Arancini

Arancini

Assuming deep fried rice balls with a ragu or mozzarella centre, served hot.

Deep fried food has one overriding demand and it is acidity: without it the fat coats the palate and stays there. Bubbles do the same job by a different route and do it better. Whatever is in the middle, melted cheese or a meat ragu, both make tannin taste metallic, so there is no red answer here worth having.

Pairs Perfectly. Franciacorta, Lombardy, Italy. Italy's answer to Champagne, made the same way and aged on the lees, with the acidity and the fine bead that fried food needs and a biscuity depth that meets the crust rather than just cutting it. A Crémant from the Loire or Burgundy delivers the same logic for a good deal less.

Pairs Well. Txakoli from the Basque country, Spain. Bone dry, faintly spritzy and searingly fresh, poured from a height to wake it up. The Basques drink it with everything fried and they are right.

Pairs Well. Dry Riesling from the Mosel, Germany. Lime and slate with piercing acidity and low alcohol, which cuts the fat without adding heat to an already hot plate.

Worth Seeking Out

Grillo from Sicily, Italy. Once grown only to be turned into Marsala and now made as a serious dry white on its own. Grapefruit, green herb and sea salt, from the island where these rice balls come from.

Avoid

Tannic reds. The centre of an arancino is either fresh cheese or savoury meat, and both turn tannin metallic while doing nothing at all for the fried crust.

Failing That

A Muscadet, Loire, France.

If All Else Fails

Prosecco, Veneto.

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