Aya's Kitchen: Cocktail Pairing

I have about eight more pork chops in my fridge right now because my friends brought them over intending to cook them a few nights ago but we had too much food.  I wanted to experiment with food and cocktail pairing so tonight I played around with bridging (used tequila in my food and in my cocktail.

The cocktail: a shot of tequila (Don Julio Reposado), 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, 1 cup of club soda, squeeze of lime, and lemongrass and ginger steeped simple syrup (to taste)

The food: Sauteed pork chop with onion/tomato/jalapeno/butter/tequila sauce, garnished with cilantro and scallion.  Season the pork chop and saute until medium rare- set aside.  Lightly caramelize the onions, add the tomatoes and deglaze with tequila.  Let it reduce, then mount with butter to make the sauce (season with white pepper and finish with some lime juice).  Meanwhile, slice the pork and then serve with the onion/tomato sauce and garnish with cilantro and scallion.

The accompaniment: shredded red cabbage with alfalfa sprouts (lightly dressed with olive oil, salt, black pepper and lemon juice.

This particular tequila has a white pepper aroma and when I smelled it I thought of pork.  I personally thought the cocktail paired really well with the food.