Chocolate is a sensuous food that, unfortunately, is rarely used in the kitchen beyond taking the role of sickly sweet filling. Using it as a coating for the humble walnut, though, can give you a range of flavours depending on the chocolate's sweetness, cacao content and the origin of the cacao beans. The slight bitterness of walnuts makes the combination enjoyable without tiring the palate. Chocolate-dipped walnuts enhance the natural sweetness of any drink and the combination links up closely with any brown flavour notes in the beverage, whether they come from charred oak or age.
Amisfield pinot noir 2006, Central Otago, New Zealand
Claire Mulholland is the lovely personality behind this fantastic wine. Central Otago makes head-turning pinot noir and this stunning vintage will fool most burgundy lovers after it has been laid down for 10 years or so. It's a match for walnuts dipped in chocolate with a cacao content of 90 per cent or more. The intensity of the chocolate adds depth and width to the lush, dark, berry-like pinot fruit. The walnut's tannic bitterness and schizophrenic oiliness take turns on the palate and add textural contrast as well.
Available for HK$360 at Altaya (tel: 2523 1945)
Glenmorangie Nectar d'Or, Scotland
Just prior to release, this specialist whisky is 'finished' in oak casks that have been used to age sauternes. The result is a silky, creamy whisky with - predictably - tones of one of the greatest sweet wines in the world. The whisky has some lovely peach and honey character and apple-crumble tones that make it a great accompaniment to walnuts dipped in 50 per cent cacao chocolate. With a smaller amount of cacao, the combination will have less contrast between the sweet and bittersweet - this whisky is deliberately sweet and luscious and ignoring this would be a waste of the effort it took to integrate the sauternes tones. The chocolate creaminess and the walnut oiliness are keys to this successful match. The nuts and the mild cacao background support and prolong the sweetness of the whisky.