Eating Wine

The use of wine in many restaurants goes much further than seeking harmony of what one eats with what one drinks. It's now another essential ingredient in the kitchen. It's sauce, condiment, gelatin, and dessert. To tenderise and marinate meat or to smoke fish. Novelties in the menu include oysters in Chablis, sardines marinated in Champagne, and my personal favourite, any good fish flambed in Vodka. This last I have been doing at home for years.

Now with the advanced science and technology, they have come up with a chewable Champagne, in solid form which you eat with a spoon, and it conserves perfectly the aroma, the taste, the colour, and the carbonic of the Champagne when you chew on it. The spark one gets in the mouth, not the throat.

I love wine and have used it in my kitchen for as long as I can remember. In the beginning when I was experimenting with it, I did what everybody advised, using cheaper wine, the theory being that the alcohol evaporates when in contact with high heat and not much point wasting good wine. Before long I felt it rather senseless such practice. Adding wine is to enhance the food. If a wine in not good enough to drink, why should it be good enough to add to the food I eat?

So for years now, my theory is only the best is good enough. For most meat dishes I use really good quality dry sherry, and white wine or Vodka for fish and seafood. Same goes with the wine for the table. Having the best wine once in a while is for me better than drinking bad wine for every meal.

Fortunately, wine in Spain is still cheaper than say in England and many other European countries. Another fact is, a good wine doesn't necessarily mean a very expensive one. The Bodegas (wine shops and wine cellars) here let you try first as many variety as you wish (or as your capacity for alcohol permits) before you buy, providing you with a small clean glass with each one. Even if you leave without buying any, they would still smile and thank you for having come by. Don't be greedy and try too many though; you might not know what's what any more after the 6th or 7th glass, and end up buying the one you don't even want to use in the kitchen.

Tags:food,wine

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