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Steak & Guinness Pie - Wine Choice - Irish Wine Links Pie pastry for 10-12” double pie 2 lbs. round steak 1 tbsp. Flour 2 tbsp. Raisins 5 medium onions, chopped 1 bottle Guinness stout 8 slices bacon chopped small 3 tbsp. Butter 2 tbsp. Brown sugar Cut the steak into small cubes, roll in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Brown the steak in the butter with the bacon. Place the mixture in a casserole. Brown the onions until golden and add to the casserole. Add the raisins & brown sugar, pour in the stout, cover tightly and simmer over a low heat or in a 325-350 degree oven for 2 ½ hours. Stir occasionally, add a little more stout or water if the gravy gets too thick. Meanwhile, line a deep pie dish with half the pie crust; bake it. Add the stout/beef mixture from the casserole; cover with the 2nd pie crust & bake for another 10-12 minutes.
Here's a dish I have never had, an Irish meal, and I am stuck for a wine to put with it.
My first inclination is to give in and pour a beer to enjoy at the table. I thought of more of the stout, and I suppose that would work. I have the feeling that the sweet-bitter taste of the pie calls for a drink at least a little lighter than the Guinness. Sam Adams, perhaps, or a Killian's Red.
That took me nowhere. I needed a wine to go with the pie if I was going to write this piece! So I pondered a bit and began to see a way.
A white just seemed impossible. There might be a match there and I might be making a mistake, but my mind would not wrap itself around it. So I turned my thoughts to the reds.
Cabernet? No, I thought; too many contrasts, and I think that Guinness might taste wonderful on the meat and be bitter in the sauce. Merlot did not sound right. Pinot Noir? Syrah or Shiraz? Syrah, I decided, and went to look in the wine rack.
Alas, no Syrah; what an excuse for visiting the wine store! I drove down and started looking over the shelves when my eyes fell on a label and a name struck out at me.
The winery was Foppiano Vineyards and the wine was their 2001 Petite Sirah Paso Robles. Not exactly Syrah, but from the same family of grapes. I had gone to high school with a Foppiano, but as far as I know his family had nothing to do with wine. Somehow I knew that this was the wine I would be buying.
I acted seriously, of course. I chatted with the salesman and he told me of the structure of the wine, the aroma of berries and chocolate, the fruity quality and the black pepper with vanilla tastes. But the truth is I decided to buy it when I saw the label.
That's what we'll be having when Karen makes this. I hope it turns out well, but I'll be glad to taste the wine anyway.
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Last modified: August 07, 2007 |
