Wine With Food : Pairing Notes and Recipes from the New York Times

Pairing wine and food can bring out the best qualities in each. But how do you hit upon the right combination? Do you fall back on the old rules: red with meat, white with fish? Or do you decide by cuisine, flavor notes, or season? The choices can be perplexing and constantly changing. Florence Fabricant and Eric Asimov have spent much of their careers grappling with this most delicious dilemma.

For almost a decade Asimov has been writing The Wines of the Times columns accompanied by Fabricants' Pairings recipes. There are few hard-and-fast rules. Instead, Wine with Food offers guiding information to instill confidence so you can make your own choices.

The goal is to break the mold of many traditional pairing models in the hopes of opening up new possibilities. Asimov focuses on wines of distinction and highlights certain producers to look for, without getting into specific vintages. Fabricant offers one hundred dishes, each carefully crafted to let the wine shine.

They cover every course and draw from diverse global influences - Clams with Chorizo, Eggplant Croque Monsieurs, Smoked Trout Frittata, Autumn Panzanella, Duck Fried Rice, Black Cod on Wilted Radicchio, Coq au Vin Blanc, Peppers Stuffed with Oxtail, Short Ribs with Squash and Shiitakes, Osso Buco Portobello. Along the way, sidebars explore fascinating issues related to the entire experience at the table - such as sweet with savoury, the right kind of glass, and decanting. Wine with Food is both an inspiring collection of recipes and a concise guide to wine.