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I
have long been obsessed with food and wine pairing. Over twenty years
ago, before there was an Internet to gather and share such information,
in wanting to feel older and more sophisticated than my age would allow,
I would throw dinner parties for my friends, open a bottle or two of
whatever the local store might have on the cheap, and figure out which
wine worked with which dish. I'm sure I failed more often than I
succeeded, but I never wavered from the experiment or the desire to know
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Through a series of events that can only be described as synchronistic,
I happen upon and develop a friendship with noted cookbook author Paula Wolfert . It was her
from
cookbooks that the bulk of my feasts had come and while I no longer had
the audience for my massive gustatory creations, the longing for the
elegant spice combinations and illusive, exotic flavors never
diminished. Working hard on my wine-writing craft, I no longer had the
luxury of spending hours in the kitchen to simmer succulent lamb
tagines and build flaky
quail b'stilla. I had forgotten how
much I adored the regional flavors when one day, Paula asked me if I
could test a recipe for her next cookbook all devoted to the adoration
and utilization of clay pots. |
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For her, it was a two-part question; 1) is there a noticeable difference in the flavors between an unglazed pot and a glazed one, and 2) how do the two pots react when used in an electric stove (having a to-die-for gas range, Paula needs to consider those of us in the Dark Ages of electric appliances when developing recipes). Still in the developmental stage of writing her recipes, we agreed I would go back to one of her earlier tomes, World of Food, for the experiment; Moroccan Fish Tagine with Tomato, Peppers, and Preserved Lemons. Then it dawned on me - all these years living in Wine Country and NOT preparing the dish for twenty or forty people, of course I would want to drink some wine with my meal! But which wine? The intensely diverse regional cuisine hearkening from the Middle East is generally considered to be not very wine friendly. Much of that misconception comes from the generalization that most of the Arab countries are Islamic-based which forbids intoxication. However, there are in fact a number of wine-producing countries scattered all over the Middle East including Turkey, Egypt, and the very well-known and highly-regarded Chateau Musar from Lebanon. Also, the Mediterranean itself bridges the wine-rich countries like Italy, Spain, and France with some of the more desert countries south of the Mediterranean where grapes are not so easily grown. But still that question nags at me; Why do we not see more expansive wine lists in Middle Eastern restaurants? Being a proponent of the expansion of Middle Eastern cuisine, I simply believe that wine itself could bridge the chasm of ignorance if only its attributes and pairing capabilities are further explored. |
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Over the next few months, as I continue to test recipes for Paula and re-acquaint myself with my own kitchen, I will endeavor to explore the relationship between these astonishing recipes and wine. Care play along? I'll provide a recipe or two and tell you which wines I tried with it my preparation. Perhaps it will encourage some of you to expand your cooking horizons to something more exotic and adventurous. And perhaps you'll open a bottle of wine along with it, not only learning about a new culture, but perhaps a new wine pairing possibility. More ===>>> On To The Recipes
And The Wine Previously from Carolyn Tillie: CAROLYN TILLIE'S HOME PAGE AND MAIN INDEX © Carolyn Tillie - 2005
© Carolyn Tillie
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