Table of Contents
To my husband, Dan Marotta, for his great patience, love, and
support, without which Id be slinging hash.
Amy Zavatto
To my mother, Rose DiDio, who brought me to the table, filled my
plate, and revealed the treasures of my Sicilian heritage.
To my father, Anthony DiDio, who poured my first glass of wine,
nurtured me, and managed to keep my glass full since day one.
Tony DiDio
Foreword
There are not many books available that give equal consideration to wine and food and the pairing thereofa subject close to my heartand it was, therefore, with great pleasure that I got involved in Tony and Amys book project. I enjoyed hearing about the progression of the manuscript, and the meal that we shared, described in this book, was very special. We tasted myriad wines and considered their matches to the dishes I had createdfor me, this was the perfect illustration of the theory that a meal is not just about the food, it is also about the wine. Actually, it is really about the food and the winethe two cannot be considered separately if they are on the table at the same time.
I grew up on my familys farm just outside of Lyon. Food and wine were always a big part of our family dynamic because, like any French family worth its salt, the meals we shared were always discussed and debated while we enjoyed them. Probably because we farmed, we paid a lot more attention to the quality of the meat and produce we ate than to the caliber of the wine we drank to accompany my mother and grandmothers wonderful meals and my fathers homemade charcuterie. In fact, until I started to train seriously as a chef, I really didnt give wine much thought beyond the fact that it came in two basic categoriesred and white.
It was only when I went to serve my apprenticeship in a top-notch restaurant that I realized wine was an essential part of any total dining experience. Working with the staff there opened the whole world of wine to me. The chef was interested in the perfect meal that ensued, from matching each dish to the wine that complemented it and vice versa. I was very impressed with the concept that wine and food were considered together in order to create a harmonious meal. It was this period in my life when I started to study wine more carefully and use it as an integral element in my cuisine.
Now that I own my own restaurants, I can really have fun with wine pairings. This is a passion I share with my sommelier, Jean Luc Le D. Sometimes we have patrons at Daniel who order their wine first and I plan a meal around their choice; sometimes I plan a tasting menu and Jean Luc has the challenge of finding the ideal wine for each course. Either way, we both know that our working together to create a perfect synergy between food and drink can only enhance the meal our patron is eating. Obviously, the food will taste better and the wine will taste better because we have created a balance between the two, thus raising the customers dining experience to a new level. The wine and the food are not presented as disparate elements served at the same time; they become partners and create a total dining experience.
Tony and Amy have written a primer for all those who are interested in winenot just its history, but also the essentials of what I have attempted to describe herehow to create the perfect balance to a meal. I admire the fact that, contrary to many wine experts who lay down the law of what wine should be drunk with what dish and accept no deviation, they offer commonsense guidelines of what goes with what and why, but allow the reader leeway to experiment on his or her own. This proves to me that they are true wine lovers because they know that winelike anything else in life that one lovesis always looked at from a completely subjective viewpoint. Ultimately, what counts is what you like to drink. In this in-depth book, Tony and Amy help you discover exactly what that is.
Daniel Boulud
In todays world, wines often seem to be judged more by the ratings critics have bestowed upon them than by the actual pleasure they provide at the dinner table. Power and extraction of fruit are the norm if one wants a big score; we sometimes seem to forget that wine is also about finesse, elegance, and its ability to pair well with food. Im sorry to say, but I do not know of many dishes that work with a wine that has 14.5 percent alcohol and luscious amounts of oak!
Amy Zavatto and Tony DiDio, both lovers of food and wine, met on the sidewalks of Brooklyn while looking for the perfect prosciutto in one of the many great food markets of that fabled neighborhood. Devoted foodies and bon vivants, they understand the challenges of cooking at home and pairing wines with it. In this book, they show in simple words and examples how to maximize your experience at the dinner table by matching the right wine with a dish. Their combined experience in the kitchen and cellar makes them authorities in the field.
To Amy and Tony, the symbiosis of a great dish with the right bottle amounts to finding the Holy Grail. Their easy yet knowing ways with wine and understanding of the intricacies of pairing food with it are a breath of fresh air. Why, you ask? It is simply because to them, nirvana is in the kitchen and paradise in the wine cellar. Their idea of a great day is to spend the morning at the many specialty food stores that dot New York City and the afternoon cooking up a storm in the kitchen of Tonys Brooklyn flat. Tasting a sauce as it simmers down, they constantly think about the perfect bottle of wine to go with it.
I met Tony about eight years ago upon taking the position of sommelier at Restaurant Daniel. Still wet behind the ears, I was assailed by wine salespersons more eager to make placements than to get me the right wines for Daniels cooking, and in walked Tony, with a box of delicious cookies from a local pasticceria. We spent the next few hours eating, drinking, and talking about rock n roll, another of our common passions. In Tony, I found a kindred spirit, a man whose eyes shine when he nails the right wine for osso bucco or whatever else is cooking on the stove.
While the understanding of wine often breeds snobbery, Amy and Tonys approach is anything but haughty. They make wine simple because they were brought up in households where wine was a staple of every meal, not a prize served to impress guests. Tony still makes Zinfandel in his basement, just like his grandpa taught him to, and maintains a working garden behind his apartment. Having watched him give wine seminars through the years, I know he has a knack for explaining in simple words the sometimes intricate fundamentals of pairing wine and food. This book is the first one Ive seen that does that on paper. It will provide the reader with useful tips and also an understanding of how food and wine work together. Read this, eat, drink, and be merry!
Jean Luc Le D
Introduction
I only drink champagne when Im happy, and when Im sad.
Sometimes I drink it when Im alone. When I have company,
I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I am not hungry and
drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch itunless Im thirsty.
Lily Bollinger
In America, we tend to put wine into the special occasion category. We drink it as part of a celebration or when weve put great effort into cooking a scrumptious dinner or when we dine out at an elegant eatery. This is not to disparage our ways. In fact, we have become a country that loves, encourages, and embraces creativity of all kinds in food. Whether its behind the helm of a stove, dining out at old favorites or the hottest new eateries, or catching a favorite foodie program on TV, weve all become more attuned to a world of sights, smells, and tastes from the kitchen. However, even with such an open-armed embrace for eating, when it comes to feeling confident about choosing wine, and successfully pairing it with our food, we still feel a little like the shy chess-club geek asking the head cheerleader for a dance at the prom.
