Food and Wine Marriage [Part 2]

Hello to all, how's your day?

Since we have gotten some very positive feedbacks from the precedent post, we would like to thank you for your support. Your appreciation means a lot to us.

Well, today our topic will remain on exotic food with French wine. Hope you will like today’s post as well.

Char siu and Sauternes French sweet wine

Char siu, barbecued meat (usually pork), is a popular way to flavor and prepare pork in Cantonese cuisine. Cantonese roasted meat is listed at number 28 on World’s 50 most delicious food readers’ poll complied by CNN Go in 2011.(click me to check the rest of the food on the list)

 This honey-coated meat is sweet and tender. Traditionally it goes well with rice and noodles. However, it pleasantly combines with the French sweet wine-Sauternes.(we've talked about sauternes) The concentrated aromas of sauternes create a perfect harmony with Char siu. They both co-possess honey flavors and the roasted meat emphasizes the subtil and delicate fruits of the wine. Together, they are making a harmonious symphony in your mouth!

Recipe:

I  Preparation

A shoulder cut of domestic pork: 500g (cut to pieces)

Seasoned with a mixture of honey,five-spice powder, dark soy sauce, hoinsin sauce, red food colouring and rice wine,2 onions cut into small pieces, ginger 2 g cut into small pieces.

II Roasting
1 hour later,put it in to oven.

Roast 10 mins with 200°C.
Then 20 Mins with 240°C.

Take it out.Enjoy your food:)

Food and Wine Marriage [exotic]

                                          Brief Introduction

What is Food Wine matching? In order to answer that, I allow my self to quote the definition of Wikipedia 
"Wine and food matching is the process of paring food dishes with wine to enhace the dining experience.'

In other words, a dish could be more delicious if we match it with a well selected wine. Vice-versa, a glass of wine might appear more fruity and complex thanks to the contrast with a dish.

Food matching is an art and also a science. It takes time to experience and practice in order to master the art.  There are some elements are important in food wine matching. If you want to learn more. (Click me)

Today’s question: could we combine Chinese food with French wine?

 

  People say that Chinese food and western wine just don’t get alone with each other. As a Chinese wine lover, I will not share this point of view. When people mention ‘Chinese food’; we think is just an oriental cuisine. In fact, the Chinese gastronomies are diversified. In total, there are 8 major styles of cooking. Each one presents completely different characteristic gustation. So we should match the right wine with the right cuisine.

2011/11/25

Cantonese Steamed Fish&La Poussie,Sancerre,2009,France

Roger ZHUANG's Notes 

Sauvignon Blanc

Deep lemon. A bouquet of lemon, citrus, lime flavors with mineral and intense grass. Palate performance, dry, medium (+) acidity and medium (+) body, the sweet-finish is the most spectacular thing that attracts you and with a silky texture. Medium(+) aftertaste with intense mineral had been enough to activate the food‘s freshness, the mouthfeel of fish would never just so simple. The fish itself, the source, the wine, and the chef, usually need a perfect combination, then booming.

It was a great moment with you and me. Let’s keep burning………… 

I know some of you love cooking , so I've prepared my recipe for you by showing all cooking steps:)
 

Recipe of Cantonese steamed Fish

Ingredients:

Sesame oil- 3 spoons

Soy sauce-       3 spoons

Water- 2 spoons

Salt- 2 g

Sugar- 2 g

Green onion- several pieces

Ginger- several small pieces

Fish- 500 g (we’ve selected Wrasse because of little fishbone)

 

1. Sauce

Put Sesame oil- 3 spoons of sesame oil, 3 spoons of soy sauce, two spoons of water, 2 grams of salt and 2 grams of sugar in to a small vessel.

2. Preparation

Cut green onion and ginger into several pieces and put them inside the fish’s stomach. (So that during the steaming, the fish will absorb the aromas)

4． Steaming

- Put water in to a deep wok and boil the water.

- Put a shelf in to the wok to separate boiled water and the fish.

- Put the Fish on the shelf and cover it. (Only if the water boiled)

 

5. Pouring sauce over the fish

- 20 minutes steaming 

-  Then pour sauce over the fish.

 Yummy?

Bon appétit.

 Yeah, it was too good to describe in words...

 Maybe you should try ..

To anwser the previous question:could we combine Chinese food with French wine? Absolutely yes!

To conclude, it was a purely pleasant sharing evening with friends. Thanks guys.
Here are some photos and descriptions to record these special moments:

Bottles from Portugal,Italy and France.

Roger's Tasting notes:

Dao Portugal.QUINTA DA PELLADA 2006 RESERVA,13%

  Touriga Nacional 60% Tinta Roriza 20 %,Vinhas Vehas 20%

Deep ruby, gentle tears, pronounced black fruit, especially cassis, blackberry, intense black-raspberry, developing condition. Palate  performance, dry, medium(-) acidity, high tannin but fine-grained, medium(+) body, has a cassis-jam bomb, oak flavor, black pepper, plum and a beautiful aftertaste, such long..long..long..around 10 Seconds, can be aged more than 10 years. Outstanding, balanced and complex for saturation,94 points

Langhe Rosso Quartetto 2003 Poderi Aldo Conterno(Italy),14%

  Pale Garnet, red fruits contains raspberry, concentrated cherry, and intense flower, rose, still developing. Palate performance, dry, medium acidity, coarse tannin, medium body, intense red-cherry, flower, and medium(+) aftertaste. The only thing not quite perfect is the tannin because Nebbiolo should be showed as a kind of delicated and stratified tannin. Neverthless, it is also a great combination with Nebbiolo, Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot.92 points.

Taiwanese special cuisine : 3 glasses chicken

Sichuan cuisine, Porc

Special thanks to our photographer Peter, great pictures even though lack of light.

Special thanks to Miss Rachel MA who has provided us several wonderful wallpapers for today's topic.

Rachel MA

Branding and Broadcasting Director

YI ZHOU STUDIO

Coproduction with Nicola Formichetti ( Lady GAGA's personal faishon designer)

Chargé de Communication with Italian Royal Familly

                      Thank you all!

[NEWS] Le Grand TASTING Paris

Prestigious Bubbles

For those of you who couldn't make it to come to the 2011/11/17 Champagne tasting.
We might help you to make it come true again...

Oh yes, wait a minute, before you go in this door, you should know that:

1,Champagne and other sparkling wines are truly a category of wine and they are typically derived from a blend of grapes such as Chardonnay, Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier.

2, Only the sparkling wines made in Champagne can be called " Champagne" otherwise, it's called "sparkling wine".


3,Where do the bubbles come form? by addition of a few grams of sugar and yeast, the wine can occurs a second fermentation in the bottle. This yeast and sugar convert to carbon dioxide (bubbles) and, of course alcohol.

4, Only a good vintage year can be indicated with "millesime". otherwise, you won't see the produced year on the bottle which means a bottle millesime is always a great one!

5, Touch me if you want to lear more

Are you ready? let's follow me if you are prepared!!

Right beside the entrance, we could find: Moet Chandon

A personal point of view, i did not quit enjoy it.
is not bad for the taste, but each bottle tastes almost the same--- too much human influence during the production of the wine?
And I think they must spended much more money on the marketing and the desin of the bottle rather than the wine itself.
yea, what a pity!

Second bottle: Ruinart Rose

One of the favor of the night, incredibly creamy, fresh, apple,longevity...


Delamotte

Fruits are present: apple,pear,citrus...wonderful!


Grand Siecl Laurant Perrier

Dom Perignon

Excellent,cream and vanilla ,nutty flavors,“fresh baked bread”. Isn't that magical?

Jacquesson

Personally speaking, best of the best at the night.no addition of sugar neither yeast. Only 1% of Champagne are made in this methode.
We feel the "terroir": the soil, the rain, the smell of the vineyard,the sun shine.....the wild!
We feel the fruits: apple, pear, lemon,nuts...
We feel mineral particles
flowers...

really enjoyed it!

Voila, it was a wonderful night..hope you like the visit as well, see you soon.
By the way, leave us some comments and suggestions. We will write things you are interested.

Jiakai and Roger 2011 11 17

Penfolds Chooses Shanghai For First " Bin 620 "

                                                        WINEMAKER Peter Gago

Today,will be the second time in this famous winery "Penfolds", which owns 167-year history, launch the rare extraodinarily "Bin 620"(A special label only be used in excellent vintage) .
Since 1996,the label of "Bin 620"never be used again,however,Bin 620 2008 will be debuted in May 2012,choosing Shanghai,China as the outside of Native Australia market for this special Bin wine. 

51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 49% Shiraz

Only 1000 cases of the special bin have been made, bottled in July last year after a year in barrels, 2008 is a great vintage when the earlier-ripening Shiraz could be blended with the later-ripening Cabernet to highlight the best of both varieties, and their synergistic union.


Let's looking forward to the appearance of Bin 620,exceptional year,2008.

Grand Champagne Tasting Thursday 2011 11 17

Go have a look if you are in Brd and interested..

a drop of gold- the magic Sauternes!

Great news!!
From Nov 11-13, it's Sauternes and Barsac's open house day. Thanks to that, 47 châteaux will open their doors and welcome you. Why hesitate? Let’s go tomorrow visit the most reputed 'vin liquoreux' producing place!!

Before you discover the Sauternes, you might want to catch up some basic information. 
-Sauternes 
Sauternes is a AOC in bordeaux (Click me if u don't know AOC), in this terroir, we find mostly the famous sweet white wine under sauternes appellation.

-Why is Sauternes so unique and precious?
In sauternes, the geographic situation is unique. It benefices from the oceanic climate. The river Ciron bring humidity which produces abundantly fog during the autumn season. This phenomena occurs during the morning. The frog can actually create the famous Botrytis Cinerea(what?) and turn it to Noble rot(say that again?). The grape becomes drier. The sugars go up and are more concentrated. As a consequence, the noble rote gives abundantly different concentrated aromas to the wine.
Botrytis Cinerea( photo took by Zhuang Jingqiang  2011 10 21 at Sauternes)

You can actually find all this fruits in this magical golden beverage!!
(photo took by Zhang Jiakai 2011 10 21 at Chateau Caillou)

Food Wine Marriage 
Traditionally, Sauternes sweet white wine is a perfect combination with desserts such as chocolate, cake and fruits. Some how, we recently finds out that this golden drop can be perfectly harmonies with Chinese spicy Sichuan cuisine. Usually, the spicy sensation covers all the aromas. But since the aromas in Sauternes are so strong and concentrated that it sets off the spicy.

Stockage
"People ask me how long they keep the bottle till it turn bad. and i told them, you can buy a bottle of sauterne now and drink it during the your grand son marriage." Said the Maitre de Chaine Chateau Coutet.
A good Sauterne can be kept more than 100 hundred years and still tastes refreshing.

 Voilà,If you are interested, you still have a chance to visit 47 chateaux tomorrow. Have fun!!

Mouton-Rothschild 1973

77%Cabernet Sauvignon.11%Merlot.10%Cabernet Franc 2%Petit Verdot

The man widely regarded as the father of cubism, which he developed during the early 20th century alongside Georges Braque, needs little introduction. Surprisingly no work of his had ever graced a Mouton-Rothschild label, but following his death in April 1973 this was rectified, with this homage to his work.

In 1853, Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild, a member of the English branch of the family, bought the estate of Brane Mouton, part of the parish of Pauillac. He renamed it Mouton Rothschild. This was to link for the first time two great names: that of a great estate in the Médoc, and that of a famous family, already synonymous with sophistication and succes. In 1922 a young man of twenty, Baron Nathaniel's great-grandson, fell in love with the estate and took the future of Mouton into his own hands: he was Phillipe de Rothschild.
Until 1924, as in every vineyard in the Médoc, Château Mouton Rothschild wine was sold in casks to a merchant in Bordeaux who became responsible for everything that happened afterwards: maturing, bottling, labeling and marketing. With no rights over the finished product, the owner took little interest in the appearance of the bottle. In 1924 Baron Philippe de Rothschild made a decision, revolutionary at the time, to bottle the entire harvest before it left the property.
From that time on, the label took on a new importance and a new function: it became the trademark, the proof of origin, the quarantee of quality and the signature of the vineyard. It was the famous poster designer Jean Carlu he commisioned to design the label for the 1924 vintage. It remains today as one of the greatest examples of the Cubist influence in commercial art.
With the Liberation of France, to celebrate the return of the peace and to mark a new beginning, Baron Philippe conceived the idea of dedicating the vintage of 1945, one of the greatest of the century, to 'Année de la Victoire, the year of the Victory. He commissioned the young painter Philippe Jullian to produce a graphic design based on the "V" sign made famous by Winston Churchill during the war.
That exception became the rule, and from 1946 on a contemporary artist was commissioned every year to create an original work to illustrate the label. The relationship between the artists and the owners of Mouton has always been based on friendship and trust. But also on mutual independence. Every artist is at liberty, following his own inspiration, to interpret the themes of the vine, the pleasure of drinking or the symbol of the Ram. Mouton is equally at liberty to reject a work if they consider it is not what they want or if it fails to fit the specific limitations of the label. The artists are paid no money for their work, but given instead a certain number of cases of wine of two different years, obviously including the year they provided the label.
Since Baron Philipe's death in 1988, Philippine, the Baron's only daughter, has become wholly involved in Mouton and the family firm. It has become her responsibilty to choose the painter to illustrate the Mouton Rothschild label. 

Introduction-The first time

Welcome to our Wine-Corner.
JINGQIANG ZHUANG,Roger

from the crazy country about wine, China.

I am the person who cannot live without wine,absolutely.

If you are the same with me,

please catch up with Wine-Corner.
Let's taste,and let's catch the great moment......

Because our teamates.....are the best.!

Wine about

JIAKAI ZHANG

Hello to all...Firstly, I would like to welcome you all to this special “Wine Corner”. 

In this corner, wine fans (or not) could find the most interesting topics related to this magical drink. 

Our team will introduce  the wine to you with some very accessible basic concepts. 

For the very beginners, ‘What’s wine? How do people make wine? Should we open the bottle before we drink it? 

What’s the differences between decantage and carafer?...” For the wine amateurs, “wine food matches, 

new/old wine producing countries, characteristic of different terroirs…”  

We will also update the latest news regarding the wine spirituous events, exhibitions and conferences.

In brief, beginner or expert, you will always discovery great moments in this little corner. 

Please leave us the questions and topics that you are interested. 

Your question means a lot to us and it contributes to the construction of the blog. 

let’s build the corner together. Enjoy it..

My name's wang cong, I'm pretty interested in red wine since I was little, 

so three years ago, I came to bordeaux to study the red wine.
And now, with three other friends who also love red wine as me, 

we opend this blog, I hope every red wine fans can share their 

knowlages and exchange their expriences with us here.

Hadrien Betaille