It’s Friday night and you decide to plan a romantic dinner for two. You show off your cooking skills by making grilled salmon and steamed vegetables, but you are unsure about which drink you should serve. Nothing will destroy a great meal faster than pairing it with the wrong drink. However, it is not easy learning about great food pairings until now. In What to Drink with What You Eat: The Definitive Guide to Pairing Food with Wine, Beer, Spirits, Coffee, Tea – Even Water – Based on Expert Advice from America’s Best Sommeliers (Bulfinch; Hardcover; 368 pages; $35) by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, you will step up your culinary skills by learning about which drinks complement which dishes. For instance, grilled salmon is best served with Pinot Noir.
The following books are also must-haves for the food section of your library:
The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Eat and Why (Fair Winds Press; Paperback; 360 pages; $24.99) by Jonny Bowden analyzes foods that should be stocked in your refrigerator from avocados to zucchini.
All the Presidents’ Pastries: Twenty-Five Years in the White House, A Memoir (Flammarion; Hardcover; 352 pages; $24.95) by Roland Mesnier highlights the rags-to-riches life of a former pastry chef in the White House. Also, you will read about the favorite desserts of the presidents he served.
Seducing Harry: An Epicurean Affair A Novel (Ballantine Books; Paperback; 384 pages; $13.95) by Judith Marks-White mixes food with sex and scandal – a recipe for disaster.
Ultimate Italian Trivia: A Treasure Trove of Fun and Fascinating Facts (Marshall Rand Publishing; Paperback; 254 pages; $14.75) by Scott P. Frush devotes a complete chapter to the essence of Italian food and drink.