Asian Food and Wine Issues

Filed in archive Food and Wine on January 8, 2007

Asian foods takes a bad rap when it comes to teaming it up with the right wine. It's just not as easy as other ethnic foods such as Italian, which 90% of the time goes fine with a good red wine.

However, food and wine expert Ed Soon explains that it doesn't have to be rocket science to team up the right vintage with the right Asian food dish:

Pairing wines with food used to be a straightforward affair. There were three basic rules: red wine with red meat, white wine with fish and poultry, and, if serving a regional specialty from a wine-producing zone, choose a wine that evolved alongside the food. For example, French Sancerre with goat's cheese, German Riesling with sauerkraut and bratwurst, and Spanish Rosado with paella.

With Asian food, however, things get complicated. This is because, whatever the main ingredient may be, Asian food is prepared in such a way that the predominant taste is not the meat, seafood or vegetables. Rather, the true taste of the dish is determined by the cooking method (for example, the toasty flavours of a stir fry); the sauce (from curries to sweet-and-sour dishes); the seasonings (such as ginger or coriander to mask fishy tastes); or the blending of ingredients to form new flavours (as in sukiyaki or satay).

What one does, then, is match flavours. If each style of wine has a signature flavour, look for complementary flavours in food to make the match.

For example, Burgundy is often served with Peking duck. The wine, made from Pinot Noir, usually displays bright red fruit flavours and it goes well with the plum (fruity) sauce that accompanies slivers of the crispy duck skin. In addition, Pinot Noir usually has light smoky and earthy overtones and these are other flavour matches with the meaty taste of the duck.