1st Seminar: The Combination of Cuisine and Wine

Last June 22nd in HCM city, the first meeting of The Golden Spoon club carrying the topic of “Wine and cuisine” took place with attendances of experts, who are The Golden Spoon’s judges, such as Food Artisan Bui Thi Suong, Elite Teacher Trieu Thi Choi, Master Bui Thi Minh Thuy, Ly Huy Sang – Deputy Director, and top 15 chefs from The Golden Spoon contests.

The 2 speakers of the show were the President of Escoffier Vietnam and Judge of the Golden Spoon contest - Mr. Sakal Phoeung (on the right) and Brand & Training Ambassador of Pernod Ricard Group – Ms. Jenny, who brought lots of interesting knowledge to the meeting.

President of Escoffier Vietnam was excited to share chefs’ creativity in new dishes, food displaying styles, and trendy fusion culinary. He appreciated passions, creativity, and ability to food of young chefs.

At the same time, the judge of The Golden Spoon contest virtually practiced sous vides cooking technique, which is a trendy practice in culinary world. “Whatever method you cook, you need to understand your ingredients and your elements to make a proper heat for the best result. If you don’t understand your stuff, you will accidentally create chemical reactions that can affect diners’ health”, emphasized Mr. Sakal.

This dainty egg and pumpkin soup was made by sous vide cooking method. Eggs were slowly cooked at 62oC in 40 minutes; foam and earthy brown decoration mixture, made from malto powder and grinded dried olives, were top on over the dish.

In the meantime, at the exchange section, Brand & Training Ambassador of Pernod Ricard Corporation brought full version information of wine’s main ingredient: grapes. Every single part of a grape carries a flavor of wines. Grapes’ skin, which has tannin, adds acridity, colors the typical hue of wines, and enriches the whole flavor of wines. Grapes’ flesh carries both sweetness (from sugar) and sourness (acidity), which balances the wines and prolong shelf life. Finally, grape seeds add bitterness into the liquid.

Wines from this country always differ from others’. To choose which wines go with which food, we base on the types of grapes. All grapes and fruits species in the world have made 2 typical wines: red and white. The percentage of alcohol in each type also depends on the maturity and ripeness of fruits.

The way we enjoy wines shows how fancied and sophisticated we are. Furthermore, if we do it right, the deep flavor and aroma of wines will thrive. We can swirl, smell, sip, and enjoy full senses of taste.

Talking about the combination between Vietnamese food and wines, Ms. Jenny thought that there was harmonic. She shared that she had over a year in Viet Nam to study Vietnamese cuisine. She loves almost every type of food here because of the tropical diversity of spices. “Some chefs are still afraid of western wines to be tasted with Vietnamese food but we should study and do a survey about eating psychology of average Vietnamese. Vietnamese cuisine is typical with rich yet balanced flavors from sweet, salty, sour, to spicy. If you mix them right by your own principles, wines should make the dishes perfect and completed.”

For instance, phở bò and bún bò (beef noodles) are flavorful because they are seasoned by many different spices. Red wines will strengthen the flavors and even create a smooth after-taste. Other food, like fried or grilled meat, salad, or fried spring rolls (mild taste) will be enriched by white wines with aroma of vanilla and caramel.

Furthermore, rules of combining wines and food must depend on other issues, such as main ingredients of food. They play a big role to decide which wines should get involved. White wines usually go with white meat (chicken) and seafood whereas red wines stick with red meat (beef, lamb).

The most important rule here is how to balance food and wines, in which the richness of wines should not overpass food’s flavor. Wines with high acidity level can match with different types of food, so does champagnes and sparkling wines.

To use up all hidden flavors of wines, diners can try combining food and wines with the same styles or opposite styles to experience. (Sweet food or spicy food goes with sweet wines). For desserts, the wines must be as sweet as the food or sweeter. Otherwise, the sweetness of desserts would turn wines to bitter or sour.

The Golden Spoon Club is a place where top chefs from our contest can meet, connect, and exchange their knowledge, skills, and experiences. Once a month, the club will have different topics with well-known and reliable experts/presenters in culinary world and related fields. Topic of this July - “Cuisine and High-tech” – was planned to be hold on July 27th in HCM city.

By Chi Tran