Until the 1990s it was Switzerland, but today for everyone it is the hamburger. Which can be a quick dish for an impromptu evening with friends or even a refined food. But after selecting the best meat and cheese, choosing the sauces and vegetables, the question is: what does it pair with? Here are three ideas from the Sommelier Wine Box.
Because yes, there are valid alternatives to pairing hamburgers and beer or Coca Cola.
The characteristics of the hamburger
The hamburger is a simple dish to prepare, which meets everyone's tastes and can be customized to taste with sauces, vegetables, cheeses... So you can have fun with the pairing, playing with the various ingredients.
The hamburger meat is soft and juicy , with a slight bitter tendency given by the grilling of the cooking.
Leaving aside for a moment the rules of pairing, which are both precise and variable in outcome based on the type of meat chosen, the cooking, the ingredients used but also the tastes of each individual... today we offer you three occasional pairings .
But if you want to become a pro and discover the rules of food and wine pairing, discover the three rules you need to know
1️⃣ Hamburger, football match and Marzemino
Perfect for biting into even while watching a screen, the hamburger is the ideal dinner to follow the match of your heart.
What to pair it with on an evening of tension and strong sporting joys? We suggest a pairing with Marzemino , a dry Trentino red wine, not particularly structured and decidedly "playful".
2️⃣ Not particularly intelligent hamburger, reunion with friends and Classic Method
The hamburger can be a delicate dish: a slice of lettuce and the pleasure of "pure" meat. But also not. And so the green light, especially on evenings with friends, for succulent sandwiches with rich sauces and generous layers of cheese in the spirit of the most extreme American style.
The beauty of the reunion between people who love each other requires an important toast: a Classic Method , perhaps with a fair amount of refinement behind it, will have the strength to stand up to the intense flavors of the dish, degreasing the mouth from the succulence of the meat and the creaminess of the cheese, putting everyone in a great mood.
3️⃣ Gourmet hamburger, romantic dinner and Pinot Noir
The care and choice of ingredients can make the hamburger a perfect dish even for a romantic, non-formal dinner (don't worry, etiquette allows you to eat the hamburger with your hands!).
For the occasion, we bring out an important wine, directly from the homeland of absolute class reds: Burgundy .
Pinot noir , especially a version that is aged in wood, can be an excellent pairing for a refined hamburger: an aristocratic and complex wine, fragrant, soft but also agile and slender at the right point.
Recipe for a gourmet burger
Ingredients for gourmet burgers, for 4 people
• 600/800 g of selected minced beef
• 4 hamburger buns
• 150 g red onion from Tropea
• 200 g of gorgonzola or casatella (depending on whether you want it with a more or less strong flavour)
• 8 dried tomatoes in oil
• 30 g of cane sugar
• Lettuce to taste
• Alpine butter, salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil to taste
Method
Start by washing and cutting the onion into strips, transfer it to a pan with water (to cover it) and the brown sugar. Leave to cook for about 15 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the burgers: season the minced meat with salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil and spices to taste, divide it into four equal parts and shape it into a hamburger.
Heat a pan well and cook them for about 5 minutes on each side, if you like them rare, otherwise leave them a few minutes longer. Meanwhile, cut the rolls in half, butter them and toast them on a hot griddle.
Then arrange them on a cutting board and fill them with this order: gorgonzola, lettuce, hamburger, caramelized onion, dried tomatoes, lettuce and any sauces to taste (the lettuce placed above and below the meat has the task of collecting any juice from the meat and limit this from flooding the bread).
Et voilà: serve the hamburger nice and hot, perhaps accompanied by chips!
