IKEA meatballs: impossible food-wine pairing?!?
The world of processed meats has been on a wild ride lately: the starting bell rang in mid-January when burgers in the UK labeled as beef were found to contain horse meat. This prompted more inspections and the labeling scandal went from a trot to a gallop when Irish processors were found to have 80% horse meat and some UK grocery store meals contained 100% horse meat.
But the scandal got fresh legs yesterday when Czech inspectors found traces of horse meat in IKEA meatballs, the furniture store’s signature food item. To riff off a tweet from Daniel Gross, if you have some meatballs before starting to shop at IKEA, are you putting the horse before the cart?
While some may find this hard to swallow, eating horse meat (or not) follows cultural norms. In France and parts of Asia, eating horsemeat is not taboo and the recent scandals have stimulated an appetite for it in Quebec. So what say you: which wine to pair with IKEA meatballs? A little Cheval Blanc? Or is it…impossible?!?
On February 26th, 2013 at 9:56 am ,Konstantinos Lazarakis MW wrote:
Cheval Blanc for sure…
On February 26th, 2013 at 9:57 am ,J.Č. / Jižnà svah wrote:
I suggest good Czech Frankovka (Blaufränkisch) with them 🙂
On February 26th, 2013 at 10:28 am ,RobinC wrote:
I want to say Columbia Crest “H3” Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet Sauvignon, but there are too many beloved horses in my memory to knowingly eat a horse: Misty of Chincoteague, Black Beauty, Seabiscuit, the pony owned by our teenaged neighbor.
I think that the consumption of red wine would be greatly affected if there were any beloved cows in literature.
On February 26th, 2013 at 10:29 am ,Mike Veseth wrote:
14 Hands, of course!
On February 26th, 2013 at 10:45 am ,Mark wrote:
How about a crisp Riesling from the Finger Lakes? It pairs well with just about everything
@J.Č. Czech Frankovka is a good suggestion (we usually call it Lemberger in FLX)
On February 26th, 2013 at 10:48 am ,Quizicat wrote:
Probably anything from Wild Horse Vineyards.
On February 26th, 2013 at 11:19 am ,Liz wrote:
Blaufrankisch, for sure. Also known as Lover, meaning Horse’s blood. Try one from Wild Horse Winery in Templeton, if you can find an old bottle. Constellation canceled it after they bought out WHW.
On February 26th, 2013 at 11:41 am ,John wrote:
The best match for cavallo, and truly a marriage made in heaven, is of course Amarone
On February 26th, 2013 at 12:11 pm ,Sam wrote:
Any red with a good dose of Brett should pair nicely with horse.
On February 26th, 2013 at 12:57 pm ,Doug Croll wrote:
Horse meat is more common than most think (outside of the U.S.) Brunello di Montalcino might pair well.
Something I heard on the radio that is more shocking is that IKEA furniture was found to have trace amounts of actual wood in it.
On February 26th, 2013 at 3:04 pm ,Joe J wrote:
Lambrusco Amabile is my favorite for Swedish (horse)meatballs.
On February 26th, 2013 at 5:31 pm ,craig wrote:
Do people actually go to IKEA restaurants? Might as well go to the local french bistro to buy furniture!
On February 26th, 2013 at 9:23 pm ,Ida wrote:
Great post, hysterical comments. For me, nothing pairs better with horse than iced vodka .
On February 26th, 2013 at 11:28 pm ,gabe wrote:
these comments are really funny.
On February 27th, 2013 at 2:45 am ,Henry wrote:
I had a horse sirloin stake with Domaine de Trévallon 2001 the other day. Worked very well.
On February 27th, 2013 at 12:46 pm ,Art Rose wrote:
where’d you stick the stake?
On February 27th, 2013 at 1:56 pm ,Marie wrote:
I’d pair them with Bud – it comes from a Clydesdale anyway.
On February 27th, 2013 at 8:15 pm ,Dean wrote:
Not to put a damper on it, but IKEA in North America is clean — all meatballs are made in USA, so no horsemeat here.
Thus, American IKEA meatballs can go with whatever wines…But Swedish IKEA meatballs (found only in Europe) must go with only Euro wines, probably French, in order to be most authentic. North Rhone brett sounds best.
On February 28th, 2013 at 3:30 am ,Hendrik Thoma wrote:
Best Wines for this match come from the Wild Horse Valley AVA
On February 28th, 2013 at 9:24 am ,Alex wrote:
Iron Horse Russian Cuvee. Gotta keep it classy.
On March 3rd, 2013 at 7:03 am ,Morten Pedersen wrote:
I never thought about this with drinking wine these meatballs when I’m at Ikea. 🙂
On March 3rd, 2013 at 3:21 pm ,Biovinum - Christoph Roeper wrote:
Yes, cheval blanc or from black horse estate is actually the best choice. Cheers