What goes with what?

[Jasmine-Rose]

I really like to cook and I like to try new things, too. The problem I have is that when I'm looking through my cookbooks and magazines I find lots of main dishes and side dishes that sound great, but I never know how to coordinate them. Does anyone have a system for figuring this out? Has CL done any articles about this? I've seen the columns in the back of the magazines that suggest some accompaniments, but never any general guidelines. Any suggestions?

[beacooker]

Unfortunately, I don't have any answers for you on that one. I'm hoping someone will give some advice - I have the same problem. I am side-dish challenged, too!

[Vanessa]

I know Bon Appetit, Gourmet etc has menus for lets say BBQ with friends, 4th of July, Mexican fiesta etc. These will give you ideas for pairing foods.

Mostly what I do is figure the main food be it chicken, pork etc. Then from there I decide if I want rice or potatoes or pasta. A green salad, spinach etc. A vegetable? I take into account what is in season. Then I decide on dessert.

For dinner parties I plan a bit more taking into account likes and dietary restrictions (allergy, vegetarian etc). Lets say a BBQ (since we just had one) For starters we had chips and a dip, fresh pesto spread on baguette, drinks then I made chicken marinated with cumin, spices, rice with orange bell peppers, onions and cilantro adding a bit of coloring with saffron., corn on the cob, green salad. I could have added another vegetable if necessary. Dessert was simple a crumb cake with banana and coconut.

For everyday I tend to match pasta and salads, meat or poultry with rice or potatoes, salad or rice and beans, Asopaos with fried plantains (thats like risotto). I think matching food depends also on your tastes.
Good luck

[LGBurns]

Now you're talking my language. My absolute favorite part of cooking is figuring out what to put with what. That said, I don't really have a system per se but I can give you some of the ways that I think about pairing foods. These are certainly not hard and fast rules but they are generally how I go about it.

I use color a lot to help me put meals together. For example, if I am making chicken in a cream sauce and I want to serve it over rice then I will probably make sure that my vegetable is something very colorful, like kale, carrots, asparagus or a combination of green and orange. I believe there have been several studies that show that people's appetites are triggered by colorful plates. I personally love to mix green and orange foods (butternut squash and kale, asparagus and oranges, etc.). To me that is one of the most appetizing combinations (and it also indicates very healthy food). Dark green and red is also a great combination.

Also, I try to think about the spices and herbs in a dish and find sides that have those same or complementary spices. For example, if I am making the Malaysian Lime Coconut Swordfish (one of my favorite CL recipes), I wouldn't want to serve it with something with curry or cumin because those kinds of spices would probably overpower or "clash" with it. Something else with lemongrass or lemon peel would be good. Also coconut rice would be a nice touch. Something with other Asian herbs and spices that is light and not overpowering would be best.

This addresses another way I think about dishes--by cuisine. Sometimes it's fun to mix cuisines, but if you're stuck, you can use the ethnicity of one meal to help you come up with ideas for sides (e.g., Asian food with Asian food, Mediterranean with Mediterranean, etc.).

I also tend to think about the "weight" of a dish. I either want to match it's weight (for example steak and mashed potatoes) or balance it (for example steak and salad) depending on the overall nature of the meal. I think balance is particularly important with dessert--if I make a heavy meal, I like to serve a fairly light dessert but if the meal has been fairly light then chocolate cake may be in order. This doesn't always hold--chocolate cake can be just what you want after a steak dinner--but in general I find it useful.

Also, I tend to think about how I will serve it. Will I have to serve each thing in a separate bowl to keep it all from running into each other on the plate? I usually try to avoid that. If I am making something stewy, then one of the sides will probably be good for soaking up the sauce (rice, bread, etc.).

Ultimately, I think the best thing to do is to experiment. I have often found that things I wasn't sure would taste good together are wonderful (like broiled salmon and garlic mashed potatoes). If you like vegetarian cooking, I recommend picking up one of the Moosewood books--most of them have suggestions of other dishes in the book to serve with each recipe. This can help you see how others put stuff together.

Wow! I went on didn't I? Well, hope this was helpful. I'm interested to see what others say. Always looking for new ways to tempt my palate. :D

[mightyh]

Thanks, LGBurns, for that great description of your thought process! I do it similarly, though subconsciously, to an extent, but thought your description was awesome!