Dinner #2 - "Traveling the World through Cooking"

The three wines for the dinner

Cooking up the food

About 3 weeks ago, 2 other friends in this class and I got together to do a 2nd wine dinner, and it ended up being a great night.  Myself, RJ Sekator, and Adam Brookhart, along with three other friends, got together at their apartment that night for what we wanted to be an "international" themed dinner.  I decided to cook up some Korean beef dish, Adam cooked up his version of the Pastel de Choclo that we tried in class, and RJ made Jerk style chicken.  Having the dishes decided, we had to find the perfect wines to compliment our food, so we took to the internet to do some research.  For my Korean beef dish, I found a wine blog online that a guy said his favorite pairing with a Korean dish was actually an Australian Shiraz, so I picked up a bottle, while Adam brought a paired blend wine, and RJ chose a Gewurztraminer to pair with his chicken.  The picture to the left here shows the three different wines we had for the dinner.

The first part of our dinner was actually cooking up the food, which took a little whiles.  All the smells of the three dishes cooking at the same time were killer, and it made my mouth water waiting and seeing them being cooked.  Adam got to work on his Pastel de Choclo, while RJ's chicken cooked off in the oven, and I finished up the Korean beef in the pan.  We also opened up the wine to let it sit a little while before the meals began, so waiting to try everything was really the worst part as I got even hungrier watching everything getting cooked up.

Korean Bulgogi w/ Rice & Dried Seaweed

Brady eating the leftover rice & bulgogi sauce

We planned so that we would eat the dishes as courses, so we started off with my Korean beef dish, called "bulgogi".  Bulgogi is a grilled marinated beef dish, and I cooked it alongside onions and had Korean white rice and dried seawood for wrapping on the side.  The wine that we drank with the Korean bulgogi was a 2012 Black Opal South Eastern Australian Shiraz.  Without the food, the wine was very simple, not overly complex in it's flavors, with subtle fruit flavors highlighting the taste.  In my opinion, it was a little boring, but also not too boring where it was a bad wine.  It was a decent wine, something that I would possibly try again if it were just on its own, but nothing spectacular.  Alongside the food, I thought it was a perfect match.  With Korean foods being very explosive in flavors, whether it'd be spice, or sweetness, or a mix of both, the subtle fruit flavors and simpleness of this wine really paired well with the bulgogi.  It also had a nice back-end sweetness with subtle cherries, that really matched well with the dry seawood wraps and rice.  The wine itself also had a well-balanced flavor with a little sourness on the finish, that really complimented the sweetness of the bulgogi sauce.  Overall, I thought this was a great pairing.  Really give my thumbs-up to the guy who wrote the recommendation on his blog, and definitely looking forward to trying this pair again, and even trying this wine with several other Korean dishes.  Also, the guys loved the bulgogi, so it always makes me happy when my friends enjoy Korean food.

The next dish was RJ's Jerk Chicken.  The wine for this dish was a 2012 Fetzer Gewurztraminer from California, which I thought was a very nice wine even without the food.  It had a very cleansing sweetness, with a little hints of sour lime taste.  The texture was very nice, and I thought from nose to finish on the taste, it was a very well-balanced and good wine.  With the food, it was even better.  With Jerk chicken having fairly spicy seasonings, the subtle sweetness did a great job in "cleansing" and minimizing that spiciness, so that we could enjoy the meal to fullest.  The sour lime taste also did a great job on the finish in giving a solid last impression of flavor, that really highlighted the spiciness in the jerk seasoning.  I thought this was a perfect pairing and really impressed me in how well this wine went with the dish.

RJ and his Jerk Chicken

Jerk Chicken & Wine

The final dish of the night was Adam's Pastel de Choclo, inspired by the one we got to try in class before that night.  The wine that he chose to pair with the dish was a Quinta Generacion Casa Silva blend, which was made up of 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Carmenere, 25% Syrah, and 15% Petit Verdot.  On its own, this wine was intense, very strong earthy flavors on the nose, with dark and elegant fruits.  The taste, was a "heavy hitter", this wine is one of the most intense I think I've ever tried, strong tannins, and a very earthy vibe to it.  The dark fruits were very hidden in the taste, behind the dryness and strong tannins, so definitely was interested in trying it with the dish.  The dish itself was actually very mild, not quite what I was expecting when I saw Adam cooking it up.  Strong corn flavors but it was very good.  The mild flavors actually paired very well with the strong flavors of the wine.  I would say the dish itself really brought out the essence of the tannins in the wine, which enhanced both the flavors of the wine and of the dish.  Was a great pairing, and definitely would love to try the pairing again, or recommend it to friends also doing a similar type of meal.

Adam & the Pastel de Choclo

Pastel de Choclo & Wine

This wine dinner was one of the coolest experiences so far for me with wine.  Not only did I get to try three new and interesting wines, but I got to pair one with a dish I grew up eating, see how certain wines go well with a spicy dish, and also try a whole new dish I've never had before.  It was also great to see my friends enjoy my dish so much and also enjoy just trying new things and being adventurous in food and wine.  Having this "international" theme for our dinner was a great choice, because it allowed us to expand our ideas of food and wine pairings, and really explore something new, and really in essence, "travel" the world through our cooking and pairing with wines.  This is really one of the experiences I'll remember as I finish up college, and looking forward to doing more of these food/wine pairings after I graduate and continue my wine journey in life!

Myself, RJ, and Adam at Dinner