This upcomingweekend marks the premiere of The Search for General Tso, a new documentary about Chinesefood in America, at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. (Disclosure: I knowthe filmmakers.) It tells the story of why there's a Chinese restaurant inalmost every small town in the United States by tracing the roots of thispopular fried chicken takeout dish back to Taiwan. Be forewarned: It will makeyou hungry.
While winedoesn't play a role in the movie, the film touches on the ideas of migration,adaptation and authenticity—all concepts that philosophically minded winelovers can extrapolateto the wine world—and the occasion of its release seems like a good time totalk about pairing wine with "Chinese food."
One of theeasiest "rules" of wine pairing is to match wines with the traditional cuisineof their region. While this works just fine for dishes from, say, southwestFrance (see: cassoulet and the region's rustic reds), it falls apart quicklywhen you move into places without a strong wine heritage. As it is, the notionsof tradition and authenticity are moving targets when it comes to wine andfood. Wine styles can change according to the whims of current taste, whiledishes are reinterpreted from chef to chef, town to town.
Take, forexample, the recipe for General Tso's Chicken. The original Taiwanese dish,created in the mid-20th century, was savory with a spicy, garlicky, gingersauce. When brought to the United States in the 1970s, it was reinterpretedwith sugar and less spice, turning into a distinctly Chinese-American dish.(Wine people might make a comparison between Old World and New World wineshere: When a grape variety lands on a foreign shore, it can become somethingnew entirely.)
When we thinkof pairings then, it's good to be aware of the variables that arise ininterpreting a cuisine, or a wine style.
To get someperspective on how American Chinese restaurants approach wine selections, Ichecked in with wine director Jason Smith, who oversees the list at Jasmine, inthe Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. The Cantonese-stylerestaurant's wine list earned a Best of Awardof Excellencefrom Wine Spectator.
The core of themenu, by executive chef Hiew Gun Khong, is Hong Kong–style Cantonese, designedto appeal to the hotel's Chinese clientele, who make up around 50 percent ofthe customer base, Smith estimates. But popular American Chinese dishes,including General Tso's Chicken (here called "General Chicken"), also make anappearance and are frequently ordered by American guests.
Smith said thelist was built on two pillars: statement wines to serve the high-rolling Vegasguests (blue-chip Bordeaux and Napa Cabernet) and wines to pair well with thefood. Off-dry whites hold up to spice and sweetness, while American Pinot Noirgoes with soy and savory flavors that come from searing in a wok.
According toSmith, the restaurant's version of General Tso's Chicken is more elegant thanyour usual Chinese American take-out, with less sauce and a mild amount ofheat, which he says helps with making a pairing: "Too much heat doesn't work aswell winewise." Here, then, a good example of the evolution of a dish to hewto wine culture.
For thisversion of General Tso's, Smith recommended a demi-sec Chenin Blanc or AlsatianPinot Gris that can handle the sweetness. Or, for those not attached to wine,he says, "You can't go wrong with beer."
Notice, though,that these recommendations don't stray far from the typical wine suggestionsfor Chinese American food: aromatic, fruity whites such as Riesling andGewürztraminer. The sweetness that became a core element of the Americanversion of General Tso's makes the dish work with this family of wines. As long as Chinese American foodstays sweet and spicy, these wines are now the new "traditional"matches.
Would theoriginal sugar-less Taiwanese dish be able to handle a drier wine? It seemspossible, as long as the heat was kept in check. Without the sugar, on paper,the recipe comes across as potently spiced fried chicken, which opens up plentyof pairing options, from a jammy red that can absorb the spice to a sparklingwine to cut the oil in the fried skin.
Or, turning tothe second pillar of Jasmine's list, you could simply pour a wine you want todrink and be done with it. Maybe not all dishes need a perfect wine match.
I'llbe trying out some matches in my own kitchen soon, but I'm curious, what haveyour experiences been with Chinese-American food and wine?
