Chef Niklesh Sharma says that coupling spirits with food not only enhances the dining experience but also upscales the flavours of the meals and provides the diners with a heightened sensory experience
The concept of pairing wine with meals in the culinary world has been slowly picking up pace over the years. This process not only enhances the dining experience but also upscales the flavours of the meals and provides the diners with a heightened sensory experience.
This modern art of food-wine pairing is a recent phenomenon but has been increasingly occupying a place in the recipes, books, culinary shows and restaurant menus. The idea behind pairing them both together is that certain components — primarily texture and flavour — in both food and wine, interact and blend well and thus, extend an enjoyable and luxurious dining experience. A glass of wine can bring solace and joy, and matching it with feasts can prove to be a blissful experience. It can heighten our senses to an unimaginable level.
Trend
This trend is becoming increasingly prominent to the extent that even restaurants and fine-dining places have a dedicated team of sommeliers on board, who are experts in pairing wine with the restaurant's feasts and offer a delectable and memorable dining experience to the visitors. The eateries have a distinct food and wine pairing menu or have dedicated a space to the modern culinary art in their existing menu to offer an enriched and luxuriant dining experience.
Technique
Matching meals and wines are purely based on observations and knowledge as to how do flavours and aromas of meals interact and blend with those of a particular wine and gel well.
This concept of matching wine with meals could involve pairing a specific variety of wine with a specific dish. For instance, Sangiovese with a steak tartare appetiser, or suggesting multiple wine pairings with a particular dish. For example, Sangiovese and a Napa Merlot both could be paired with the same appetizer or dish.
Indeed, it is undeniable that the cookbooks, magazines, and websites are flooded with recipes and guidelines on pairing food and wine perfectly but culinary experts believe that the basic step of combining them both is understanding the right balance between the weight of the food and the weight of the wine. The amount of alcohol in the wine along with tannin levels determines the wine’s body. The idea behind this technique is that food and wine weights should balance each other. This is one of the most basic rules of wine-food pairing; combining a heavy dish with a light wine or vice versa.
However, if we go beyond weight, flavours and textures can also be complimented or matched contrastingly. In such scenarios, sugar, acid, alcohol, and tannins of the wine and how can these be amplified or minimised when paired with certain types of food also fall under the category of the art of matching wines to the meals. However, both these strategies work equally well.
There is no right or wrong way of pairing wine with food. In the case of complementary pairing, similar flavours enhance each other. While the alike burst of flavours adds to each other, the minute differences are interesting and quirky for the taste palette. On the other hand, in the case of contrasting flavours, the extreme ends of the taste fill each other’s gaps and provide an appetising experience to the taste buds.
The art of pairing
There are three flavouring components in wine that contribute to their pairing with the gourmet feasts — tannins, sugar, and acid. Tannins interact well with hard cheese variety, red meats, oily foods along with meals prepared with grilling and blackening methods that have a charred taste. Sugary wines go well with spicy foods, meals rich in salt and pepper, along slightly sweet desserts so that the sugar from the wine overpowers that of the sweet course. Furthermore, acidic wines gel well with acidic dishes like oysters and with greasy and fatty foods.
The rule of thumb usually states that white wine pairs well with fish along with dishes rich in garlic and chives whereas red wine goes with earthy herbs and red meat. However, certain specific wines couple well with a certain specific type of food. For instance, heavy wines like Carbernet Sauvignon can elevate a delicate dish like a quiche, whereas light wines like Pinot Grigio can match well with a sumptuous stew.
The renowned Chardonnay matches with salmon or fish prepared in buttery and herby sauces along with seafood, especially prawns. The celebratory Champagne is much more than a drink suitable for popping open on special occasions and it pairs well with salty foods and appetisers. The beloved Dry Rosé matches perfectly with diverse variants of cheese. Malbec, on the other hand, tastes extremely tantalising with powerful flavours of a mixture of sweet and spicy. It also combines well with herb-based dishes and feasts prepared with barbecue sauces.
Sum-up
It is highly advisable that you first try out different food items with wine. Once you have an idea of the elements that gel well with the wine, you can go ahead by sampling the combination with the completely prepared dishes. However, wine and food pairings are not just restricted to combining them both individually. Cooking with wine is another way of coupling both the elements together and is also a recent phenomenon in the culinary world that is gradually gaining prominence. It is contributing majorly to extending a scrumptious and luxurious dining experience.
Food and wine pairing have, indeed, emerged as an upselling tool for the culinary industry. It upscales the dining experience and renders it a high-end, elegant, sophisticated, premium, and top-notch touch.
The food-wine coupling can go extremely well and hit the charts or go down the drain. This fad is extremely subjective with no right or wrong way of doing it but it is all about being excited about the pairing and being experimental to try something new. Matching feasts with wine is certainly an art and requires creativity and thoughtfulness. But its acceptance or rejection is solely based on an individual’s palate and preferences. Hence, one should be open to experimenting and should have an innovative approach. The idea behind the concept of pairing wine with meals is to try and try until you succeed and find the right combination as per your taste palette.
(The chef is the founder of a group of professional culinary & pastry schools with pan-Asia presence.)