airing vegetarian, vegan, or flexitarian (almost vegetarian) foods with beverages seems like a fun and easy task. The vegetarian category consists of bright, simple food, as there are no dominant animal fats and proteins. Instead, these recipes contain primarily cellulose, fibers, tubers, and starches; flavors like spices and herbs; and occasionally cheese or vegetable protein. I envisioned sitting down with a few varieties of beer; a couple bottles of spirits; some red, white, and rosé wines; possibly tequila, and voilà—all would become crystal clear. It was not that easy.

Pairing becomes a little easier when cheese or nuts are part of the recipe. They add a layer of fat and aroma. However, when dealing with pure vegan fare, the search becomes a chemistry lesson. It confronts issues like chlorophyll, spices, tannin, and acid in vegetables with numerous herb components pitted directly against alcohol levels. Sometimes there are smoky flavors, sometimes salts. Cooking methods from steam to sauce, broil, oven bake, grill, and sear are considered. Each adds a particular flavor. Finally, there are the finished aromas of simply made, mostly vegan dishes. After the first round of tasting, it became clear that, without fat and strong protein flavors, pairing becomes challenging.

VEGETABLE RULES
I set out to develop some rules with vegetables and looked at the basics: raw versus cooked, simple ingredients, and flavors ranging from no tannin to bitter tannin as in eggplant. Next, I went to complete dishes, or “compositions.” Generally, there are additions to these dishes that add aroma and depth like citrus or vinegars, herbs and spices, and other vegetables. Take guacamole. Avocado on its own doesn’t say much. But coupled with lime, crushed chile, cilantro, tomato, red or white onion, poblano pepper, and basic salt and pepper, it becomes guacamole—and sings with flavor.

Herein lies the rub. Each ingredient compounding the basic vegetable preparation presses one to look at the strongest flavor for pairing with a beverage. Depending on the fat in a vegetarian dish, either from the vegetable or fruit, a dish can generally be matched starting with levels of alcohol—from low to high—for beers, wines, and spirits. There becomes an apparent chemistry. Other components to notice are initial aromas and salty, bitter, sweet, or sour tones. Take a whiff, a small sip, discard, and try a spoonful of the dish.

This is an excellent way to understand the chemistry of food against the chemistry of a beverage. I also research vegetable chemistries and how beverages are made. Understanding why eggplant can be bitter when cooked or why Scotch smells smoky and peaty is helpful.

TASTING
For the tasting, I looked at a variety of alcohol levels and range of beverages including: Scotch, vodka, white wine, red wine, dry and off-dry rosé wine, and mildly hoppy to light-styled beer. All were inexpensive labels, with no wine over $15. Since the idea was to challenge the concept of vegetables, I had to understand the variety of flavors and textures, including raw, that make vegetables attractive. Included were singular items and vegetables integrated into plates—from vegan or vegetarian to side dishes.

PROCESS
I sampled sips of each beverage at each trial. The dishes included:

• Simple sliced, sautéed domestic mushrooms.
• Side dishes of cashew-glazed green string beans, white and red cabbage, carrots, spinach, and tomatoes— all cooked and uncooked.
• Appetizers using individual purées of white bean, sundried tomato, and roasted eggplant with crostini.
• Thai Spring Roll Wrap with Basil, devised as a quick, light snack.
• Simple lemon and olive oil mixed green salad alongside a cauliflower burrito.
• Coal-fired mild whole-wheat pizza crust topped with simple yellow onions, garlic slivers, rosemary, and sliced red chili.
• Burger of brown lentil with shredded romaine, fresh tomato, and chickpea hummus.
• Eggplant parmesan entrée.
• Hand-rolled red bean pot stickers swimming in a vegetable broth spiked with soy and ginger.

RESULTS
I rejected the higher-alcohol Scotch and vodka, even diluted with mixers on a second round. They overpowered the subtle vegetable flavors. Another striking “no” was the off-dry rosé and the IPA beer. Both left a significant lingering taste. Oaky red wines embittered the raw vegetables and vice versa. Most heavier tannins conflicted. Yet, if I armed my BYOB assortment with a carefully chosen Barbera or a lighter version of Petit Syrah, these fared well with most cooked vegetables and kept their character when using labels of alcohol at 11.5 to 12.5 percent.

My number-one favorite was Tocai Fruiliano. At 11.5 up to 13.0 percent alcohol, it was dry but packed with aromatic fruit. Fermented dry in these cases, the Tocai Fruiliano had a round mouth complexity with depth and significant tartness but possessed balance to even out the lightest to most-developed vegetable dishes.

Michael Foley, a celebrated American chef, has three decades of owner/operator hotel, winery, and restaurant experience. Based in Chicago, he travels for the U.S. government, highlighting American products with regional and creative cooking.