Cop A Plea To Original Zin

Wrapping sausages in something is not unique to the USA or my country, the UK. A quick search will reveal sausages wrapped in something from China (a steamed bun) to Israel (ketchup and Phyllo dough over a kosher dog) and from Argentina to Estonia.

And the names vary, too: In translation, the Mexican 'salchitaco' becomes the prosaic 'sausage taco'. Finland is a little more mysterious with nakkikpilo, a 'hidden sausage': My favourite is the German 'Wursten in Shalafrock', the rather charming 'sausage in a dressing gown'.

Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw said the USA and the UK were 'divided by a common language' and this is another example that shows the truth of his observation (the playwright called that play right. Sorry, this topic is bringing out the wurst in me).

The USA and the UK both have a consumable called 'pigs in blankets' or 'pigs in a blanket': They are not, however, the same thing in both countries.

(A quick aside: There are lots of examples where the same word or phrase has a different meaning on the other side of the Atlantic. Knowing that the US 'pavement' is the UK 'road' and that the US 'sidewalk' is the UK 'pavement' might save your life, if you visit the UK. The instruction 'walk on the pavement' has a radically different meaning in British English. Knowing the difference between a US 'pig in a blanket' and the UK version, conversely, will not save your life, but is still of some utility).

So, in the USA, your pig in a blanket will be, typically, a small pork sausage, usually wrapped in dough and baked. The wrapping is often croissant dough. If you are ever in the UK (and safely on the sidewalk, please) and you feel in urgent need of the closest equivalent to this product, pop into a baker and ask for a 'sausage roll'. The product will typically be sausage meat (no skin), wrapped in (usually) flaky pastry and baked. You might get a puff pastry version. You will not get croissant dough.

If, on the other hand, you are offered a 'pig in a blanket' you will get a small sausage (or a piece of a larger sausage), wrapped in bacon and then baked, roast, grilled or fried (grilled is broiled). Without adding to the confusion, the British would say this is wrapped in 'streaky bacon', being the fatty belly cut, because the British mainly eat back bacon and call it bacon. I hope that makes sense.

Anyhow, you cook your bacon-wrapped-sausage, the bacon shrinks and tightens around the sausage, giving it a salty hug and it has a slight crunch and a fabulous aroma.

You can eat these tasty morsels as a snack (or hors d'oeuvre, if you're in the mood for a $50 snack). The British often have a couple of these flavoursome bites on their Christmas lunch plate, alongside the turkey: Indeed, in the UK, if you talk about 'turkey and all the trimmings' for Chrismas lunch, many people would take it as read that there will be a couple of pigs in blankets somewhere on the plate.

My pairing, then, is the drink that ideally goes with a British pig in a blanket.

By the way, this is not one of these 'old world' things that go back to Henry-with-too-many-wives or whatever. British pigs in blankets seem only to be from the 1950s. But the wine I want to pair them with is even younger.

The USA has given the world so many things; it is difficult to list them. The Boeing 'Queen of the Skies' 747: The Apple iPhone: Daffy Duck. Where would the world be without you? But for my money, White Zinfandel should appear on any such list, too. A newcomer, 'White Zin' as people often call it only came about in the 1970s, but it has made its mark, not only in the USA but around the world. I think the bright, vibrant flavours and the cheerful sunshine colours of a White Zin are reminiscent of California and the optimism and can-do American attitude. What a contrast with the stuffy French vintage vino and the prim and proper Rhineland wines from Germany. Go, youth and vibrancy!

The sausage, made of the finest cuts of pork and lovingly wrapped in bacon, has texture and taste, scent and sensation aplenty. Pop this in your mouth, gone in one bite. All of the flavours of a terrific plate of roast pork and all at once.

The clean and crisp, chilled White Zin, fruity top notes but with some citric acidity, cuts through the opulent pork flavours. Zin presses the reset button on your tastebuds, so they are ready for the second wave of porcine unctuousness. You experience salty-sweet and sharp, with slightly sour. Hot and chilled. Crunchy and soft. Umami and the slightest hint of spice.

Wrap me up in the blanket, and I'll plead guilty to this original zin.