That’s very typical. Traditional Chinese cuisine usually involve a lot of spices / seasoning with heavy flavors. In a way these dishes had been developed and evolved over many years, and the sauces in the dish itself is already balanced even without the wine. So unlike western cuisine there is relatively room for wine to add to and enhance the chinese dishes. That’s why the typical “pairing” at a chinese restaurant is beer (to get drunk), or chinese “baijou”, which is a grain distilled spirit. If you had ever tried one you would understand why - that stuff cuts right through even the heaviest and hottest chinese cuisine.
Peking duck is basically a roasted duck with optional plum sauce. With the Peking Duck dish, you are going for the texture of the duck in your mouth (crisp skin, duck fat, tender game meat) rather than the seasoning / sauce. Wine can certainly enhance that experience!
It’s highly unlikely to find a chinese restaurant in the US with wine pairing in mind, but it can certainly be done. In Asia, Hong Kong particularly, there are a lot of chefs that try to prepare traditional chinese dishes in a way that complements and enhances the wine. They usually go for a lighter style of cooking, skipping the heavy sauces and artificial texture (that would be the viscosity mentioned in your post Mike) in favor of bringing out the underlying flavors and natural texture of the ingredients.
Next time you can try some chinese dishes with relatively light preparation. That would be the southern chinese style of cooking, particularly canton region. Maybe a simple roasted suckling piglet dish or shrimp stir fry dish. Try these with say a chard with high acid. Or try a pinot with a lettuce cup chicken / duck / pigeon. Maybe a shiraz with something prepared in black bean sauce. Or a steamed grouper (fish) with soy sauce (very traditional cantonese cuisine) paired with trocken riesling - the smooth texture and mild sweetness of the fish enhanced by light soy sauce coupled with crisp acidic mildly sweet riesling… oh my. I think I will have that tonight!
You might like this Chinese noodle dish. For the base we use Korean black bean paste and add fermented black beans. We drink either younger, full-bodied reds or various whites with this and are happy!
Mike, I know you aren’t a burgundy person, but maybe a lighter style oregon/Cali Pinot would go great with Chinese dishes with a soft touch of soy sauce. That umami flavor you get from pairing mushrooms and pinot is very similar in soy sauce. Like Gary said, Cantonese food, which tends to be lighter with less layering of heavy dark seasonings, lends itself pretty well to lighter style wines. We do a lot of burgundy dinners at Cantonese seafood restaurants.
I feel the same way. Friends have been prodding me to start a cooking blog but reasonably good pictures are necessary, imo.
Unfortunately, I am the photographer as well as the cook. The spouse doesn’t have an eye for framing, lighting, etc. That means I’d have to stop what I was doing, wash my hands, take some pictures, resume cooking, repeat. And when it is finished, I am ready for food and wine, not moving stuff around on the table to get a nice composition and shoot.
Back from my new favorite market, I have gotten some new items and an impression or two.
Firstly, I will share what I purchased:
Soba Soup Base
short rib pieces as discussed above, Korean style?
Black bean sauce
black sugar
some flat noodles from Hing Kong
fresh ginger
purple eggplant
fresh oyster mushrooms
the sweetest Bartlett pears ever
pack of chop sticks
Today I will make a soba dish with shrimps and bok choy.
I can’t say many of the Asians shopping in the store enjoy non-Asians shopping there as I spied more than a few disdainful looks, some very gruff. Wife spotted it as well. I guess it is what it is.
Anyway, I’m still excited. The butcher is very friendly and we chatted a few minutes about gradings of short ribs. It appears the once from last week are select. He told me of some grades found in Korean markets that are even better, and costly. He was happy to hear of my results the other night. That’s me, building bridges, even as others put up walls.
Today, a small dish of spare rib tips with black bean sauce.
I marinated for a short time in a mixture of soy sauce and black bean sauce and put on my Weber for 45 minutes, the last 15 indirect.
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