Pairing Food and Wine isn’t that hard

Most people regard a Sommelier’s ability to perfectly pair food and wine as complex task that requires considerable skill. The main advantage that a Som has is an intricate knowledge of the food and wine within his or hers given setting, the restaurant. This is something that a person who has an interest in being able to able to do at home (and therefore being able to do at a restaurant without the help of a wine steward or waiter who may have a different agenda), could do there with a few helpful suggestions.

The theory behind pairing lies mostly in “Balance”. Much like a chef strives for balance of flavors in his/her dishes or a winemaker tries to balance the different varietals and components of wine, the art of pairing is dependent on balancing the flavors, acidity, and structure of the wine with the components of the dish.

Some basic guidelines regarding pairing are a great foundation to start with, here are some:

• Unoaked, lighter, higher acid wines pair well with shellfish, lighter fish dishes and salads. Some of the varietals that fall in this category are Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and Albarino.

• Champagne (which is amazingly versatile wine and much underused) with foods with a high salt content. Dry Champagne, along with Cava, Cremant, and New world sparkling wines actually have some inherent sweetness, which beautifully off sets the salinity of certain dishes.

• Dry Roses are your friend. No other category of wine has such a broad array of foods that it will pair with. It is an amazing catch all wine for cheeses, charcuterie, salads, fattier fish, light poultry and even barbeque foods.

• Rich, full bodied whites like Chardonnay, because of the presence of oak and the buttery, creaminess, matches wonderfully with richer fish and poultry dishes that are accompanied by a sauce.

• Full bodied, high tannin wines with fatty steaks and game. The tannins in the wine are calmed down by the high protein content of these meats and drastically change the perception of the wines, allowing the silky, dark fruits to shine.

• Sweet with heat. Spicier cuisines, such as Thai, Indian, Vietnamese and Spicy Barbeque work fantastically with wines that have residual sugar. The heat of the dishes benefits from the cooling aspect of the racy sweetness of grapes like Riesling and Gewürztraminer. The bold spicy sauces that cook chicken and pork in traditional BBQ melds wonderfully with fruity, low tannin reds like Zinfandel and Zweigelt.

• The dessert wine should be sweeter than the dessert itself. Dessert wines I like best with stinky cheeses, but can be great partners to desserts, just try to pair with fruit tarts as opposed to very sugary items.

I hope this helps you become more comfortable with pairing wine and food. Tune in next week, I will get into specific pairings.

Bryan Smith

I love Duck Confit. Let me say that again, I love Duck Confit. I would love to kiss the genius who invented the delicious concept of cooking something in its own fat. As we all know, Duck fat is liquid gold. I have many, many quarts of it in my kitchen. Sometimes, I just look at it with a big, goofy grin on my face. I feel wealthier because of it. Cooking things in Duck fat is akin to wrapping something in bacon. It’s the culinary equivalent of an athlete on steroids, it creates an unfair advantage. Ok, now onto the recipe, I use a pretty standard recipe with a few alterations. Here is a list of ingredients that will be required;

4 duck legs

2 bulbs garlic

Kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper

Fresh thyme

Fresh rosemary

Bay leaves

Duck fat

Cooking oil

If you already have duck fat, you are ahead of the game, if not don’t worry. You can render your own duck fat easily. I purchase my duck at Eastern Market, every Sunday, along with my duck legs; my butcher also saves me the trimmings of the ducks, nice fatty bits! In a deep sauté pan, I render the fat at a medium temperature, then pour into a container and let cool. If this does not give you enough fat, you may simply augment this with the cooking oil (something neutral and inexpensive such as rapeseed oil will do just fine). If you don’t have any duck fat, you will simply use the cooking oil. Make sure to reserve all of the oil when you’re finished (thereby slowly transforming your cooking oil into duck fat!).

Next, place your duck legs into a shallow, wide container. Liberally salt the duck legs, this dish require a lot of salt, so don’t be shy. Next peel your garlic, cut into medium sized chunks, spread evenly over the legs, now place whole thyme, rosemary and a few bay leaves on top of the legs. Finally grate a good amount of pepper over it all. Cover the dish and refrigerate overnight.

When your duck legs are cured, take then out of the fridge, wash and rinse them, then pat them dry. Take a roasting pan or casserole dish and place the duck legs inside. Pour in fat/oil mixture till it completely covers the duck. Cover the dish in clear wrap and then with foil. Insert the pan into the oven, which you have pre-heated to 200 degrees. Forget about the duck for 6-8 hours. Go to sleep, go shopping, something like that. If you don’t have that much time, you can cook at a higher temperature, although I would not recommend any more than 300 degrees (about 3 hours).

When the duck is finished, pull out the legs gently (they are now falling apart tender).

Strain out your fat slowly, put in storage containers and put away for next time. When you are ready to serve the duck, simply place into a medium hot cast iron skillet and crisp the skin and heat all the way through (if you had refrigerated before final preparation).

Suggested accompaniments; white beans, flageolets, root vegetables, sautéed greens, such as swiss chard, spinach, collard greens, mustard green or kale. I would also recommend using some of the duck fat to braise the greens in. That is it, not too hard to do, as you can see. Just remember to have your cardiologist on speed dial if you do this on a regular basis…..or just eat it in the emergency room waiting room perhaps.

Suggested Wine pairings; Burgundy, Oregon Pinot Noir, Cahors, Jumilla, Mourvedre, Rhone wines.

In store best bets for Duck Confit –

Cline Mourvedre                                          $16.99

Marc Ecard Bourgogne Rouge                    $14.99

Lemelson Pinot Noir                                   $34.99

Bodegas LAN Crianza                                $13.99

Domaine Belle Crozes-Hermitage              $24.99

Enjoy,

Bryan A Smith

Wine Specialist, Le Tastevin Fine Wines

bryan@letastevinva.com

Wondering what to do with the wild card bottles of wine you got on sale?  Or the half dozen host & hostess gifts from every dinner you’re throwing this year?

You’re not going to sauté anything in your favorite vintage, but those stragglers collecting dust in your pantry…why not?

So, if you aren’t going to drink it and re-gifting it is out of the question (put down the bow and tissue paper, it’s just not nice!) then pop the cork on your favorite bottle and breathe deeply: cooking with wine is more than a witty slogan on an apron.

Quickie Substitutions:

• Add ¼ cup of wine to your usual sauté oil (I’m a fan of olive oil) when cooking veggies.
• Make a marinade by decreasing the oil from ½ to ¼ cup and add ¼ cup wine.
• Instead of adding ¾ cup of oil to a cake mix recipe, add ¾ cup of white or dessert wine to the batter.

Here are some of the subtle food-like flavors that can come through in wine — which you may want to capitalize on by adding some vino to dishes containing these foods:

• White wine: melon, apple, pineapple, pear, citrus, vanilla, caramel, olives, and mushrooms
• White wine is a great addition to dishes containing chicken, turkey, fish, shellfish, ham, and veal.  It also adds a great dimension to white and light sauces, chicken and vegetable soups and stews.
• Red wine: berries, peaches, currants, plums, cherries, oranges, chocolate, and coffee
• Red wine works incredibly well with beef, pork, game, duck, goose, and pasta dishes.  It adds richness and moisture to heavily seasoned foods and warmth to traditionally autumnal and winter dishes.

So, just to get you moving in the right direction, here are a few recipes to play with and some fantastic wine pairing ideas from the shop!

Cheers!

Maisie Lyman

Le Tastevin Fine Wines

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Merlot & Onion Roast  (pair with Domaine Belle Les Pierrelles Crozes- Hermitage 2009)

2 pounds beef top round roast, or similar (this roast is usually already trimmed of all visible fat)
Salt and pepper
8-10 garlic cloves
1 ½ teaspoons canola or olive oil
¾ cup French onion soup, condensed, from a can (such as Campbell’s)
¾ cup Merlot (or other mellow red wine)

• If your roast is the rolled-up type, remove mesh or ties from surface and unroll the roast. Arrange garlic cloves evenly on top, and then sprinkle freshly ground salt and pepper over the top. Roll the roast up (but don’t put any mesh or ties back on).
• Start heating the canola or olive oil in a medium nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the rolled-up roast to the pan and let the bottom brown for a couple of minutes. Flip and brown the other side (a couple minutes more). Carefully place browned roast in slow cooker so that it remains rolled up.
• Pour onion soup concentrate and wine over the top. Cover and cook on LOW for about four hours.

Chardonnay Spice Cake (pair with Chateau Aydie Pacherenc Du Vic Bilh 2007)

1 box (18.25 oz) white cake mix
1 package (5 oz) instant vanilla pudding mix
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ cup fat-free sour cream
¾ cup chardonnay (or other white wine)
2 large eggs
½ cup egg substitute

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the inside of a bundt pan with canola cooking spray, then dust with about 2 tablespoons of flour.
• Add cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, and nutmeg to mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer on LOW speed to blend well.
• Add the sour cream, wine, eggs, and egg substitute to mixing bowl and beat with mixer on medium speed for five minutes (scraping sides and bottom of bowl after a minute).
• Pour into prepared bundt pan and bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cake cool on rack in pan for 10 minutes. Invert pan on serving plate carefully to release the cake. Serve.