When you are eating out, it should be a treat. Restaurants in Spring Hill and other areas offer a wide variety of dishes that are sure to please the palate. If you’re eating healthy, you’ll want to go with chicken. Thanks to the creativity of chefs, chicken can be prepared in various ways.
However, to get the best out of any meal, you want it to be paired with the ideal drink. So in the spirit of making your dinner out better, here is a simple guide to what drinks you should enjoy with your chicken dinner:
Fried Chicken
The humble fried chicken is a staple of fast food, but it can be elevated to something more. It might surprise you, but the drink most recommended to pair with fried chicken is champagne. The bubbly drink gets things popping, with the sweet and sparkling flavor complementing the crunch of the chicken.
If your restaurant doesn’t have wine, there are more accessible options available. Fried chicken matched with beer is not a big surprise. However, not just any beer; you want something that balances the sweetness and bitterness of the beer like a light malt. Similarly, rum and Coke can work wonders with your fried chicken.
Chicken Wings
Just as ubiquitous as fried chicken, chicken wings seem like a fried cousin. The difference is that most chicken wings nowadays are flavored in various ways by glazes, powders, and dips. It’s not just the chicken you’re eating when you dig into a pile of wings. This is why the general choice is to get some beer to pair it with. Most wines don’t work with wings but depending on the glaze, you can pair it with reds for the barbecue sauce or white wines for those with an Asian glaze of soy and garlic.
Chicken Barbecue
Barbecued chicken has different facets. For one, there is the Western-style chicken barbecue. It is rich and hearty, with flavors thanks to a generous slather of barbecue sauce. This is why you want that meaty flavor to come to the fore with some red wine. It has a certain level of acidity that can cut through the robust taste of the dish.
For those who like chicken barbecue the way the Japanese do it, yakitori needs to be paired with sake. The flavor is not as robust, and the chicken taste is there, but it is enhanced by spices and some light barbecuing. The sake, more or less, cleans the palate so that you can savor the next bite.
Grilled Chicken
Grilled chicken on the barbecue grill is a healthy way to prepare it though there are variations. If it is smoked, you want that smokiness to be tasted. This is why you will want to mix it up with some strong whiskey to enhance the smoky saltiness of the flavor. Ordinary grilled chicken can taste a bit flat unless mixed with herbs, so you’ll want to enjoy it with a cocktail to even things out.
A well-prepared meal is always delicious, but there are ways to enhance the flavor. The guide above should help in selecting what drinks you should order with your meal. With the perfect pair, you can treat yourself to a delightful dinner.
