Wine and Chinese Food
Pairings Suggested by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
I
learned to pair wine with Chinese food in an unlikely location; outside
Stuttgart, Germany at the King’s Palace Restaurant in downtown Vaihingen.
One
of the major industries of Stuttgart besides cars (Mercedes-Benz and Porsche
production) and chocolate (Ritter-Sport) is Riesling wine production. Stuttgart is part of the traditional region
of Swabia, which is located next to Alsace, France with that region’s
Rieslings, Gewürztraminers, and light sparkling wines called crémants.
My
husband Laurent and I shopped in Strasbourg, Alsace at least once a month to
purchase Alsatian wine when we lived in Stuttgart. We also took extended vacations in Burgundy
to purchase Pinot Noirs and Beaujolais.
All
these wines match up well with different Chinese dishes.
The
6 wine varietals I will use for wine pairing follow:
-Dry
Riesling
-Riesling
-Gewürztraminer
-Pinot
Gris (Pinot Grigio)
-Beaujolais
(Gamay varietal)
-Pinot
Noir
I
have used Ken Hom’s Complete Chinese
Cookbook as a reference for matching restaurant recipes with these wines.
The
first bit of wine pairing advice Ken Hom gives is that Shaoxing rice wine,
which resembles sherry, goes best with Chinese food. Later, however, he concedes that dry whites
and light reds go with Chinese food.
I
have added gewürztraminer to this list, because it is dry and fruity in Alsace
despite being a little heavy on residual sugar elsewhere. (Some people would like this sugary taste to
go with pork dishes, especially those people who eat pork chops with applesauce
or braised red cabbage – rotkohl.)
To
start I would mention that rosé goes well with the diversity of dishes offered
at dim sum brunches. Rosé can stand up
to the vinegar used in many dipping sauces for various dim sum. (See The
Dim Sum Field Guide: A Taxonomy of Dumplings, Buns, Meats, Sweets, and Other
Specialties of the Chinese Teahouse by Carolyn Phillips for illustrations
and recipes for dim sum favorites.)
I
recommend trying the following dishes with the following wines:
-
Dry Riesling
1
- Honeyglazed Pork
2
– Roast Crispy Pork Belly
3
– Cashew Chicken
4
– Lemon Chicken
5
– Walnut Chicken
-
Riesling
1
– Pork with Black Bean Sauce
2
– Fried Fish with Garlic and Green Onions
3
– Steamed Fish Cantonese Style
4
– Steamed Salmon with Black Beans
5
– Mango Shrimp
-
Gewürztraminer
1
– Chili Pork Spareribs
2
– Steamed Pork with Spicy Vegetables
3
– Barbecued Pot Roast
4
– Cold Beijing Pork
5
– Steam Pork Loaf
-
Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio)
1
– Shrimp with Honey-Glazed Walnuts
2
– Crab Casserole in a Clay Pot
3
– Sichuan-style Scallops
4
– Stir-fried Squid with Vegetables
5
– Stir-fried Broccoli with hoisin sauce
-
Beaujolais (Gamay varietal)
1
– Mongolian Hot Pot
2
– Yunnan Steamed Chicken
3
– Barbecued Quails
4
– Beef in Oyster Sauce
5
– Stir-fried Pepper Beef with Snow Peas
-
Pinot Noir
1
- Crispy Sichuan Duck (mild spices)
2
– Cantonese Roast Duck
3
– Eight Jewel Duck
4
– Braised Duck
5
– Stir-Fried Lamb with Garlic (with beef this becomes Mongolian beef)
Note
– Cabernet Sauvignon also goes well with Chinese duck dishes that are not too
spicy.
The
wine pairings here are my suggestions based on being surrounded by some of the
best white wines to go with Chinese food in Stuttgart, Germany. Trips to France added the Burgundy reds
(Pinot Noir varietal) and Beaujolais (Gamay varietal) to Germany’s Rieslings.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
