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

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Chapter 11 Menu Planning: Horizontal and Vertical Pairing Decisions
Sweetness Match
No Yes
Figure 11.3
Components Texture Flavors
Acidity Match
No Yes
Salty Foods?
No Yes
Bitter Foods?
Yes
Moderate to High
Effervescence?
No Yes
No
Fattiness/Tannin Match or
Fattiness/Wine Acid Match
No
Yes
Overall Body
No
Spiciness Match or Food
Spicy/Wine Sweetness Match
No Match Refreshment Neutral Good Match Synergistic Match
Yes
No
Yes
Intensity Match
No Yes
Persistency Match
No
Flavor Type Match
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Wine and Food Pairing Decision Tree
match? Figure 11.4 provides a format for quantifying the wine and food associations based
on the relationships shown in the decision tree (Figure 11.3), the twelve matching rules
discussed in earlier chapters, and the visual profiles of the wine and food items developed
in the first two parts of the pairing instrument.
In the following examples, two wine and food pairing profiles are presented. These
items were selected from a five-course menu created by students in one of my previous wine
and food pairing classes. When the menu was prepared, the entire class tasted and evaluated
it, along with two wine and food experts. The match scores generated by the students using
the Wine and Food Pairing Instrument strongly correlated with the wine and food experts’
scores of perceived level of match. This finding provides support for this method of predicting
match based on profiles and quantifying relationships. 6
The five-course menu and wine matches selected by the student groups are presented
in Figure 11.5. Under each menu and wine item description, there is a match score based
on the 0–10 scale shown in the Wine and Food Pairing Decision Tree; it was calculated as
the average level of perceived match across fifteen participants. As you can see, the average
match scores ranged from a low of 3.5 (the cheese course) to a high of 9 (for the lamb
course).
Example 1 First, let us consider the pasta course. The food item was a combination
of smoked corn, grilled chicken, Alfredo sauce, and penne pasta. The wine was a New
Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Figure 11.6 provides a profile of the component, texture, and
flavor relationships for this dish and the wine.
Figure 11.7 provides a score following the Quantifying Wine and Food Profiles to
Predict Match Level sheet (Figure 11.4) using the Wine and Food Pairing Decision Tree as
a guide.
No
Yes
Yes