Cooking with wine an art in itself

The mastery of pairing food and wine is also needed in cooking, a tradition which is probably as old as the history of wine itself.

The rules of using wine in cooking, especially when preparing a dish to be served with a certain wine, is pretty much the same: It all comes down to taste.

Chefs have to taste the wine which will be served before they decide what dish to prepare for that particular wine.

"A fish dish needs something with a bit of acidity. Red wine is commonly used for beef sauce because of the tannin in the wine," said Marx, explaining that in his kitchen at least four different kinds of basic wines, namely a light red wine and a tannic one (for red wines) and an acidic wine and a sweet, mild one (for white wines) are always handy.

Cooking wine is a term inappropriately used to refer to basic wine, which is actually ordinary drinking wines sold at a reasonable price and is used in cooking to enhance a dish.

Nowadays many wines have a label -- including describing the wine's flavor, its alcohol content, what foods will go with it -- so it is advisable to read the label first before deciding which wine has the needed character for a certain dish.

"The most common mistake people do is using an expensive wine for cooking," he said, explaining that cooking would make the wine lose its valued subtlety.

Cooking, Marx said, caused the loss of the alcohol and concentration of the flavor of the wine in a dish. So, it is unadvisable to use wine you would not drink because the off flavor would end up concentrated in the dish.

After several bites and sips, there is no doubt that your palate will gradually become less sensitive to the pleasant sensation in the mouth. However, you can still prime you palate during the meal allowing you to enjoy the experience longer.

And since the best source of pairing food and wine is your palate, novice need to get accustomed to the flavor and texture of wine and how it interacts with food. By doing your own experiments maybe you can find an exciting match for your favorite dish and share it with loved ones.

"With the food you like, (nicely paired with) a good wine and the company you love, you just cannot go wrong," Matignon said.

-- Maria Endah Hulupi