food-and-wine-pairing-a-sensory-experience-robert-harrington

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Chapter 6 Salt, Bitterness, and Bubbles
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What impact does high salt in foods have on the taste
of wine?
2. Do food bitterness and wine bitterness cancel each
other out when tasted together?
3. What are some of the wine elements that interact
with food saltiness to impact the overall level of
match?
EXERCISE 6.1
4. What are the interacting factors in sparkling wine that
impact the level of match with salty, bitter, and other
types of foods?
5. What specific wines would you pair with a salad of
frisée, radicchio, and Belgian endive?
FOOD SALTINESS, BITTERNESS, AND WINE EFFERVESCENCE ANCHORS
In this exercise, you will test the impact
of three levels of effervescence on three
levels of saltiness and four levels of bitterness.
To sort out the direct effects of
effervescence from the interacting effects
of acidity and residual sugar on food saltiness
and bitterness, the three levels of
effervescence in this exercise are provided
in three water samples and then
three wine samples.
As you taste the food items with
the water and wine samples, you will
evaluate the impact of effervescence on
salty and bitter foods. Does effervescence
cleanse away the negative effects of excessive
salt or bitterness? Does the effervescence
do a partial job? Or does the
combination of high salt or high bitterness
with wine characteristics make both
items taste worse?
OBJECTIVES
The objective of this exercise is to train
students to identify various scale values
of food bitterness, food saltiness, beverage
effervescence, and the interactions
between them.
Mise en Place: Things to Do Before
the Exercise Ensure that the water,
seltzer water, still white table wine,
Moscato d’Asti, and the fully sparkling
wine (Champagne, Cava, sparkling wine
from California, etc.) are properly chilled
for tasting. Also, since timing is very important
for the samples with effervescence—if
poured too early, the bubbles
will dissipate—do not pour the water or
wine samples with effervescence until
just before participants are ready to taste
and evaluate.