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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Fish and wine trial matches...

I've 'cooked' some hapuku fish yesterday with the idea of trying it in its raw flavour and try to find wine matches with different varieties. So I simply steamed the hapuku.

Well after trying the oaked chardonnay, which was too rich and round and with too loud aromas not matching the freshness of the fish, i tried some unoaked chardonnay. Rather more interesting of course, nice acidity and citrus aromas were this time accompanying the fish. Sauvignon blanc was a nice match too, but i must say it was a quite restrained style, not the fruit focused NZ sauvignon type, so the minerality was going pretty well with the fish. Little trial this time, i had only these 3 bottles under my hands.

Well, after finishing my little experience, i just stopped and decided to have a simple beer, just a classic lager (i know!...). ... Best match!... I was just finishing my last bite of hapuku, and I started my beer. Freshness of the beer, fresh aromas, something quite nice actually revealed the iodine of the fish and combined to enhance a nice sort of smokey flavour. But no more fish to try that again... Damn!

Another great surprise! But now i can't wait to try again, and this time i'll add spices to the fish - still steamed but with the objective to check on spices as well. And beer will be in the game! Step by step in the experiences, I add flavours and then textures, and then both. It is a game of patience indeed, but every step teaches something new. More results to come...

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