Food & Wine Pairing

I never knew that The HoneyBaked Ham Company had the monopoly on honey-baked hams for many years until spiral cutter inventor Harry Hoenselaar’s patent finally ran out in 1981. At that point other companies, such as Smithfield, joined the game. These other companies used cutters based on the same principle as Hoenselaar’s, creating one continuous slice around the bone. However, Hoenselaar wasn’t only known for the cutter, but he also devised a secret marinade, smoked each ham for hours over assorted hardwood chip types, then sealed the ham with his sweet, signature glaze, resulting in a crunchy, crackly wrapper. The Honey Baked Ham Company started in 1957 as one store in Detroit and has grown to over 400 stores run by his children and grandchildren.

“Mama Mia – that’s a spicy meatball!” – the exclamation leads to the belief that the fare hailed from Italy, but the origin of the meatball and the spaghetti and meatballs dish is unclear. We know that generally, households used leftover or unused parts of meat with day-old bread or bread crumbs to stretch their use over several days. The now-popular spaghetti and meatballs meal seems to have originated in the United States, as Italians normally did not make a practice of serving meat with their pasta, rather, they would cook meats and use the sauce from the meat to cover their pasta, a way of stretching their own meals.

With the holidays just around the corner, many of us are planning menus, shopping for groceries and ordering centerpieces. Choosing wines to pair with traditional holiday foods is an important part of the menu planning process. If you're roasting a turkey to serve with all the trimmings or dishing up a flavorful ham, you might wonder which wines work best with your menu selections. IntoWine.com asked some wine experts for their red and white pairing recommendations.

Overcooked, battered and abused? No longer. Americans tended to eat less lamb than any other red meat, but consumption has come up bit since younger chefs traveled to discover its intense, interesting flavor and learned the correct way to cook the meat. Finer restaurants have been released from their fears that guests will reject a lamb dish now that it is properly prepared. This influence, coupled with the flood of immigrants who serve lamb as a staple, has greatly increased the popularity of the meat, particularly lamb shanks, in this country.

A popular appetizer for a reason, crab cakes maintain numerous enthusiastic followers. Two innovators, Tom Douglas and Shelley Lance, even wrote the book: I Love Crab Cakes! 50 Recipes for an American Classic . An ongoing battle rages over who produces the best examples in Baltimore, but others swear by those hailing from the Carolinas.

IntoWine asked our experts to suggest favorite wine pairings for crab: Crab is a succulent shellfish that has an almost sweet flavor profile and a versatility of cooking adaptations. The richness of the meat is what you want to focus on when enjoying crab. And, because crab is not the cheapest...

What's the best wine pairing for lamb chops? IntoWine asked our experts for their favorite bottles to pour alongside this tender cut of meat:

IntoWine asked our experts for wine pairings to complement pork spareribs:

IntoWine asked our experts to suggest wine pairings that complement curry:

IntoWine asked our wine experts for their pairings for Roquefort cheese. Here are their recommendations for wines that complement this intense, pungent blue cheese: Often called ‘the king’ of cheeses , this unique soft, blue cheese has as many appellation controls as its wine counterparts,...