I’m not a fussy drinker. After a recent holiday get together, there was a half-consumed bottle of Bordeaux leftover. It was too good to be wasted even for cooking, so my partner and I drank it a few days later with a simple dinner.
We steamed some rice, stir-fried some Chinese greens and picked up a little takeout char siu (roast pork) and soy chicken from the local BBQ shop. To a wine purist, pairing a three-day-old Bordeaux with Cantonese roast meats might sound like culinary blasphemy. However, we don’t care.
The sweetly caramelized char siu was delicious and I thought the three-day old red was still fine. And together, it wasn’t a bad combination. We don’t drink enough to warrant opening another, perhaps a more appropriate, bottle. Plus, it was an interesting tasting experiment. Anyway, we’re too unsophisticated to be wine snobs.
The issue of what drink to pair with Chinese food is an interesting and ongoing debate for wine enthusiasts. Admittedly, a lot of times I don’t even think of wine when I go for dim sum or a ten course banquet with family. For many, the most important pairing beverage at a Chinese meal is tea.
Part of the challenge is that “Chinese food” is a category far too vast for any one pairing guide to cover. Saying you’re pairing wine with Chinese food is like saying you’ve picked the perfect wine for all of Italian cuisine—it’s absurd. When we talk of wine pairing with Chinese cuisine, we need to be more specific in terms of cuisine type, region, ingredient and cooking method. A spicy Sichuan mala pepper beef requires a different match than a lightly steamed fish with lots of fresh ginger and green onion.
I would say Cantonese is still the most popular form of Sino cuisine around the world. For its fresh, subtle tastes and punchy umami, a lot of sommeliers recommend aromatic whites like Chardonnay or Rieslings or perhaps fruity reds such as a New World Pinot Noir or a Grenache.
There’s also the question of format. Chinese cuisine is usually served banquet style, not unlike a Mediterranean family feast, with every dish brought out at the same time at a big round table. The multi-course concept with individual separate pairing is as foreign to Chinese diners as most Italian nonnas, who could care less what varietal grape you match her pasta with, as long as you “mangi, mangi!” a lot!
Personally, I find champagne or any kind of sparkling wine to do the job just fine. The palate cleansing effect of the bubbles is also helpful. There’s no way one single wine can match everything from suckling pig, to stir-fried scallops and broccoli, to oyster sauce braised tofu, mushroom and duck web.
It’s different than Western cuisine where each diner will order his or her own appetizer and main. At these circumstances, it’s much easier to individually select something compatible. Pairing is harder when there are ten courses being served.
Indeed, pairing food with wine is just not a thing for the culture yet. Sure, China is a major international wine market, but the average person still has little knowledge of its appreciation. I probably have a bit more vino experience than most, but at a wine pairing dinner, I’m still not able to tell the glasses apart after about the fourth wine.
Actually, wine is barely an afterthought for most Chinese chefs until recently. To be honest, some of my friends still prefer a cold beer with stir-fried noodles and sweet and sour pork than a posh bottle of Burgundy.
Perhaps some cuisines are just not meant to be enjoyed with wine. Or maybe the industry still has an elitist reputation to overcome. One thing I’m proud to admit is I’ve never engaged in the barbaric act of adding Coke or ice to red wine.
Just don’t judge me for drinking three-day old wine and liking it.
