- Hardcover: 160 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Feb 13 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0684835223
- ISBN-13: 978-0684835228
- Product Dimensions: 28.8 x 23.4 x 1.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 875 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#61,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #11 in Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Drinks & Beverages > Wine > Food & Wine
- #42 in Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Drinks & Beverages > Wine > Wine & Winemaking
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
What wine complements Thai food? How about sushi or chili? Can I serve red wine with chicken?
A simple formula -- white with fish and chicken, red with meat -- once dictated all wine and food pairing, but times have changed. Rules like this don't fit the way people are eating today. Indeed, it is not unusual to find Mexican cuisine mixed with a hint of north Indian or French with some German influence. For the marriage of taste that we expect from food and wine, today's global village cuisine requires the fresh approach found in Wine with Food.
In this beautifully illustrated book, Joanna Simon explores the relationship between wine and food with her hallmark unstuffy expertise. Rules can be followed for perfect partnerships, but they should occasionally be bent or broken. For instance, follow the rule of matching the weight of wine to the weight of food and you might serve a steamed chicken breast with a Sauvignon Blanc, but a dark coq au vin -- also chicken but very different -- calls for a full red Burgundy. An exception to that rule involves the intensity of flavor: fatty rich foods are best paired not with a heavy wine but with a light, crisp one that provides contrast.
Wines should not be matched to ingredients alone, however, and so Simon explains the impact of various cooking methods and sauces on the character of foods and recommends the consequent wine choices. A steamed salmon steak has a much more delicate flavor than one that is charbroiled, and the difference suggests a Chablis with the former but a Pinot Noir with the latter. Tomato sauce requires a wine like Sauvignon Blanc to stand up to its acidity, but if the sauce has meat in it, a full fruity red will be a better match.
Simon conveys the logic of food and wine marriages, combining authoritative knowledge of wine with commonsense observations. In a worldwide overview of each type of grape, from Chardonnay to Syrah, she includes an evocative description of the wines produced from that grape and suggests foods that are wonderful companions. Then she explores the classic combinations the world around and shows us, for instance, that the same quality that makes a Chilean Merlot such a perfect complement to local empanadas is also found in Australian Shiraz. A cold ratatouille is well partnered with local Provence whites, she points out, but the lively herbal qualities of those wines can also be found in California Sauvignons. Finally Wine with Food includes a convenient quick-reference section that summarizes food-to-wine and wine-to-food matches. With Joanna Simon's wisdom, wit, and style, Wine with Food is the ultimate guide to today's most delicious wine and food combinations.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
WHEN THE GASTRONOMIC MAP OF THE WORLD WAS DIVIDED BY MUCH SHARPER BOUNDARIES THAN IT IS TODAY AND THE VITICULTURAL MAP WAS MUCH MORE LIMITED, THERE WERE SOME VERY SIMPLE RULES THAT COULD BE APPLIED MORE OR LESS USEFULLY TO THE MATCHING OF WINE TO FOOD. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
WHEN THE GASTRONOMIC MAP OF THE WORLD WAS DIVIDED BY MUCH SHARPER BOUNDARIES THAN IT IS TODAY AND THE VITICULTURAL MAP WAS MUCH MORE LIMITED, THERE WERE SOME VERY SIMPLE RULES THAT COULD BE APPLIED MORE OR LESS USEFULLY TO THE MATCHING OF WINE TO FOOD. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Fundamentals of Food Pairing,
By A Customer
This review is from: Wine with Food (Hardcover)
This book does an admirable job of outlining the principles behind food and wine pairing as we approach it today. It helped me quite a bit in my studies to become a sommelier. Although there are many recommended pairings, this is not a book for people that just want to look their entree up and then be told exactly which wine to pick up at their local liquor store (sometimes you can, admittedly). I'd highly recommend it for restaurant owners with some amount of wine knowledge who are putting wine lists together, as well as for people who spend time thinking about what wines they will serve with their food and then spend more time noticing how the two actually work together and why they do, or why not. If you have something you would consider a "wine library" this is one of the two books I'd recommend on food and wine pairing.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tremendously Useful,
By z_bookworm (Westchester County, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Wine with Food (Hardcover)
I've gone from completely ignorant to very successful in pairing wines with food simply by using this book. I've owned it for 3 years, and frequently bring it with me to my wine shop before a dinner party. While giving pairing suggestions all along the way, Ms. Simon starts by explaining the major characteristics in food and wine to consider--weight, intensity, acidity, salt, sweetness, and tannin, then goes on to warn about tough to match condiments like horseradish. She then discusses the ways how a food is cooked can affect your choice of wine. The next sections briefly describe characteristics of wines from the major wine grapes, and traditional ethnic food/wine combinations from all over the globe. [I don't know about you, but I'm glad she offered help with what wine to buy for my take-out Thai Massaman curry. And I hadn't even heard of marsanne wine before.] Furthermore, Ms. Simon's taste is impeccable, with common dishes or hard-to-match ethnic foods that don't have a classic match. She clearly has such a mastery of flavors that she knows that a lesser known French selection will work with, say, shrimp tempura.I've practically worn out the two final quick reference sections that alphabetically list many foods with suggested wines, and many wines with suggested foods. They're worth the price of the book alone. Since she obviously can't list all foods, it's true that you sometimes have to extrapolate, like when I wanted something light to go with my holiday brunch featuring French toast and decided that anything that would go with sweet, eggy meringues [which she included] would probably work. I ended up with an Asti that couldn't be more perfect. Brava, Joanna Simon.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Tremendously Useful,
By z_bookworm (Westchester County, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Wine with Food (Hardcover)
I've gone from completely ignorant to very successful in pairing wines with food simply by using this book. I've owned it for 3 years, and frequently bring it with me to my wine shop before a dinner party. It starts by explaining the major characteristics in food and wine to consider when pairing them--weight, intensity, acidity, salt, sweetness, and tannin, then goes on to warn about tough to match condiments like horseradish. It discusses the ways how a food is cooked can affect your choice of wine giving pairing suggestions all along the way. Then it briefly describes characteristics of the major wine grapes, and traditional ethnic food/wine combinations from all over the globe. I don't know about you, but I'm glad she offered help with what wine to buy for my take-out Thai Massaman curry. [And I hadn't even heard of marsanne wine before.] Furthermore, Ms. Simon's taste is impecable, with common dishes or hard-to-match ethnic foods that don't have a classic match. She clearly has such a mastery of flavors that she knows that a lesser known French selection will work with, say, shrimp tempura.I've practically worn out the two final quick reference sections that alphabetically list many foods with suggested wines, and many wines with suggested foods. They're worth the price of the book alone. Since she obviously can't list all foods, it's true that you sometimes have to extrapolate, like when I wanted something light to go with my holiday brunch featuring French toast and decided that anything that would go with sweet, eggy meringues [which she included] would probably work. I ended up with an Asti that couldn't be more perfect. Brava, Joanna Simon.
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