Briouats

Small triangular or cigar-shaped parcels of warqa pastry, deep-fried or oven-baked, filled with either savoury (spiced minced lamb or chicken with onion and herbs, sometimes with cheese, sometimes prawn) or sweet (almond paste with orange-flower water and cinnamon, drenched in honey when warm). The Moroccan canapé — served at celebrations, eaten with the fingers, often appearing in mixed plates of both savoury and sweet versions on the same table. Assuming the savoury lamb version, the most common preparation served as a starter or with drinks.

Pairs Perfectly

Crémant d'Alsace from a serious producer, France. The Pinot Blanc-led traditional method brings exactly the carbonation needed to lift fried pastry from the palate between bites, the lees autolytic complexity meets the crisp warqa beautifully, and the rounder body than Crémant de Bourgogne handles the spiced lamb filling without going meek. Champagne, Brut non-vintage from a grower-producer, offers the same logic in France with Pinot Noir backbone for greater elegance and slightly more body.

Pairs Well

Mencía from Bierzo, Spain. The Atlantic-influenced Spanish red brings high acid, supple tannin, and savoury smoke that meets the spiced lamb filling and the fried pastry char in a single sweep — the red answer where one is preferred to sparkling.

Riesling sec from Alsace, France. Dry Alsace Riesling brings high-acid mineral structure that cuts the frying fat cleanly, and the gentle aromatic profile meets cumin and cinnamon without competing — the still white answer where one is preferred to Crémant.

Worth Seeking Out

Franciacorta DOCG, Lombardy, Italy. The Italian Champagne-method sparkling brings serious autolytic depth and a lees richness that handles spiced lamb-and-fried-pastry with unusual analytical precision, and the discovery of Italian traditional method as an alternative to Crémant or Champagne is genuinely undervalued.

Avoid

High-tannin reds — clash with the fried pastry and the small-bite format; oaked whites — vanilla fights the cumin-cinnamon profile; sweet wines — wrong against savoury spiced lamb; aromatic whites with rose or lychee — fight the warm spice.

Failing That

A Cava de Paraje Calificado from a serious producer.

If All Else Fails

Pinot Grigio, northern Italy.

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