I’ll set the scene briefly because it is likely to be familiar.
The workday has ended, leaving a couple, or several friends, unequal to the task of cooking and unwilling to dine in a restaurant.
The option? Chinese carryout (unless the remains of a prior feed are available at home).
The next question? What’s to drink? Although most people think of hot tea or beer, wine can be an excellent match.
Chinese food, however, can be a real enigma when it comes to making matches with wine. But with the Chinese New Year on Jan. 22 (the year of the monkey), there is all the more reason to try.
You are probably safe serving sparkling wine, if only because it is cold and carbonated, like beer and soda pop. While Chinese cuisine utilizes all manner of wine-friendly fish, meat and vegetables, their preparation rarely is simple. Soy sauce (read salt) is present often; so is sugar, vinegar and the “sweet-sour” combination of the two. Spices can be hot or boldly aromatic.
Chinese cooks often follow the spiritual principles of yin and yang. Tony DiDio and Amy Zavatto point out in a thoughtful new book, “Renaissance Guide to Wine & Food Pairing” (Alpha Books, $18.95), “Yin represents foods that are subtle, cooling, moist and soft. Yang, as you would expect, is the opposite side of the spectrum and includes the spicy, the crunchy, the meaty and the herbaceous.”
They also point out that: “Because spicy food enhances the tannins and thus the bitterness of wine, matching big reds can be a difficult task. . . . You’ll lose all the sweetness in the dish itself and only taste the hot, hot, hot.”
“Wines that have a slightly higher sugar content, and thus are of a sweeter nature, ease the fire of spicy foods and allow you to better savor the rest of the flavors in the dish.”
“High alcohol content stokes the flames. . . . As wine in general has a lower alcohol content than hard liquor, you’re still more ahead of the game” than consuming a high-octane cocktail, for example, a mai tai with kung pao chicken.
“Acid is your friend . . . [It] prevents dishes with a multitude of flavors from being strangled into submission.”
Overall, pouring a wine that is bright, crisp and moderately perfumed or tannic is more useful than following “rules” such as red with meat and white with fish.
Because hand-in-glove combinations are so rare (after all, the Chinese were not thinking about European-style wine when they created their cuisine), settle for a bottle with a moderate or modest price.
Seeking some surefire matches, I recently tasted six carryout dishes purchased at Emperor’s Choice in Chinatown. I then tried each of them with a roster of six wines. (Dedication to duty takes on new meaning in this job. See chart on this page.)
Would pinot noir, earthy and fruity, go well with pork? Yes. A 2001 Rex-Goliath Pinot Noir went well with both the pork ribs and twice-cooked pork. But it came out last when paired with beef coated with a sweet-and-sour sauce seasoned with orange peel.
Meanwhile, a middleweight California riesling, the 2002 Firestone from the Central Coast, was first with two selections, sesame chicken and — surprise! — the orange-flavored beef, while finishing dead last when combined with mildly seasoned fried rice.
The most versatile wine in the tasting was a 2002 Mount Riley Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand. It also was my favorite when tasted without food.
An Alice White cabernet-shiraz blend from Australia, with its peppery fruit from the shiraz half, worked well with the sesame chicken–but nothing else.
A rich, crisp white from Spain, Lager de Cervera Albarino, was very good, matching well with the pork dishes — it cut the fattiness of the ribs and complemented the richness of the twice-cooked pork. It also stood well with the vegetable fried rice.
And finally, a Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages had a ripe cherry-berry aroma and a fruity but not sweet taste, but it did not pair well with any of the dishes.
The message, allowing for the truism that different folks have different tastes, is that nothing goes equally well with everything. Some pairings can make food, wine or both taste unpleasant. (Note: Should such a clash occur, you have found the moment to eat a big spoonful of plain white rice.)
You might try your own tastings with these recommended wines, but if you cannot find the exact bottle, look for a similar wine from that grape and region. Other wines to try with Chinese food include pinot gris (pinot grigio) with good acidity; floral and spicy gewurztraminer; peachy viognier and sweet and high-acid German riesling.
Also, consider a Chinese food tasting party for a New Year celebration. We’ve rounded up three recipes for Chinese dishes if you prefer to cook yourself instead of ordering takeout. Either way, your tastings will provide for an entirely new outlook in this, the year of the monkey.
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Pairings for the Chinese New Year
2002 MOUNT RILEY SAUVIGNON BLANC, Marlborough, New Zealand, ($13)
Description: Aromatic bouquet of lime, mango and kiwi; citrus and pine-apple flavor.
Rating: E
Pairs with … Sesame chicken, kung pao shrimp, twice-cooked pork, spicy beef with orange peel, vegetable fried rice.
2001 LAGER DE CERVERA ALBARINO, Rias Baixas, Spain ($13)
Description: Crisp, rich and oily with mineral notes; smells of the sea; modest 12 percent alcohol.
Rating: VG
Pairs with … Barbecue baby back ribs, twice-cooked pork, spicy beef with orange peel, vegetable fried rice. Not recommended with sesame chicken.
2002 FIRESTONE VINEYARD RIESLING, Central Coast, California ($9)
Description: Pleasantly sweet (off-dry) with honeysuckle aroma, apricot and apple tastes and a long finish tinged with minerals.
Rating: G
Barbecue baby back ribs, sesame chicken, spicy beef with orange peel.
Pairs with … Not recommended with kung pao shrimp, twice-cooked pork or vegetable fried rice.
2001 REX-GOLIATH PINOT NOIR, Central Coast, California ($8)
Description: Deeper color and more complex nose than the Beaujolais; aromas of black pepper, black cherry and olive; ripe fruit flavor fills mouth; wine is full-bodied and a little heavy for a pinot.
Rating: G
Pairs with … Barbecue baby back ribs, kung pao shrimp, twice-cooked pork, vegetable fried rice. Not recommended with sesame chicken or spicy beef with orange peel.
2002 ALICE WHITE CABERNET-SHIRAZ, South Eastern Australia ($10 for 1.5 liter bottle)
Description: Wine is bright ruby with a ripe cherry/raspberry nose; tastes of lollipop fruit with black pepper and cassis notes.
Rating: G
Pairs with … Sesame chicken. Not recommended with barbecue baby back ribs, kung pao shrimp, twice-cooked pork , spicy beef with orange peel or vegetable fried rice.
2002 LOUIS JADOT BEAUJOLAIS VILLAGES, BURGUNDY, FRANCE ($8)
Description: Ripe cherry-berry aroma; pretty color; fruity but not sweet and finish is austere; lacks charm.
Rating: NSG
Pairs with … Not recommended with barbecue baby back ribs, sesame chicken, kung pao shrimp, twice-cooked pork, spicy beef with orange peel or vegetable fried rice.
Ratings: E: excellent, VG: very good, G: good and NSG: not so good.
