2007 IACP “Cookbook of the Year” Award
2007 IACP Cookbook Award – Best Book on Wine, Beer or Spirits
2006 Georges Duboeuf “Wine Book of the Year” Award
2006 Gourmand World Cookbook Award
WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT:
The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea — Even Water —
Based on Expert Advice from America’s Best Sommeliers
by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page
Photography by Michael Sofronski
(Hachette Book Group / Little, Brown / Bulfinch Press; 2006)
“One of the 10 Best Food and Wine Books of 2006.”
—Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks (Vancouver)
“At the moment the most useful wine-with-food guide in English.”
—Edward Behr, The Art of Eating
“One of the winning vintages in this year’s crop of wine books.”
—Bill Daley, wine columnist, The Chicago Tribune
“Here’s [The Modern’s wine director Belinda] Chang’s succinct review
of WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT: ‘genius.'”—Seanan Forbes, Chicago Sun-Times Blog
“The #2 best cocktail book of 2006.”
—Colleen Graham, Cocktails.About.com
“One of the 5 Must-Have Wine Books…I can’t live without.”
—Deb Harkness, SeriousEats.com
“One of the Best 20 Food Books of 2006.”
—David Leite, LeitesCulinaria.com
“The #7 best gourmet cooking book of 2006.”
—Brett Moore, GourmetFood.About.com
“One of the 10 Cookbooks Every Bartender Should Own.”
—Jeffrey Morganthaler, mixology columnist
“The most exciting and comprehensive guide to wine pairing that I have ever seen.”
—Eric Ripert, chef-owner, Le Bernardin
“Astounding…Brilliant.”
—Ellen Rose on KCRW Radio’s Good Food / NPR
“The #1 Food Book of 2006.”
—Cheri Sicard, editor, FabulousFoods.com
“A new book that will soon be considered the bible of food and beverage pairing.”
—Paul Tanguay, sake expert, SushiSamba
“One of the year’s most fascinating wine books.”
—Fred Tasker, Miami Herald
“The most useful food and wine book of 2006.”
—Joanne White, ForkandBottle.com
“The world’s greatest book on the subject.”
—Robert Whitley, wine columnist, Copley News Service
At a great meal, what you drink is just as important as what you eat. This groundbreaking food and beverage pairing reference allows food lovers to learn to think like a sommelier, and to transform every meal breakfast, lunch, and dinner from ordinary to extraordinary.
Exceptional in its depth and scope with over 1500 entries WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT is based on the collective wisdom of experts at dozens of America’s best restaurants, including Alinea, Babbo, Bern’s, Blue Hill, Chanterelle, Daniel, Emeril’s, The French Laundry, Frontera Grill, The Inn at Little Washington, Jean Georges, Masa’s, The Modern, Per Se, Rubicon, Tru and Valentino.
You’ll find authoritative recommendations for stocking your cellar and kitchen with must-have beverages, from wines to waters. You’ll also learn what to drink with everything from French toast to Chinese food, and what to eat with everything from Pinot Noir to green tea, to create mouthwatering matches. Follow the authors’ three simple “Rules to Remember” when making a match or just dive into the wide-ranging listings in chapters 5 and 6.
This “incisive, hip writing team” (Publishers Weekly) distills history, geography, science, expert technique, and original insight to create a remarkably user-friendly and engaging reference sure to become an instant classic essential to every connoisseur’s bookshelf.
WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT
has appeared on many year-end round-ups of the best food and/or wine books of 2006
recommended for holiday giving by numerous media outlets, including:
– Akron Beacon Journal
– Arizona Republic
– Austin Chronicle
– CFUN Radio
– The Chicago Tribune
– Erie Times-News (PA)
– Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
– Hamptons magazine
– Kansas City Star
– KCRW Radio / NPR
– LeitesCulinaria.com
– Louisville Courier-Journal
– Memphis Commercial Appeal
– Miami Herald
– The (Myrtle Beach, SC) Sun News
– New Orleans Times-Picayune
– Oakland Tribune
– Panache magazine
– San Francisco Chronicle
– Sunday Paper
“WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT is a unique recipe, combining the authors’ creativity, expertise, scholarship and great love of all good food and drink. The respect and admiration that food professionals have for them gives them access to a wonderful depth of knowledge and experience that they bring to life in their work. Karen and Andrew might just be the ultimate culinary / literary pairing!”
—Daniel Boulud, chef-restaurateur and winner of the 2003 James Beard Outstanding Wine Service Award, and the 2006 Outstanding Restaurateur Award
“You can’t do better than to follow Karen and Andrew’s advice!”
—Loraine and Peter Boyle, journalist and actor
“Dining will never be dull for non-drinkers again! Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg may have created their best book ever, chronicling in an enlightening and inspirational fashion the most mouth-watering marriages between non-alcoholic beverages and the foods we love to eat. Who else would have thought to serve sparkling water with a splash of melon puree (instead of Champagne) with prosciutto? I’ll also definitely be using WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT as my bible for entertaining my friends who drink. And though I’m a relative, Michael Sofronski’s photographs are unique and exciting — some of the very best food photography I’ve ever seen.”
—Susan Dey, actress
“This book teaches you the principles of understanding how to find the perfect match for any meal. Whether you’re drinking Champagne or beer, sake or port, this book makes finding the perfect match easy and fun.”
—Roger Dagorn, master sommelier, and David Waltuck, chef-owner of Chanterelle (NYC), winner of the 1996 James Beard Outstanding Wine Service Award and the 2004 Outstanding Restaurant Award
“What a great idea! WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT is enormously educational and entertaining, and should fit with anyone’s lifestyle!”
—Robert Mondavi, winemaker and winner of the 1991 James Beard Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional Award
“Andrew and Karen have created the most exciting and comprehensive guide to wine pairing that I have ever seen….You will be using it constantly to fulfill your own curiosity and to throw the best parties.”
—Eric Ripert, chef-owner of Le Bernardin (NYC) and winner of the 2003 James Beard Outstanding Chef Award
“What a brilliant idea for a book! For someone who entertains as much as I do, this is exactly the book I need.”
—Deborah Szekely, founder, Rancho La Puerta and Golden Door spas
“Any good cook knows that the choice of wine (or beer!) can make or break the meal. Nothing could be more disappointing to a cook than having your efforts fall flat because of a misstep when it comes to pairing drink with food. In compiling the wisdom of wine and beverage experts, Karen and Andrew have done an amazing service for all lovers of good food.”
—José Andrés, chef-restaurateur and winner of the 2003 James Beard Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic Award
“Since penning the modern foodie classic CULINARY ARTISTRY — the first-ever book on the subject of flavour affinities — these award-winning writers have chosen to push their breadth of knowledge even further by entering the complex world of food and beverage pairing. In their new book, WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT, Dornenburg and Page examine how wine, beer, spirits, coffee, and tea pair with every cuisine, dish, and ingredient imaginable.”
—Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks, Vancouver
“What a terrific book. You’re at the top of your game.”
—Dan Barber, Blue Hill at Stone Barns (Pocantico Hills, NY)
“The interaction between wine and food is often fascinating, and when the two fall neatly into place together there’s no greater enjoyment at the table….In WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT, a guide overlooked in these pages when it appeared last year, Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page have gathered the beverage views of more than 70 U.S. experts….Usual wine-with-food guides reflect the point of view of a single person, the author, but it’s an intriguing notion to find out where the ideas of so many experts intersect….The alphabetical lists make this at the moment the most useful wine-with-food guide in English.”
—Edward Behr, The Art of Eating (Spring 2008)
“WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT was recommmended to me by [cookbook author] Laurie Burrows Grad as one of the great Christmas food books of the year….It’s an incredibly, incredibly useful book!”
—Lisa Birnbach, radio host, ‘The Lisa Birnbach Show’
“WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT is set up in the team’s usual way, featuring anecdotes, interviews, quotes from an extensive panel of experts, great art and, most important, incredibly practical information in an easy-to-use format. Their research is exhaustive and their books are comprehensive, which is why, if you’re looking to find out you know what to drink with what you eat (or what to eat with what you drink, a different section), this would be the obvious place to start (and probably end).”
—Betsy Block of NPR.org on MamaCooks.com
“Wine 101: Some late ideas for wine gifts. WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. Hands down the best food and wine-pairing book I have ever seen. The first half lists different foods and suggests wines and drinks to pair it with. The second half lists a multitude of wine varietals and which foods go with them.”
—Russ Briley, Ventura County Star (December 20, 2009)
“WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT: Like no one else, [Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page] manage to make this most daunting of topics both fun and enlightening. We thank them for all they have done to promote our colleagues and educate the public over the years.”
—Scott Calvert, former sommelier of the Inn at Little Washington (Virginia) and host of SommelierForum.com
“A very fine book.”
—Tom Ciocco, Italian wine expert, Wine Library
“…Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, authors of several volumes that transcend the ‘cookbooks’ label….With this useful, rigorously researched book, Dornenburg and Page have more thoroughly and efficiently linked the food and drink categories than has any other volume you’re likely to find on the shelf.”
—Paul Clarke, The Cocktail Chronicles
“WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT [is] a great, great book….A great resource…A must-have….A super read.”
—Mike Colameco, ‘Food Talk,’ WOR Radio
“Imagine having the perfect wine for every dish on the takeout menu from your favorite Chinese seafood restaurant. The very notion seems farfetched. Those menus usually list dozens of items running the gamut from heat to savory, sweet to sour. Where do you start? I’d recommend you start by picking up the latest book from food writers Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT (Bulfinch Press, $35) and turn to the page in the fifth chapter on Chinese food, where you’ll find 20 well-reasoned suggestions, as well as a handful to avoid. Most of them will make the meal better. A few might be ideal. And one might create that perfect synergy between food and drink that can make even eating out of a box a memorable dining experience. Pairing wine with food has always been more of an art than a science. Even though hundreds of thousands of words annually are devoted to the topic in books, newspapers, magazines and blogs, it’s nearly impossible to apply hard and fast rules. And really, how could you? The perfect pairing is almost always inexpressible, a heady mix of the sensual and the unexpected. When it happens, words fail; you’re left speechless, simply marveling at your own mouth. So a book that seeks to demystify this most wondrous of mysteries seems about as useful as a book on how to look at a painting, or a book on how to read a book. But that is exactly what the husband-wife team Dornenburg and Page have done with WHAT TO DRINK, subtitled ‘The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea — Even Water — Based on Expert Advice from America’s Best Sommeliers.’ Thanks to Dornenburg’s experience as a chef and the pair’s seemingly insatiable appetites and exhaustive taxonomic energies, the authors have shed new light on the art of pairing, ensuring even the novice wine drinker — and eater — a book’s worth of peak experiences. Dornenburg and Page are best known for their book BECOMING A CHEF, a kind of experiential guidebook: life lessons by way of the toque. But the new book builds on their more recent CULINARY ARTISTRY, to which a number of the country’s most famous chefs contributed their expertise on complementary foods. At the heart of that book is an index of ingredients and their most reliable and delicious accompaniments. This approach, supplemented by chef’s suggestions and recipes, allows readers to reference time-honored flavor combinations with flashcard quickness….Clearly Dornenburg’s experience as a chef plays into this. If anyone can articulate the flavor nuances between a Kumamoto and a Wellfleet oyster, or for that matter between a skirt steak and a rib eye, it’s a chef. When the authors delve into their topic on this level of detail, the results can be thrilling. In fact the cheese guide, with more than 100 different cheeses and their accompanying wines, may alone be worth the price of the book…[F]ew books of its kind are more enjoyable. The final chapter invites sommeliers to select their ‘desert island’ wines, and the results are a wonderful. Indeed, if your island retreat comes equipped with a good refrigerator, a Wolf stove and a set of Calphalon, make sure you pack WHAT TO DRINK too, and you’ll happily live out your days.”
—Patrick Comiskey, Los Angeles Times (February 21, 2007)
“Thirsty? You will be. These days, we find ourselves inundated with books on wine buying, tasting, collecting, pairing with food. In an entirely different category, though, is the new WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT (Bulfinch Press, $35). Tapping a varied assortment of sommeliers, chefs, restaurateurs and other connoisseurs, authors Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page offer a multifaceted guide to pairing food with wine, beer, spirits, fruit juices, tea, water and other bevvies. They delve into the subject from all angles, from the philosophical to the practical. The book packs in an enormous amount of user-friendly information…..”
—Amy Culbertson, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
“Holiday gift guide 2011: For the oenophile: Forged in the crucibles of the West Coast wine industry, sommelier and event planner Leslee Miller recently returned to her native Midwest to launch Amusée, a wine consulting and events firm. Check out her plum wish list, filled with ideas for the foodies and winos on every shopping list…2. WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. The definitive guide to pairing food with wine, beer, spirits and even coffee and tea, this 2006 book is the staple of any bon vivant’s library. ‘I give it a zillion times a year as a gift people go crazy for it!’ says Miller. (available at Cooks of Crocus Hill, $35).”
—Christy DeSmith, Vita.mn (November 25, 2011)
“WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT: A Pairing Goldmine. The hottest new food and beverage guide…One of the greatest pairings in the book are the authors, Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. The duo, who have captured the fantasy of readers with their previous award winning compilations, have outdone themselves with their latest work. Every restaurateur in the country should send the couple a thank you note for their insight on a territory less traveled. WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT is more than a must-read bible of beverage and food. If studied and used wisely by the restaurant’s staff, the book will become a profit center increasing beverage sales cross the menu…Dornenburg and Page have done more for the restaurant business than the beverage business will ever know.”
—John Foley, The Restaurant Blog on AllBusiness.com
“The most comprehensive guide to matching food and drink ever compiled is offered by the James Beard Award-winning author team of Dornenburg and Page, with practical advice from the best wine stewards and chefs in America.”
—Forbes.com Book Club
“WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT (Bulfinch, $35) by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg….It’s a groundbreaking work from a team who consulted top restaurants (French Laundry, Babbo, The Inn at Little Washington, Boulud and Masa’s among them) to put together a guide so helpful we’ll all wonder how we got along without it.”
—Pat Fusco, Pacific Sun
WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page…Buy this book, put it on your bookshelf, and let it serve you for the next 25 years…Every angle’s been covered….The best ‘no B.S.’ book on food and wine pairing ever…Very well done…You guys are so smart…We love the book!”
—Tony Gismondi and Kasey Wilson, co-hosts, ‘The Best of Food and Wine,’ CFUN Radio (Vancouver)
“The #2 Cocktail Book of 2006….If you enjoy a good drink with your meals but always wondered if your two choices were a good match, then this is the book for you. Beyond the average pairing guide that is concerned with gourmet dishes and high-dollar wines, this one steps into real life. Domino’s Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald’s Big Mac are listed right alongside lobster bisque, swordfish and truffles. This is the ultimate real world food and drink pairing guide and the expert advise is priceless.”
—Colleen Graham, Cocktails.About.com
“So you’d like to become an expert at food pairing….Food pairing seems to be the new buzz in wine circles. Wine is, after all, a fashion business….Some Books to Get You Going: The latest is WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT. Andy and Kazza (sic) know their stuff, but for this effort they’ve pulled in the heavies: no less than seventy sommeliers. That’s enough for a new pairing guru every day for the next ten weeks! Then after a week at the fat farm you can start all over again….A well-stocked wine bookshelf and plenty of cookbooks will see you through, but I suggest you buy WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT.”
—Darby Higgs, author and host, Vinodiversity.com (Melbourne, Australia)
“The first book to suggest food and beverage pairings for almost every kind of commonly-eaten food in America — from haute cuisine to casual food to snack food — Dornenburg and Page provide a wealth of information…..The information put together by the authors is unique — it’s like having a home sommelier. Every food- and wine-lover will want a copy.”
—Karen Hochman, The Nibble
“The writing team of Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg have made their mark with books that bring us inside the craft and life of America’s chefs and their restaurants. Now, they’ve taken a new tack: looking at how we eat and drink, and what tastes best with what. They’ve gathered wisdom from the people who live and breathe these questions: expert chefs and sommeliers. The resulting book is an encyclopedia that embraces everything from apples to veggie burgers, from wine to coffee. It’s called WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT.”
—Lynne Rossetto Kasper, The Splendid Table on Minnesota Public Radio
“WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT is a perfect stocking stuffer or small gift for a friend who loves wine and food. Whether they might be a wine or food professional or if they just have a budding interest, this is a lovely and thoughtful gift. I am an international sommelier who works in wine education with a main focus on food and wine pairing. This is by far one of the best comprehensive texts out there minus the snobbery and pretentiousness. It is entertaining and interesting and most importantly there is something for everyone to take away from it and refer back to.”
—Christie Kiley, TheSpill.com
“As with their previous books, including Becoming a Chef, this husband-wife team has researched their subject exhaustively, consulting the chefs and sommeliers at America’s top restaurants to put together the definitive pairing guide….WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT is as easy to use as a thesaurus.”
—Linda Kulman, National Public Radio
“Great book — I consult mine all the time!”
—Krista Lamb, Toronto-based writer/sommelier, via Twitter.com
“The 20 Best Food Books of 2006: For the past several weeks, we’ve been making lists and checking them twice — in some cases, four and five times — searching for what we think are the top 20 books of the year….WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page….A book destined to become a classic.”
—David Leite, LeitesCulinaria.com, winner of the 2006 James Beard Award for Best Internet Food Web Site
“Cookbooks Gift Guide. WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (Bulfinch Press, $35)….Enter Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, authors of award-winning books Becoming a Chef and Culinary Artistry. Their concept is that every food needs a beverage, so how do you find that single libation that creates synergy with your food? The answer is through exhaustive interviews with the nation’s top chefs and sommeliers. After a few chapters to set up their rules for pairing and selecting, they launch into the meat of the book, two long chapters devoted to pairing food and beverage. Here’s the best part: The authors recognize the fact that some of us – probably most – decide on a dish, then try to figure what to drink. That’s the first of the main chapters, an exhaustive look, by food, of what beverage works best….The book is a wonderfully unsnobby research compendium for picking a beverage for a food or vice versa, but its highest calling is as an idea generator, perfectly fit for that little inspirational kick you need for planning your next meal.”
—Wes Marshall, Austin Chronicle
“Q. List your three favorite cookbooks. A. WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT: One of the best pairing books out there, from food and wine to ice cream and water. Because cooking isn’t just about the food, it’s about the full experience at the table.”
—Elizabeth Mendez, wine director/owner, Vera in Chicago
“Five-star review: Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page have created a masterpiece of culinary work with WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT (Bulfinch Press, 2006). This book is destined to be the definitive guide to matching foods to beverages for many years to come, not only for consumers but also restaurant professionals. Anyone who calls himself a food lover must have this book….Yes, there are other books on what wine to drink with dinner, loads of them, but none with such scope and authority as this one.”
—Brett Moore, GourmetFood.About.com
“Dornenburg and Page seek out — and offer — some of the best advice on pairing food and wines we’ve seen. Readers should expect imaginative and unexpected match-ups: sherry and cava for main courses, Pinot Noirs for tandoori. Relaxed, fun, and to the point.”
—Sam Perkins, Wine Enthusiast magazine
“Dornenburg and Page, authors of BECOMING A CHEF and CULINARY ARTISTRY, demystify the challenge of food and beverage pairing in this exhaustive, accessible resource. Believing that the best matches create peak experiences, the authors consult with the world’s most discriminating palates, who see food and drink as inseparable. With stories from such noted chefs as Daniel Boulud, Traci Des Jardins and Patrick O’Connell and a host of top sommeliers, this comprehensive collection provides a wealth of guidelines for pairings, not only by specific food, but by food type, time of day, characteristics, season and personal mood. From fast food to ethnic cuisine, they include unlikely entries such as Kentucky Fried Chicken (Pinot Noir, Gewürztraminer), oxtails (Barolo), moussaka (Retsina, Rioja), potato chips (beer, champagne) and saag paneer (Pinot Gris). While focusing primarily on wine, the authors include matches for a variety of other beverages, including tea, water, coffee, beer and spirits, and offer the pairings in reverse — what to serve if you’ve already selected your beverage. This encyclopedic collection is highly recommended for those who give serious thought to the flavor of each dish.”
—Publishers Weekly
“For aspiring foodies there’s finally a definitive guide to beverage and food pairings. Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, the award-winning co-authors of BECOMING A CHEF, DINING OUT, and THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, have compiled expert advice from America’s top sommeliers and other experts in WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT. Taking a holistic — almost philosophical — approach, the book offers ways to increase enjoyment of food and drink and gives practical advice like matching foods and wines by region and a list for a ‘starter case’ of wine to have on hand….With a user-friendly layout, helpful tables and inspiring sample menus from some of our favorite chefs, this book is the perfect addition to any kitchen library.”
—Letizia Rossi, CoolHunting.com
“‘The #1 Food Book of 2006: Two of my favorite food writers have done it again with a fabulous new book that should be in the library of anyone who loves food and wine. When I think about the research that Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page put into this massive reference, my head begins to spin. The result of the James Beard award winning team’s efforts is an encyclopedic reference that will help you perfectly match all your meals with the perfect beverage or vice versa. Serious oenophiles will undoubtedly pour through the pages meticulously digesting each tidbit and nugget of invaluable advice from America’s top sommeliers. You can seriously advance your wine education by carefully reading this book. But even folks who are merely casually interested in wine will benefit from this book, as they can simply look up a food (arranged alphabetically) and get quick tips on what to serve with it. Not sure what you want to serve but have a great wine? No problem, another chapter matches wines with foods. In either direction, finding the perfect match is as easy as looking up a word in a dictionary….”
—Cheri Sicard, FabulousFoods.com
“I was Sommelier for Claude Troisgros’ restaurant CT, where Laurent Tourondel was Chef de Cuisine. He is one of the most talented people I know, is a great Chef and a terrific person, in and out of the kitchen….WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT: The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea — Even Water — by Andrew Dornenburg [and] Karen Page is going to be the gift I give to several people who have been very good all year. This is the finest, easiest to use guide to matching food with wine, as well as wine with food. Amazon has it on sale now for $29.10, and this Sommelier’s advice is to buy one for yourself, too. Santa would want it that way.”
—Darrin Siegfried, writing on The New York Times’ Blog The Pour
“Five-Star Review. WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT is a comprehensive reference guide for finding your food’s ‘true love.’ With a winsome spirit and a well stacked ‘advisory board’ composed of the nation’s top chefs and sommeliers, husband and wife team Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg offer the best consolidated food and drink pairing guide on the market.”
—Stacy Slinkard, Wine.About.com
“(STARRED REVIEW.) Coauthors Dornenburg and Page (Becoming a Chef; Dining Out) again prove their immense knowledge of and love for food and drink harmonization. They establish the foundation for this topic by explaining the purposes and potential outcomes for suitable matches. After perusing the drinks for food pairings (‘Acidic Foods to Zucchini Blossoms’), readers can change perspective with the food for drink pairings (‘Acidic Wine to Zinfandel’). The delineation of combinations for individual cheese varieties is particularly exceptional. Among the array of pairings lie recommendations and advice from experts like Joshua Wesson, as well as several recipes. The vastly informative text suits every palate and diet. Though the authors include a fair discussion of beer and touch on nonalcoholic beverages, they focus primarily on a variety of wine and food pairings. Nevertheless, the immense quantity of food and drink combinations, expert recommendations, tantalizing recipes, and clear discussion of wine fundamentals make this book a thoroughly satisfying reference for all oenophilic and culinary sections. Essential for all strong and budding cookery collections.”
—Meagan Storey, Library Journal
“The authors of Becoming a Chef and Culinary Artistry present the definitive guide to pairing food with wine, beer, spirits, coffee, tea and even water based on the advice of America’s best sommeliers. The collective wisdom of these contributors create a resource of unprecedented scope that includes over 1500 entries. You’ll find recommendations for stocking your cellar and kitchen with must-have beverages, from wines to waters. A great meal is nothing without the accompaniment of a beverage and WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT is an engaging reference that is a sure to be classic for every connoisseur….This straightforward, deceptively simple guide to pairing wines with a variety of foods is actually a masterful, encyclopedic look at an enormous scope of food and drink combinations including what works well with teas, coffee, and other beverages. With alphabetical listings of foods and drinks, the authors share advice from famed restaurants such as the French Laundry, Babbo, Jean Georges, and Masa’s. From champagne with tortilla chips to banana pancakes accompanied by blueberry tea to saag paneer and Pinot Gris, this volume is sure to excite readers into their own pairing adventures.”
—The Strand Bookstore (New York City)
“I found WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT in the retail section of the Peju Winery in Napa Valley. What makes this book great is that the people providing recommendations are contemporary sommeliers from the East Coast, the West Coast, and everywhere in between, and they aren’t afraid to push the limits a bit. The interviews are very informative. Not only does this guide have wine recommendations for artichokes a famously nearly impossible pairing it has recipes and what to avoid as well as what to select. If you tied me to a chair I don’t think I could think of a better book than this.”
—StyleFool.com
“…WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page (Bulfinch, $35). No doubt our favorite fall food book, this indispensable guide is the perfect matchmaker between dish and drink. Dornenburg and Page consulted with dozens of food and wine experts and have compiled such a comprehensive compendium of pairings that no stone crab is left unSauternesed (actually, they say Chablis for stone crab)….It all makes for an enormously useful book that’s a delight to read.”
—Charlie Suisman, ManhattanUsersGuide.com
“…With their new book, WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT — a be-all, end-all masterwork — Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page have stolen back the delicious craft of food and drink pairing from fusty gourmands and brought it to kitchens everywhere — back to all the fun foodies who’ve ever risked carpal tunnel while stirring risotto, only to wonder what wine to pair with it. Entries are arranged into two sections: 125 pages on matching drink to food and 74 pages on pairing food to the beverage. More than a dry, encyclopedic list, the authors and experts discuss the nuanced philosophies behind regionalism, weight and texture. Many of the pages convey eye-catching textboxes, expert pairing menus and recipes from prominent sommeliers and chefs. Upon lifting this meaty tome, you’ll immediately sense that Dornenburg and Page have released an impossibly comprehensive and utterly readable book that belongs among the greats in any epicure’s reference shelf.”
—Jason Tesauro and Phineas Mollod, Sunday Paper
“WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page is the most comprehensive, illuminating and useful book of its type I’ve yet to come across.”
—Tom Wark, Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog
“You’ll often hear that the first rule of food-and-wine pairing is that there should be no rules. Drink what you want. Hogwash! Don’t believe me? Fine, wash down that birthday cake with a full-bodied Petite Sirah. You love Petite Sirah, right? What better way to tame those tannins than with a hefty mouthful of sugary frosting. Yuck! Admit it, you need some help. Just like me. I can handle the basics and have a long memory for magical pairings that I’ve encountered through the years. But I’m challenged sometimes even stumped occasionally when faced with a matchup that is beyond my experience. My fall-back position when hosting a dinner party has always been ‘let’s try this, it may not work but it should be interesting.’ This only proves I can BS with the best of them. I mean, why guess? Go to Amazon and buy the world’s greatest book on the subject WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT by authors Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. You’ll especially love this book if you’re a foodie as well as a wino, for Dornenburg and Page spent a great deal of time with and devote considerable space to the thoughts of such culinary luminaries as Patrick O’Connell of Inn at Little Washington and Daniel Boulud of Daniel, chefs who have very specific and useful ideas about food-and-wine pairings. Of course, if you’d rather forgo the book, you can do what I sometimes do at least in a good wine savvy restaurant. After perusing the wine list to see what I want to drink, I show the sommelier my picks and ask for suggestions on the best menu items to order with my wine!”
—Robert Whitley of Copley News Service, on WineReviewOnline.com
“Joni Evans, wOw CEO: What’s the perfect book for a weekend houseguest to bring to her host? Roxanne Cody, owner of R.J. Julia: One great house gift is a couple of books in the wonderful Penguin Great Ideas series. I often pick two and tie a ribbon around them. My favorites are On the Shortness of Life by Seneca and Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations. Or WHAT TO DRINK WITH WHAT YOU EAT.”
—wOwOwOw.com (7/31/2008)
“Spot on! There have been a number of books over the years trying to teach the pairing of food and wine. David Rosengarten’s Red Wine with Fish was a particularly notable effort. Where most of these books fell down was that they made me feel I was struggling to get a Master’s Degree in an obscure subject. Fact is, this is what I do for a living, so this isn’t an obscure subject to me. Dornenburg and Page were smart enough to enlist the help of a bevy of star players. Their clever compilations of recommendations are typographically coded to let you know what wines are ‘frequently recommended,’ ‘HIGHLY RECOMMENDED,’ and the ‘*HOLY GRAIL’ of pairings, matchups we should all experience at least once in our lives. A great resource. A great read.”
—Ron Zimmerman, owner, The Herbfarm (Woodinville, WA)
