Shrimp Tempura
Shrimp Tempura is one of my favourite dishes. I love the delicate flavour of the shrimp flesh balanced with a light and crisp tempura batter. For pairings I have two recommendations. If you prefer to stick with wine pairings, I suggest a dry Riesling.
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The riesling brings the required acidity to clean your palate from the deep fried batter, and choosing one that is dry will be a better flavour complement to the delicate flavours of the shrimp.
One of my favourite pairings with shrimp tempura is beer. In my 30’s and 40’s my Wife and I always had bottles of Beck’s on hand. It was our go to beer. It has a crisp bitterness, and almost instantaneous, clean finish that is typical for a German pilsner done with roasted barley (some of the bitterness comes from the roasting, and is more than a 20 IBU rating would suggest). My preference though is to point you at a more local product. We are very fortunate to have so many local brewers again, and despite my efforts (I read the descriptions of almost 100 products, and now I want a beer!) I couldn’t come up with a local recommendation that I was confident of (clearly I need to do more local research). So, instead I will leave you with my recommended flavour profile and let you choose your own preferred beer! What I would recommend is something that is crisp and bitter, but not with the high IBU ratings of an IPA, where stronger fruit aromas are introduced. A simple beer from water, barley, yeast and hops. The bitterness and cleanliness will be a lovely complement to the rich and oily dish.
Salmon Misoni
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My mouth started watering when I read the recipe for our salmon dish. The miso, fish sauce and ginger will introduce a classic umami, while the mirin will cut it somewhat with its fresh acidity and sweetness. This will be a complex, full palate dish, and deserves a wine to match. Salmon is both an easy and hard dish to pair wines with. Easy, because you can pair it with white, red and rose, and choose from light or full body. It is also difficult to pair with because it is all in how it is prepared. Is it steamed? Is it poached in light vegetable stock, or in red wine and oranges? Is it lightly seasoned, grilled and served on its own, or is it blackened and served with a maple glaze, vinegar and dill or miso marinade/sauce?
I made a dish similar to this only a week ago. When I think back to the flavours and mouth feel of the dish what I want in a wine is something that both gives my palate a break, and at the same time holds up to the complexity of the dish. Is on par with it, and yet creates a clear distinction and palate cleanse from it.
I have chosen this rose to pair with it. This wine is a blend of Grenache, Vermentino, Cinsault, and Mourvedre. Each bring their aroma, flavour and character, in balance, to produce a mouth filling and complex wine that is crisp in acidity.