Pairing and Cooking Mushrooms with Wine
Everyone knows drinking wine with wild mushroom dishes is a delight beyond compare. Can we go a step further and think about pairing styles of wine with a particular mushroom genus?
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Pairing Mushrooms with Wine
Good wine is a careful balance of fruit and acidity. The alcohol has to be in balance with the fruit and acidity to give that rounded yummy taste.
California white varietals tend to be a little less acidic, so winemakers sometimes add acid during fermentation for balance. That's where you get that nice clean crisp feel in your mouth.
Red wines in general are slightly higher in alcohol content. That’s where you get that nice glow in your head.
White wines give a lighter lift to food, while red wines, because of their complexity, lay a heavier interest to dishes.
Now lets think about wild mushrooms. Are morels light or robust? Chanterelles are light. Lepiota spp. are heavy. Coccora and Amanita velosa are light. Chocolate is heavy. You can think about the balance you want to create between the wine and the mushrooms you're serving.
Objective:
Complementary
Total Time:
N/A
Suggested Mushrooms:
See code
Equipment and/or Ingredients
Your favorite mushroom dish and a variety of wines to choose from.
Method
Cooking Mushrooms with Wine
When cooking, too much wine can overwhelm the dish and you lose flavor. As an example, people who dump half a bottle of red wine on a 5 pound roast have to add a lot of salt and fat to compensate for the acidic taste from the reduced wine.
If you are going to cook a mushroom dish with wine, add the wine during the last ten minutes of the cooking cycle. The more acidic the wine, the more oil or fat you can add.
Suggested combinations are:
Boletes with butter and 1/4 cup Sauvignon blanc
Cream of chanterelle soup with 1/4 cup of Chardonnay (per 2 quarts)
Morels sautéed in olive oil, a dash of tamari, a pinch of brown sugar and a sprinkling of Zinfandel
Sliced coccora wrapped in 1/4 strip of bacon, broiled and brushed with a mix of Pinot Noir, tarragon and a little arrowroot (for thickening).
You get the idea. Taste taste taste.
When you are cooking with wild mushrooms and wine, think about what you are combining and how the ingredients will play on one another. Remember to only cook with wine you would drink. A so-so wine will result in a so-so dish. Think about sampling and enjoying the complexity of each bite, sipping thoughtfully. Ahhh…Life is good.