Composing menus for wines
From the chapter: Culinary matters
When I first started in the restaurant industry the chefs with whom I worked had, frankly, limited repertoires, imaginations or desire to venture beyond tried-and-true dishes, yet we still managed to create some decent wine menus anyway by following the most basic principles of food and wine matching.
Conceiving and executing new dishes for specific components in wines is the more difficult but by far the most satisfying way to build a food and wine menu. Whereas there will always be a limited number of wines to choose for a dish, the combination of ingredients and techniques that can go into an originally conceived dish are virtually endless. You’ll always get a better match when you create a dish specifically for a wine rather than choosing a wine for a ready-made dish.
The good news for the home cook is that the books, magazines, television shows and even online material that provide a grasp of the basic techniques needed to innovate also seem to be endless. During the ‘70s and ‘80s, for our own home meals my wife was able to draw from Fannie Farmer, Julia Child, Marcella Hazan, and whatever else she picked up from Irish nuns manning her school’s convent kitchen as she was growing up, but that was about it.
Today there is the inspiration we can all draw from the scores of thoroughly trained, talented chefs being churned out by our culinary schools; and all these new chefs inspired by the possibilities of becoming the next Wolfgang Puck, Alice Waters, Ming Tsai, Emeril, Bobby or Biba.
Any way you get there, the principles of food and wine matching are the same for everyone. The following describes the thought process behind composing a menu for wine.
TONY SOTER COMES TO DINNER (August 1992)
With the basic principles of food and wine matching in mind, let’s bring the concept out for a test drive, utilizing the example of a menu created for some wines personally presented by the legendary Tony Soter of Napa Valley in 1992. Soter was the founder of Etude Wines; and at the time, he was also widely acclaimed for his work as the original consulting winemaker for Spottswoode Vineyard, as well as in collaboration with the talented Cathy Corison at Corison Winery.
Whether you are preparing the dinner yourself or are working in a collaborative situation⏤as in a classic chef/sommelier relationship⏤I find it helpful to put everything down on paper, beginning with the order of service and basic components of each wine.
You start by creating lists: Lists of the key sensory components found in the wines, lists of suggested dishes or mediums (shellfish, fish, red meat, white meat, salad greens, fresh fruit, etc.) to choose from, and lists of ingredients providing similar or contrasting sensations in context of the wines.
This way a chef has the opportunity to visualize the direction of his or her courses and create a mental map of ingredients to use in the dishes, much like the way a television police detective is always looking at a wall listing the found evidence and outlining the clues to help solve a murder or mystery.
In my case, for many years I partnered with two inspired chefs, Roy Yamaguchi and his longtime Executive Chef Gordon Hopkins. The key is providing options within parameters; but since the sommelier usually knows the wines better than the chefs, the sommelier’s job is to bring all the pertinent wine information to the table, even to the point of suggesting dishes.
Yet, since two heads are usually better than one, your ideas should leave enough wiggle room for them to visualize beyond parameters. You never want to limit the imagination of talented chefs. You're pointing in directions, not suggesting one single way to go. To execute this collaboration, chefs need to know the basic dimensions of each wine before they can begin to conceive dishes.
Hence, my final caveat: When describing wines for chefs you need to be specific enough that they can practically taste the wine through your words. Then they can begin the process of combining the sensory qualities in wines in the context of dishes, as if all the components in the wines are ingredients in dishes and all the ingredients in the dishes are components in wines.
Step 1—Establishing Order of Service
The first step is listing the wines in your projected order of service. Although the traditionally accepted order is white wines before reds, lighter before full, and dry before sweet, keep in mind that the actual palate is not necessarily constrained as such as long as each course’s food and wine match is in harmony and balance.
David Rosengarten and Joshua Wesson deserve a lot of credit for establishing this premise in their classic book, Red Wine with Fish (Simon & Schuster 1989)⏤the title of which infers sensory flexibility: The fact that it's okay to serve, say, fish or white meat after red meat, white wines after reds, or even sweet wines before dry wines, as long as the wine and dish in each course are a seamless match. Up until the point where it is physically saturated, the palate doesn't care what order wines or foods come in.
In any case, for this dinner with Tony Soter, chefs Yamaguchi, Hopkins and I decided to follow a conventional pattern:
1st course: Spottswoode Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc 1990
2nd course: Etude Carneros Pinot Noir 1990 & 1988
3rd course: Etude Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1989, Spottswoode Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1988, and Corison Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1989
4th (dessert): Topaz Late Harvest Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon 1989
Step 2—Breaking Down the Wines & Suggested Food Components
The second step is isolating the basic taste sensations, tactile qualities, and aroma/flavor components of each wine; and based upon that, drawing up your matching food ideas utilizing the principles of similarities and contrast. Your chef will take the bits and pieces that stimulate his or her thought process, referencing them with a personal culinary mental library.
The key to an exciting menu is as much working with well balanced wines as creating well balanced dishes. A balanced dish always gives you the highest percentage chance of tasting balanced in the context of a wine; and when your chef is mixing, matching and harmonizing multiple sensory components with specific sensory qualities in wines, the combination is that much more powerful.
The following is an example of the specific information for the Tony Soter dinners that I jotted down on paper for my partner/chefs to read and consider:
Course 1—Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc
Wine description:
Bone-dry white
Medium body (not light, not heavy)
Perceptively crisp, medium acidity (light tartness)
Fine, smooth (silky) texture
Fresh fruit fragrances of melon and citrus
Lighter aromatic nuances of green grass and vanillin oak
Suggested dishes for Sauvignon Blanc: Mildly spiced, summery sweet shellfish appetizer (i.e., shrimp, scallops, crab, etc.).
Similar ingredients:
Mildly acidic fruits (tomato, lime, lemon, grapefruit, pomegranate)
Mildly acidic cheese (chèvre or feta)
Leafy green herbs (oregano, thyme, parsley, tarragon)
Pungent herbs (chive, cilantro, Mexican mint marigold, lemon grass, kaffir lime)
Vegetal components (olives, bell peppers)
Very mild vinegars (if balanced with wine's acidity)
Contrasting ingredients:
Sweet vine ripened tomatoes (lomi lomi or concasée)
Sweet Maui onions (in moderation)
Moderate spice (restrained use of chili or chiles)
Aromatics (mild curries, mustards, tumeric, achiote)
Extremes to avoid:
Heavy cream or butter (wine will taste thin and acidic)
High salt (brining) or soy sauce
Course 2—Etude Pinot Noirs
Wine descriptions:
Lush, round, fleshy, succulent California style reds
Medium body (not light, not heavy)
Medium (perceptible yet restrained) acidity
Rounded, soft tannin (but filling)
Black cherry perfume (fruit quality flavor over layering tannin)
Tinge of peppermint spice and warm, smoky/vanillin oakiness
Suggested dishes for Pinot Noir:
Salad using smoked meat (beef, duck or quail), or
Smoked seafood course (salmon, calamari, tako), or
Modified cioppino (meaty fish, mussels, clams, octopus)
Similar ingredients:
Wild berries or cherry
Baby greens (very tender, mildly peppery)
Mild caramelization of meats
Contrasting ingredients:
Mushrooms, onions (especially pearl or caramelized)
Sausages (fresh or mildly cured)
Alliums (shallots, garlic, green onion)
Spice notes (cinnamon, clove, cumin, nutmeg, celery)
Mildly acidic goat cheeses (American chèvres)
Mustards
Extremes to avoid:
Sharp vinegars (winey balsamics used only in moderation)
Salty/sharp cheeses (blue, feta, etc.)
More aggressive herbs (dill, cilantro)
Course 3⏤Etude Cabernet Sauvignon, Spottswoode, Cabernet Sauvignon and Corison Cabernet Sauvignon
Wine descriptions:
Chunky, black fruit toned, hefty, dry red wines
Full body (fairly weighty on the palate)
Low acidity
Full, generous tannin (slightly palate drying, yet rounded in feel)
Combination of flesh and muscle in the texture or feel
Deeply aromatic blackberry/cassis aromas with black cherry nuances
Rich, slightly charred oak
Faintly minty, green olive/pepper aromas and flavors
Suggested dishes:
Lamb with a twist (in pot-a-feu, garlic sausage, or combined with sweetbreads or white beans), or
Marinated loins or wood grilled chops stuffed with olives or soft ripened cheese, or
Fanciful “lamb sandwich” (possibly, layering with offal, couscous, semolina, crusted polenta, etc.)
Similar ingredients:
Wood smoke
Natural reductions (concentrated without sweetness)
Wild berries
Bell peppers (plays off wines’ herbal notes)
Smoked green chiles
Olives
Peppercorn, walnut, hazelnut (as tannin neutralizers)
Eggplant, mustards
Hard, savory, aged cheeses (cheddars, manchego, Gouda)
Contrasting ingredients:
Earthy vegetables (fungus, beets, alliums, garlic)
Scented herbs (mint, tarrago, rosemary, thyme)
Tomatoes, stewed or in nage (stripped of excess sugar/acid)
Double or triple crème cheeses (in moderation)
Extremes to avoid:
Salty blue-veined cheeses
Immature (ammonia-like) chèvre and brie
Pervasive herbs, spices (dill, cilantro, ginger, kaffir,)
Sun dried fruits or tomatoes (too sweet/tart)
Sharp leafy vegetables (spinach, sorrel, napa cabbage)
Stinging dried chilies, powders or curries
Course 4—Topaz, Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc/Sémillon
Wine description:
Sweet (approximately 10% residual sugar) dessert wine
Full body (not delicate, about 13% alcohol)
Elevated, lip smacking balancing acidity
Long, viscous (high glycerol), silky smooth texture
Concentrated fig and honey-like aromas/flavors
Underlying green grassy and apricot-like fragrances
Suggested dish: Creamy dessert employing fresh fruit
Similar ingredients:
Sweet/moderately tart fruits (berries, cherry)
Creams (custards) or crème fraiche
Honey and fruit liqueurs (with moderation)
Contrasting ingredients:
Mild dessert spices (vanilla, nutmeg, almond, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, anise)
Citrus (i.e., lemon as flavoring, not dominant fruit)
Fresh mints
Extremes to avoid:
Very sweet syrups (keep dessert “dryer” than wine!)
Sweet/sharp purees (moderated essences okay)
Dried fruit (stick to fresh)
Ice creams (iciness will stun palate and stunt wine)
End Results: Two Chefs, Two Menus
As you may have surmised, the interesting part of this exercise is that we had two chefs following the same parameters with the same wines. As expected, they composed and prepared two different dinners, which were held on two consecutive nights at two of our restaurant locations. Here is what they ended up with:
Roy Yamaguchi’s Menu
Kahuku Shrimp with Crispy Spinach & Spicy Lemon Grass Curry⏤Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc 1990
House Cured Duck Salad with Caramelized Pearl Onions & Shallot Sauce⏤Etude Pinot Noir 1990 & 1988
Napoleon of Lamb with Sweetbread Spring Roll & Roasted Beet Sauce⏤Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon 1989 and Corison Cabernet Sauvignon 1989
Compote of Poached Bing Cherry with Kirsch Crème Fraiche⏤Topaz Late Harvest Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc-Sémillon 1989
Gordon Hopkins’ Menu
Herbed Soft Shell Crab Salad with Roasted Corn & Black Bean Salsa in Red Pepper Vinaigrette⏤Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc 1990
Spicy Cioppino with Seafood Sausage, Crispy Squid, White Beans & Pizza Crusts⏤Etude Pinot Noir 1990 & 1988
Braised Lamb Shanks in Natural Juices, with Black Figs & Couscous⏤Etude Cabernet Sauvignon 1989 and Corison Cabernet Sauvignon 1989
Napoleon of Almond Wafers with Wild Berries & Lemon Vanilla Bean Sauce⏤Topaz Late Harvest Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc-Sémillon 1989
Although he always described himself as a “Euro-Asian” or fusion style chef, for winemaker dinners Yamaguchi habitually reined in his Asian influences for the sake of the wines; gravitating more towards his French training, giving a classical sense of balance to his dishes through technique as well as ingredients. Yet, he was never afraid of touching all parts of the palate (i.e., hot, sours, salty, sweet, umami). He just did it more with more subtlety in wine dinners.
I always loved, however, Hopkins’ aggressive matches—particularly his mildly spiced cioppino (in its execution, the ocean scented, umami replete morsels of seafood sitting in a shallow pasta bowl over a small puddle of concentrated broth) and his visions of Morocco (the fragrantly brown spiced lamb was particularly luscious with the dried fruit-like concentration of Corison's Cabernet)—in spite of the rather unorthodox, challenging nature of his approach. Keep in mind, though, that like Yamaguchi, Hopkins spent more than ten years at the beginning of his career laboring in the kitchens of French restaurants, mostly as an executive chef.
In both dinners, the chefs amplified the crisp yet creamy textured, melon scented profiles of the Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc by striking notes of similarity with the grape’s intrinsically herbal, acidic nature. To wit, the lemon grass in Yamaguchi’s shrimp, and the mildly vinegary red peppers and crusted green herbs in Hopkins’ soft shell crab salad. By layering dishes to match a wine’s nuances, you can push forth its most flattering qualities while drawing attention to its complexity.
Contrast, on the other hand, can be an approach fraught with risk, yet can raise a match to exhilarating heights. Example: The mildly salty and acidic tastes of Yamaguchi’s house cured duck salad in a jus-laced vinaigrette; a somewhat unexpected culinary context even for Pinot Noirs, with their moderate acidity (that is, less than that of typical white wines) and modicum of bitter tannin and oak flourishes. By erring on the side of restraint in the use of ingredients (in the fashion of French cuisine), Yamaguchi was able to balance contrasting sensations in both the dishes and the wines.
Mr. Soter, as it were, was known as a winemaker who exercised restraint, during an era (the late 1980s, all through the ‘90s) when nearly all the top wines in California were overblown. The reason Soter was invited to our restaurants in the first place was because of his penchant for placing plush, almost sweet fruit qualities above tannin, oak and alcoholic weight⏤big pluses for Asian, fusion or Pacific influenced cuisines, which thrive on dramatic contrasting of ingredients, thus demanding balanced styles of wine.
This approach to winemaking gives chefs such as Yamaguchi and Hopkins license to employ sensations of sea salt and acidity of vinegars with sugar (such as the duck brine, caramelized onions and roasted beets found in the menus), earthy/savory flavors (shallots, sweetbreads, duck stock, lemon grass, seafood sausage, squid, confit of lamb⏤ingredients veering into what we now define as umami, which connect with amino acids in red wines), and moderate bitterness (re the young, leafy mesclun leaves in the duck salad) to expand the flavor dimensions of the red wines..
This is why when crafting dishes for wine, you always need to go back to one of our basic principles: Just like the best wines are the balanced wines, and good cooking involves a balancing of ingredients and techniques, the most effective wine/food matching involves focusing on how specific components in wines interact to achieve a sense of balance and harmony with specific components in dishes.
Thanks, Dave!
Great, now I'm ravenously hungry and thirsty. 😜 What a lineup!!