The perfect pair.

With the popularity of tequila on the rise, chefs, bartenders, and consumers alike are realizing the culinary possibilities of pairing food with tequila. We spoke with Peter Petti, executive chef at Sojourn restaurant in New York, about how he approaches pairing food with alcohol and the creative opportunities of working with tequila.

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Chef, thanks so much for taking the time.
My pleasure

What’s your take on pairing tequila with food?
If I was having a tasting menu and saw a tequila pairing, it would raise my eyebrows because you don’t see it that often. It’s kind of a bold move but I think with small batch tequilas and the introduction of higher quality products it’s a legitimate culinary approach. When you think about it in a pairing sense, it’s really interesting.

How do you pair food with a drink like wine, or tequila?
The idea is to enhance the experience for the person who’s eating and drinking. There’re really two ways to do that: complement or contrast.

What does it mean to complement with a drink pairing?
Well, if I was working with a rich dish like a buttery salmon with a beurre blanc sauce, I’d pair it with a drink that also has a buttery texture, like say a chardonnay.

And what does it mean to contrast with a drink pairing?
Take the same dish, if you wanted to go a different route with it, you could pair a buttery dish with something that has notes of citrus or bright acidity to provide a balance to the food.

How do you approach working with tequila?
Tequila is a bit of a different animal because there are so many different styles to work with. The easiest would be to start with a blanco, which has a cleaner, more simple profile. Blanco pairs well with a lot of dishes, in particular fish or seafood dishes like a ceviche or an Italian crudo.

What tasting notes come to mind when you’re working with a blanco tequila?
There’s a little bit of sweetness, smoothness, it matches really well with lots of different fruits, citrus of course, chilis, and things with heat, especially if you can get them fresh.

Is there any trick to pairing tequila and food?
That’s what’s really interesting about tequila, all these different expressions have totally different flavor profiles. For example, reposado - which is often aged in oak, has characteristics similar to whiskey. That could go well with something like a roast pork. Añejo, on the other hand, can stand up to heavy cuts like red meat, or sweet ingredients like burnt sugar.

Any advice for home cooks trying their hand at tequila pairings?
Exploration is a big part of it. You can think about what would
work but until you try it together, you don’t really know. Practice makes perfect.

REMIX THE CLASSICS

LAST YEAR WAS A TIME WHEN REINVENTION AND CREATIVITY HELPED RESTAURANTS LIKE THE WARREN, IN NEW YORK’S WEST VILLAGE, FIND NEW WAYS TO SERVE THE ELEVATED AMERICAN COOKING AND COCKTAILS IT’S KNOWN FOR. DIMITRI LIBERIS, ITS OWNER AND A 20-YEAR VETERAN BEHIND THE BAR, SPOKE TO US ABOUT HOW HE — AND ANY HOME BARTENDER — CAN GET CREATIVE WITH CLASSIC COCKTAILS TO MAKE SOMETHING NEW AND FRESH.

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How do you build your cocktails at The Warren?
With our cocktail program, everything starts in the kitchen. Our chef will have an idea and we’ll start bouncing ideas off of each other.

It’s definitely a creative process. This year, we had the idea to do a take on the margarita using melon. We wanted to make it a little spicy so we cooked down jalapeños and tried it with different types of melons until we landed on honeydew.

Why did you choose Santera for your cocktail?
Santera is such a good tequila that I can just drink it neat but I like how Santera Blanco has a little pepper in the tasting notes — it’s subtle, it has nuance. Between the honeydew and the jalapeño, that gives it a nice little pop.

You always need to make sure it has balance. That’s the key to a good cocktail.

Should you remix the classics or leave them alone?
I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive. Classic cocktails are like classic songs by the Rolling Stones or the Beatles — they stand the test of time but you can remix them and come up with new and different flavors. And I think they should be played with, there’s room to experiment

When you remix a cocktail, how do you judge if it’s right?
At the end of the day, it’s about being critical because there’s a lot of subjectivity in it. It’s not just about what I want, you have to think about who you’re serving and what they like to drink

Any advice for the home bartender looking to try their take on a classic cocktail?
It reminds me of a story from my music days. I once was able to sit in a masterclass with a cellist and I asked him how he’s able to change his playing style to match the different types of music in front of him — from Hendrix, to classical, to the Beatles, and so on. And he said: “Just use your ears”

It’s the same thing with food and drink. Use your palette, see what works.

Mistakes are part of the process, right?
Yeah, make mistakes and learn what works for you, for the people you’re serving.
It’s about exploration. Through failure and mistakes you learn, and that’s good, you know? Just keep going.

Upcoming Events

ARTE AGAVE

September 16
Bowery Hotel, New York

Arte Agave is a unique celebration of fine agave spirits, art, and entertainment. This year's event will feature over 20 Estaciones de Sabor with more than 100 varieties of Agave spirits to sample, including all three expressions of Santera Tequila. Traditional light bites from local culinary leaders will be served.

Are you of legal drinking age
No