Food and Wine Harmony by Rahul Chowdhury, Assistant Professor, Dept of Hospitality & Tourism Administration at Sister Nivedita University
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The art of ‘marrying ‘wine & food provides an inexhaustible & illimitable field of experiment & choice for the gourmet. Pairing wines and food is too often stressed about (and debated). The concept behind matching is that some elements of food & wine react opposite to each other & by balancing the elements will make the dining experience more enjoyable. It provides the greatest possible variety of pleasurable sensations & new experiences.
One can say that wine should be treated with respect & care. No hard & fast rules govern their service. The world of wine can be intimidating. It is said that the culture of drinking wine with food was first found in Italy. They rarely dine without wine. Italians used to drink local wines with their cuisine. French people are very much influenced by food & wine pairing as France is been known for their best quality grapes & wines production.
They categorized the wine according to their courses of French Classical Menu. The French Gastronomic meal, recognized by UNESCO in 2011 as part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, also includes moderate wine intake. In some countries like Spain, with a strong tradition of wine as part of a balanced diet, wine has been recognized by law as food. Nonetheless, the exact caloric content of wine depends both on the alcohol and the residual sugar that remains after the fermentation of the grape juice into wine (1 g of sugar = 4 kcal). Therefore, the total calories of wine products can vary from vintage to vintage and depending on the type of wine (dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet, sweet). From full-bodied red wines to crisp dry white wines. The options are truly endless! However, when it comes to pairing wine with food there are quite a few tips and tricks to help you along the way. This guide is your one-stop-shop on how to pair food and wine.
Studies have also shown that eating while drinking (or doing so around the same time) can strengthen wine & health benefits. Drinking wine moderately with meals delivers maximum health benefits. Not only is food believed to make wine consumption healthier, but wine can make food healthier as well—at least in a few specific ways. Research has shown that if you happen to eat contaminated food, drinking alcohol with it decreases the risk of getting food poisoning. & What happens with the foodborne pathogens is that they go into your gastrointestinal tract and in your stomach, and it's an extremely acidic environment The first step in gaining in-depth knowledge into wine and food pairings is an understanding of some of the most commonly used wine terms such as acidity, body, dry & tannin.
These terms are used to describe all different aspects of wine. Each one of these elements plays a dynamic role in flavour—it enhances, magnifies, or suppresses it—and in how food and wine feel in the mouth—smooth, rough, hot, or sticky. These are all feelings that can be unpleasant in excess (too much salt, for instance, or too much drying tannin). They are also elements that can clash or work with each other’s strengths. Knowing a little bit about how they combine will help you to make choices that work more often than not Although there are some general rules concerning which wines are best served with which food, on some occasions these rules are not valid.
For example, one rule is that white wines go best with fish & white meat such as (veal, pork & chicken) & red wine with red meat such as (lamb & beef). However, Coq au vin (chicken in a red wine dish) is best served with a red wine that compliments the wine used in the sauce & even a red Beaujolais such as Valpolicella or Chianti can complement a heavy dish such as Veal Scaloppini. In other words, the richer the dish is, the richer the wine should be. Sometimes it can be tricky to pair wines with meats or fishes that have a heavy sauce. The best way to approach a dish is to pair the wine with the sauce and not the meat. This allows for a better experience because some sauces can have bad interactions with wine.
For instance, you want to avoid pairing bitter sauces with a bitter taste because of the bitterness will build, creating an unfavourable taste. There are various ways to approach wine and food pairings, but every pairing falls within two categories. The first is congruent pairings and the second is complementary pairings. In a congruent pairing, the food and wine chosen will share several compounds or flavours. This can be a sweet wine paired with a sweet dish, a red wine with a buttery after taste paired with a buttery pasta dish. The important tip when creating congruent pairings is to ensure that the wine is not overwhelmed by the flavours of the food. When this occurs it can make the taste of the wine become bland. The benefit of a congruent pairing is to allow the wine and the food to enhance the flavour of the other. Red wines are a great go-to when looking to create congruent pairings. With aromas and flavours ranging from cherry to smoky, red wines are very diverse and easy to match with like food pairings. Take a glass of a Syrah wine that is full-bodied and it will have a similar flavour profile of some of your favourite grilled meats, making it a great congruent pairing.
On the other hand, complementary pairings are based on food and wine combinations that share no compounds or flavours, but instead, complement each other. The flavours in each are balanced by their contrasting elements. Rosé, White, and Sparkling wine make excellent choices for contrasting pairings. A sweet white wine paired with a spicy dish will allow the sugar in the wine to cool down and balance out the spiciness in the dish.
Another common complementary pairing is a white wine with salty dishes. The saltiness from the food actually decreases the sweetness of the wine and brings out the wines fruity taste and aromas. A glass of Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio will pair perfectly with salty popcorn and especially well with fried dishes. Another popular method to pair wine and food is by placing them into one of 6 food flavour profiles. This includes salt, acid, fat, bitter, sweet, and spicy. The rule that white wine should not be served with red meats has validity because the acidity of some white wines contradicts the sweetness of those meats & the rule that white wine should be served with most fish is a good one as some fish contains oil that can cause a red wine to taste acidic. There are also some foods which should not be served with wine.
Similarly Indian & other strongly flavoured foods such as a curry or barbequed dish would make a wine useless as a complement for these foods spices & herbs will overpower a good wine & can cause it to taste bland or even sharp. For this same reason, a salad dressing containing vinegar or lemon juice, or a dish with heavy garlic, mustard, Tabasco, Worcestershire or soya sauce Flavor can ruin a delicate wine. For these dishes, a hearty red goes best. Other strong foods whose flavour a delicate wine cannot overcome are artichokes, smoked salmon & strong fresh herbs. Desserts containing cream, eggs, bananas & especially chocolates are not good companions to most wines, other than perhaps champagne or sparkling wines. Another general wine rule is that if more than one wine is to be served during a meal, white should be served before red, light before hearty or robust, young before old & dry before sweet.
However this is only a general rule that can be broken, for example, a fortified sweet wine, a sauternes or a German Auslese may be served with dessert. Sparkling wine is often suggested as the one wine that can be served throughout a meal. However sparkling wine does not compliment all food; for example, rich red meat. Wine should be chosen to complement the food with which they are to be served & in a restaurant the diner’s choice takes precedence over any general rule. “The most important thing is to be innovative & to try, test, experiment & discuss”.
