Tyler Cowen at Marginal Revolution asks, what is the proper pairing with dark chocolate? He offers the following schools of thought:
1. Wine
2. Spirits
3. Strawberries
4. A pinch of red chili powder
5. A quick swig of mineral water immediately afterwards
I can get behind any of these except perhaps the mineral water (I have never heard of this school of thought and suspect it exists primarily in Cowen’s mind, not that that’s a strike against it); I am all about potentiating the chocolate effect, not washing it out. With wine I like big reds; port is frequently recommended with chocolate but I don’t find it to be a great combination, and whites seem to be either too acidic or too sweet.
Strawberries are good; raspberries are better.
It was near the end of the comment thread before anybody suggested stout; Guinness and chocolate is one of the great flavor combinations as far as I’m concerned.
Many people suggest oranges; my favorite truffle flavoring is orange, but I am not so sure about actually eating chocolate and eating oranges/drinking orange juice at the same time. I prefer having the orange essence infused into the chocolate rather than as a separate entity.
I can’t leave out my lowbrow favorite: plain potato chips. Salt plus chocolate, yum. I don’t waste very good chocolate on this combination, though.