Thanks for all your advice. Armed with this knowledge, I descended on K&L Wine Merchants in Redwood City and bought several different bottles of Riesling and one Gewurztraminer. Now: what do you eat with these wines? We opened one bottle, and it was delectably fruity, fragrant and a little sweet – not too sweet, and it was balanced with a bracing acidity. Yum! However, I’m only used to pairing French, Italian and California wines and I’m stumped on what to cook as a suitable foil. Any ideas?
Gewurztraminer goes amazingly well with trout. It’s one of those combinations that elevates both the food and the wine to something glorious. I usually pan-fry the trout and fill em with onions. Or I have made a hideously fattening trout dish that’s wonderful.* I like Reislings with turkey or chicken dishes. Reislings are also very good with Asian food, something with a touch of spice.
The Reislings should go well with your Camembert cheese and fruit, too.
*[sub]Coat a trout fillet with a slathering of mayonaise. Broil until mayo starts to bubble and brown lightly. Cover with grilled oninons and another layer of mayo. Broil again until mayo bubbles and lightly browns. Cover with another layer of mayo and sprinkle with parmesean cheese. Broil until mayo is again bubbly and lightly browned. Enjoy.[/sub]
Anything with spice, like curries or Thai food. Also, in keeping with its provenance, German (specifically, Alsatian food, like chocroute or sausages with sauerkraut.)
Vietnamese or spicy Chinese can also go with gewurztraminer, although Korean tends to have too much garlic.
I agree (partially) with False God. Pair it with simple German dishes. (When I make Thai or Indian or Mexican or other extremely spicy food, I tend to stick with beer.)
Check out Mimi Sheraton’s THE GERMAN COOKBOOK: A Complete Guide to Mastering German Cooking (Random House, 1965). Best damn German cookbook out there, even if it is 36 years old. And the recipes are much less heavy/fattening than the stereotypes would have it.
Uke. I’m with you on the really spicy stuff, but the more restrained Asian dishes, Gewurz. seems to be the winner. The really spicy stuff, I’ll let beer take up the slack, but there’s something about the acid in the wine that just really goes with the cuisines mentioned. Keep in mind that the heaviest beer I’d suggest with spicy food is an ale–heavier seems to overpowe. Porter or Guinness only with chocolate or oysters, please. Singha or Chang with Thai and Xiangdao or Kirin with Chinese have worked well for me.
Well, when I went to the grocer’s to shop for last night’s dinner, what did they have on sale but lovely rosy pink fresh Hawaiian opah steaks. If you haven’t had opah, it’s a yummy fish that tastes like a very mild fresh tuna and is excellent served rare. I lightly sauteed it to this stage, added the tiniest bit of cayenne pepper and served it with lemon wedges and a butter lettuce salad dressed with slightly sweet walnut oil vinaigrette. mmmmm-MMM! The Riesling was a terrific accompaniment, both with the opah and the store-boughten Camembert and baguette served afterwards.
Good suggestions, everybody. I will save the Gewurz until such time as I cook a slightly spicy Asian dinner or the next time we go out to Vietnamese, whichever comes first.
bibliophage – German whites with lamb? Last thing in the world that would have occurred to me. However, I have respect for your judgment and four small loin lamb chops in the freezer, so . . .
Tough question. Its going to depend on what the Gewurz and Reisling are like. They can both vary substantially, from very dry to almost sweet.
Personally, I like a medium Reisling as my “drinking” wine and it goes amazingly well with almost anything as long as it isn’t “kick-you-in-the-ass” spicy.
If I had to pick a food for either, I’d say Turkey or other poultry would almost certainly go well. Fish probably would too.
A Gewurz would generally IMHO be too strong for lite fare, like cheese, etc. The Reisling would be better suited for that.
Gewurz also goes well with Pork dishes I have created… then again so has the Reisling.
If you really like the Reisling and Gewurz wines, may I humbly suggest you give Canadian Wines a try? The wines made in BC (my favorite is Gray Monk) are absolute world class wines. Simply fantastic. After trying those I can honestly say I haven’t bought another German one unless I see something new I want to try… and I always go back to the BC wines.
If you like Reisling you may also want to try Kerner and Siegergrebe (sp?). Both tend to be a tad “sweeter” and Gray Monk makes absolutely excellent wines from them.
Northside Wine & Spirits has won some awards from Wine Spectator for staff knowledge and helpfulness.
Also, this recipe, from the October 2001 Food & Wine (I have a paper subscription, but it can also be obtained from their website at http://www.foodandwine.com ) was recommended for pairing w/off-dry Riesling, whcih I did. Yum yum good combo.
Spicy Scallops with Capellini
SERVINGS: 4
INGREDIENTS:
1 pound scallops, quartered if large
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 small dried chipotle chile with seeds, stemmed and finely chopped
Fine sea salt
1/2 pound capellini
STEPS:
Preheat the oven to 400°. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In a large glass or ceramic baking dish, toss the scallops with the olive oil, wine, parsley, garlic and chipotle. Season with salt and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the oil is sizzling and the scallops are firm.
Add the capellini to the boiling water and cook until just al dente, about 3 minutes. Drain the pasta and transfer to a serving bowl. Add the scallops and their juices to the pasta, toss well and serve immediately.
Unforturnately, Food & Wine’s Interactive Wine and Food Pairing approaches from the angle of - I’vegot the food, now which wine?
Along with bernse’s suggestion of trying some Canadian wines, the Finger lakes Region of NYS also produces some top-notch Rieslings and Gewurtztraminers. (Along with some total crap, of course!)
