Food and Wine Pairing
As a chef, the importance of my food is how well it shows off our wine.
When food and wine are married well, both will taste better.
As a chef, the importance of my food is how well it shows off our wine.
When food and wine are married well, both will taste better.
Why bother?
The notion of food and wine pairing throughout Europe does not exist.
Old world wine producing regions do not address the concept of “food and wine pairing”. They eat their local cuisine and drink their local wines. Their food and wine pair naturally because they grow grapes and vinify wine that compliments their food and have created a cuisine that compliments their wine. This has evolved over many generations.
With our more diverse global cuisine an understanding of how food and wine go together is necessary.
On the other hand, regions of the world that do not have a long history of wine production do not necessarily have cuisines that “naturally” pair with wine. In this country, we, as well, do not have a long multi-generational history of wine and food. Our cuisine often borrows flavors from areas like Japan, China, the Pacific Rim, and Mexico. Our wine is also produced in a multitude of styles. It is therefore necessary to have a basic understanding of the balance between food and wine to successfully pair our wine with the flavors of these cuisines.
How have we paired in the past?
Match a wine variety with a dish from the region that produces that variety.
For example, you want to pair a wine with a seafood dish. In France they might pair a seafood dish with beurre blanc (butter sauce) with chardonnay. So a chef here decides to create a seafood dish with his own butter sauce and pair it with a California chardonnay. It might work, it might not. And if it does work, he won’t necessarily know why. One reason it might not work is that the chardonnay he chooses might not be Burgundian in style. In California we produce chardonnays that are high acid, fruit forward, stainless steel fermented, and with no malo-lactic. We also make chardonnays that are barrel fermented or aged and 100% malo-lactic. And we have everything in between – partial barrel aged, partial malo-lactic. Depending on the style of chardonnay the chef chooses, it may or may not pair well with his dish.
Mirror flavors.
The wine is “herby” so you pair the wine with a dish that is heavy on herbs. The wine is “toasty” and “oaky” so you prepare the dish using the grill. The zinfandel has berry and black pepper flavors so you add berries and black pepper to the dish. Again, mirroring flavors may work, but it may not. And if it does, you might not know why. So how do we pair food and wine?
It's all about "Taste Balance"
The dominant taste of anything you eat or drink will have an effect on anything that follows.
The important thing to remember is that everything you put in your mouth changes the taste of the next thing you put in your mouth. For example, what happens when you drink orange juice after you brush your teeth? The OJ tastes pretty bad! What’s happening? The dominant taste of sweet in the toothpaste emphasizes the dominant taste of acidity (sourness) in the OJ. It makes the OJ taste very sour.
As in good cooking, a successful food and wine pairing comes from knowing the interaction of tastes.
Much as a cook balances “tastes” in creating a single dish, or when combining several dishes together, successful food/wine pairing involves factoring the wine into the balance.
Food changes the taste of wine.
All wines are changed by the dominant taste in food to a lesser or greater degree.
So if anything you put in your mouth changes the taste of the next thing you put in your mouth, then it is safe to say that food changes the taste of wine and that all wines are changed by the dominant taste in food to a lesser or greater degree.
A good food and wine pairing involves minimizing that change.
Or, if there is a change, making it a positive one (sometimes we want to affect a change in the wine to emphasize a good quality, say fruit, or de-emphasize a bad quality, say harsh tannins).
We want the wine to taste the way the winemaker intended it to taste.
What we most often strive for is to have the wine taste the way it is supposed to taste, the way the winemaker created it. If you’ve spent a lot of money on your favorite cabernet sauvignon, you don’t want the food to make it taste like something else!
Taste
Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, and Savory (Umami)
There are 5 and only 5 primary “tastes”. There are thousands of “flavors”. Flavor is a combination of taste and smell, and to a lesser degree touch, temperature, and sight.
Although accepted as a taste in Japan for over 100 years, umami has only recently been recognized in western culture. Food chemists have isolated what produces the taste (glutamic acid) and neuro-scientists have identified the unique reaction on the taste buds.
Umami is no more important than the other 4 tastes in pairing food with wine. It is, however, not something that we all can identify, so after our taste balance demonstration we will spend a little time talking about it.
The notion of food and wine pairing throughout Europe does not exist.
Old world wine producing regions do not address the concept of “food and wine pairing”. They eat their local cuisine and drink their local wines. Their food and wine pair naturally because they grow grapes and vinify wine that compliments their food and have created a cuisine that compliments their wine. This has evolved over many generations.
With our more diverse global cuisine an understanding of how food and wine go together is necessary.
On the other hand, regions of the world that do not have a long history of wine production do not necessarily have cuisines that “naturally” pair with wine. In this country, we, as well, do not have a long multi-generational history of wine and food. Our cuisine often borrows flavors from areas like Japan, China, the Pacific Rim, and Mexico. Our wine is also produced in a multitude of styles. It is therefore necessary to have a basic understanding of the balance between food and wine to successfully pair our wine with the flavors of these cuisines.
How have we paired in the past?
Match a wine variety with a dish from the region that produces that variety.
For example, you want to pair a wine with a seafood dish. In France they might pair a seafood dish with beurre blanc (butter sauce) with chardonnay. So a chef here decides to create a seafood dish with his own butter sauce and pair it with a California chardonnay. It might work, it might not. And if it does work, he won’t necessarily know why. One reason it might not work is that the chardonnay he chooses might not be Burgundian in style. In California we produce chardonnays that are high acid, fruit forward, stainless steel fermented, and with no malo-lactic. We also make chardonnays that are barrel fermented or aged and 100% malo-lactic. And we have everything in between – partial barrel aged, partial malo-lactic. Depending on the style of chardonnay the chef chooses, it may or may not pair well with his dish.
Mirror flavors.
The wine is “herby” so you pair the wine with a dish that is heavy on herbs. The wine is “toasty” and “oaky” so you prepare the dish using the grill. The zinfandel has berry and black pepper flavors so you add berries and black pepper to the dish. Again, mirroring flavors may work, but it may not. And if it does, you might not know why. So how do we pair food and wine?
It's all about "Taste Balance"
The dominant taste of anything you eat or drink will have an effect on anything that follows.
The important thing to remember is that everything you put in your mouth changes the taste of the next thing you put in your mouth. For example, what happens when you drink orange juice after you brush your teeth? The OJ tastes pretty bad! What’s happening? The dominant taste of sweet in the toothpaste emphasizes the dominant taste of acidity (sourness) in the OJ. It makes the OJ taste very sour.
As in good cooking, a successful food and wine pairing comes from knowing the interaction of tastes.
Much as a cook balances “tastes” in creating a single dish, or when combining several dishes together, successful food/wine pairing involves factoring the wine into the balance.
Food changes the taste of wine.
All wines are changed by the dominant taste in food to a lesser or greater degree.
So if anything you put in your mouth changes the taste of the next thing you put in your mouth, then it is safe to say that food changes the taste of wine and that all wines are changed by the dominant taste in food to a lesser or greater degree.
A good food and wine pairing involves minimizing that change.
Or, if there is a change, making it a positive one (sometimes we want to affect a change in the wine to emphasize a good quality, say fruit, or de-emphasize a bad quality, say harsh tannins).
We want the wine to taste the way the winemaker intended it to taste.
What we most often strive for is to have the wine taste the way it is supposed to taste, the way the winemaker created it. If you’ve spent a lot of money on your favorite cabernet sauvignon, you don’t want the food to make it taste like something else!
Taste
Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, and Savory (Umami)
There are 5 and only 5 primary “tastes”. There are thousands of “flavors”. Flavor is a combination of taste and smell, and to a lesser degree touch, temperature, and sight.
Although accepted as a taste in Japan for over 100 years, umami has only recently been recognized in western culture. Food chemists have isolated what produces the taste (glutamic acid) and neuro-scientists have identified the unique reaction on the taste buds.
Umami is no more important than the other 4 tastes in pairing food with wine. It is, however, not something that we all can identify, so after our taste balance demonstration we will spend a little time talking about it.
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