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By The Glass Jay Kam |
Eating and drinking
through JapanA friend recently said to me, "It's a shame that wine doesn't go well with Japanese food." I understood where my friend was coming from. Japanese food tends to emphasize seafood and interesting but delicate flavors such as shiso, tofu and root vegetables. Many wines would overpower these types of foods or fail to strike the right balance. And formal Japanese dining comprises many small portions of various kinds of foods, which makes it difficult to match a single wine.
But after vacationing in Japan with my family recently, I can say that I had pleasurable wine experiences with various Japanese meals.
Sukiyaki and bordeaux
Our friend took us to a sukiyaki place and as "omiyage" I took a bottle of red bordeaux. The thinly sliced, well-marbled, soft beef cooked in the sukiyaki sauce and served with a raw egg is a natural with any good red wine. The mushrooms, onions, tofu and hakusai cabbage all went well, too. Surprisingly, the sauce made of shoyu, sugar, mirin and dashi did not clash with the wine at all.
Kamaboko and kabinett
One of the highlights of my trip was visiting the hot-spring resort town of Hakone, a beautiful mountainous region near Mount Fuji. Relaxing in the baths of a 16th-century "onsen," being served an elegant "kaiseki" meal in our room with wine and getting a massage was like going to heaven.The Hakone area is known for its various types of salted dried fish and kamaboko. The 2001 Dr. Thanisch Bernkasteler Badstube Kabinett that I took with me matched perfectly with the fish, kamaboko, mountain yam, crab and miso soup.
And lest you think I'm a crass American, I enjoyed a lot of the local sake with my meal as well. Who says you can't have the best of both worlds?
Okonomiyaki and zin
Okonomiyaki is a hearty, savory pancake, sort of Japan's answer to pizza. The base is made from batter and cabbage, but you can choose such fillings as seafood, meat and mochi ("okonomi" means "as you like it"). The okonomiyaki is finished with a sauce similar to tonkatsu sauce. My wife liked the mochi-cheese-bacon combination, and a bottle of zinfandel brought all the diverse flavors together.
Teppanyaki and big reds
On our last evening in Japan, we decided to splurge and have a teppanyaki meal featuring Kobe beef -- the famous beef from cattle massaged with sake and fed a large amount of beer. Seared very simply on a teppanyaki hot plate, the full-flavored beef was perfect with a cabernet sauvignon. The accompanying garlic fried rice was also a good match with the wine. And while the bean sprouts and cabernet were not a match made in heaven, one did not detract from the other.Dinner concluded with a light chestnut cream cake (OK, this was French) and a nice bottle of sauternes.
I had some excellent wine and food experiences in Japan with traditional Japanese food. I took six bottles with me for an 11-day trip. But as much as I enjoyed the wines, I would never discount sake and beer with any Japanese meal.
Jay Kam is president of Vintage Wine Cellar.
This column is a weekly lesson in wine pairing written by a rotating panel of wine professionals. Write to features@starbulletin.com
