Pairing olive oil with food: the art of the right intensity

With wine, we naturally think about what to pour with fish or with game. With olive oil, few people do. Yet the right oil completes a simple dish, and the wrong one drowns it out. So how do you choose?

One rule: intensity follows intensity

Extra virgin olive oils differ widely in fruitiness, bitterness and pungency. Professional tasters therefore class oil in three intensities: light, medium and intense. The basic rule is simple: the more pronounced the flavour of your dish, the more intense the oil can be.

A delicate fish calls for an oil that stays in the background. A hearty stew or a piece of grilled beef can take an oil that talks back.

An overview by dish

Light oil goes with soft cheeses such as mozzarella or burrata, with seafood, fish carpaccio, steamed white fish and white meat.

Medium oil goes with beef carpaccio, grilled vegetables, mixed salads, pasta sauces, pulses and barbecued meat.

Intense oil goes with hearty vegetable soups, bean dishes, grilled red meat, game, mature hard cheeses and bitter greens such as rocket, chicory or radicchio.

MURO is an early-harvest oil with a pronounced green fruitiness and a clear bitterness and pungency. It shows at its best with dishes from the second and third groups.

Contrast works too

The rule is a starting point, not a law. Sometimes a deliberate contrast works just as well. Taste each ingredient on its own first, then choose:

Reinforce: an intense oil on a hearty dish, such as a plate of white beans with rosemary.
Lift: a few drops of an intense oil on something very mild, such as a creamy vegetable soup or a soft goat’s cheese. The oil gives the dish a fresh, green edge.

Finish, don’t fry

Heat makes the finest aromas of an oil disappear. If you want to taste the full character of a premium oil, use it mostly raw: as a final drizzle on the plate, just before serving. A warm base, such as soup, roasted vegetables or grilled meat, then helps the aromas open up.

Three surprising combinations

Vanilla ice cream, oil and sea salt. A few drops of oil and a pinch of flor de sal on a scoop of good vanilla ice cream. The green, peppery notes of the oil bring the sweetness to life.

Dark chocolate. A piece of dark chocolate with a drop of oil and a grain of salt. Bitter on bitter, with a fruity finish.

Orange and red onion. Slices of orange with thin rings of red onion, black olives, salt, pepper and a generous drizzle of oil. A Southern European classic.

Taste it yourself