Wine with Asian foods??

[IgotGrapes]

Interesting article from asianweek about asian foods with wine. They recommend some nice pairings.

www.asianweek.com/2008/04/02/wine-pairing-tasting-asian-food/

[TheEngineer]

Hey IgG, thanks for the crosspost. It is a topic that I work on err...all the time [img]http://wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

(posted on another board)
I think that too many people simplify the matching of Chinese food with wine and as such, we always hear of the riesling working well with spicy Chinese food. So stepping back,

We need to define the term Chinese food. Most of the (#!#@!$) stuff that is served as Chinese food really is not. Ask a chinese person in China what Egg foo young, General Tzu, and fortune cookies are and they are liable to look right through you. So if we are talking about regional chinese cooking, the foods can range from extremely delicate to extreme spicy.

Selection of wines for each dish is rather the same exercise that you go through for a Western meal. We ask ourselves the same questions

(1) who is ordering what? How many times do we go out for dinner with say 8 people and we have 2 steaks, 1 fish, 2 ducks, 1 lamb, 1 pasta and one salad? Put all that in the middle of the table and it looks like a Chinese meal.

(2) Look at how the dish is constructed. Is the dish hearty, is there much charring, what cuts of meat are being used, what is the sauce from. Much like a western dish, this should drive what wine is selected. If multiple dishes, do we not try multiple wines anyways with a large group of dinners.

(3) While chinese dinners can be communal in nature, the formal dinners are by sequence, one dish at at time, much like a tasting menu. The problem is that in a tasting menu, you also start with light to heavy foods whereas in a formal chinese menu, the first two appetizer courses are often meat and then seafood, followed by a soup, then back to meats before moving onto the seafood again and then the psot meal items. This makes it difficult to start with light whites and end with heavy reds. Two choices here. As noted in the article, have all the wines ready to go ant match by dish or have the super flexible whites, light reds and sparkling wines that can move through the entire meal.

(4) communal dinners can also be requested to come out in sequence and by dish so that you can move from light white to heavy reds if desired and the dishes would match that sequence. This is done very often in Hong Kong.

I think as the understanding of Chinese cuisine improves in the West and as Wine knowledge improves in the East, there will be a better acceptance of the non-normal practises and a coming together these to form the new dining / wine equiette.

[Thomas]

That's how I feel when people utter the words, "Italian food."

My question is: which part of Italy?

[wdonovan]

So then what wine goes with all you can eat Chinese buffet?

Actually something to ponder. Unless going into an Asian restaurant with particular dishes in mind (or cooking at home) you are faced with an array of choices, each wanting it's own discreet "perfect" pairing. What do you bring?
My vote (and I agonized over it) is: Mumms Carte Classique. Why? I believe that Champagne is the most versatile wine for pairing. Also the CC is an extra dry rather than brut. Not our favorite type but I think it works better here than say a Charles Heidsick NV (undoubtedly a great "food" wine). The slight sweetness may help douse any fires you may start with a spicy Thai or Indian dish. I think this sweetness also works like a reset button for your palate between different tastes.

So what bottle would you bring?

[Thomas]

At the risk of sounding like I am fawning...I'd bring sparkling wine to almost any situation where I am unsure of the food pairing. Best wine on the planet to handle a wide variety of foods--and then comes Riesling.

[winoweenie]

Does me tired ole eyes see a post from the world-reknown Foodie? Welcome back noble friend. WW

[TheEngineer]

Great to hear back from you foodie!

I would agree, when in doubt, bring sparkling wine. They love Champagne over there anyways! For a chinese buffet, I would recommend a beer! or six.... [img]http://wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

BTW, Sparkling wine and Sushi/Sashimi is a killer combo. The delicacy, freshness and acidity are a great match for the fish.

[dananne]

Another vote here for sparking wine being the most versatile food pairing wine. We love it with a wide variety of Asian dishes and just about anything else at one point or another.

[Thomas]

Aw shucks...

I'm only slumming weenie [img]http://wines.com/ubb/wink.gif[/img]