Natalie MacLean “A Delicate Balance”, The Key To The Art Of Wine & Food Pairing”
Guest Contributor — By admin on August 20, 2010 at 8:35 pm
A Delicate Balance By Natalie MacLean www.nataliemaclean.com
Dinner with wine used to be simple. The rule was white wine with white meat and red wine with red meat. But most of us don’t just eat meat and potatoes or drink claret and chablis these days.
With modern fusion cuisine and wines from new regions around the world, the choices – and confusion – are great. One new school of thought is that any wine goes with any dish. However, most of us don’t put ketchup on our ice cream for the same reason as we don’t drink a delicate white wine with a hearty meat dish or a powerful red wine with sole – they are mismatched flavors and textures.
When the marriage of food and wine works well, each enhances the other, making the meal greater than if you had consumed them separately. That’s why the following classic matches have survived the changes in food fashion: stilton with port, foie gras with sauternes, boeuf bourguignon with Burgundian pinot noir and goat cheese with sauvignon blanc.
It helps to start with the basic principles of food and wine pairing as they still provide a basis for experimenting with new world cuisine. One of the most important elements to harmonize between wine and food is flavor. For example, a tangy tomato-based pasta sauce requires a wine with comparable acidity. Without this balance between the acidity of the dish and the wine, the partner with lower acidity tastes flabby and dull, while the other, too tart.
To find an acidic wine, you can chose one that is made in the same area as the food. Years of matching the regional cuisine and wine as well as similar soil and climatic conditions make this a safe bet. For example, you could pair a tomato sauce fettuccine with a Tuscan chianti. Or you can select a wine from a cool climate where the grapes don’t ripen to great sweetness, and maintain their tart, tangy edge. Crisp New Zealand sauvignon blancs and French chablis serve these dishes well.
Acidic wines also work well with salty dishes. For example, oysters are both salty and briny with an oily mouth-coating texture that can smoother most wines. However, a sparkling wine from California, a Spanish cava or French champagne can both refresh and cleanse your palate when eating fish. Bubblies also work well with spicy foods. Hot spice in Asian, Thai, curry and chili pepper dishes can numb the palate. Many of these foods also have high acidity from citrus ingredients such as lime juice as well as sweetness. Therefore, you need a wine with an acidic backbone as well as a touch of sweetness such as an off-dry California sparkling wine with lots of fruit.
While off-dry, acidic wines go well with many dishes, the two most difficult wines to pair with food are also the two most popular: chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon. New World chardonnays can be oaky, buttery, flavorful wines that overwhelm many dishes. But you can still enjoy chardonnay with your meal. Pair it with butter and cream sauces to marry similar textures and flavors.
Conversely, cabernet sauvignons can have bitter dark fruit flavours with mouth drying tannins (the same sensation you get from drinking well-brewed tea). Therefore, they find their happiest match in foods with juicy proteins such as a rare steak. The protein softens the tannin making the wine taste smooth and fruity. Steaks done with crushed black peppercorns sensitize your taste-buds, making the wine taste even more fruity and robust. However, the way in which the dish is prepared also has an impact. A well-done steak, for example, may taste too dry with a tannic cabernet.
Proteins are also at work with the marriage of wine and cheese, the cocktail classic. Red wines tend to go better with hard cheeses such as blue cheese as they can accommodate more tannins. However, whites suit soft cheeses such as brie and camembert as the creamier textures require more acidity for balance.
Game birds such quail, pheasant, turkey, duck, squab and guinea hen have earthy flavors that are more robust than chicken. Wild game often goes better with racy red wines that have a gamy quality to them, the classic being Burgundian pinot noir. The flavors of pinot noir — plum, cherry, mushrooms, earth and even barnyard (that’s a positive adjective) – accentuate the same gamy flavors in the food. Other wine options for game birds include Spanish rioja, Oregon pinot noir and lighter-style Rhône Valley wines such as Côte-Rôtie.
When it comes to barbecued and grilled dishes, go for robust reds, such as shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and barolo. Argentine malbec is the Ultimate Summer Barbecue Wine. With it’s fleshy black fruit, dark spices and smoky notes, malbec muscles in beautifully beside most grilled fare: it’s a sizzling combination.
One of the most challenging flavors to balance is sweetness. Dishes with a touch of sweetness such as glazed pork do well with off-dry wines such as riesling and chenin blanc. However, rich desserts such as chocolate and crème brulée demand a wine that is sweeter than the dessert, or the wine will taste thin, even bitter. Sweet wines such as sauternes, Canadian icewine, late harvest wines and port will work not only for their sweetness but also for their unctuous texture.
Pair food with wine with my easy-to-use online tool www.nataliemaclean.com/matcher
or mobile application for your smartphone such as iPhone or BlackBerry www.nataliemaclean.com/mobileapp Search by wine if you’re looking for meal inspirations or search by food to find great wine suggestions. In my new book, Red, White and Drunk All Over www.nataliemaclean.com/book I explore food and wine matching in more depth.
Your best source of food and wine matching is your own palate. Experiment with different combinations to discover not only what makes a perfect pairing for you, but also to broaden your range of possibilities. As the author Alexis Lichine observed, “There is no substitute for pulling corks.”
Natalie MacLean’s bestselling book Red, White and Drunk All Over: A Wine-Soaked Journey from Grape to Glass is now in paperback. She was named the World’s Best Drink Writer for the articles and wine picks in her free wine newsletter available at www.nataliemaclean.com.
WHITE WINE AND FOOD MATCHES
Chardonnay: seafood with butter sauce, chicken, pasta with cream sauce, veal, turkey, ham, Emmenthal, Gruyeres, Port-Salut
Riesling: mild cheese, clams, mussels, Asian dishes, sashimi, ham, pork, lobster Newberg, Tandoori chicken, Coquilles St Jacques
Sauvignon Blanc: oysters, grilled or poached salmon, seafood salad, Irish stew, ham, chevre, goat cheese and strongly flavored cheeses, asparagus quiche
Gewurztraminer: spicy dishes, Thai food, curry, smoked salmon, pork and sauerkraut, Muenster, spiced/peppered cheeses, onion tart
RED WINE AND FOOD MATCHES
Cabernet Sauvignon: duck, spicy beef, pate, rabbit, roasts, spicy poultry, cheddar, blue cheese, sausage, kidneys
Pinot Noir: braised chicken, cold duck, rabbit, charcuterie, partridge, roasted turkey, roasted beef, lamb, veal, truffles, Gruyeres
Merlot: braised chicken, cold duck, roasted turkey, roasted beef, lamb, veal, stew, liver, venison, meat casseroles
Shiraz: braised chicken, chili, goose, meat stew, peppercorn steak, barbequed meat, spicy meats, garlic casserole, ratatouille
Food & Drink Pairing Goes 3.0
New Drinks Matcher Widget Offers Thousands of Pairings Online
Which wine tastes best with pork chops in a maple glaze? Does rosemary-marinated grilled halibut invite red or white wine? Are there also great food pairings for beer, spirits, cocktails, coffee and tea?
To answer these questions and thousands more, the web site NatalieMacLean.com now offers a new Drinks Matcher widget, a portable version of the site’s existing food-and-wine pairing tool. You can download the free Drinks Matcher widget in just three clicks to your computer desktop, web site, blog or social media page like Facebook, MySpace or iGoogle from www.nataliemaclean.com/matcher. A WordPress-friendly version is available here: http://www.nataliemaclean.com/matcher/widget
If you have comments on this article, or questions for Natalie MacLean, please feel to post.
“The variety of food-and-drink combinations has exploded in the last five years,” says Natalie MacLean, publisher of North America’s largest wine e-newsletter. “Chicken isn’t just chicken anymore: Now we eat it stuffed with pancetta and fresh herbs, rubbed with curry spices or sautéed in an orange balsamic sauce. We’re looking for more interesting flavors, both on the plate and in the glass—and we want them to work together.”
During the eight years that Natalie spent testing the combinations for her Drinks Matcher, she found two extremes when it comes to food and wine pairing: “Some people say that it’s complete nonsense, while others insist that there’s only one perfect match for every wine. Neither approach helps wine lovers.”
“People want some guidance, even though the pairings are subjective. It all comes down to balancing flavors and textures. I’m a thoroughly hedonistic researcher. Of the thousands of combinations I tried, some were delicious, others were a disaster. I share the ones that worked in the Drinks Matcher.”
You can search the matcher for drinks to pair with meat, pasta, seafood, vegetarian dishes, pizza, take-out, sauces, herbs, cheese or dessert; or you can find dishes to go with wine, cocktails, liqueurs, beer, spirits, cider, coffee, tea—and yes, even water. The Drinks Matcher is meant to be a springboard to help you discover the matches you prefer. The perfect pairing, of course, is between you and the wine you like.
Who will use the Drinks Matcher?
- Food and wine lovers can use it as a handy desktop tool to plan dinners and parties
- Bloggers and wine clubs can add it to their sites to keep visitors coming back for pairing suggestions
- Liquor and gourmet stores, wineries, restaurants and culinary schools can use it to help customers, staff and students
Get the Drinks Matcher:
- Post the Drinks Matcher widget in just 3 clicks: www.nataliemaclean.com/matcher
- Two compact sizes to fit any computer desktop, site, blog or social media page
- Mobile application works on iPhone, BlackBerry and other smartphones: www.nataliemaclean.com/mobilematch
Here are Natalie’s top 10 fun food and wine matches:
1. Popcorn with Chilean Chardonnay
2. Nachos with California Zinfandel
3. Potato chips with French Champagne
4. Pizza with Italian Chianti
5. Fish and chips with German Riesling
6. Hamburgers with Australian Shiraz
7. Smoked salmon with Canadian or Oregon Pinot Noir
8. Quiche with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc
9. Canned brown beans with tawny Port
10. TV dinner steak with French or Washington Cabernet Sauvignon
When you visit the site, check out the other handy online tools she offers:
- Free e-newsletter, recipes, blog, wine glossary, podcasts, articles, wine links, events, Twitter updates, RSS feeds
- More than 50,000 wine reviews searchable by price, score, cellar maturity, food matches and recipes:
http://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks
http://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks/wine.aspx?wid=4667
About Natalie:
Natalie MacLean is an independent journalist and author of the bestseller Red, White and Drunk All Over. For Google searches on popular terms like “food and wine matching,” Natalie’s site is often on the first page of the results as it has become a go-to resource for food and wine lovers. Natalie has won four James Beard Journalism Awards, including the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award. At the World Food Media Awards in Australia, she was named the World’s Best Drinks Writer.
Nat Decants Wine & Food Mobile App Goes Green
Top 10 Wines for Green Veggies
Which wines go best with “green food”, such as asparagus, peppers and peas? How about other fresh vegetables that we’ll enjoy this summer and fall?
“Green foods are the problem children of the wine world,” says Natalie MacLean, editor of one of the largest wine sites on the web at www.nataliemaclean.com. “But as a stubborn hedonist, I’ve found some terrific wines to drink with them.”
Natalie has just launched a new mobile application for iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Droid and other smartphones. Developed by Cerado, this app builds on the success of her Drinks Matcher and includes all the pairings in the original app, plus thousands of wine reviews, recipes, articles, blog posts, glossary definitions, cellar journal and winery directory. You can access the new app at www.nataliemaclean.com/mobileapp.
In the spirit of going green (and giving back green), the new app is free. With the Nat Decants Mobile App, you won’t need the luck of the Irish to pick the right wines, whether you’re in the pub, at a friend’s house or at the liquor store restocking. It’s like having a sommelier in your pocket.
Nat Decants Free Mobile App Features:
- Find 380,000 professionally tested food and wine pairings
(not generated by computer algorithm)
- Access thousands of wine reviews by an independent journalist
- Search the reviews by winery, price, score, region, grape, vintage, food match
- Track your wines in your virtual cellar and add your own journal notes and scores
- Search a directory of 10,000+ wineries to buy wine or plan a visit
- Find thousands of tasty, tested recipes for every wine
- Get wine savvy with articles, glossary definitions & blog posts
- Share on Twitter, Facebook and e-mail with friends
Natalie’s Top 10 Green Wine & Food Matches
1. Corned beef and cabbage: Pinot Blanc
2. Irish Stew: Cabernet Franc
3. Spring Asparagus: Gruner Veltliner
4. Field greens salad: Riesling
5. Tomatoes: Pinot Noir
6. Green peppers: Sparkling Wine
7. Grilled veggies: Rose
8. Green peas: Sauvignon Blanc
9. Spinach and bacon salad: Merlot
10. Artichoke: Verdicchio
For more tips on pairing green food and wine, visit http://bit.ly/dsYG0g.
To get the free Nat Decants Mobile App visit:
www.nataliemaclean.com/mobileapp
On the page above, click on the words iPod or iPhone under the iPhone image to go to the iTunes store for the app. The direct link is:
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/nat-decants/id353052386?mt=8
For BlackBerry, Droid, Nexus One, Nokia, Palm Pre and other smartphones, click on those words under the BlackBerry phone image. The direct link is:
http://www.nataliemaclean.com/mobile
About Natalie:
Natalie MacLean is an independent journalist and author of the bestseller Red, White and Drunk All Over. For Google searches on popular terms like “food and wine matching” and “wine newsletter,” Natalie’s site is often on the first page of the results as it has become a go-to resource for food and wine lovers. Natalie has won four James Beard Journalism Awards, including the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award. At the World Food Media Awards in Australia, she was named the World’s Best Drinks Writer: www.nataliemaclean.com/bio.
You can find her on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/pub/natalie-maclean/a/364/70b, on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/natdecants, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nataliemaclean and Twitter at http://twitter.com/nataliemaclean.
About Cerado:
The mobile development company Cerado, Inc. created the Nat Decants Mobile App. Founded in 2002, Cerado creates mobile and web-based solutions that enable businesses, associations and organizations to better connect and understand their customer and member communities. Learn about Cerado and developing mobile applications for your organization at www.cerado.com.
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