Pot & Food Pairings

Our sister paper in Denver employs a pot critic who discusses taste characteristics of various smokes much like a wine snob does with grapes. Seems to me it’s getting time to consider pot and food pairings too. So I invited numerous guests to go out to sea with me on a large boat, past any legal boundaries, so we could enjoy ourselves in cahoots with the law. And we also had the pot dealer come out to sea with his samples. I should note that Mr. Dealer is an extremely humble, ego-less man. When I offered to print his name as a boon to his business, he pleaded with me — begged, really — to keep his name “as far from the spotlight as possible”, as he put it. Then he issued a vague threat and took off in his own speedboat. But not before he left us with really good weed.

Our dinner worked this way: We’d smoke a joint of a specific pot, then I’d go downstairs into the boat’s ridiculously well-stocked galley and prepare a food that I thought might match up well with the taste and high.

First Course:
Pot: Sour Diesel, which touts a pungent citrus flavor.
Food: I thought the tangy lemon notes of the weed would be well-contrasted by bacon-wrapped dates brushed lightly with a brown sugar glaze. It was a big hit — the guests ate ’em up in seconds.

Second Course:

Pot: Jamaican mountain herb, with dense, earthy taste and grassy notes.

Food: It seemed that something from the sea would play well against the

earth element — something like seared diver scallops wrapped in

apricot bark and glazed with Thai chili sauce. Ideal yin to the herb’s

yang. But then at the last second I changed my mind and prepared banana

chunks smeared with Nutella instead. Some of the guests appeared less

than impressed, although I would characterize the general giggling in

the room as positive.

Third Course:

Pot: Train Wreck, which yields a creamy, fruity, almost menthol flavor.

Food: First I’m thinking mini-quiche studded with lump crab meat and

chives. Then I change my mind and decide that a smoked salmon roulade,

rolled in crepes with creme fraiche and chives, would pair quite

nicely. Then I figure that the heavy high would best be contrasted with

simple tastes unencumbered by complications: Vanilla Haagen-Daz. Except

it took me awhile to figure this match-up out, during which time I had

eaten pretty much the whole pint of ice cream. So I went instead with

more banana chunks smeared with Nutella, but this time also rolled in

colored sprinkles, a large canister of which I’d accidentally spilled

all over the place. Everyone was pretty much ignoring me and my banana

chunks by this point.

Fourth Cour