Last week, I attended two courses at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, California. One of the courses was "Food and Wine Pairing for Chefs".
While I have had my share of wine in the past, I had never taken a class about wine. We all have enjoyed a glass of Red Wine with Red Meat, and a glass of White Wine with Fish or Poultry. When out at a restaurant, the server gives you the menu and asks what you want to drink. How many times have you asked for a few minutes to decide on the food first? Food then wine. This course turned the tables, allowing us to try wine first, then make food around the wine.
Chef Lars Kronmark was our Food & Wine Pairing instructor. Originally from Denmark, Chef Lars has been teaching at CIA Greystone since the campus opened in 1995. The lecture portion of the course took place in the DeBaun Theatre. The multi-level seating area overlooks a large island, complete with a gas range and grill, induction cook top, ovens, sinks, and tons of granite counter space.
The first day consisted mainly of wine discussion, and tasting of various types of wine. Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Chef Lars noted how important it was to spit out the wine after tasting, since we would be heading up to the large kitchen to cook every day after lecture and tastings. Tipsy chefs with knives is never a good thing. We were split up into teams, and assigned a vague idea of what to make, without recipes. My team received "Salad with Shrimp and Citrus", obviously to go with the Sauvignon Blanc we tasted earlier. After some discussion, we decided on the dish. "Ceviche" style Tiger Shrimp (lightly poached) over a bed of herb greens with cucumber, bell pepper and a Mango dressing. It was a nice pairing that went well with the wine.
Each night, there were associates degree courses (AOC) going on, one on the other side of the kitchen, and one in baking and pastry. At 7PM, a bell rang for dinner and all of the students (excluding my class) and staff sat down to a meal. I found out later in the week from Brittany, an AOC student and TA in my morning Sous Vide course, that the Food & Wine class was the envy of the campus. While they were slaving away in their courses, we were tasting wine, eating amazing food, and obviously having a good time. In my defense, I made a bit extra of each recipe, and made up a nice plate for the AOC students and staff.
Day Two was Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. At each of our seats was a little green tray with an assortment of cheeses, nuts, fruits, a bottle of water, and a few other interesting items. Chef Lars asked us to smell each of the items and to remember what we smelled. We then closely looked at, smelled, tasted two different kinds of Chardonnay and Sauv Blanc. For each wine, we had to write notes. What is the color, how are the "legs", what is the nose/smell, what does it taste like? It was interesting to hear what the other chefs in the course tasted and smelled for each wine.
After much discussion and wine tasting, we headed up to the kitchen. My team was assigned three dishes: Brie Quesadilla with a Pear Salsa, Lobster Tabbouleh with an Apricot Curry Dressing, and Roasted Chicken with Stuffing. We had recipes for all these dishes, but Chef Lars gave us the freedom to change or add ingredients in order to make the dish go better with the wines. We also had to adjust the quantity so that only a small tasting portion was prepared for eleven people.
At 6:15 the first "flight" would go out. Each team would use a shared plate, and place their dish together with the other items. We then sat down with four items on our plate, and tried each dish one at a time with each wine, taking down notes about the wine pairing. After the first flight, we headed back into the kitchen to have the second flight ready and plated up at 6:45. Then the third flight at 7:15. Around 8PM, we finished up the leftover wine, cleaned up and split.
Day Three was Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. Since I'm a big fan of reds, I was looking forward to this day. Again we were met in the DeBaun Theatre with a green tray full of items to smell and taste with the wines. We did some tasting, took some notes, and headed up to the kitchen.
My team was assigned three dishes again: Couscous Risotto with Wild Mushrooms and Pecorino Cheese, Tuna in Mustard-Seed Crust with a Tomato Vinaigrette, and Sauteed Duck Breast with Lavender, Fennel and Cracked Pepper. All of the recipes were quite involved, and I was pretty busy. Definitely not one of my better days in the kitchen. Everything tasted great, but I'm a perfectionist and none of my dishes were near perfect. We once again did the three flights, took notes and discussed the food and wines in detail.
Day Four was "Market Basket" day. Each team was assigned a wine, which had to be paired with a pizza and a dish. No recipes, no limitations. Unfortunately my teammate Timmy couldn't participate due to a cold, which left me to work solo. The lecture part of the afternoon was a bit of a treat for us. Chef Lars opened up a handful of old wines for us to try. Most notably a 1967 Chateau Siglas Rabaud Sauternes, and a 1986 Smith Woodhouse Port. Both were fantastic. A 1979 Spring Mountain Cabernet didn't fair so well, as it was not so great. Drinkable, but barely.
I was thrilled when Chef Lars assigned my team a Bordeaux, 2005 Chateau Coufran (Haut - Medoc). A big bold red, right up my alley. Notes of Black fruit, big tannins, with a starchy fruit, long tanniney finish. A pairing of Red meat was the obvious choice, and looked through the list of proteins. Various fish, shellfish, poultry, red meat, along with some other luxurious items like foie gras and sweetbreads. Available red meat included Venison Loin, Lamb Chops & Loins, Flat Iron Steaks, Ground Chuck, and a few others. The winner was Flat Iron Steak, nice and fresh, large and completely trimmed.
Not having a partner to bounce ideas off of was kind of difficult, but also it allowed me to do my food, completely uncontested. After tasting the wine again, the first things that popped in my head were a really good spicy meatloaf or burger. I looked down at the flat iron steaks and wasn't about to return them for ground meat. So I improvised, and came up with a "Deconstructed Meatloaf". Take all the elements found in a great meatloaf and separate them, then serve on forks. Presentation wise, you see each element, but when you eat it, you taste each element individually, then together as you chew. Kind of neat.
Before I started cooking, my partner Timmy stopped over to say goodbye. I thought it would be nice to get his opinion on the wine and my ideas, and he pretty much agreed with me. I could tell he felt bad about not being able to participate, but some things are out of our control.
I marinated the steaks in a blend of Mustard, garlic and herbs. I then made a slow cooked cherry tomato and red onion "confit". Next, I found some brioche bread and sliced it very thin, making small squares, which were coated in egg whites and fried in browned butter. I grilled the steaks until a nice crust was formed on both sides, but still pretty rare in the middle. Then for presentation, I took a cube of the steak and placed it on a fork, at the base of the fork above the steak I added the onion & tomato confit, then at the tip of the fork I skewered the piece of toast. Topped with a sprinkle of sea salt and scallions. It turned out to be a really great dish and I was extremely happy with it.
The pizza was a bit of an afterthought. Timmy suggested an idea about the pizza before he left. Bacon and scallions, no cheese. I followed his advice partly, and decided to use a bit of Bleu Cheese and Parmesan, which I thought the wine would stand up to nicely. Since I was alone, Chef Lars offered to cook my pizza in the brick oven for me. I was a bit sad because I was looking forward to making the pizza and re-living some of my old days back at Wooster Street in Connecticut. Time was my enemy though and Chef Lars became my Sous-Pizza-Chef. Issues with the brick oven temperatures did not help much, and my first pizza came out a bit underdone. It was edible but lacked the crispy crust which defines a real pizza. It went nicely with the wine, but could have benefited from the flavor and texture of a crispy almost burnt crust. I joked a bit with Chef Lars that I would have to discipline my Sous Chef later on.
Each team had a table set up with tasting portions of their dish and pizza. We were joined by a special guest, a chef at a local vineyard, and friend of Chef Lars. We walked around from table to table, tasted the pairings and discussed them in detail. After some cleanup in the kitchen, we sat down and were welcomed to finish off any of the remaining wines. Luckily there was a good amount of the '67 Sauternes and '86 Port, which was extremely nice after dinner. After a number of pictures, exchanging of business cards and email adresses, we dispersed.
Overall, "Food & Wine Pairing for Chefs" was a great course. I was able to look at wine from a different perspective, and learned how to analyze wine on multiple levels. I find myself thinking about wines before I start cooking much more often. When asked for a pairing suggestion now, it is much easier than before, since I am able to give my real opinion rather than guess. One thing hasn't changed when eating out at restaurants. If I'm not familiar with the wines on the list, I stick to the old faithful motto:
Red Wine with Red Meat, White Wine with Fish or Poultry.
