In article >, ianhoare@angelfire.
com says...
>
>Salut/Hi Hunt,
>
> le/on 4 Oct 2004 22:01:18 GMT, tu disais/you said:-
>
>>In article >, steinau2004
says...
>
>>>I'm trying to understand better how food and wine is paired together,
>>>so I've got a few questions which I hope someone might answer:
>
>>Pairing food and wine is an inexact science, probably closely related to
>>alchemy.
>
>I often say that although I trained as a chemist, I decided to become a
>chef, as I prefer alchemy!
>
>> That said, there are three rough thoughts on pairing:
>>
>>1.) flavor profiles of each, food and wine
>
>And as you say, quite correctly later, not just the main ingredient, but the
>others, and the way of preparing the dish.
>
>To take a silly example, "beef". It has to be obvious to anyone that a
>wonderful slow smoked texan barbecued brisket is NOT going to match the same
>drinks as (an equally wonderful) beef bourguignon.
>
>>2.) affinity flavors in food, which do not exist in wine, but works well
>>together
>
>and which again can have a huge effect on the match with wine. I often pan
>fry duck magret (that's breast filets of duck fattened for foie gras), and
>serve it with a sauce. There's a whole variety of sauces that bring out
>different aspects of the flavour profile of the duck. From sharp
>blackcurrant sauce, via honey, peach, and other (too IMO) sweet fruity
>ingredients to a woodland sauce made by heavy reduction of dried cepes with
>stock, port wine and cream. All these food pairings have their effect on
>what wine will match best. In fact, my favourite way of serving duck magret
>is to bake it in coarse salt. That cocentrates the "ducky" flavours in the
>meat, and makes ANY sauce superfluous. And again, the match with wine is
>different.
>
>>3.) texture of food v wine, i.e. mouthfeel. A silky textured dish will often
>>pair well with a silky wine.
>
>Interesting. I'd not thought of this, and might in fact be inclined to go
>for a contrasting marriage.
>
>Although I agree wholly with the main thrust of your answer, I would have
>specifically mentioned the "marriage of contrasts". The archetype of this is
>(IMO) blue cheese with a sweet wine. The powerful saltiness of one combines
>magically with the balance of sweetness/fruit/acidity of a very good sweet
>wine.
>
>>On to the rest of your questions. I like to pair each dish with a wine.
>
>Yup. When we do our "normal" 5 course meal, we start with a soup (no wine
>goes, normally). We then go on to a starter and usually serve a dry white
>with it, though it could be a good characterful pink, or even a light red.
>Then for the main course where we may go for a very big white (with lightly
>sauced veal/chicken, for example) or a red, but all depends upon what aspect
>of the dish one wants to bring out. Then we "finish the red with the cheese"
>not really because it goes particularly well, but because people expect to
>here, and if you choose the right local cheeses, the marriage isn't awful.
>When peple are only paying ‚¬16 a meal, we can't afford to throw in a sweet
>wine, but when it's for friends, we'll try to serve a decent sweet wine for
>dessert, sometimes serving it half way through the cheese course, to give
>the blue cheese something to go with.
>
>>try and zero in for the odd entree. At home, or with pre-fixe menus, it's a
>>lot easier. Only drawback is washing all the stemware!
>
>Grin. We're getting increasingly lazy and often simply rinse out the glass
>between wines, if the wines don't merit too much special treatment. Nice
>though it is to drink Henri Gouges Nuits les St Georges 1990, more often I'm
>serving Coteaux de Glanes or a nice red Bergerac from a wine box and they
>honestly won't show much better in a better glass. So I use the standard
>INAO tasting glasses, which are fine. Spiegelau do a similar one which is
>significantly better.
>
>>Without going into any specifics, this is my take on a very simplified
>>version of food and wine pairing.
>
>With which I agree fully.
>
>--
>All the Best
>Ian Hoare

I will on special ocassions get lazy with the glassware, but my friends (and
my wife) expect me to go "full boat," so my laziness seems to come less often
lately <G>.

As for the contrasts, YES, they can be a big part of the match. As with foie
gras, I'll serve a sweet sticky to counter the saltiness. However, here I'm
also back to the texture, silk on silk.

As for the cheese course, we too usually have an older big red, and I try my
best to match that with the cheese, though, as in another thread, gravitate to
most of my cheeses with whites. As stated there (Tom S ?), the aged cheddars
and dry jack do pair nicely, though I try for ones less sharp so the wine is
showcased, more than the cheese. Not that I mind strong cheeses, I just don't
want a '70s Bordeaux lost amongst sharp cheeses.

I have got to extend one of my London trips and stop in and stay a bit with
you. It sounds like the food, the wine, and the conversation would be worth
sleeping on the floor in the cellar - root, not your WINE cellar, of course.
I'd not like to have account for empty bottles in the AM <G>.

Hunt