Sunday, May 19, 2013
Recipe for Pairing , (part 2) a simple lesson in tasting....
One great thing to remember is that Pairing and Tasting are two different encounters. I was sure that I had posted an exercise in tasting but I can't locate it so I shall offer it in brief. If you are a student of the culinary arts you will most certainly do this exercise sometime during your schooling. I was reminded of this some 3 years ago while helping a friend with her culinary studies and it is an excellent way to understand a bit about tasting and creating a menu for pairing or in general. Gather up a bottle of Chardonnay and a bottle of Cab, really you will only need two glasses but what the hell why not have some fun, you will need a glass of water and some bread as well as lemon, apple, cheese ( neutral in flavor ) and some walnuts. In this tasting experiment , taste each of the items with each of the wines separately clearing your pallet with a bit of bread and some water in between each items tasting, write down what you experience happening across your pallet and the flavors you experience. They should be drastic, notice what happens when you introduce citrus with the Cab and how the lemons acidity changes the structure of the Chardonnay, this is the most basic and easiest ways to begin understanding of how food and wine come together and remember for this experiment you don't need to break the bank in the wine you choose. When I do a Tasting vs a Pairing the spread is simple; nuts, cheese, dried dates, olives, bread and Charcuterie, you are not creating a meal but rather offering an array of edibles that will enhance the wines and allow your pallet to receive all that the wine offers. In catering it is important to explain the difference to a could be client , some think pairing is a tasting and it is not, tasting comes first. Next up we will build a basic pairing menu so stay tuned, until then "Think Good Thoughts & Smile".
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