Pairing Food & Wine For Dummies®
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Table of Contents
About This BookConventions Used in This BookWhat You’re Not to ReadFoolish AssumptionsHow This Book Is OrganizedPart I: Appreciating the Marriage of Food and Wine: The Nose KnowsPart II: The Nuts and Bolts: Developing Strategies for Food and Wine PairingPart III: Sorting Out the World of WinePart IV: Uncovering the Best Wine Bets with World Cuisine (and Cheese)Part V: Party Time! Pairing with Friends . . . and ProfessionalsPart VI: The Part of TensIcons Used in this BookWhere to Go from Here
Chapter 1: The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of the PartsWhy Pairing Wine with Food Really MattersFocusing on What Makes a Good PairingRules? What rules?Relying on the sensesZooming in on some basic strategiesEyeing some simple practices when pairingAging wineServing like a sommelierUnderstanding Wines: Just a Quick OverviewApplying the Rules: Pairing Food and Wine around the WorldLooking at Your WorldWhen you dine outWhen you dine inChapter 2: How People Smell, Taste, and Touch Food and WineGetting a Quick Lowdown: The Basics of Smelling and TastingUnderstanding How You SmellFollowing the path of aromatic moleculesPaying attention to all the aromasLinking aromas and wineExamining How You TasteNaming the five sensesKnowing why you know what you likeLinking taste and wineTouching Plays an Important Role When Pairing Food and WineTapping into your tactile sensationsHelping you detect texture: Your trigeminal nerveDealing with the burn of chiles and other spicy foodsSeeing How Repeated Exposure Can Dull Your Awareness of Flavors: AdaptationUnderstanding Pleasure: Loving Your DopamineExpecting pleasure is almost as good as the real thingGiving taste a chanceAcquiring a tasteChapter 3: Introducing Food and Wine: A Classic Couple with Ups and DownsTasting Food and Wine Together: The How-ToRinsing and refreshing between bitesTasting and drinking at the same timeGrabbing a Bottle and ExperimentingWorking the experimentRecognizing what you experiencePutting Food and Wine Together: Four OutcomesThe Switzerland: Staying neutralNot a pretty picture — the natural disasterOne outshines the other: The solo spotlightPure heaven: The magical duet
Chapter 4: Food and Wine Pairing 101: Getting It Right (Most of the Time)Recognizing That Pairing Is PersonalRealizing your taste preferences: What was in your lunchbox?Recognizing that meddling rational sideStarting with what you likeChoosing Which Comes First: The Wine or Food?Matching Food to Wine: The WinoForgetting the grape and going with styleKnowing what to expect from a bottle you’ve never triedMatching Wine to Food: The FoodieDetermining the primary or dominant component of the dishRemembering the sauces, condiments, or side dishesCooking up different methodsTouching on texture: Making wines softer and smootherFinding flavor harmonyIdentifying the Contrast or Complement: Well, Thank You Very MuchMatching versus contrasting texturesMirroring textureContrasting textureMatching versus contrasting flavorsHarmonizing flavorsDiverging flavorsDealing With Multiple Dishes on the Table versus Successive CoursesBeing aware of palate fatigueOrdering the wines for a dinnerReferencing Some Handy Guidelines for Your Quick PerusalFight in your weight categoryAcidity needs acidityFish oils love acidity but hate tanninsTannins love fat and saltTannins and spice, not so niceAcidity cuts saltinessSweets need sweetsBeware the oak treeHigh alcohol + spicy = fireSpicy + sugar = no (or minimal) fireChapter 5: Focusing on the Food: Flavor, Aroma, and Taste HarmonyConsidering Taste First: Picking Out the Main SensationsSalty stuffSweet thingsBitter bitesSour and tart sourcesSavory (umami) substancesPiquant performersConsidering Aroma and Flavor: Identifying Everyone in the FamilyPlaying food and wine by ear, the old fashioned wayGoing from trial and error to scienceLivening It Up with the Parsley Family: Fresh Fine HerbsFocusing on parsley family herbsExamining spices in the parsley familyGoing for the veggies, greens, and fruits in the parsley familySinging with the parsley family: White and red winesRockin’ with the Terpene Family: Resinous Herbs and MoreNaming terpene herbs, spices, and flowersNaming terpene spices and edible flowersIdentifying terpene fruits, veggies, and proteinsFocusing on grapes and wines that complement the terpene familyGroovin’ with the Sotolone Family, the Aromatic Equivalent of UmamiEyeing sotolone-rich and complementary foodsConsidering wines that go with sotoloneChapter 6: Considering Regional and Historical Angles for Pairing Food and WineFocusing on Regions: Where the Wine Was GrownWhat grows together goes togetherCounting on the wisdom of the ages, guided by experienceIdentifying Some Classic Pairings to Help You StartBubbles and oystersSweets and bluesCabs and slabsZesty reds and pizzaPinot and duckChapter 7: Age Isn’t Just a Number: Age and Pairing RulesUnderstanding How Wine MaturesAging wine: What happensDetermining whether you like them old or youngThe Pillars of Age-ability: Figuring Out Whether to Keep or Drink NowKnowing How Long Wines Can Be Kept after They’re OpenedObserving open bottlesKeeping those open bottlesServing Mature Wines with FoodChapter 8: Serving Wine: Essential Strategies to FollowKnowing When: Serving Wine in the Appropriate OrderServing Wine at Its Intended TemperatureMaximizing the wine’s aromatics: The smellFocusing on texture and tasteServing sweet and sparkling winesGetting temperature right if you don’t live in a castleUsing the Right GlasswareIs it all in the mind? Perception is powerfulEyeing your three basic stemware needsDecanting or Not DecantingUnderstanding what decanting doesDecanting like a pro: What you needKnowing what to decant
Chapter 9: Going with Dry Whites and RosésUnderstanding the Different Styles of White WineEyeing the lightweights: Crisp and leanAromatic, fruity, or more assertiveFull-bodied, wood-agedGetting a Lowdown on Versatile Dry RosésThe bloody typeThe serious typeShopping for dry roséBringing Food and White/ Dry Rosé Wine TogetherChapter 10: Turning toward Dry RedsSizing Up Red Wine: What Makes Red Wine Different from White WineComprehending the Styles of Red WinesLight-bodied, bright, zesty, low tanninsMedium-full bodied, balanced, moderately tannicFull, deep and robust, turbocharged, with chewy textureKnowing What Foods Work Well with Red WinesChapter 11: Scoping Out the Sparkling with BubblesPicking the Grapes and Places that Make the Best Sparkling WineUnderstanding How Bubbles Get InTouting the traditional methodCharmatHeading back in time: The ancestral methodInjecting carbon dioxideReading the Label: What the Names Really MeanPairing Sparkling Wines with FoodChapter 12: Perusing Off-Dry, Sweet, and Fortified WinesIdentifying the Sensation of SweetnessDistinguishing between real sweetness and impression of sweetnessKnowing how sweet is sweetMaking a Wine SweetStopping the fermentationLate harvestingDrying: passito styleAdding alcohol: FortificationAdding something sweetSelecting Foods to Go with Sweet WinesNot just for dessertBut also for dessert
Chapter 13: Heading to the Mediterranean: Land of Olive OilHeading to Southern Italy and the IslandsSalads and startersPrimi: The first coursePizza: An infinite varietySecondi: Main coursesDolci: DessertsPairing Wine with Southern French FoodSalads and startersMain coursesDessertsDabbling in Spain and Spanish CuisineTapas/pintxos and appetizersSoups and stewsMain dishesDessertsPassing through Portugal: Portuguese FoodFish and seafoodMain dishesDessertsGoing to the Greek IslesMezes: Tapas, Greek styleMain coursesDessertsChapter 14: Staying Close to Home: North America FoodEating InformallyClassic sandwichesBurgers and dogsMac ‘n’ meatloafCal goes ItalHeading Home for the HolidaysTurkeys and hamsPrime rib and lambGetting Messy with Southern-Style BBQHog heavenSteering in the right direction’Cueing up the chickenHeading to N’awlins: Cajun/Creole CountryRajun’ CajunThe Creole effectCreole sweetsBlending Texas with Mexico: Tex-MexTexas Style: Chili, nachos, and fajitasBaja California Dreamin’West Coast: Pacific Northwest CuisineDown by the seashoreGot game?O Canada: Going North of the BorderLe QuebecoisOntario and the PrairiesChapter 15: Warming Up to Northern Europe: Land of Butter and Animal FatBonjour: Looking At Northern France and Its CuisineDifferentiating between northern and southern French cookingSatisfying soups and sandwichesMeat, poultry, and gameFish and shellfishDesserts — a visit to the patisserieScoping Out Northern Italy and Its FoodSoupsPasta, gnocchi, polenta, and risottoMeat, poultry, and gameFish and seafoodDesserts — the dolci effectGoing Germanic with German CuisineCured meats — sausages and forcemeatsSalads and fondueMeat, fowl, and gameDessertsJolly Good! Eating in the United Kingdom and British CuisineBrunching in the British IslesTraditional holiday mealsMeat, fish, and gameDessertsChapter 16: Venturing to Eastern Europe: Those Lovely Light DishesConsidering Poland and Polish FoodSoups and startersMain coursesDessertsScoping Out Hungary and Hungarian EdiblesSoups and stewsMain coursesDessertsChapter 17: Bringing On the Spice: AsiaDelving Into Southeast AsiaStarters, soups, salads, satay, sambalRice, noodles, stir-frys, and laksaCurries and stewsSweets, pastries, and dessertsDelving Into Mainland Southeast AsiaSnacks and street foodsSoups, salads, and sandwichesCurries, noodles, and riceMeat, fish, and gameSweets, pastries, and dessertsFocusing on China and Regional Chinese CuisineEyeing the flavors of Szechuan (Sichuan) cuisineEyeing the flavors of Cantonese cuisineEyeing the flavors of Beijing (Mandarin) cuisineEyeing the flavors of Hunan cuisineA word on wine with Chinese CuisineDim sum, snacks, and soupsPoultry and meatFish and seafoodRice and noodlesVegetable-based dishesVenturing to Japan and Japanese CuisineMaki sushi, nigiri sushi, and sashimiRice and noodlesIzakaya cuisine: Tempura, robata, yakitori, kushiyakiSweets and dessertsSampling Korea and Korean OfferingsRice, porridge, and noodlesKorean barbeque and braised dishesLooking Closer at the Indian SubcontinentA word on wine with foods of the subcontinentTiffin: Light meals and snacksCurriesVegetables and legumesRices and grainsSweets, desserts, and pastriesChapter 18: Visiting the Land of Chiles: Mexico and South AmericaGoing South across the Border: MexicoAppetizers: Soups, salads and startersMeat and seafoodStarches, legumes, grains, and vegetablesDesserts and sweetsSouth America: Land of Potatoes, Avocados, Raw Fish, and Grass-Fed BeefSoups, ceviche, salads, and startersMeat and seafoodEmpanadas, arepas, and other snacksVegetables, starches, and grainsDesserts and sweetsChapter 19: Sampling the Flavors of the Middle East and North AfricaSampling the Flavors of the Fertile CrescentStarters, soups, and appetizersMeatsVegetables, grains, and riceSweet confectionsSampling the Flavors of Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, and TunisiaStarters, soups, and appetizersMeat, fish, and gameVegetables, starches, and grainsThe sweet shopChapter 20: The Classic Pairing: Wine and CheeseWine and Cheese: The Complex and Paradoxical RelationshipAppreciating the complexity of cheeseMatching with soft, fresh cheesesMatching with goat’s cheeseMatching with soft, bloomy rind cheeseMatching with soft, washed rind cheeseMatching with semi-soft cheesesMatching with semi-hard and hard cheesesMatching with blue-veined cheesesSetting Up for a Wine and Cheese PartyDoing wine and cheese without the fuss: The casual affairFussing for the right wine and cheese matches
Chapter 21: Dining Out: Finding Places That Appreciate WineKnowing How to Spot Wine- Savvy RestaurantsLooking for wine cues on the walk-bySpotting the danger signsReading a Wine List: What a Casino and Restaurant Have in CommonDon’t play (or drink) kenoSeek the unknownKnow what’s supposed to sell, and avoid itBuy localSteer clear of Monte CarloSlow-paced dining = higher house edgeEducate yourself to improve the oddsRelying on Your Sommelier/ServerKnowing what to ask the sommelierSpotting the ruse: Warning signsChapter 22: Dining In: Becoming the Perfect HostMatching Your Guests with WineSelecting wines for the large affairsBuying for the intimate gathering of friends or familyBringing wine to someone’s houseDeciding On Quantity and ColorStand-up cocktail parties and receptionsSit-down mealsGetting down the red-to-white ratioRecognizing the Effects of AlcoholCalculating your BACObserving the effects of alcoholChapter 23: So You Want to Be a SommelierKnowing What a Sommelier Is All about in Today’s WorldSeeing the possibilities of being a sommelierComparing sommelier versus master sommelierGrasping the Hard Work: Details and More DetailsBefore pouring your first glass: In the beginningClimbing the four levels of qualification for the Court of Master SommeliersTraveling, Tasting, and Eating: The Not-So-Hard WorkTraveling the wine regions of the worldEating and drinking with care
Chapter 24: Ten Food-Friendly WinesUnoaked ChardonnaySauvignon BlancPinot Gris (Pinot Grigio)RieslingChampagnePinot NoirGamayBarberaValpolicellaDry RoséChapter 25: Ten Foods That Flatter WineRoast BeefWild Mushroom RisottoBraised Red MeatRoast Game BirdsParmesan or Aged Manchego CheesesHerb-Roasted ChickenVeal Schnitzel or ScaloppiniScallops, Lobster, and LangoustinesRabbit Braised in White Wine and SageGourmet Grilled Cheese
Pairing Food & Wine For Dummies®
Pairing Food & Wine For Dummies®
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Szabo, John
Pairing Food & Wine For Dummies / John Szabo.
Includes index.
Issued also in an electronic format.
ISBN 978-1-11839-9-57-6
1. Food and wine pairing.
2. Wine and wine making. I. Title.
TP548.S98 2012 641.2’2 C2012-902743-X
ISBN 978-1-118-39957-6 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-41427-9 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-41428-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-41430-9 (ebk)
Printed in the United States
1 2 3 4 5 RRD 15 14 13 12 11 10
About the Author
John Szabo is the original Canadian master sommelier, earning the credentials in 2004, and is one of only 200 worldwide today. When not eating and drinking (professionally), he writes and reviews wines for WineAlign.com, NationalPost.com, TorontoStandard.com, Maclean’s Canadian Wine Guide, Wine Access Magazine, Grapevine Magazine, and is wine editor for Toronto’s CityBites Magazine.
John keeps his sommelier skills sharp as consulting wine director for the Trump Tower Toronto and for Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, among other projects. And just to make sure all angles are covered and his experience well rounded, he owns a vineyard in Eger, Hungary, the J&J Eger Wine Co., where he makes small quantities of food friendly Kékfrankos. As a holder of a third degree black belt in Goju-ryu karate, his grapes are well protected, too.
Dedication
For my wife, Alexandra, and my children Esmai and Julius, who supported long hours of writing, regular absence, and hundreds of bottles of wine on the table each week as I looked for that perfect match.
Author Acknowledgments
No book is ever the product of a single person (not the good ones, anyhow). To list all the people with whom I’ve shared great, and not so great, moments of food and wine over the last 20 years, and from whom I’ve learned pretty much everything I know would take a separate book to list. But let them all be acknowledged here; food and wine come together in company, and rarely when one’s alone.
I owe many thanks to Anam Ahmed, Acquisitions Editor for Wiley, who had the confidence to engage me in the first place, as well as my editor Chad Sievers, who miraculously turned my twisted phrases and convoluted thoughts into readable text, and who pointed out many gaps, shortcomings, and incomplete ideas in the manuscript that I did my best to clarify. I would also have been buried in an avalanche of cookbooks (or lost in the surf on the Internet) were it not for chef, author, and repository of knowledge on world cuisine, Michael Pataran. Michael contributed the lion’s share of research into the traditional dishes from around the world that make up Part IV of this book, and his experience, particularly with eating and drinking Asian food, was invaluable.
Heartfelt thanks to my technical editor, author, and master sommelier Evan Goldstein, who was ever on hand to question, comment, and guide my ideas with his extensive knowledge on the subject of food and wine. No food and wine lovers should do without his two books, Perfect Pairings and Daring Pairings.
When things got a little hazy on the physiological side of tasting in Chapter 2, I was blessed to have Gary Pickering, PhD, Professor of Biological Sciences and Psychology and Research Scientist at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, to look to for answers. Dr. Pickering is one of the world’s foremost experts on supertasters, and if you want to find out if you’re among them, go to his site at www.supertasting.com to test yourself.
I also owe sincere thanks to Wojciech Bonkówski, editor of the Polish Wine Guide (www.polishwineguide.com), who kindly ensured that my pairing suggestions with Polish food would not get me into trouble in Warsaw, as well as Bill Zacharkiw, wine columnist for the Montreal Gazette, who kindly shared the results of many of his legendary sessions on food and wine compatibility. I’d also like to mention François Chartier, a Québec-based sommelier and author of Taste Buds and Molecules: The Art and Science of Food with Wine, who’s innovative line of inquiry has revolutionized the business of food and wine pairing. It’s to him I owe the inspiration for the explorations on flavor harmony in Chapter 4.
And finally, all these ideas would have remained bottled up if I had nowhere to write them down. Aside from countless cafés, restaurants, libraries, foreign and domestic, I’d like to thank Domaine Pearl-Morissette in Niagara for putting me up during long writing sessions, as well as Marco Petrucci of 99 Sudbury in Toronto, who graciously allowed me to use his event space as an office when needed.
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Introduction
People have been eating and drinking wine together for as long as wine has been around. You don’t need any special knowledge to do it. In the very early days, people didn’t have much choice either; they ate and drank whatever was at hand — wine wasn’t easy to ship and spoiled quickly. Yet over time, as the availability of wine grew and people could make choices, certain combinations of wine and food were clearly more pleasing than others. Early epicureans sought to understand what made those combinations work (so they could be repeated), and the business of food and wine pairing was born.
In the meantime, the standard approach has moved from a handful of rigid rules to complete food and wine anarchy, and back again to a sensible middle ground, where curiosity and creativity have as much a place as any orthodoxy. Pairing Food & Wine For Dummies comes at a time when the understanding of how you sense things and experience enjoyment has never been deeper. The scientific and hedonistic sides of food and wine pairing coexist in harmony today and support one another. The way I look at it, you can have a lot more fun today than ever before.
What’s more, you’re living in a world where the choice of wine and diversity of cuisine has never been greater. There are the classic regional food and wine matches to follow, but they won’t help you much when you venture into cuisines not traditionally associated with wine nor in selecting dishes to match wines from new growing regions or unfamiliar grapes.
That’s why Pairing Food & Wine For Dummies is your handy reference that covers the subject from every possible angle that I could think of, drawing on science, experience, inspiration, and endless inquisitiveness.
About This Book
This book takes on a big challenge: how to relay practical information about a complex subject to as broad an audience as possible, from first-timers getting their feet wet to seasoned pros looking to fill in some knowledge gaps. Plenty of other books are out there on the subject of food and wine pairing, but what makes Pairing Food & Wine For Dummies unique and helpful is its adaptability to different readers. I don’t dictate a single strategy for getting it right, but I offer the approaches I know for making food and wine magic. That is, you’re free to engage on whatever level you’re comfortable with.
If you have a deep cellar but little experience in the kitchen, or you’re handy with a knife but shy away from the corkscrew, this book provides some tips to get you started. If you’re already a pro and want to delve into the technical details of sensory exploration or the psychology of pleasure, you can find that information in these pages, de-jargoned as far as possible. Or, if all you need is a quick answer on what to drink tonight with your dinner (sometimes people are just hungry and thirsty), I include that information as well.
This book also differs from others in its greater emphasis on cuisines that were once thought unsuitable for wine. It’s true that Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latin American foods, for example, didn’t really grow up with wine, and whichever old world, traditional wines that may have been available at the time that such a conclusion was arrived at probably weren’t great matches, but the world has changed, and more wines and wine styles are available than ever before. Every dish has its match somewhere in the vast world of modern wine. If your mind is open, you can find something.
Be forewarned that I’m not one of the demystifyers, those who think that the subject should be dumbed down to the point of triviality. As you know, Dummies readers are no dummies; they’re clever people who want straight answers to important questions, presented in an easy-to-read, no-nonsense format. The wine and food world is mystical, and it should be celebrated, not simplified. That’s what makes it so fascinating, so I dive headlong into the details and do my best to deliver the answers you want in as clear a manner as possible.
Regretfully, the scope of this book doesn’t allow for investigations into beer, spirits, sake, cocktail, or any other beverage pairings. As a sommelier, I’m naturally inclined to be open to (and personally enjoy) any and all beverages. I know that there are brilliant pairings to be had with drinks other than wine, and sometimes wine is not the best match. But I’ll leave that discussion for another time.
Conventions Used in This Book
For the sake of clarity, I use the following conventions in this book to help you:
I use italics to point out new terms, but don’t worry about not knowing what they mean because I provide basic definitions close by.
I use boldface to highlight keywords in numbered lists.
I use monofont to highlight websites. If you want to check out any of the web addresses from this book, just type exactly what you see. I didn’t insert any extra characters (like hyphens) when an address went onto a second line.
The names of grape varieties, appellations, and geographical names are capitalized.
Strictly speaking, flavor and aroma are the same thing, and I use the two interchangeably, or together, throughout the text. The usual distinction is that aroma is used to refer to smells that are sensed directly through the nose, while flavor refers to what you can smell via the retronasal passage in your mouth. As for taste, when I refer to taste, I refer to the specific sensations of salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and savory (umami) that can be sensed by your taste buds. Taste doesn’t refer to flavor.
What You’re Not to Read
I know you are busy, juggling all the bottles of life. So feel free to skip the sidebars, which are the shaded boxes of text that contain information that’s nonessential to understanding how to pair wine and food. The sidebars are optional, but I think you’ll find them too fascinating to miss.
Foolish Assumptions
While writing this book (and conducting all the heavy-duty research and grueling experimentation), here’s what I assumed about you, the reader:
You care about what you consume.
You enjoy food and wine, and engage in their consumption at least occasionally, maybe even frequently.
You have an open mind and are keen to experiment with your senses.
You enjoy discovering new flavors.
You don’t think that enjoying food and wine together is pretentious hogwash, or maybe you do, and whoever bought this book for you just wanted to prove to you that taking a little more pleasure in drinking and eating isn’t really all that bad an idea — nobody gets hurt.
You’ve heard of at least a few grape varieties like Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, and know that many places around the world make different wines in different styles.
The really keen among you have a book dedicated to wine on your bookshelf, maybe even the excellent reference, the latest version of Wine For Dummies by Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing Mulligan (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.).
How This Book Is Organized
This book is designed to be a reference text that I hope you’ll keep somewhere in the kitchen and thumb through regularly, whenever you’re wondering what to drink. Eventually, when the training wheels are off, you won’t need to read it anymore. The parts are as follows.
Part I: Appreciating the Marriage of Food and Wine: The Nose Knows
Part I of this book starts with an overview of what you can find in the rest of it. It then delves into the senses, how they physically work, and how your mind grasps the concept of pleasure. You can also find some practical experiments that can change the way you think about food and wine, and get you started on the road to enjoying the two of them together more often.
Part II: The Nuts and Bolts: Developing Strategies for Food and Wine Pairing
This meaty part contains five chapters packed with basic information about how food and wine work, or don’t work, together. It includes all the basic theories, handy guidelines, and best practices to get you started, including how to serve wine like a pro.
Part III: Sorting Out the World of Wine
This part slices up the world of wine into a few manageable style categories — the basic starting point when considering what to drink with any dish. I use these categories throughout the book in order to avoid endless repetition of multiple grapes and regions that all produce more or less the same style of wine. It’s a top-down approach.
Part IV: Uncovering the Best Wine Bets with World Cuisine (and Cheese)
This is where you go to find the best, and alternative, wine style matches for a wide range of worldly familiar and traditional dishes, as well as a variety of cheeses. I provide classic local wine pairings with dishes from regions where wine is produced — what a local sommelier would likely propose. I also discuss some culinary influences, cooking techniques, and ingredients. I discuss areas from the Mediterranean, North America, northern and central Europe, southern Europe, Asia, Latin America, Middle Eastern, and Northern African cuisine. I also discuss pairing wine with cheese.
Part V: Party Time! Pairing with Friends . . . and Professionals
This part deals with some important practical matters, such as finding the best places to dine out, reading a wine list, dealing with a sommelier, and hosting a party. This part even includes a chapter on what a sommelier is and how to become one, just in case you’re interested.
Part VI: The Part of Tens
The Part of Tens is popular in all For Dummies books. Here you can find two chapters: one with ten wine-friendly foods and one with ten food-friendly wines.
Icons Used in this Book
Throughout the text, you see icons in the book’s margins that alert you to certain types of information. Here’s a glossary of those terms and what they mean:
This icon points you to practical suggestions for implementing the recommendations offered on a given subject.
This icon reminds you of important things to think about or do when considering the material being discussed.
When you see this icon, pay attention because you need to avoid something or keep your eyes open for something that could dampen your pairing.
Where to Go from Here
Like all For Dummies books, this one is designed to be modular; each chapter stands on its own and doesn’t require that you read any of the other chapters to grasp the information. I provide cross references if certain concepts are more deeply explored in another chapter.
If you’re an absolute newcomer to food and wine pairing, you may want to start at the beginning. If you’ve cracked a few corks in your day and want to fine-tune the selection process, you can dive in at any point in the book: starting with the wine, starting with the food, examining some classic regional pairings, and understanding why they work, delving into the world of sensory perception, or perhaps simply looking up a match with an unfamiliar dish. If you’re not sure, flip through the index or table of contents and find a topic that interests you.
This book also doesn’t contain detailed information about wines and winemaking, nor foods, cooking techniques, or recipes. In order to clarify some aspects of how food and wine work together, I do cover some of the basics. Even if you’ve never cooked and your knowledge of wine ends at fermented grape juice, you can still find tons of useful information on how to get more enjoyment out of each. Jump in wherever you like; you can take your own journey, stopping at the places relevant to you along the way. You’ll likely come back for repeat visits. That’s the way it works in the world of food and wine.
Part I
Appreciating the Marriage of Food and Wine: The Nose Knows
In this part . . .
This part introduces you to the contents of this book. It gets you started on understanding how your senses work, and how to put those senses into action when it’s time to eat and drink wine.
Chapter 1 is the gateway: It gives you a little taste of what you can find in each of the parts and chapters of the book. Chapter 2 is for the hedonist in you, who wants to understand how the senses actually work. Just how do people smell and taste, what tricks does the mind play on you, and how does previous experience sway your preferences? It’s packed with lots of information, so you probably want a glass of wine close at hand.
And when you’re ready to dive into the action, Chapter 3 formally introduces you to food and wine. You can embark on some practical experimentation that may change the way you think about eating and drinking.