With the right drinks, the meal becomes an experience
It is often the small details that turn a simple meal into an experience. If you also serve the right drinks, you give the whole thing a very special touch. This not only improves the taste experience, but harmonious drinks also ensure a pleasant atmosphere at the table. In recent years, the importance of nutrition in Germany and Austria has grown steadily. is important to the majority of Germans, as well as to most Austrians.
The right food plays an essential role in maintaining your own health and also has a social component. After all, it’s much easier to chat over a delicious meal.
A good meal always includes drinks. The choice is by no means irrelevant, because the right drink underlines the taste of the food. A less than ideal drink, on the other hand, can reduce the taste experience.
Aperitif: make you want more
A proper dinner not only includes a drink with the meal, but also an aperitif and a digestive. The aperitif prepares the stomach for the food to come – as its name already reveals, which is derived from the Latin word “aperire”, which means something like “to open”. So it makes you hungry and wanting more. One shows that smell and taste ideally prepare people for food.
At the same time, you can toast with the aperitif or greet the guests with it.
Those who have to prepare the last details at the dining table can serve the aperitif on the terrace. The guests are already talking and the host has – if necessary – some breathing space. Traditional aperitifs are:
- Fizzy drinks such as sparkling wine or soda mixes
- Aniseed or caraway schnapps
- Peppermint
- Sage
- Cinnamon
- Fennel
- Caraway
- Rhubarb
- Gentian
- white wine before red wine
- younger before older wine
- vegetarian, light dishes
- white meat
- fish
- Seafood
- dark meat
- salads
- seafood
- Steak
- Cheese food
- Fish
- Poultry
- Fruit spritzer or fruit juice
- Lemonade
- fruity punch
- Water flavored
- How do I cool the drinks if necessary?
- Which glasses should be at the table?
- Do I pour or can everyone take their own drinks?
< /ul> While the sparkling drinks particularly stimulate the taste buds on the tongue, schnapps ensure optimal preparation for the gastric juices. Cocktails are also often served as an aperitif due to their colorful appearance. However, they should by no means be too heavy. High-calorie additives such as cream, coconut milk or egg fill you up and are therefore not suitable as preparation for a dinner. Suitable additives for the aperitif are, for example:
They have a stimulating and balancing effect on the stomach. In any case, you shouldn’t save on drinks: high-quality drinks ennoble a meal and round it off perfectly.
Wine
Wine is one of the most classic drinks in the world. But which wine goes with which food? Light wines are generally drunk before heavy wines in the sequence. That means:
Goes well with a light meal even a light wine better than a heavy one. If the food is stronger, the wine can also be more dominant in taste. White wine goes well with:
Red wine should be served with the following dishes:
< li>Heavy dishes with lots of cheese
The aromas also play an important role – strong aromas in food need a wine that perfectly accompanies them.
Beer
Beer is the ideal accompaniment to hearty food. Home cooking often tastes better with a beer than with a wine. Interesting, new blends from breweries make for a broader and more interesting range here these days. This has also increased the variety of tastes. The slightly tart taste of the pilsner tastes delicious with:
Wheat complements that food particularly well with the following components:
Both Pils and wheat go well with:
Who offer different types of beer for dinner wants, starts with the lightest beer and gets more intense. A wide selection of different types of beer ensures the perfect taste experience for every meat.
Water
A carafe of water should also always be on the table. Regardless of which main drink is served with the meal, water is part of every meal.
An additional glass of water on the table is also mandatory. Sommeliers recommend always offering strong red wine with still water.
Because the carbonic acid in the water would otherwise make the wine taste too bitter. White wine, on the other hand, can tolerate water with a low carbonic acid content. Especially fizzy water is not an advisable supplement.
Non-alcoholic drinks
In addition to drinks with alcohol, you should always . Because not every guest wants to drink alcohol. In addition to water, there is a range of delicious non-alcoholic drinks, such as:
A punch or flavored water should be accessible and beautifully draped. Special drink dispensers are ideal for this. In order not to disturb the aroma of the food unnecessarily, the same applies to non-alcoholic drinks as to water: preferably less sparkling water. The mineral water should be medium or mild at most, so that the taste buds on the tongue can process the taste of the food better. If you mix it yourself, you can use the spices in the food as a guide. What goes well together? What complements the taste particularly well? With a little time and a few mixes, most hosts develop a good feel for individual mixes.
Digestif
After that, a digestif ensures the perfect end and stimulates digestion. The classic nightcap has a bitter taste. Alcohol was long thought to aid digestion. However, this only relaxes the stomach, which can alleviate the unpleasant feeling of fullness.
The herbal mixtures in the classic stomach and herbal bitters ensure that digestion works at full speed. Alcohol-free versions are also suitable as a digestif. An espresso, for example, is also suitable for this.
With the digestif, it is advisable to offer different variants – so the guests have a free choice. Since food is no longer served at this point, the final drinks do not have to be tailored to the taste of the food. With the digestif, a change of location is nice if possible. This has several advantages: the full table can be cleared for the time being without making it uncomfortable for the guests. And the short movement also promotes digestion.
Preparation is the key
Once you have decided on the right drinks for your meal, you have to make further decisions:
Water should always be placed freely accessible on the table. At a long table, there should be at least one bottle for every three guests. If there are several courses, it is advisable to check how full the bottles are at this point. With other drinks, too, it is often easier for the host if the drinks are freely accessible. If you have to chill a lot of bottles without having the space in the fridge for them, a zinc tray filled with ice cubes is ideal. Cooling sleeves ensure that the drinks at the table are at the right temperature. These preparations make the dinner a relaxed evening – also for the host.
