Darren Conole, Executive Chef at the Shangri-La’s Eros Hotel, New Delhi chats with Hotelier India about his passion for matching flavours that tickle your tastebuds.
Wine matching like cooking is a cross between science and an art form and in a modest percentage of matches, the wine and the food accentuate the flavours in one another. However, confidence coupled with your knowledge of wines, flavours and ingredients always trumps conventional wisdom when it comes to wine and food pairing. The key however lies in avoiding repetition of ingredients through out the meal.
I find usually, ideally, it would mean knowing the reason behind your creation. Why am I cooking this dish? For instance, if your preparations are based on somebody’s agenda, maybe a wine company or a set of like-minded industry people, in-depth research is crucial to show casing one’s gastronomic skills.
Selecting the right ingredients and flavours for that particular wine is a task. Fairly, more so, if it is a new wine or one that never intrigued your palate.
On the other hand, if your intentions are to create an excellent personal dining experience, skip past the food aspect of it. Choose your favourite wine; decide on the ingredients that compliment its unique flavours. Once that is decided upon, your culinary expertise will scheme you through the rest of your ordeal.
For red wines, one can design a main course with some berry element, keeping in mind the whole body aspect of the wine. Earthy products like mushrooms, truffles, heavy meats, smoked items etc, cooked in the right temperature and served in style, make for some voluptuous mouthfuls of an admirable meal.
Complexities arise when you are challenged with accentuating the flavours of the wine with the first few courses of your meal. The number of courses and pairing wine with each of them, may at first confound budding gourmands. But not to worry! A few general rules of thumb exist that can give you a good foundation, on which to build your wine and
dining repertoire.
Take for instance a wine like Sauvignon Blanc, one of the most famous wines among the connoisseurs. In Europe alone, this wine comes in various style and flavours.
If you take a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc for instance, it is imperative that you consider its regional origin before you decide on the food menu for its pair.
New Zealand Sauvignon blanc from the North Island goes very well with tropical fruity flavours like that of pineapples and sea food delights like scallops. While the South Island Sauvignon Blanc is a strict no, if served with fruity accompaniments.
Instead, sea food preparations should be served with some leafy and grassy elements more akin to the flavours of canned peas or asparagus puree. So these elements need to be incorporated in some way to make the match more acceptable.
