Review by Richard Sumrall
At one time or another we've all faced
the same situation: how to choose the right wine to go with the food
you are serving or ordering. In her book "How to Match Food and
Wine," author Fiona Beckett takes the guesswork out of this
potentially awkward situation with her recommendations for matching
a great bottle of wine with a particular cuisine. Why are some wines
better suited than others for certain dishes? According to Beckett
there are several reasons:
In considering food flavors Beckett
discusses the six important flavors that are influential in wine
selection:
- Salt -- Whites generally
complement foods containing a salty flavor.
- Sour, sharp -- It's sometimes
difficult to match a wine to these flavors. Wines with a higher
acidity tend to work better.
- Savory -- Savory foods are
usually best served with a medium to full-bodied red wine.
- Smoky -- Smoked foods require a
wine powerful enough to cope with their strong flavors.
- Sweet -- Sweetness can make a
wine seem drier. Always serve a wine sweeter than the dessert.
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Eating
around the world
Beckett cautions that selecting a wine
for a cuisine is not always a simple task. Although it's easy when
the wine accompanies French, Italian or German food, it becomes more
difficult for a culture whose cuisine has no established wine
tradition. For example:
The remainder of the book, "Greatest
Hits," is an easy-to-use guide that matches the appropriate wine
with your favorite foods. The handy arrangement includes suggestions
for soups, salads, eggs, pastas, rice, fish, meats, chicken and
birds, vegetables, fruits, seasonings, desserts, and cheeses.
"How to
Match Food and Wine" is an easy-to-use reference that takes the
guesswork out of wine and food combinations. In the introduction
Beckett writes: "Matching food with wine is not quite like matching
a pair of shoes or socks. There's no right or wrong about it, it's
just that some combinations are more enjoyable than others." This
book is recommended for connoisseurs of good living and those of us
who want to become better educated about the proper selection of
wine.
[Richard Sumrall,
Lincoln
Public Library District]
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