Make the Most of Mardi Gras
With the biggest party of the year upon us, it’s time to dawn the purple and gold beads and rev up your party float for Mardi Gras, the celebration of all celebrations. While you’re at work wishing you had taken a few sick days to partake in the drinking festivities, we’ve thought of a few ideas to help you celebrate as if you were on Bourbon Street.
Host a Cajun Potluck. Have guests bring their favorite Cajun-style recipes for a taste-testing extravaganza. Provide different wines or people’s favorite party cocktails to mix with each dish. But be mindful of a few tasting rules when pairing your Fat Tuesday signature with wine.
Spicy Gumbo: Gumbo tends to be spicy and bursting with flavor. It’s best to stick with a lighter wine, preferably a white, to subtly compliment the powerful flavors brought out in the chicken, shrimp or sausage you steam into your gumbo. Avoid the heavier reds, like Cabernet Sauvignon or Malbec, as these wines are high in tannins that will leave a metallic-y aftertaste when paired with such a rich dish. If you can’t part with your red wine, use a red with low tannin structure, such as Pinot Noir, to offset this sizzling soup.
Cajun Seafood: When going for a seafood-based dish, it’s common wisdom to stick with a white. Especially for Cajun dishes, you’ll want a white wine that doesn’t compete with the spicy components of Cajun cuisine. A Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc refreshes the palate after bites of seafood rich in garlic with hints of lemon. We strongly recommend a Chardonnay to mimic the seafood’s buttery texture.
King Cake: For everyone’s favorite Mardi Gras food staple, try a dessert wine. Syrah and a red/white sparkling wine are sure to accentuate the colorful sugary cake with a surprise inside.
Not one for the mainstream heavy dishes? Here are 22 recipes from Food & Wine that will leave your mouth watering.
Host a Mardi Gras-themed Party. Request that guests wear costumes (i.e. jesters, masquerades, anything feathered, wacky and elaborate) to compete for King and Queen of the Bourbon Street. With the winner earning a bottle of Mira wine, guests will surely dress to the nines. It could be just as fun as actually being in the French Quarter without the enormous clean sweep afterwards.
Feature games like carnival charades or limbo to get your guests in the spirit of these shenanigans. Activities like this are even fun for the kids! Or for a nonconventional party game, divide your guests into two teams and have each team take turns coming up with words or phrases that evoke the festivities of “Mardi Gras”. Teams with words that are not deemed acceptable have points taken from them. The team with the most creative words wins. Play with wine to see how just how creative guests can be.
End the party on a sweet note with a King Cake. Whoever finds the tiny plastic baby inside wins the pleasure of hosting next year’s festivities!
What Mardi Gras-related ideas have you come up with? Let us know! Click here for the complete Mardi Gras schedule including parades & routes!