Have you ever wondered why some pairings - matching food with beer, wine or other beverages - work, while other matches do not? In this first part we'll explore fats and what they do to your palate and how they work in your food.

So what are fats? How are they used either as a static component of the ingredients or as an added element in creating a dish? We will simplify the details but these are complex questions requiring a bit of detail in the answers so get on the reading glasses and let's go.

Fats are categorized in three main ways. Fats, oils and lipids. First thing to know is that all fats belong to a group called lipids. however not all lipids are categorized as fats or oils. The primary importance regarding all lipids is they do not mix with water under normal circumstances. Because lipids do not mix with water, they are perfect for forming barriers between water-laden cells. Another attribute that all fats have in common is that as a cooking medium they allow foods to be heated - cooked - above the temperature of boiling water and since they form a barrier as mentioned above, they allow for the crisping of the outer layer of the food, thus trapping moisture inside and providing a barrier to moisture from permeating the food from outside.

Fats and oils are created by animals and plants as a way to store energy. Since fats pack twice as many calories per equal weight as sugars or starches, it is obvious why we love them so much - whether we consciously know it or not. They automatically feel like sustenance and therefore are quite addictive in the scope of our overall caloric intake. More bang for the buck? The body says YES!

So now that we know the basics of what fats are, and what they do, let's look at the most common fats. Fats from animals, like lard (rendered fat from pigs) or suet and tallow (rendered fats from cows and sheep) are saturated fats. A fat is "saturated" when it is tightly packed - or saturated - with hydrogen atoms. While they are unhealthy, saturated fats are great to cook with as the regular structure of the saturated fat molecules allow it to stretch out and lay down a perfectly even surface for cooking. They also feel smoother in the mouth thus making them seem like a good thing to eat.

The most common fats used in western culture cooking today are butter, pork fat, fruit oils like olive and avocado, vegetable oils like soy, corn, sunflower, canola and safflower, and margarines. This of course is dependent on where you live. In Africa and many tropical zones, suet and tallow, palm, peanut and coconut oils are more prevalent. In the Asian cooking world, sesame and vegetable oils are used as not only a cooking medium but as a flavoring agents as well. There are also many nut oils who's use is also predicated upon geography, such as walnut, almond, pecan, macadamia and pinenut. Seeds also produce popular fats - like sunflowers, flax, mustards, melon, apples, sesame and more. These are all fats used in dishes around the world every day.

"So?" I hear you say... "what does this have to do with beer, wine and other beverages?" A lot!

When you put something fatty in your mouth, several factors come into play. For our purposes, the one primary thing that happens is the fat coats and blocks various taste buds (papillae) - the flavor receptors, on your tongue - and by doing so makes the acids in the food and the beverage appear to smooth out. In the most basic equation, the fattier the food going into your mouth, the higher acidity the beverage can have without the drink feeling like it's going to rip your gums open. Now that does not solve the pairing question entirely because flavor profile and body weight also must come into it, but that is for another article.

With this simple equation in mind we now know that foods that are high in fat, can actually taste and feel refreshing to eat, when paired with a beer that has high levels of carbonation - such as a lager; or a wine that has high levels of acidity, like a Sauvignon Blanc or a young red like Nebbiolo-based wines from the Piemonte region of Italy. Conversely, we can choose to emulate and indeed boost the heaviness of a fatty dish by using a beverage with very low levels of acidity, thus allowing the fatty profile of the body to be upheld and thus amplified. A good example of this is the classic pairing of lobster with a rich Chardonnay, or a traditional Irish Stew with a rich stout.

These two avenues for pairing come under the headings of complementing (using fat and heavy together without acidity) and contrasting (a fatty profile with a counteracting, high-acidity drink.)

This of course leads to many questions. Which is which? How do I know which wine is high in acid? Which beer should I serve with salad? Do acid and acid go together? Now there is a great question thank you, and I would be remiss if I did not address that ... in my next article in this series.

There's some food for thought for you - now get in the kitchen and cook!

Cheers -
Larry the Sommelier