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Hey cider lovers. My nose is alternately running and completely stuffy, so I cannot bring a new cider review to the blog this week. It’s such a key time for cider, so I hate to skip out entirely. Everyone is talking about Thanksgiving. It’s a big food holiday. The menu is tremendously cider compatible. That’s wonderful. I feel like I’ve helped contribute to the thinking about cider and Thanksgiving already. I don’t have much that’s new to say about it.
Here are a few Thanksgiving and Cider resources for those who want them!
My traditional Thanksgiving food and cider pairing guide: https://www.ciderculture.com/thanksgiving-cider-pairing/
Vegetarian dressing with cider and my 2018 Thanksgiving cider choice: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2018/11/thanksgiving-ciders-eves-ciderys.html
Pairing at my house for Thanksgiving and my birthday back in 2016.
The plan: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/11/pick-cider-for-thanksgiving-and-my.html
The results: https://alongcameacider.blogspot.com/2016/11/happy-to-pickcider-for-thanksgiving.html
Cider Culture’s Plant Based Thanksgiving Cider Guide (by the awesome Emily Kovach): https://www.ciderculture.com/plant-based-thanksgiving-recipes/
Thanksgiving isn’t the only big event of Fall in my house. I’m pretty fond of my birthday.
It’s not the easiest birthday to love, since it falls in the shadow of a holiday that’s both major and controversial. The weather isn’t often inviting; the time isn’t easy to schedule; people are often recovering from a very heavy and traditional meal. But the beauty of a birthday is that we get to make its style of celebration and its meaning.
I don’t need a giant feast the day after Thanksgiving, but I do want to enjoy something other than leftovers for my birthday. Here’s the plan and the cider.
Dinner will be a Delicata squash salad with arugula, baby spinach, fresh apples, dried cranberries, pecans, a crumbly blue cheese, shredded carrots, radish, roasted quarter rings of Delicata squash. I figure we’ll make a big salad and then an array of different protein options to go on top: marinated tofu, dijon salmon, and chicken breast for the meat eaters. The dressing will be a homemade maple dijon vinaigrette.
To pair with this, I want a bone dry super sparkly cider with only apples. I prefer something twice twice fermented so either a method ancestral or a methode champenoise. I’m planning on looking through my cellars for options by cideries really committed to aromatic bubbly ciders. I haven’t chosen yet, but don’t be surprised if it’s from Eve’s Cidery, Snowdrift Cider, Eden Specialty Ciders, Albemarle, Haykin Family Cider, or Seminary Hill. Then again, my cider sometimes surprises me. There’s at least one bottle I’ve been saving since a friend sourced it for me a few months ago. Only time will tell.
Dessert has to be cheesecake. I love most kinds of cake. It’s seriously one of the best parts of being a human. I truly want a maple cheesecake with mini chocolate chips. We’re going to try a Cabot Creamery recipe: https://cabotcreamery.com/blogs/recipes/maple-cheesecake
It’s my birthday, so I get a dessert pairing as well. If you know me, you know it’s going to be pommeau. But which sweet, rich, layered, fiery pommeau will it be? I’ll probably decide next week.
I hope everyone gets to celebrate their special days with delicious food, cider, and loved ones!
