ACID test
Can spicy Chinese food be successfully paired with wine? Taking this challenge by the scruff of its bottleneck, Good Eating meets up with four wine connoisseurs to see how four wines selected by chef Mak Tsz-kin and the management team at Hunan Garden restaurant in Times Square fare with fiery food.
The tasting panel comprises Debra Meiburg, master of wine, co-founder of Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition; Wilson Kwok, a Cordon Bleu chef and oenologist, veteran restaurateur, owner of W's Entrecote and wine consultant; Tersina Shieh, winemaker and general manager at Independent Wine Centre; and wine distributor and consultant Freddie Kwok.
'Conventionally, there are two ways to combine wine with food: complement or contrast,' Wilson Kwok says. 'I've found a lot of Southeast Asians who prefer spicy food choose blockbusters; often it's the opposite case for Europeans, who prefer a chilled white with sweetness.'
Meiburg nods, saying: 'In the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition [which she directs], we tried kung pao chicken with 60 wines. People from Thailand and Shanghai only enjoyed powerful wines; Indians I met said the same. I go for something to match the spice; if you don't like spicy food, you wouldn't be eating it and looking for something to cool it.'
Shieh recalls tasting spicy chicken feet with black bean and chilli with three different wines. 'James Halliday [the eminent Australian critic] said riesling really suited the dish, but I don't agree.'
Freddie Kwok prefers full-bodied wines with spice. It is all - obviously - subjective.
First up is chicken in spicy sauce, a chilled appetiser big on instant and lasting flavour, featuring poultry that has been steeped overnight in a marinade infused with star anise and Sichuan peppercorns before being smothered with a deep crimson chilli sauce. It is paired with Carmen Gran Reserva Chardonnay, Casablanca Valley, 2009.
Reacting to tingling peppercorn, Meiburg mentions a fruity Beaujolais might work. On the served Chilean chardonnay, she notes a bruised apple tinge and a little sweetness, concluding: 'The wine didn't knock my socks off but stands up to the dish. I'm glad it doesn't have too much oak; that wouldn't work with the acidity.'
Shieh is not into the pairing. 'It loses fruitiness with the food; it doesn't work,' she says. Freddie Kwok, also not a fan, says food spice intensifies the acidity in the wine; he would have preferred a German riesling or a powerful zinfandel. Wilson Kwok, noting the wine sweetness, says: 'I always enjoy a nicely chilled wine with chilli - it feels like you're a fireman putting out the fire.
'People who like spice would not choose this wine.' When dish two, Hunan deep-fried prawns in chilli sauce, is paired with Chablis Domaine Laroche St Martin 2009, there are raised eyebrows. Marinated prawns have been fried with garlic and a syrupy sauce added, playing on the seafood's natural sweetness.
'I was expecting a viognier or torrentes to successfully prepare my palate after the spiciness of the first course,' Meiburg says. Even so, she succumbs to this refreshing French white. 'The minerality of the wine jumps out from the sweetness of the prawn sauce. I'm not distracted by the chilli,' she says.
Shieh notes the wine is flinty and not intense, preferring the first wine to which she returns. Sure enough, the fruit seems more evident in the chardonnay. The chablis pairing doesn't do it for Freddie Kwok, while Wilson Kwok also prefers the chardonnay.
Dish three, saut?ed mutton with chilli in a sizzling casserole, is laced with red and green chilli, herbs and fragrant cumin. The wine is Chateau Croix-Mouton Bordeaux Superior 2009. Not as spicy as previous dishes, the meat is unusually tender for its type.
'It smells like black pepper, which is great with shiraz. On aromas alone, the pairing smells like a great mix. I'd like to see a fruitier wine with this, though, because of the [sauce's] bitterness - the dish accentuates the tannins in the Bordeaux,' Meiburg says.
Shieh is disappointed with both the dish and the wine, which she finds bland; Wilson Kwok agrees. Freddie Kwok believes the dish would pair well with a Napa cabernet.
The final dish of sauteed spicy beef brisket is accompanied by Chateauneuf du Pape Domaine des Senechaux 2007. Deep-fried chilli and garlic and seasoned soya bean sauce complement tender meat.
All like the fruit-forward wine, with Shieh noting its oakiness and Meiburg its high grenache content - she keeps wanting another sip. 'The wine is 14.5 per cent alcohol but not too strong,' Wilson Kwok says. 'It's not too soft and holds up [to the food].' Freddie Kwok enjoys the length of the wine with the robust flavours. Meiburg, sipping the first wine, says she likes it with the last dish.
So, is all as expected, or are there any surprises in pairing spice with wine?
'Northwestern Chinese cuisine is still a challenge; spicy can mean so much,' Wilson Kwok says. Freddie Kwok concludes he would like greater wine intensity.
'If you like spiciness, choose a more tannic wine,' says Shieh. 'It would be good if Chinese restaurants had more wines by the glass - I enjoyed trying more than the suggested paired wine.'
