An Exploratory Study to Develop Korean Food and Wine Pairing Criteria
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1. Cultural Differences in Taste
2.2. Food and Wine Pairing
- The mouthfeel, the feeling a product gives in the mouth, is composed of two dimensions:
- ○
- The contracting mouthfeel (that is, the mouthfeel contraction generated by acidity, bitterness, saltiness, carbonation, or spiciness; but also the drying effect in the mouth caused by the tannins of red wines) gives the impression of refreshment and cleansing the mouth.
- ○
- Coating mouthfeel (which leaves a thin layer in the mouth such as sweet wines): the sugar, fat, and proteins give this creamy and fatty texture. In beverages, alcohol and sugars are viscous and coating elements.
- The flavor richness is composed of the flavor intensity and the flavor type
- ○
- Flavor intensity is the amount of flavor, which is different from complex flavors that keep on surprising you
- ○
- Flavor type (fresh and ripe dimensions)
- (1)
- Flavor style 1 is neutral, such as water
- (2)
- Flavor style 2 is round, such as wines with a touch of sweetness (coating)
- (3)
- Flavor style 3 is balance low which corresponds to a simple easy thick wine
- (4)
- Flavor style 4 is fresh (contracting), which corresponds to acidic white wine
- (5)
- Flavor style 5 is robust, which is associated with tannic red wines with oak character
- (6)
- Flavor style 6 is full, such as sweet and fortified wines
- (7)
- Flavor style 7 is balance high or full-bodied and balanced wine
- (8)
- Flavor style 8 is pungent, such as sparkling wines
- Style 1 and style 5 represent two extremes: neutral vs. robust (such as tannins);
- Styles 2 and 6 go from round (wines with a touch of sweetness) to full coating wines such as sweet and fortified wines;
- Styles 4 and 8 go from fresh to pungent; the contracting dimension is influenced by acidity, salt, and CO2;
- Styles 3 and 7 represent balanced wines from low to high (the flavor becomes balanced if coating and contracting forces more or less compensate for each other (e.g. umami)).
- Contracting wines go well with contracting foods
- Coating wines go well with coating foods
- The flavor richness of wines and foods should be about the same
- The sequence when composing a menu is to progress from contracting to coating foods and wines, and from lower levels of flavor richness to higher levels.
2.3. Korean Food and Wine
- Which feature of Korean cuisine influences wine pairing?
- From their daily diet, have Korean consumers developed a wine preference that could affect wine pairing to Korean food?
- To what extent are the existing pairing criteria applicable to Korean cuisine?
- Are there any new criteria of wine pairing to be identified for the Korean palate and Korean cuisine?
3. Research Methods
- 24 questions on food and wine pairings: a set of three questions per course (Here is a list of the eight courses: (1) deep-fried sweet chicken (ingredients: chicken, starch, egg white, frying powder and condiments: clear rice wine, sugar, starch syrup, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, soy, pepper, red chili paste, sesame oil); (2) sour cold jellyfish salad (ingredients: jellyfish, cucumber and condiments: vinegar, sesame oil, salt, sugar, soy sauce, garlic); (3) crab marinated in soy sauce (ingredients: crab, soy sauce, mirin, garlic, chili, pepper, ginger, kelp, anchovy); (4) acorn jello (ingredients: acorn powder, water, a bit of salt); (5) spicy stir-fried pork (ingredients: pork, cabbage, onion, chili, spring onion, carrot and condiments: red chili paste, red chili powder, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, ginger juice, pepper, sesame oil); (6) spicy stir-fried baby octopus (ingredients: baby octopus, cabbage, carrot, chives, red chili, onion, oil, and condiments: red chili paste, red chili powder, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, ginger, salt, sesame); (7) spicy stir-fried rice pasta (ingredients: rice pasta, spring onions, red chili and condiments: red chili paste, soy sauce, pepper, sesame oil, sesame, sugar, starch syrup); (8) simmering kimchi stew (ingredients: matured kimchi, pork, tofu, spring onion, oil, red chili powder, garlic): type of wines they would like to pair with: red, white, rosé, sparkling, no pairing; the level of tannins, sweetness, acidity, sourness and body (from low/light to high/heavy) of the wine to pair with; the dominant flavor of the wine to pair with (oaky, spicy, fruity, flowery, vegetal)
- 7 questions on snack and wine habits (the best Korean snacks to be paired with wine, ease of pairing Korean food with wine, frequency of pairing Korean food with wine, preferred country, preferred variety, price range and frequency of wine consumption)
- 2 questions on wine involvement (to assess level of expertise: deep knowledge, studying wine, wine beginner and traditional drinker; though the convenience sample is involved in wine-related activities) and 1 question to check the participation in wine-related activities (wine class, reading, sharing information with friends and wine club)
- 2 on demographics (gender and age).
4. Qualitative Findings and Discussions
4.1. Characteristics of Korean Food
4.2. Koreans’ Taste Preferences for Wine
4.3. Korean Food and Wine Pairing
- P1: The Western criteria of food and wine pairing are applicable to Korean dishes that do not include the characteristics of spiciness, strong flavor, or hot food temperature.
- P2: There is a segment of Korean wine consumers who choose tannic red wine for spicy dishes to enjoy the burning sensation in the mouth.
- P3: The combination of spiciness, soupiness, and hot food temperature creates the worst conditions for wine pairing.
- P4: The level of wine involvement affects consumers’ wine preference and wine selection for food.
5. Quantitative Findings and Discussions
5.1. Characteristics of the Respondents
5.2. Wine Pairing with Sweet, Sour, Salty, and Bitter Foods
5.3. Wine Pairing with Spicy Foods
5.4. Wine Selection Based on Wine Involvement
6. Conclusions
- For a sweet dish, match the level of sweetness: choose a wine with ripe and intense fruit, and avoid heavily oaked wine (coating effect: round wines with some residual sugars or full wines such as fortified or sweet wines).
- For a sour dish, match the level of acidity; avoid tannic and oaky wine (contracting effect and fresh wines with vegetal characteristics).
- For a salty dish, choose a wine with a touch of sweetness and a little acidity (round off-dry wines).
- For a bitter dish, choose wine with firm tannin and/or oak maturation (robust red wines with oak flavors).
- For a dish with soy sauce flavor, choose a wine with oak flavor (robust red wines).
- For a spicy dish, choose a wine with mild sweetness and refreshing acidity to calm the burning sensation (round wines or pungent wines). Avoid high tannin and high-alcohol wine.
- For consumers who prefer the burning sensation, dry tannic wine can be paired with a spicy dish.
- The combination of spiciness, soupiness, and hot temperature is the worst situation for wine pairing.
- Wine with effervescence provides a palate-cleansing effect (pungent wines).
7. Limitations
Acknowledgments
Author Contributions
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A1. Illustration of Korean Courses
Appendix A1.1. NON-SPICY FOOD
Appendix A1.1.1. Deep-Fried Sweet Chicken (닭강정)—Sweetness
Appendix A1.1.2. Jellyfish Salad (해파리냉채)—Sourness
Appendix A1.1.3. Crab Marinated in Soy Sauce (간장게장)—Saltiness
Appendix A1.1.4. Acorn Jello (도토리묵)—Bitterness
Appendix A1.2. SPICY FOOD SAMPLES
Appendix A1.2.1. Spicy Stir-Fried Pork (제육볶음)
Appendix A1.2.2. Spicy Stir-Fried Baby Octopus (매운 낚지볶음)
Appendix A1.2.3. Spicy Stir-Fried Rice Pasta (떡볶이)
Appendix A1.2.4. Kimchi stew (김치찌개) (worst conditions for wine pairing: spiciness, soupiness, and hot temperature)
Appendix B. Type of Wine Chosen for Deep-Fried Sweet Chicken
Mean Rating | Red (n = 45) | White (n = 20) | Rosé (n = 33) | Champagne (n = 41) | Total (n = 139) | p Value |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sweetness | 1.89 | 2.50 | 2.73 | 2.88 | 2.47 | 0.000 ** |
Acidity | 2.58 | 2.95 | 2.91 | 3.00 | 2.83 | 0.084 |
Tannins | 3.229 | 2.00 | 2.11 | 1.80 | 2.36 | 0.000 ** |
Body | 3.39 | 2.60 | 2.48 | 2.63 | 2.84 | 0.000 ** |
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Description of the Flavor Style | Example of Beverages | Primary Flavor Factors | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Contracting Mouthfeel | Coating Mouthfeel | Flavor Richness | ||
1. NEUTRAL (light) | Plain water | Low/neutral | Low/neutral | Low |
2. ROUND (smooth, supple, creamy) | Wine with a touch of sweetness | Low | High | Low |
3. BALANCE LOW (can be drunk continually, simple) | Balanced daily wine | High | High | Low |
4. FRESH (sour, contracting) | Acidic white wine | High | Low | Low |
5. ROBUST (powerful/dry) | Tannic red wines with oak character | Low/Dry | Low/dry | High |
6. FULL (rich, ripe flavor, filling) | Sweet, concentrated wine, fortified wine | Low | High | High |
7. BALANCE HIGH (ripe, complex, differentiated, subtle) | Rich, full-bodied balanced wine | High | High | High |
8. PUNGENT (spicy, hot, explosive) | Sparkling wine | High | Low | High |
Korean Food Samples and Their Characteristics | Wine-Pairing Criteria | Interviewees’ Wine-Pairing Suggestions |
---|---|---|
Deep-fried sweet chicken (sweetness) | Match level of sweetness | Off-dry ripe fruit red wine |
Wines with ripe and intense fruit | White wine with good fruit | |
Avoid heavily oaked wines | New world sparkling wine | |
Jellyfish salad (sourness) | Match level of acidity | Acidic white wine with no oak |
Avoid tannic and oaky wine | Dry sparkling wine with good acidity | |
Crab marinated in soy sauce (saltiness) | Highly salty food is a wine-killer | Hard to pair wine |
Wine with a touch of sweetness and a little acidity | White wine with some sweetness and a little acidity | |
Wine with effervescence | Light bodied well-matured (oak) red wine to match the soy sauce flavor Wine with effervescence | |
Acorn Jello (bitterness) | Highly bitter food is a wine-killer | White wine with some oak |
Wine with firm tannin or oak maturation | Medium bodied red wine with some spiciness and softness (oak matured) | |
Wine with effervescence |
Food Samples and Their Characteristics | Wine Pairing Criteria | Interviewees’ Wine Pairing Suggestions |
---|---|---|
Spicy stir-fried pork (low spiciness) | Wine with mild sweetness and refreshing acidity Wine with effervescence Avoid high tannin and high alcohol wine | Light red wine White wine with oak Medium+ bodied tannic red wine (e.g., Australian Shiraz) for the people who love the burning sensation |
Spicy stir-fried baby octopus (high spiciness) | Sparkling wine with good acidity White wine with good fruit and acidity | |
Spicy stir-fried rice pasta (medium spiciness) | Wine with refreshing characteristics | |
Kimchi stew (highly spicy, soupy and hot temperature) | No definition Cold wine to provide contrast to hot temperature | No wine to match Well-chilled sparkling wine could be the only solution |
Food Samples | Wine Pairing Criteria | Qualitative Results | Results Coming from the Quantitative Data (Those Results Come from the Collected Quantitative Data and It Is Shown in the Appendix How We found These Results Based on Statistical Analysis for the Case of “Sweetness (Deep-Fried Sweet Chicken).”) | FSC (Flavor Style Cube) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Deep-fried sweet chicken (course with sweetness) | - Match level of sweetness - Chose wines with ripe and intense fruit - Avoid heavily oaked wines | - Off-dry ripe fruit red wine - White wine with good fruit - New world sparkling wine | - Off-dry spicy red wine - Fruity medium+ sweet sparkling white wine | - COATING wines go well with coating food (ROUND or FULL) - PUNGENT wines |
Sour jellyfish salad (course with acidity) | - Match level of acidity - Avoid tannic and oaky wine | - Acidic wine with no oak - Dry sparkling wine with good acidity | - White wine with medium+ acidity and vegetal flavor | - FRESH wines go well with contacting food |
Crab marinated in soy sauce (course with saltiness) | - Highly salty food is a wine killer - Wine with a touch of sweetness and a little acidity - Wine with effervescence | - Hard to pair wine - White wine with some sweetness and/or oak - Light bodied, well-matured red wine - Refreshing wine | - Off-dry white wine with vegetal flavor - Dry red wine with oak flavor | - ROUND wines - ROBUST wines - PUNGENT wines |
Acorn Jello (course with bitterness) | - Highly bitter food is a wine killer - Wine with firm tannin or oak maturation - Wine with effervescence | - White wine with some oak - Medium-bodied red wine with some spiciness and softness (from oak maturation) | - Red wine with medium+ tannin and oak - Off-dry white wine with vegetal flavor | - ROBUST wines - ROUND wines - PUNGENT wines |
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Kim, S.; Lecat, B. An Exploratory Study to Develop Korean Food and Wine Pairing Criteria. Beverages 2017, 3, 40. https://doi.org/10.3390/beverages3030040
Kim S, Lecat B. An Exploratory Study to Develop Korean Food and Wine Pairing Criteria. Beverages. 2017; 3(3):40. https://doi.org/10.3390/beverages3030040
Chicago/Turabian StyleKim, Sangmi, and Benoît Lecat. 2017. "An Exploratory Study to Develop Korean Food and Wine Pairing Criteria" Beverages 3, no. 3: 40. https://doi.org/10.3390/beverages3030040