Lucinda Frye
Diverse and indigenous cuisine brought by the many ethnic people to St. Maarten from all over the world piques our interest. To this end, we are on a quest to find where it comes from, if it is used for celebrations, if it is exotic to some but normal food to others. Anything to do with keeping the body and soul nourished with what is produced from good old terra firma is what makes the world go around.
Of all the alcohols, wine is probably the only one that does more good than harm. While most alcoholic beverages just give you more sugar, calories and toxic alcohol, wine actually offers some health benefits.
The general rule that most of us follow when it comes to drinking wine is that white and rosé wines should be served chilled and red wines should be served at room temperature. Just when you can drink these wines came up for debate recently. I was told rosé is for lunch!! I have searched and searched the internet to see if there is such a rule – I could not find one at all.
Perhaps some years back, this “rule” may have been implied but today one can drink rosé all day and night and not feel that one is going against the flow of correct wine drinking.
Having done a couple of sommelier courses during which some surprising information came out, I will divulge a bit of info that really struck home: “Wine in many restaurants can be way overpriced, this does not mean the bottle is necessarily a ‘good’ wine. One can drink whichever wine suits one; however, if pairing wines, there are certain wines that seriously go better with certain kinds of foods.”
Now some folk cannot drink certain wines because of taste and/or the reaction to one’s body. Of course, certain people can’t “take” wine because they get drunk or feel sick. So the answer is, don’t feel one has to drink that wine.
The Passionate Foodie loves wine – all wines – having spent many years growing up in a wine district. The vineyards in the surrounding valleys are some of the most beautiful in the world and the wine produced won many accolades the world over. Children start sipping wine at the table from a fairly young age.
First it was sherry. Oh how grown up we felt sipping away from the wee sherry glass, even if it was the vile tasting “dry sherry” our parents had before going in to dinner! Then at weddings, most young ones (I’m talking about 11-12 years old here) were allowed to have a sip of champagne during the toasting – and then this age group pretended they were so drunk with acting “all-fall-down” and “wobbly walking!”
Then when a little older during dinner, one could have a small wine in a glass to sip at genteelly through the dinner. It did make us feel like we were moving into the adult world; but you know, conversation at dinner (even with a little wine) was so boring and those jokes the adults made just did not mean anything at all…so please could we get down from the table and go and read or something?
Not long ago, there were rules for food pairing, but much of this seems to have changed these days. The old red wine with meat, white wine with fish has gone out of the window. To help people confidently pick wines that taste good with their food, one does not have to follow the old rules. However, when a meal is matched with the right wine, both taste better than they would on their own. These old rules don’t necessarily fit the way we cook and eat these days, as today’s recipes, ingredients, and cooking methods are more diverse than before and so are the wines produced.
Here are a couple of “new-day” thoughts on wine pairing. Think along the lines that the wine is like another sauce on the side. Put the food first and consider the following and you will know just what wine to serve with dinner.
Consider the food’s flavour profile
“Pick wines according to the strongest flavours on the plate – these generally come from the seasonings, sauces and cooking methods of the dish. The same wine can flatter a salmon tartare and a beef carpaccio, even though they fall on opposite sides of the fish-meat divide. Let’s look at the dishes – they are both raw dishes that are very lightly dressed to let the clean flavour of the protein shine through. A sparkling wine (like prosécco) is an ideal pairing for both, because the wine’s subtlety and acidity will help focus attention on the delicate taste of the salmon or beef.
A flavourful red wine goes well with both grilled filet with a veal stock reduction (demi-glace) and salmon prepared the same way. The cooking method of grilling both the meat and the fish as well as the sauce, which is rich and concentrated, calls for a red wine with some depth and complexity. A dense, dark red (Argentine Malbec) would be a great pairing for the steak; an oak-aged red (Spanish Rioja Crianza) which is on the lighter side would be more fish-friendly.
Pair like with like
The food and the wine should share dominant characteristics; they should be in the same “weight class.” Alcohol gives wine its body and texture. To match by weight, serve low-fat foods with lower-alcohol, lighter-bodied wines. Riesling and Beaujolais are delicious with salads, sushi, and vegan cuisine. Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon suit heavier dishes like stews, cheesy casseroles and meat dishes.
When serving desserts or something sweet, one needs to serve a really sweet wine to get the perfect effect. Drinking a sweet dessert wine while eating sugary pastries makes the wine seem drier, it appears not quite as sweet as when one drinks the sweet wine on its own. This is true too when serving acidic foods. Recipes that call for citrus or vinegar need wines of equal or greater acidity to hold their own.
There was a “rule” that one should never drink white wine after red. This is perhaps due to the wine of those days and/or the way people drank them. However, today this does not seem to be quite true. It is a good bet to serve lighter-bodied wines before moving to bigger wines that are likely to dull your palate to the nuances of more delicate wines, much the same as serving a lighter appetizer followed by a heavier main course. Serving white wine before reds; dry wines before sweet ones; and young wines before older vintages may have been yesterday’s rules but rules are made to be broken! A grenache (young, fresh red) can easily be served with a gentle fish starter and a richer, more developed white (Chardonnay) can be served with the meaty, sauced main course.
Then, at all times, a rosé can be served with every dish IF that is what suits the palette. In hot climates, rosé is the perfect chilled wine to serve. Rosé should be chilled, adding ice (especially during the day at the pool, beach or on the boat) is not a bad idea. Rosé is a wine for drinking outdoors, on a sizzling hot day. It is also a wine to serve on a windless, hot evening. If ice is added to the wine, there is no need to have a glass of cold water on the table then – except that in this heat, water should be drunk often.
By the way, rosé is not a blend of red and white grapes. Rosé is produced from “black” grapes that have a flavour profile resembling that of a red wine. Colour of the wine comes from the skin of the grape, not the flesh of the grape. Rosé often tastes and smells like berries, some of the rosés are very buttery and soft when you drink them. Many people drink rosé on occasions when they would perhaps have selected a white. Rosé is not (should not be IMHO) a sweet wine, although some are sweeter than others. A dryer rosé is the one most folk seem to prefer.
RECIPES
Thai Chicken Sate Burgers / Australian Chardonnay
(Marinade the chicken as long as possible, overnight would be best.)
Ingredients
4 lemongrass stalks, white parts only thinly sliced
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
1 TBL ground turmeric
2 tsp galangal powder or 1inch fresh galangal
4 TBL brown sugar
1 tsp salt
4 small shallots
3 cloves garlic
2 TBL soy sauce
3 TBL cooking oil
¼ cup water
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Method
Blend until smooth.
Pour over chicken thighs, massage gently.
Cover in glass bowl, marinade in fridge.
At this stage, the chicken can be processed and formed into patties.
Grill or pan-fry chicken each side until just cooked through.
Place on hamburger buns with lettuce, sliced red onion, sliced cucumber, chopped mint and Thai peanut satay sauce.
Thai Peanut Satay Sauce
Ingredients
1 x 13.5-ounce can of full-fat, unsweetened coconut milk
2oz Thai red or Massaman curry paste
¾ cup unsweetened creamy peanut butter
2 tsp scant salt
¾ cup sugar
2 TBL apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
½ cup water
Method
Bring everything to a gentle boil, whisking constantly.
Simmer 3-5 minutes over low heat, stirring constantly.
Allow sauce to cool down to room temperature.
