Liberate your taste buds
Matching food and wine a simple balancing act
It’s the holiday season and you’ve decided (in your infinite wisdom) that this is the year you’re going to splurge and pick up a great bottle of wine. Now that that’s done, the only decision left is when to drink it and with what food? That’s the tricky part, and you’re likely to get different advice on it.
When matching food and wine, the old "white with fish and red with meat" rule just doesn’t cut it anymore. Now people are concerned with matching flavours and balancing proteins with tannins and acids with fats. This is technical stuff – how are you supposed to find the perfect dish to match your newly acquired vino, if indeed the perfect dish even exists?
For starters, you’re going to need a few books. One which will explain the basic chemical principles of taste, and how sweet, sour, bitter and salt balance and offset each other. Next you’ll need some basic chemistry to get a grip on the action of tannins and proteins, and formations of long chain polymers. Finally, a little info on acids and pH balance, along with some intricate knowledge of the wines available to you, and you should be well on your way to making well-informed food and wine decisions.
Or if all this sounds like a load of crap (which most of it is), you can make use of a few simple rules known as "The Liberated Enjoyment of Food and Wine."
Actually, when I first saw this presentation it was called "Cause and Effect," put on by Tim Hanni MW of Beringer winery. The newest take on these principles of balancing wine and food is being presented by Mark de Vere MW of Robert Mondavi. His travelling road show is about bringing one message to food and wine lovers: "any food with any wine." The combination is perfect as long as the food is balanced.
The concept is that most food is served without enough consideration for the balance of the dish, meaning that the flavours of sweet and umami need to be balanced with acidity and saltiness. Umami, first recognized by Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda in 1907, is a savoury sensation derived from glutamic acid, a common amino acid. Glutamate in its free form does not produce umami taste, the flavour is released only by the breaking down of proteins during processes such as aging, ripening, fermentation or cooking. Foods such as tomatoes, asparagus, cheeses and meats as well as those high in MSG are all good examples of umami taste.
To prove the revolutionary point of "any food with any wine," tasters are invited to experience a variety of flavours with a selection of wines. Set before you is a plate of plain cooked beef, salmon and chicken, with some salt and lemon wedges on the side. The plate is surrounded by a selection of various wines representing the major styles of both white and red. Participants are then put through the paces of tasting the food with the wines, first without the addition of lemon and salt and then with. The idea is that even when matching traditional examples such as beef with a full bodied red or salmon with a high acid white, the wines will not taste as good unless the food is properly balanced. If the food has too much umami and sweetness and not enough acid and salt, then the tannin, acidity and bitterness will be accentuated in the wine. If the acid and saltiness is too high and the sweetness and umami are low, then there is a reduced perception of acid, tannin and bitterness with a loss in general flavour of the wine.
The theory here is that if a meal is properly balanced, then it doesn’t matter what kind of wine you’re drinking – the wine should taste as it was intended to. If the meal is not properly balanced, then it doesn’t matter how much time went into selecting the wine – its taste will be altered for the worst. This has many appealing advantages – it allows the consumer to order his or her favourite wine with whatever they are eating. It takes the intimidation out of trying to always find the classic wine for the dish you are preparing. The disadvantage is that people will miss out on some great food and wine matches, where the two flavours together are not just neutral partners, but somehow much more than either were on their own. That is the holy grail of wine and food pairing, and one well worth the journey. |
