Daring Pairings: A Master Sommelier Matches Distinctive Wines with Recipes from His Favorite Chefs [Hardcover]

Evan Goldstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2010

The best wine and food pairings create harmony among unexpected flavors. Chardonnay, Riesling, and Merlot are classic pairing choices, but less conventional grape varieties like Albariño, Grenache, Grüner Veltliner, Malbec, and Tempranillo are becoming increasingly popular, coveted by those with curious palates and a taste for good value. In Daring Pairings, the adventurous companion to the acclaimed Perfect Pairings, Master Sommelier Evan Goldstein shows how anyone can bring these emerging, exciting varieties to the table. He ventures into wine's new frontiers, exploring the flavors and pairing potential of thirty-six distinctive grapes from around the world, including Argentina, Spain, Italy, Greece, and France. In his entertaining and approachable style, Goldstein offers advice on crafting unforgettable wine and food pairings, suggests wines for everyday and special occasions, and recommends producers and importers. Thirty-six star chefs present recipes specially tailored to Goldstein's wine selections, and full-color photographs display these dishes in delectable splendor. This authoritative, down-to-earth guide reveals that pairing food and wine is no great mystery--anyone willing to explore or experiment can create bold and memorable combinations.
With recipes and commentary from:
Nate Appleman, Dan Barber, Ben Barker, Paul Bartolotta,Michelle Bernstein, Floyd Cardoz, Robert Del Grande, Tom Douglas, Suzanne Goin, Joyce Goldstein, Christopher Gross, Fergus Henderson, Gerald Hirigoyen, Philippe Jeanty, Douglas Keane, Hubert Keller, Loretta Keller, David Kinch, Evan Kleiman, Mourad Lahlou, Michael Leviton, Emily Luchetti, Laurent Manrique, Lachlan M. Patterson, Cindy Pawlcyn, Anne S. Quatrano, Michael Romano, Susan Spicer, Frank Stitt, Craig Stoll, Ethan Stowell, Charlie Trotter, Larry Tse, Richard Vellante, Vikram Vij, Kate Zuckerman

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

For resolute gourmets and connoisseurs, matching wine with food constitutes a chief preoccupation. Perception of a wine’s bouquet and its acidity and alcohol levels can profoundly affect one’s overall impression of food, and a dish’s spiciness, saltiness, and richness have a correlative effect. Bringing to bear a wealth of knowledge and experience, master sommelier Goldstein offers some novel approaches. His concern is not what foods go with ubiquitous varietals on the order of cabernet and zinfandel. Goldstein’s wines to be paired run to obscure grapes such as txacoli, assyrtiko, and mencia. Each wine comes with a wealth of information about nomenclature, geographic origin, and production. He inventories not only the sorts of foods that match well with specific wines but also those whose flavors clash with or obscure the wine’s best characteristics. He notes also useful cheese pairings. Renowned chefs have contributed recipes that especially complement each wine. --Mark Knoblauch

Review

Bringing to bear a wealth of knowledge and experience, Master Sommelier Goldstein offers some novel approaches.--Booklist

"A comprehensive guide (for) the adventurous wine explorer."--San Antonio Express-News

"A terrific book for anyone interested in answering the question, "Which wine with which dish?" "--Wine Review Online

"Provides a lot to chew on. . . . Can help casual drinkers who are reaching for a new wine by offering a range of food pairing tips."--Dr. Vino

"One-up(s) his own 2006 "Perfect Pairings" by concentrating on wines from 36 lesser-known grape varieties. "--Washington Post

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 364 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (April 28, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520254783
• ISBN-13: 978-0520254787
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 1.2 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #404,394 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Evan Goldstein, MS, is one of the nation's most prolific food and wine industry veterans. His food and wine career started at age 19 in the kitchens of the Restaurant Le Saintongeais and the Hotel Lancaster in Paris, Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley, and Chez Panisse Cafe in Berkeley, California. In 1984 he joined his mother Chef and Author Joyce Goldstein in opening the celebrated San Francisco restaurant Square One where as sommelier his wine lists received a myriad of awards. In 1987 he became the eighth American and youngest ever at the time to pass the prestigious Master Sommelier examination. Since 1990 Evan has created education programs, wine training and service hospitality schools with Seagram Chateau & Estates Wines Company, Diageo, Allied Domecq, and most recently, as the Vice President of Global Wine & Brand Education at Beam Wine Estates. In addition, Evan continues to train and examine candidates for the Court of Master Sommeliers as a Founding Board member.

Evan is the author of Five Star Service: Your Guide to Hospitality Excellence (On Premise Communications Inc. publishers) and the critically acclaimed book, Perfect Pairings: A Master Sommelier's Practical Advice for Partnering Wine with Food (University of California Press). In addition, Goldstein co-authored numerous books with his mother Joyce Goldstein, including Wine and Food Pairing in the Williams Sonoma Lifestyles series and many others. His sequel acclaimed wine and food book for the University of California Press, Daring Pairings: A Master Sommelier Matches Distinctive Wines with recipes from His favorite Chefs, released in April 2010.

Evan is a regular editorial contributor to America's Santé magazine, a contributing editor for Wine & Dine and Indulgence magazines in Singapore, is the American wine correspondent for Wine Review, South Korea's leading wine and food magazine, and is a recurring guest wine expert on NBC's syndicated television show "In Wine Country." He also makes regular guest appearances on the top-rated "Ronn Owens' Show" on KGO Radio, and on Saturday morning television's KPIX "Eyewitness News", both in San Francisco, and on Martha Stewart Radio, hosted by Sirius. Goldstein also pens a regular wine pairing column for SeriousEats.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm designing a wine tasting around this book! March 2, 2011

By kiwanissandy VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is awesome and covers lesser known grape varieties fabulously. I'm designing my own home wine tasting around the wines and recipes in this book! Each wine has a phonetic pronunciation, history of the grape, flavors, cheeses, and then pairing pointers, anti-pairings, as well as a wonderful recipe. My example is Torrontes, it's a less known grape from Argentina. Talks about alternative names and other countries that grow this grape well. Flavor lexicon of apricot, mango, honeysuckle, jasmine, among others. Similar to Viognier and Gewurztraminer. He then talks about the differences between aged vs. not aged, low-altitude vs. high-altitude vineyards, single variety vs. blended and then skin contact or no contact. It was tons of information that helped me better understand this variety. And this was just for one grape variety! There are over 35 varieties covered in this book. The Seafood Chowder that was paired with the Torrontes was excellent.
My wine tasting is going to cover an appetizer w/wine, entree/wine and then dessert w/wine. In addition I will have out the cheeses recommended. It doesn't get any simpler than this. I like this book and The Wine Club: A Month-by-Month Guide to Learning About Wine with Friends.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars `Daring Pairings' takes guesswork out of wine and food combos June 5, 2010

By Celeste Diaz Ferraro

Format:Hardcover

By Jennifer McInnis
San Antonio Express-News
[...]
No longer do you need to worry about what you serve with a prosecco. Or whether you eat fish or beef with gamay wine.

Goldstein, master sommelier and author of "Perfect Pairings," recently published his second book, "Daring Pairings" ($24.95 University of California Press), which highlights 36 lesser-known grapes accompanied by recipes from his favorite chefs. The book is a comprehensive guide to the adventurous wine explorer.

"I think in all honesty there has never been a better time in the history of the civilization to be a wine consumer," Goldstein says.

Taking a risk with a wine that's not as well known can mean better value, since many of these wines are available at reasonable prices.

To create a pairing, the book first breaks down the keys to understanding wine -- acidity, sweetness, tannin, oak and alcohol. It also goes into the keys of matching food -- ingredients, cooking methods and sauces and condiments.

For each grape, Goldstein provides details such as alternative names, common blends, where it's grown, wines similar in style or taste, and what it does and doesn't pair well with. For example, albariño isn't good with many veggies or spicy or sweet dishes, but it's great with most cooked seafood. It also cleanses the palate when paired with deep-fried and richly textured dishes. He includes cheese pairings for each varietal and recommends producers at three price points.

The book includes a recipe for every course. For example, a malbec complements a Braised Shank of Beef entrée, and an Almond Cake with a warm Red Berry-Vanilla Compote goes with muscat.

Goldstein takes most of the guesswork out of the process. He says there are several mistakes people make when pairing wine and food:

*Following the more time-honored rules -- white wine with fish, red wine with meat, pink wine with poultry. "I think people at times are both disappointed and frustrated when they are following what they believe to be great, solid direction and it crashes and burns," he says.

*Believing food and wine myths. "If you've got really big, powerful strong cheeses, you need big powerful wines strong enough to go with it. That probably couldn't be further from the truth," he says.

*Limiting yourself, which is less a mistake than "a lost opportunity." Goldstein says you shouldn't be afraid of going off the beaten track and broadening your spectrum of grapes.

There are two approaches when pairing a multicourse meal, depending on if you're at home or dining at a restaurant.

In restaurants, Goldstein says diners and sommeliers are becoming more confident and daring, often pairing wines by the glass.

"If (diners) can have variety in their food, why can't they have variety in their wine?

"Also, it does provide better pairings because you've selected a wine specific for your dish. Last, it allows them to customize wine selections to their meal," he says.

For pairings at home, it's up to you to decide how much wine you want to buy, depending on the number of guests. Goldstein suggests getting input from your wine merchant.

"I do believe when people are entertaining ... there's a lot more play going on," he says.

One of his biggest tips is "to shop consistently at the same place and even with the same people" so your retailer will come to understand your palate and can successfully suggest wines.

"This emerging inquisitiveness and natural curiosity and confidence that Americans are having, both in food and wine, is being played out at both tables in restaurants and at home."

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting recipes with interesting wines January 28, 2013

By Matthew M.

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The book gives background on edgy grapes with very detailed recipes. Tried a few dishes and they turned out fantastic!