatoes, huauzontles, squash, chaya, nopales, epazote, and xoconostle. We also recommend trying to pair your spirits with various dishes derived from corn. If your spirit possesses a characteristic that you believe complements sweetness, you can experiment with pineapple, mamey, sapodilla, chicozapote, guava, nanche, soursop, nanche, or blackberry.
3.- The third and most important tip is: know and care for your body. When seeking to balance your spirit with a suitable pairing, you must be aware of what settles well in your digestive system. Tequila, mezcal, charanda, bacanora, sotol, and raicilla are all high-alcohol agave spirits, so many consumers prefer to enjoy them on their own. If you have a sensitive stomach, it's advisable not to pair your spirit or do so with small portions of citrus fruits like orange or grapefruit, with a slice of tomato or mandarin sprinkled with tajín seasoning, or with other fruits like red apple with ant salt or pears with vinegar and salt. Nevertheless, many of these spirits have been paired for centuries with Mexican cuisine ingredients, indicating that they generally pair well with strong and spicy flavors. These intense flavors provided by chilies, garlic, and various spices applied to meats and seafood can create the perfect pairing recipe. Tequila, sotol, mezcal, and bacanora, for example, pair excellently with grilled octopus or smoked seafood, whereas raicilla, pulque, and charanda pair better with red meats (lamb, beef, rabbit) or marrow. Lastly, other spirits like proxy, which have ancient healing uses dating back to Maya culture, remain a part of Mexican culture due to our Tzeltal heritage, and as such, they are not typically paired with any food.
Also, see 3 Tips for the Perfect Wine Pairing.
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