Sommelier Deathmatch: A Winter Risotto and Scallop Battle! (Dinner Party and Wine Pairings)

Season 1, Episode 1 of our new series, Sommelier Deathmatch! Join us for a fun dinner party where we put two sommeliers against each other to see who picked the perfect pairing for our courses.

More Info: https://www.sommelierdeathmatch.com/matches

In this episode…

THE MENU
Cocktail: Blinker Tinker with a Feta Fig Bite
Salad: Winter Kale Salad
Main: Seared Scallops over Bacon and Butternut Risotto with Crispy Sage
Dessert: Shortbread with Orange Amaretto Ice Cream

Big Thanks to:
Sommelier #1: Morgan from North Charles Fine Wines
https://www.northcharlesfinewines.com/

Sommelier #2: The Crew at Pairings Bistro

Home

Bill’s Seafood: The only place I will ever buy scallops from.
https://billsseafoodandcatering.net/

The Bartender’s Manifesto for the cocktail inspiration.
https://amzn.to/3SLlAKq

America’s Test Kitchen for the Shortbread Recipe
https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/4960-best-shortbread

The Endless Meal for the Salad Inspiration
https://www.theendlessmeal.com/roasted-beet-and-kale-salad-with-maple-candied-walnuts/

SOUNDRIDER/DOPE for the Upbeat Instrumental Music
https://www.jamendo.com/track/1670563/upbeat-lounge-background

*No part of this video is sponsored.

Four Foodies three courses two soay one winner it’s a Som Death Match hey it’s Ronnie here and I’m really excited to introduce um a new video series I hope to be able to keep up with called Salon day Death Match it’s where my friends and I throw a dinner party

For each other we do the menu the prep the cooking we do it together and we each go to different wine stores and get two different sanet to pair wines for each of our courses um so the rules are here and we’re going to kind of include

You in on the the whole journey from pre prep to recording it to sharing the meals and kind of our thoughts for it and this is our first video so we’re still kind of trying to figure out um the best way to go about to do

Everything so um I hope you enjoy it it gives you some ideas and some inspiration to post your own dinner price cuz they’re super fun all right it is the week before our first sh death match in a long time and it’s time to make the shopping

List do you want to know what I’m doing what are you doing all right I am making the base for the ice cream okay so what I’m trying to do is Infuse the sugar with the peel of the orange and then make the orange juice and I’m going to

Reduce the orange juice down to get some the moisture out and now we have this amazing ice cream base Orange in Amara all right and now I’m going to make them try it all right let’s see we’ll put in the ice creamer tomorrow do you T oh that’s really good

You taste Amoro yeah and orange it’s going to be good awesome okay it’s Monday not Tuesday it is Monday Saturday I did the shopping yesterday I made made the ice cream base and today I have a couple minutes by myself I’m in a quiet house I’m never in a quiet house uh and

So I decided to make raspberry simple syrup so let me show you what I’m doing a pint of raspberries two cups sugar one cup water we’re going to not bring this to a boil but just like a nice simmer until the raspberries all release their juices then strain and will be good for

My blinker Tinker cocktail that I’m planning I just have a coffee filter and a little Pyrex measuring cup and we’re just going to strain this out it smells amazing Dennis and Kim stepped up and made the shortbread for the dessert for the somia death match and they used

America’s Test Kitchen Recipe as a starting point and then kind of made it their own um here’s some stills from their set up and they did an amazing job we’re ready even though we barely e at the table we do need distilled juice for the cocktail I am making the cocktail

Appetizer he’s doing what he always does which just to sit around and watch me we got some homemade chicken stock for the risoto and we have some butter knut squash pureed with some stock also for the risotto I got my peino grated I have

My bacon and my rice and I’m ready to do this oh they should be here any minute last time she came currently we are professionals that’s the whole point okay very pretty Linker okay two different blink of tiners one we made with a high fruit fry which is I believe what traditionally

The drink is supposed to be made with okay um and I can also say I found this drink in U a book I’m reading called the bartender Manifesto and that’s how I found it so then I researched it and then I knew some of our dinner party guests are not big

Fans of uh kind of alcohol forward drinks so I was like let’s also make it with a bourbon which is sweeter and they’re clearly two different drinks right so which one do you like better and so it starts I like the whiskey though you like the one with the

Rye in it cuz you like the the wow wow how was up this is a little sharper yeah where this this is definitely smoother so it’s a puff pastry with a little dot of either sour cherry or fig my intention was fig Jam feta cheese fresh thyme and some crispy

Pudo I think you said that wrong so there’s powder pastry puff puff pastry plus a dab of fig or cherry whichever one cheese mhm a good time a good and then what was the final ingredient uh crisy Pudo Cheers Cheers so we we may have missed the video of what it’s like to uh cut up an orange but this is the Supreme the supreming of the Orange is the supreming oranging wizard right here really cuz I think I can get better at it but it’s not that

Bad are you kidding me are you kidding me right now are you oh I can get better at it well yeah no I guess you’re right no no no T they’re good lots of things going on in the salad we got beets we got oranges we got feta we got candy

Walnuts and what’s your job she’s supervised moral support oh look at Marsh’s in on it he’s like what are we eating say hi Marsh he loves sitting on the bench now he feels like he’s part of it yeah no he does good point on all right so I’m really excited about the

Salad it’s a massage kale with a vinegret uh supremed oranges beets fetish cheese and maple candied WS this is Morgan’s first pick for course number one it is an Italian uh white wine and he said it’s from Sicily so he says which is very uh exciting for me he says it he drinks

Very well on its own so I like that and uh he said it should cradle all the flavors of the salad selection for the kale salad we have the Val deque selected by Wendy at perings beastro uh it is going to be a little bit of sweetness with a peppery

Finish I actually have a definitive winner and a definitive reason I I all right let’s do it eyes I do two actually I do two okay so we’re going to raise the glass of the one we’re voting for yes and three 2 one raise them up oh oh what

A here’s first uh both were Fant yeah no both are great yes there’s there’s no loser here okay uh here’s what I found and here’s what I started doing here’s here’s how in depth it got for me I cut my orange in half and I would take a

Bite of the orange and I would try this one and I would take a bite of the orange and I would try that one I told my beat and I cut in half and I would try a beat with a beat with this one and

I tried the walnut in half and and then I had just cake and I tried one of each going to with some fet in there okay right for me more times than not this one paired with the different elements of the S more so than this

One the start of the stir right here we’re we’re currently rendering Bing bacon rendering the bacon going to nicely dry out scallops and salt them and pepper them so they sear really good doing that I’m going to flip them salt the other side and I’m going to put

Papers on top and then we’re going to let them sit here until we’re ready to sear them and I’m going to sear them baking grease Bon it went for two and then find out a couple seconds for SI touch again get ti so they and then why when they

Come off we’re going to a little salt so the salt sticks the risoto stirer is going professional Roto s it’s only going to take another 3 hours of stiring and we should be good all right so an update on the risoto so everyone’s on hours we’re we’re we’re five hours in Billy’s now

Switched arms because the other one is now in a in a in a sling they’re being dramatic honest okay now we’re we’re 8 hours into the rotto for everyone that’s ever tried to make on Chopped you’re an idiot okay another quick update it’s been 13 hours now on the risoto Billy is

Uh has given up he’s his arms are falling off Ronnie has taking over the risoto uh it’s and we’re about to sear the scallops and we are about to sear the scallops Billy can’t even stand anymore it’s just it’s just risoto stirring nightmare 23 hours he’s been stirring

This look oh he had he can’t even stand up oh gosh oh god wow okay I got to go in first yeah good has aoto good let me try some scallop here wow I’m already L get over here dancing my seat feel so good wow these wines are right superb I

Cannot tell what I like by the way don’t sleep on breaking up the sage leaf and eating it with a bite of scal because it’s definitely an editable garnish that’s handing PL no it’s good I don’t eat garnishes either it’s good scals are I mean honestly we need I

Mean I don’t even mean the preparation I mean the the caliber of scallop itself we have to like hat tip to bills because they they they the bills yeah but they did give us some that I’m I’m happy to have like a fish manga right down the road for our main

Course are paing for the seared scalps over bacon and butternut Roto with Crispy Sage uh parings has recommended a penio it was a last minute audible from the pairings group there was a different one selected then we’re like wo wo wo this one is a better paing this is an

Old world version of a penal GRE where it’s going to have a more of a coppery color than a traditional or or a modern if you will P Rio it’s going to be a coppery color a little darker than they handle the grapes different so we’re really excited about trying this

One and uh hope I’m sure it’s going to be good our main course the risoto uh Morgan went with basically a uh a champagne kind of thing it’s not made in champ uh it’s not champagne cuz it’s not made in France it’s made in Napa uh California I

Believe so yeah we’re going with a bubbly basically champagne for course number two we’ll see how it works are we closing our eyes are we ready closing our eyes 3 two 1 got all was hands down it was hands down oh it’s a clear wow

Hands down and it was the most it was the most hands down when he when he when he picked it by the way I was like bubbles I’m in I love bubes me too I do uh I I knew five minutes ago you could rewind the video when we said uh

We did Cheers to something else and we all picked up a glass I I watched you picked up glass every single one of us picked this one okay so an update on the risoto Billy is so exhausted Kim is now washing all the dishes but but wait wait it’s gone it’s gone

Right I guess yeah I I kind of want ice cream consensus as well see the flavor there right I was a little worried about the texture it’s a little icier than I wanted but it’s not taken away from me no it’s good it’s smooth okay

So Morgan’s last pick is a wine that is from Hungary uh it’s called late Harvest so um I think one of the things with this is that the The Grapes were taken off the vine later or something like that Morgan actually use the word in his description of this wine that we tried

The Google today and we can’t even spell it close enough to even get Google to recognize it so uh uh we’ll see how it tastes all right for the dessert paring we have the orange Emer ice cream and shortbread we’re going with the Al I

Don’t know if I said that right I don’t really care it sounded fun it’s a French actually French champag it’s uh has small bubbles end of story I think I have a clear winner of the ons already I’m a little I’m a little bit like Dennis last round I

Think I have a clear winner pretty early they’re both really good but one is really popping for me the uh the short bread I I circled back around on the shortbread I just I just tried a different different and the other one was like no no no no don’t forget about

Me so now I’m like yes have some guys I’m not one to generally not finish and I am like I’m having a hard I’m say pretty proud of how much I yeah no I I want to eat more so much CU it’s the texture thing and okay okay the

Waitress is coming the wait is coming all right okay okay ready three 2 1 oh wow again is it male fale I honestly love this with the ice cream I love this this is a ice one is who’s is it this is Morgan’s I think

Yeah that is Morgan’s ice wine no it’s a wine from Hungary it’s a late Harvest late har is that is that what it is late Harvest okay this was a title it keeps voted for pairings and you guys voted for waran right this is the second time

You yeah we’re down the line I I would have sworn the two of you were going to pick is this so I like this as a drinking alone wine but when I would get the bubbles with the ice cream it was too much we have champagne the bubbles

With the cold ice cream was too much for me it blew me out see I I’m the opposite I that is the part that I enjoyed the most I where I thought the the late Harvest not quite an ice line it’s not quite but it is it’s sweet he said it

Wasn’t as sweet as a mass but this was uh this was taking over the flavors where I liked the the effervescence if you will sort of enhanced the flavor I feel like this matches it so much that it just is all one thing whereas when I drank this one unlike the risoto this

One because I guess my mouth is so cold the bubbles were too much where I was like I was like that’s too much she crazy no it was over the top bub that’s the best part about wine thanks everybody for joining us for our first somay Death Match we hope you

Enjoyed it I want to take a minute to thanks Bill Seafood who has the best scallops uh we want to thank our champion Morgan from North Charles fine wine for the great wine selection and the wine of the night which was a champagne with food and a very big thank

You to Ping beastro and the help from the entire team now we appreciate all your selections it was a great night and a great time so subscribe we’re hoping to do a couple more um any feedback appreciated thanks guys thank you that was great all right nail it nail it

All right making the attempt at the first official suier death match video notes are being made not we’re discussing the very first menu of our official Su Death Match can I switch how do I how do I switch these squash squashes in season right now does

It go in in but doesn’t it get really no no no you puree it monkey and puree it okay okay I’ve done appearing butter sash side note this is our menu master right here try okay if she says it’ll work Butternut sash rotto will definitely work okay with some peino

Potentially some bacon I’m seeing it yeah we’re seeing it my favorite is if the butter nut squat comes out perfect or bad we there we go there we go we have it but but all that matters in my book if we’re if we want to get official all

That matters in my book does the wine pair that’s that’s that’s what this is all about to me you know to me