Braised Pork Belly Coconut Curry Noodle Soup Paired with 2010 Bin 106 Twisted River Germany Gewürztraminer

Had I not conceived of this recipe and was simply reading it, I would not be able to resist.  Pork belly – gotta love a pork fat foundation!  Curry – yes!  Then the we arrive at the holy combination of curry and coconut milk.  Add to this a beautiful suite of textures, and I am sold.

I realize that Christmas is just a few days away, and this menu and pairing has no resemblance to anything you may be considering for your Christmas feast.  On the other hand, many of my friends and relatives have holiday traditions that include atypical routines for Christmas Eve and New Year’s celebrations.  This may give you some inspiration for your non-traditional, er, holiday traditions.

With the principal flavors coming from the curry, cumin, and richness of the coconut milk and pork belly, the clear choice of a pairing was an off-dry white to balance the strong spices and sufficient acidity to balance the richness of the coconut milk and pork belly.  In this case I chose the 2010 Bin 106 Twisted River Germany Gewürztraminer.  This wine adeptly met our acidity requirements and offered intense pear and apricot flavors that complemented the dish nicely.  The bright fruit and light sweetness balanced the intense flavors of the curry nicely and made for a wonderful pairing.

I don’t have much of a history with Gewürztraminer, but found that the 2010 Bin 106 Twisted River Germany Gewürztraminer lived up to my expectations of big aromas, off-dry, and intense fruit flavors.  When thinking of Asian cuisine, Riesling comes to mind immediately and almost always provides a good pairing experience.  I will now add Gewürztraminer to my decision process – particularly when looking for more prominent fruit flavors.

I may post again before Christmas, but if by chance I do not, I would like to wish you a very merry Christmas.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 3/4 pounds pork belly
• 3/4 pounds pork chop (or other cut of pork - your choice)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 diced onions
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup (or so) chicken stock
• Japanese noodles (we used Chuka Soba, but any noodle such as rice noodles or udon noodles will work equally well
• 1 red bell pepper
• 4 ounces fresh bean sprouts
• Cilantro
• Sriracha Chile Sauce
• 4 tablespoons hot madras curry powder
• 1 can coconut milk
• 4 cups julienned napa cabbage
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 dup crushed peanuts
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• Dash of fish sauce
• Green onions (2 bunches)
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms

Preparation

1. Heat olive oil in a braising pot or Dutch oven - sear pork belly and pork chop. Remove and reserve.
2. Brown one diced onion, and 2 cups napa cabbage with cumin, ginger, and curry, and 1 tablespoon minced garlic in braising pot over medium-high heat.
3. Return pork belly and pork chop to braising pot, add mushrooms and chicken stock to just below the top of the meat.
4. Cover and place in preheated oven at 220 degrees F for three hours.
5. Remove pork from the braising pot and set aside.
6. To the braising liquid, add 1/2 red pepper (chopped), 2 cups napa cabbage, and let cook over medium low heat for 20 minutes.
7. Strain liquid and put back in braising pot with coconut milk. Adjust seasoning as desired.
8. In a small sauce pan, add soy sauce, fish sauce, mirin, and brown sugar. Reduce by 1/2 over medium-high heat.
9. Brush pork belly and pork chop with the soy reduction and place under broiler for two minutes.
10. Remove pork from broiler and cut the pork belly into 3/4 inch cubes. Shred the pork chop.
11. Cook noodles according to directions for the noodles you choose.
12. In a large bowl, add the noodles and the strained braising liquid. Add the pork, then top with bean sprouts, green onions, julienned napa cabbage and red pepper.
13. Cover bowl and let steam for five minutes.
14. Garnish with cilantro and peanuts, serve with sriracha chile sauce on the side.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig

Udon Noodle Soup with Thai Curry Paired with 2008 Frei Brothers Reserve Russian River Valley Chardonnay

For the faithful followers of my humble little blog (thanks to all of you!), it will come as no surprise that I speak frankly about the recipes, wines, and pairings.  This honesty unquestionably extends to the less than pleasant surprises as well as the happy coincidences.  I do this in the firm belief that we learn as much from our failures as we do from our successes.  And with that prelude, on with the story.

This pairing occurred on the Friday night of Memorial Day weekend 2011.  Chef Sue was able to get away from the office early so we could extend the holiday weekend.  Chef Sue was able to leave DC for our secret Potomac lair a day in advance of my arrival.  Before I left DC, I selected four wines from the Cavernous Corl Wine Cellar, thankful I could remember the cypher lock code and my DNA had not been altered since the last update of the biometric security system.  I called Chef Sue and gave her my selections and asked that she consider some pairing dishes.

Chef Sue was inspired and decided on a Japanese – Thai fusion of udon noodle soup mashed up with a thai red curry coconut sauce with chicken.  This dish was selected for pairing with 2008 Frei Brothers Reserve Russian River Valley Chardonnay.  When Chef Sue announced the pairing, my mind started quietly raising the red flags – silently of course.  In general, Chardonnay does not have the big fruit, sweetness and acidity to stand up to a spicy dish.  Further, I remain convinced that mixing oaked wines with spice can work on the rare occaision, but can also introduce some undesired flavor surprises – I prefer to avoid food and wine surprises.

With the red curry paste and coconut milk certain to dominate the palate, wines with tropical notes like pineapple, mango, peaches, apricots, would pair well with these strong flavors.  A balancing acidity is also important to standup to the acidity of this dish, and sweetness balances the heat nicely.  I would have chosen a Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio, a dry Rosé, or a Proseco.

The wine did not turn out to be a train wreck.  Quite the opposite, it was very enjoyable.  The 2008 Frei Brothers Reserve Russian River Valley Chardonnay was opened while Chef Sue was cooking…thirst took over.  This Chardonnay is soft and complex with dominant flavors of green apple, a buttery feel, and toasted nuts.  In other words it can be likened to a freshly baked apple crisp in a bottle.  Nice.  Unfortunately when faced with the daunting aggressiveness of the Thai red curry, the Chardonnay became a wall flower.  It added nothing with respect to the pairing – not the fault of the wine, but rather a faulty choice (sorry Chef Sue).

The pummeling of the wine was made worse by a tragic wrong turn with the recipe.  When preparing this dish, Chef Sue followed the directions on the tiny little can of Thai red curry paste (you’ve seen those little 4 oz cans slinking around the international section of the grocery) that directed the use of all 4 ounces of the paste.  Oh my!  Maybe a translation error (and there were a few of those on the can)? After a few bites Chef Sue and I looked at each other with the mutual knowledge that the nuclear waste level heat of this dish was sure to conclude with unpleasant consequences.  Don’t let the pretty pictures fool you.  The piper will be paid!

Oddly enough, as we sat down to enjoy this fire festival, Man vs. Food was playing on the television – an episode which required the host to eat a dozen chicken wings lathered in “shut up” sauce, complete the challenge in 10 minutes, and keep it down for another 5.  You know things are going bad when you have to don a pair of latex surgical gloves to eat a meal.  I’m happy to report that he suffered far more than we did.

Have no fear my friends.  The recipe at the end of this post has been recalibrated to the human palate.  We have not yet gone back to the kitchen to validate it, but I am confident the rebirth of this fusion plate will be quite enjoyable.  I stick with my wine pairing recommendation.  Save the 2008 Frei Brothers Reserve Russian River Valley Chardonnay for another day – it has potential and is a good value.

Between crabbing, cookouts, sailing and other traditional Memorial Day weekend festivities, we will be doing more cooking and more pairing.  I hope to report some great success rather than lessons learned.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 packages (8oz) precooked udon noodles
• 1 large onion sliced
• 8 oz. shitake mushrooms
• 1 chicken breast (about 8 oz.) sliced into 1/4 inch strips laterally
• 2 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 gallon chicken broth
• 4 tablespoons fish sauce
• 3/4 chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup miren
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 3/4 cup sliced green onions for garnish
• Olive oil for sauté
• Salt to taste

Preparation

1. In a large skillet or medium pot, add the curry paste, coconut milk and chicken broth. Allow to simmer while the balance of the recipe is prepared. Stir occasionally. The mixture should be brought to a boil just before adding to the rest of the ingredients. At about the 5 minute mark, add fish sauce, cilantro, ginger and miren.
2. Sauté sliced onion in a skillet with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. When translucent yet firm, place in a large bowl (the bowl needs to be large enough to fit everything in the recipe).
3. Sauté shitake mushrooms in the same skillet as the onions. When done, add to the bowl with the onions.
4. Sauté chicken in the same skillet once the mushrooms are done. Add to the bowl with onions and mushrooms.
5. Add precooked udon noodles to the bowl.
6. With any luck, your curry paste - coconut milk - chicken broth is at a boil now. Don’t let it boil long - just get it to a boil, and you are done.
7. Add the broth mixture to the bowl, cover and let sit for five minutes.
8. Plate to bowls and garnish with green onions.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig

Curried Duck with Ginger and Mango, Seared Duck Liver with Plum, Turnip Puree, Duck Gizzard and Heart Salad Paired with 2007 Mayo Viognier

This meal is all about making the most of the rest of the duck.  Recently I wrote about a duck breast pairing “Glazed Duck Breast Quinoa, Cipollini Onions, Black Trumpet Mushrooms Paired with 2006 ZD Carneros Pinot Noir.”  The pairing under consideration in this post is a result of the rest of the duck.  I had carcasses (including legs and thighs intact) and all the other bits and pieces so decided to use every quacking piece.

My results were mixed.  As I have always promised, I will share the good and the bad – even when the “bad” is my own doing.  So lets get on with the blow-by-blow.

The Food

With all the bits and pieces of duck, I decided on a three course meal.  To start, a salad of sautéed duck hearts and gizzards over mixed greens with a plum vinaigrette.  This was followed by seared duck liver over sliced plum and a plum caramel sauce.  And finally, curried duck with ginger and mango accompanied by a puree of turnips.

The salad was very tasty, but the texture was horrible.  I was not able to get the gizzards soft enough – no, they were just plain chewy.  So we pushed aside gizzards and enjoyed the hearts, greens and plum vinaigrette.  I will include the preparation instructions when I get it right.  If you can make gizzards sufficiently tender, you have a winner.

The seared liver was very nice, and the caramel plum sauce and bed of sliced plums added a bit of sweet contrast with the plum flavors swimming in unison with the seared liver.  Unfortunately, you will have to take my word for it; Chef Sue is not a fan of liver and politely declined my offering.

The curried duck with ginger and mango was really all I needed.  The rest of the meal was just taking up space.  This was seriously good, and perfect use of the unused duck.  The dominant flavors came from the mildly gamey duck, curry spices, coconut milk, slight hints of ginger, and sweet fruity mango.  Surprisingly, the flavors were well balanced.

Finally, the turnips.  Just stinking awful.  I have prepared turnips plenty of times.  These were fibrous and nearly inedible.  This was a real disappointment because I enjoy turnips.  I can’t say for certain, but I believe it was the turnip and not the cook.  But in the end, I was enjoying the duck and the wine sufficiently to completely forget about the turnip abomination (as a matter of fact, I almost forgot to write about it).

The Wine

The 2007 Mayo Family Winery Russian River Valley, Saralee’s Vineyard Viognier comes from our membership in the Mayo Family Winery wine club – a recent delivery.

I found the description on the back label of the bottle entertaining, and I thought you might enjoy it as well.

“Consider this wine a real showoff…with a secret.  It’s the aroma that makes the statement.  The wine is explosive and exotic.  Perfumed aromas of honeysuckle, ripe apricot and sweet summer peaches will knock your socks off as this is not a typical, cloying Viognier with a simple sweet greeting.  Once on your palate, you’ll love its fresh, crisp structure not usually found in Russian River Valley Viognier.  Balanced on its well-structured frame is an array of peach, lemony and floral flavors that finish forever.”

I may not be quite as energetic as this description, but I honestly cannot disagree with it – this is a wonderfully intense wine that leaves you with thoughts of “wow, where did that come from?”  The parts that stood out for me were certainly the apricot and peach aromas, a well balanced sweetness, nice crisp acidity, and the peach flavor taking center stage.  This is a great wine for food.  The sweetness, acidity and pleasing peach – apricot flavors will stand up to demanding and highly spiced foods such as Indian and Thai.  At $35, this is a fairly priced wine.

The Pairing

This was a roll your eyes back in the head palate dislocating intense experience.  No kidding.  Forget about the salad (tasty, but lets just give it an honorable mention).  Forget about the seared duck liver with plum caramel sauce (super tasty and the sweetness melded perfectly with the wine) - just a warm-up band for the main event.  The curried duck came out of its corner punching with big flavors of duck, coconut, and curry supported by a ring crew of sweet ginger and mango.  This is a heavy weight contender.  They Mayo Viognier is no light weight and returned the punches with matched intensity.  Oddly, after the first punches were thrown, they both decided to dance and sing rather than fight.  The fruits fused.  The sweet notes sang in harmony, and the acidity of the wine balanced the spice of the curry. 

Final Words

This was a prize fight match contrived by Don King, fought by the iconic heavyweights, and concluded with a Broadway musical.  This was not my plan, but I liked it!

Recipes

Plum Seared Duck Liver

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 sliced plums
• 3 duck livers

Preparation

Over medium heat add butter and sugar to a sauté pan and heat until caramel forms. Add basalmic vinegar and plums. Cook until beginning to thicken. Remove from heat and leave at the ready for plating with the duck liver.

Heat pan over high heat, and add livers seasoned with salt and pepper. Cook for 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Place plums on plates, top with seared liver and drizzle caramel around plate.

Curried Duck with Ginger and Mango

Ingredients

• Six legs and thighs
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 large onions, diced
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic
• 3 inches fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 large mango cubed
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• Garnish with Fresh cilantro

Preparation

1. Season duck legs and thighs with salt and pepper.

2. After taking the breasts off your ducks and using them in another recipe (see Glazed Duck Breast Quinoa, Cipollini Onions, Black Trumpet Mushrooms Paired with 2006 ZD Carneros Pinot Noir) season the balance of the duck with salt and pepper and place in a roasting pan and into a preheated oven (350).  Remove from oven when internal temp reaches 160.  Alternatively, oil a sauté pan over high heat, add duck and brown on both sides.  Either way, the legs and thighs need to end up in the sauté pan.

3. Blend one onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder, vinegar, cayenne, turmeric, black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup water in a blender until smooth.

4. Add one onion and a large pinch of salt to the sauté pan with the duck drippings on medium heat . Sauté until soft. Add the product of your blender sidetrack and cook for two minutes.

5. Add coconut milk and 2 cups water, and bring to a simmer. Add mango, brown sugar, and duck. Bring to a boil, cover and turn heat to low and simmer for one hour turning the duck every 15 minutes. Turn duck again, and let simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

6. Plate with fresh cilantro as garnish and serve.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig

Thai Chicken in a Peanut, Coconut, Red Curry Sauce Paired with 2008 Koonowla Riesling

Last week I was craving Thai chicken in a peanut, coconut, red curry sauce.  After a bit of research and a pair of attempts, I have satisfied the craving.  Selecting a wine for the pairing was quite easy although many people seem to have challenges pairing wine with Thai food, or more generally with Asian food.

As a final introductory comment, I want to tell you that the recipe (included at the end) is ridiculously easy, and this is literally a 30 minute prep – including the time to pour your self a glass of wine to quench your thirst while slaving away in the kitchen.  When you are craving flavor and don’t have much time or energy, I would put this recipe at the top of your list.

The Food

Following my normal routine for preparing a recipe, I started by considering what other people are doing.  I looked at half a dozen recipes to provide a foundation, then selected the flavors I wanted to emphasize.  In this case I wanted clearly be able to distinguish the peanut, coconut, curry, and balance this with a moderate level of heat (picante).  The recipe is quite successful in forming this balance that allows each of the flavors to shine through.

This dish would go equally well over rice, but I had not prepared rice noodles before and wanted to give it a go.  I’m glad I did – the rice noodles added a wonderful texture to the dish.  Another great thing about this dish is that it is equally good, if not better, the next day.  I ate some for breakfast this morning (hey, it beats the hell out of oatmeal), and found the noodles held up well, and the flavors seemed to be completely saturated.  Oh, and I finished off the leftovers at lunch.  I just can’t get enough of this stuff!  Yum!

The Wine

I decided to take two approaches to wine pairing.  During a test run of the recipe I went the sweet, big fruit, low acidity route, and on round two with a less fruity, dry Riesling with ample acidity.

The first round wine was the 2009 Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Harvest Select Riesling.  As I said, this wine is sweet, big fruit flavors of peach and apricot, and relatively low acidity.  This wine is a hoot to drink particularly if you are in the mood for something sweet.  At $10 per bottle, this wine is an exceptional value.

The second wine, a 2008 Koonowla Clare Valley Reisling (Australia) filled the role of less sweet and high acidity with less dominant fruit.  We really enjoyed this wine as well.  Mild sweetness is well balanced with fresh citrus flavors and strong acidity.  This is a great food wine and a good value at $20 per bottle.

The Pairing

This pairing is the most complicated I have done yet.  Not because it is impossible to pair wine with Thai Food as some people would leave you to believe, but because we had the same recipe two nights in a row paired with different wines.  To complicate things even more, for the second round of pairing, Golf Buddy Steve and Formerly of Austin Dawn brought another bottle of the 2009 Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Harvest Select Riesling.

So here is the blow-by-blow.  The first attempt with the 2009 Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Harvest Select Riesling went exceptionally well.  The sweetness cut through the heat and spice of the curry and chili paste and danced a minuet with the coconut milk.  The bold peach and apricot flavors also played very nicely with our Thai Delight.  Overall, this was an excellent pairing.  With a bit more acidity in the wine, it would have been ideal.

For round two we started with the 2008 Koonowla Clare Valley Reisling.  The combination of citrus flavors and high acidity (and a little help from the mild sweetness) was perfect for the Thai chicken recipe.  The acidity balanced the heat and spice splendidly and the sweet citrus complimented the coconut and peanut flavors with nothing but refined manners.  Chef Sue then commented that she thought the 2009 Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Harvest Select Riesling from the prior evening was a better pair because of the sweetness; she did not see the acidity argument as compelling as I did.  So sure enough, we broke open the bottle of 2009 Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Harvest Select Riesling brought by Golf Buddy Steve.  We all did some side by side tasting, assessing it alongside the food and came to the conclusion they both worked extremely well for two very different reasons.

This was a nice discovery and a good example of why general guidelines for wine and food pairing can be misleading.  In this case, it would be perfectly reasonable to suggest pairing a Riesling with Thai Chicken Curry.  However, as we experienced, different Rieslings will react quite differently with the same dish.

Final Words

As a final thought, I would like to share my generalized conclusions on pairing wine with spicy Thai food.  Here are a few things too consider:

1. Stay away from high alcohol wines; the alcohol can intensify the heat.
2. Strong acidity is good.  The strong flavors of Thai food need the acidity in the wine in order to go toe to toe.  A less acidic wine will fade behind the big spicy flavors.
3. Skip the tannins.  Tannins combined with spicy food can result in some off color flavors.  This is not true in all cases, but in general, you will not be pleased with the result.
4. Go sweet, but not too sweet.  Sweetness balances the spicy flavors.  More spice and more heat = more capacity to carry a sweet wine.
5. Pass on the Oak.  With all the fun exotic spices in Thai food, I don’t see the vanilla notes common in oaky wines playing well. Here is an example.  I think a bright, citrus laden acid hound of a Sauvignon Blanc would work great with this recipe.  Make that an oaked Sauvignon Blanc, and the result may be less desirable.
6. White wines tend to work best as a rule, but light bodied, low tannin, fruity reds can be equally enjoyable.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 package of rice noodles (8 ounces)
• 1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts, cubed
• 2 tablespoons sesame seed oil
• 3 tablespoons red curry paste
• 2 tablespoons chili paste (sambal oelek if you want to be authentic)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 cans (13 ounces each) coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• crushed peanuts
• 1 lime

Preparation

1. Bring pot of water to a near boil (enough water to submerge the rice noodles).  Remove water from heat and add rice noodles. Let stand for 15 minutes.
2. Heat sesame oil In a large sauté pan or pot and add red curry paste, garlic, and chili paste. Keep on medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Add the chicken and cook until all sides are browned.
4. Add coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar and peanut butter.
5. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Strain rice noodles and combine with the chicken and sauce. Stir and turn until noodles are well bathed in all that coconut curry goodness.
7. Serve in a bowl and sprinkle with crushed nuts and garnish with lime wedges which can also be used to fine tune the acidity.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig