Pairing food and drink has always been a tricky.
For wine and the well-known terrain of European cuisine, the practice of pairing is age-old. One might even look into the matching of Chinese food and wine and find that strides have been made. Even for wine, pairing isn’t a simple affair of pairing red wine to red meat, or white to seafood – which, for that matter, doesn’t even always hold true. In the matching of whisky and Cantonese food, one enters virgin territory- dangerous but exciting.
First, one must consider the texture. A thick, powerful drink should be matched to a robust dish. A slender, elegant white wine will not match well with beef and potato stew. The texture of the stew, starchy and thick, will easily overpower the wine. Here, whisky experiences its first challenge. Whiskies tend to be oily and syrupy in texture, far thicker than your average Chardonnay or Pinot Noir. This makes pairing with light-textured foods challenging.
Then, one must consider the intensity of flavours. A strong flavour in the drink must be matched a strong dish, and a light meal must similarly be paired with a milder drink, or one will find that the light flavours simply vanish into the strong without a trace. As a spirit, the flavour and scents tend to be higher in intensity.
Lastly, one thinks hard about pairing the actual flavours; obviously this is the most difficult bit; whole books have been written about this process, but it all boils down to the affinity that ingredients have with each other. To contrast or complement the characteristics of the ingredients in food with flavours in the spirit, wine or beer. It takes a delicate hand indeed to properly match Cantonese food, with delicate flavours from soup and seafood complementing robust barbecued meats and staples cooked over roaring flames.
Xin Chinese Restaurant, in conjunction with the Whisky Butler. is making a brave attempt at this, offering both four-course and six-course food and whisky pairing menus. They were kind enough to invite us for a quick tasting.
The first course was a traditional starter of Charcoal Grilled Pork Collar and Chilled Abalone, paired with Tomintoul 12 year Oloroso Finish. The Tomintoul is a sweet malt that has the scent of lemon zest and red apples on the nose and first tasting. Stewed plum emerges, gradually giving way to toffee and pepper. The finish is medium length, mostly of apples and toast. The sour plum goes well with the abalone, which is served on a sour plum jelly. The firmness of the shellfish also provides sufficient structure for the whisky, The whisky does not work so well with the grilled pork. The pork fat blunted the impact of the whisky, making for an acceptable, but unremarkable, match.
The second course is usually a soup, and in this case it was a Double-boiled Chicken Soup with Fish Maw and Dried Scallop with a dash of Yamazaki Distiller’s Reserve. The broth itself was marvelous; rich in the umami (savoury) flavour of chicken and seafood both. The slow process of double boiling, while producing this rich result, also denatures the whisky and breaks down the flavour; the dash of spirit was stirred into the soup after it was cooked. The sweetness of Japanese whisky, though subtle because of the nature of the soup’s preparation, lifts the savoury broth and brings out the dish’s own flavours.
Third, we had a Slow-braised New Zealand Oxtail complemented with a 12 year old Benriach Sherry. This was winner of the lot. The whisky is rich, with a bit of christmas cake, walnuts, oranges, honey, cherries and raisins. These are magical notes to be paired with a braised oxtail, with its meld of anise, coriander, orange peel, soy sauce, ginger, pepper and radish. The light spiciness of both the whisky and dish were both in full display, layers of aromas that folded endlessly upon each other like a flavour rainbow. The weight of the dish and drink were well suited each to each other, with neither dominating. This pairing was the perfect marriage of a million little fundamental connections. Brilliant. Would have paid for this alone.
Fourth, a Baked Stuffed Crab Shell with Bacon, paired with Ledaig 10 year old. The Ledaig is an Island malt, but is just as peaty, and possesses the same maritime qualities, as its Islay cousins. Powerful peat and brine on the nose resonates in the mouth, along with newly cut grass. One almost smells parmesan cheese on this particular whisky, which makes it a good match with the crab shell, stuffed with bacon, cheese and crabmeat. Islay malts have traditionally been good matches to seafood, and this Island malt is no exception to the rule.
Fifth was a Homemade Noodles with Live Prawn and Caviar, matched with Longrow 18. The malt also has a light maritime character, but instead of the strong savoury notes, it has a sweetness and a nutty aspect- pistachios and cashews. Big fruits emerge on a taste- apple, oranges and some berries. The maritime flavours of dish and drink work well together, as do the nutty flavours. Yet, I can’t help but feel that the whisky is a little too powerful for the noodles, even if the slightly creamy, sweet-savoury noodles was not lacking in heft itself.
Last was a Bird’s Nest with Almond Cream– which had no whisky pairing. A nice balance to the “heaty” scotch we had earlier.
Overall, Chef Eric Chan of Xin Cuisine and the folks at Whisky Butler have done acquitted themselves very well in this challenging task. Matching any cuisine to whisky is not easy, and there were definitely more hits than misses in the tasting courses. In particular, the Oxtail- 12 year Benriach pairing stood out. Just thinking about it is so pleasant that I savour the dish in my mind from time to time.
At $138 nett per person for 6 courses, including the drinks, this is an extremely good deal for the price asked. A definite recommend.
The pairing menu will be available at Xin Cuisine Chinese Restaurant from 1st July 2016 till 31st August 2016. The 6 course is $138 per person, and the 4 course, which includes the soup, oxtail, noodles and bird’s nest, is available at $98. Reservations here, or call 6731 7173
Xin Cuisine Chinese Restaurant
317 Outram Rd, Holiday Inn Atrium
Singapore 169075
