Table of Contents
To my family and friends; especially Eric, Dad, Mom, and Nick.Jaclyn
To my family, especially to my father, who loves drinking Shiraz with everything;
and my mother, who enjoys drinking other wines with food.Jeanette
Introduction
Wine and food pairings seem to be everywhere these days. Restaurants are hosting more wine dinners than ever before, and they are even listing pairing suggestions on their standard menus. Once solely the domain of five-star restaurants, even mom and pop cafs and national chains are getting into the game. Community colleges, restaurants, and wine stores are offering special classes on pairing wine with food. Theres no doubt about it: our interest in pairing wine with food is here to stay!
Even though wine and food pairings are growing in popularity, theyre still more than a bit mystifying. At times they can be downright intimidating, especially when you try to create a perfect pairing experience at home.
Its okay to feel a little intimidated by the thought of selecting a wine that brings out the best qualities of a food. We both were more than a little skittish when we started matching wines and foods, and we work with wine and food for a living! But once we got over our initial jitters, we discovered that pairing up wine and food can be really fun and, once you understand the basics, its really not that hard at all.
Wine and food pairing is exciting. Theres nothing more satisfying than pulling together a great meal and matching it with great wines. The wines bring out flavors in the foods, and the foods bring out aromas in the wines, and together, theyre a more satisfying culinary experience than they would be on their own. In fact, when wine and food are paired perfectly, it can be a downright heavenly experience. Each bite, each sip, tastes more perfect than the last.
We hope youll discover the same sense of excitement and enjoyment in pairings in this book. The Complete Idiots Guide to Wine and Food Pairing will have you matching wines and foods together like a pro. By the end of this book, youll be able to host your own wine dinners, and youll also be able to pick wines off restaurant menus with panache. Happy pairing!
How to Use This Book
Part 1, How to Taste, covers food and wine-tasting basics and offers a brief history of wine and food pairings. You will learn proper serving etiquette and find out what tools you need to enhance your tasting experience of both wine and food.
Part 2, Breaking It Down: Pairing Basics, gives you the basic concepts youll need to pair white, red, sparkling, and dessert wines. It also teaches you how to match up ingredients and sauces with wines, and provides you with suggested pairings for dozens of wines and foods.
Part 3, Putting It Back Together: Pairing Principles, applies the concepts you learned in Part 2 and introduces you to other pairing techniques, including drawing on some measurable characteristics of wine and using your intuition as a guide. Additionally, youll learn how to experiment with pairing new wines and foods and match many types of ethnic cuisines with wine.
Part 4, Pairing Experiences, shows you how to order wine to match your food selections in restaurants, how to shop for wine, and throw a pairings party. It will even reveal to you how to apply pairing principles to other beverages.
Extras
We have to admit: were wine geeks, and we dearly love to share our knowledge and spread our enthusiasm to anyone who cares to pay attention. For your special benefit (and because we couldnt help ourselves!), weve added many sip-sized pairing tidbits to each chapter, which youll find under the following headings:
Perfect Pairings
The hints and tips in these boxes will make you a pairing pro in no time.
definition
Turn to these boxes for definitions of out-of-the-ordinary wine and culinary terms.
Corked
Turn to these boxes for tips on how to identify and avoid pairing snafus.
Wine Nerd
Oenophiles, rejoice! These trivia-filled boxes are for folks who like to read the back labels of wine bottles.
Acknowledgments
We couldnt have written this book without the loving support of our husbands, families, and friends. We also owe a round of applause to Alterra Coffees Alterra at the Lake Caftheir aromatic brewspaired with their delicious pastries and sandwicheskept us energized as we drafted the manuscript. Thanks also goes out to Damon Brown, Jeanettes writing buddy; Marilyn Allen, our knowledgeable agent; our wonderful acquisitions editor, Randy Ladenheim-Gil; our equally fantastic development editor, Jennifer Moore; and our stellar production editor Megan Douglass; and the other talented people at Alpha Books.
Trademarks
All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be, or are suspected of being, trademarks or service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Alpha Books and Penguin Group (USA) Inc. cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this book should not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.
Part 1
How to Taste
This first part serves as your appetizer, whetting your appetite for the pairing experiences youll encounter in subsequent parts of the book. Youll get a taste of the history of food and wine pairings as well as a tutorial in tasting wine. Wine and food, when paired properly, are capable of transcending the simple acts of drinking and eating. You will learn how to enhance the experience by using appropriate glasses and serving your wine properly.
Chapter 1
Wine and Food Pairing 101
In This ChapterThree basic pairing outcomes
It all comes down to personal preference
A brief history of pairings
The modern wine dinner
Nothing tastes quite so sublime as when wine and food are perfectly matched. Conversely, nothing tastes quite so awful as wine and food that clash. A perfectly seared pork tenderloin served with a glass of dry ros elevates a simple meal and turns it into a heavenly tasting experience, whereas a grilled ribeye served with a glass of oaky Chardonnay ruins a perfectly good steak and a perfectly good glass of wine, proving that two rights can sometimes make a wrong.
With wine dinners becoming popular everywhere from New York to New Mexico, diners are getting a taste of sublime, perfect pairs more frequently than ever. Still, even with such growing popularity, wine and food pairing can be a mysterious and intimidating endeavor. The unfortunate result is that some of us just head blindly into our local wine shops or liquor stores and heed whatever advice the clerk behind the counter dishes out, be it good or bad.
But the process of pairing doesnt have to be difficult. Like Toto in the Wizard of Oz,
