Drinks to pair with modern Korean cuisine

• Published Apr 23, 2015 4:24 PM KST
• Updated Apr 23, 2015 4:24 PM KST

By Jun Kyoung-woo

"Contemporary Korean" cuisine which mixes Korean DNA with the delicacies of the French is a new genre of food that is gaining popularity these days.

Since chef Yim Jung-sik's restaurant Jungsik received a Michelin star in New York and was recently rated as one of Asia's 50 best restaurants, the interest in modern Korean cuisine has soared. In proportion to the amount of attention, the minds of sommeliers have become busier trying to come up with what would best suit the new genre of food.

Traditional liquor

What comes first to the mind is traditional liquor. Over the past few years, the movement to revitalize makgeolli has triggered a variety of liquors being developed and restored.

If you've chosen meat as your main dish, “Moonbaesool,” which was used as a toasting drink at the inter-Korean summit in 2000, will be a moderate choice. This liquor was registered as important intangible cultural property no. 86-1. It is made with malt, non-glutinous millet, and millet with no fruit, but has the unique flavor of Korean native pear "moonbae" which has a fresh fruity flowery aroma.

If you've chosen fish as your main dish, "Sasi-tongeum Ju" will be a good match.

The drink, made with 99 percent white rice and 1 percent wheat, has a sweet taste unique to grains and is characterized by the sour yet savory taste that reminds us of premium quality white wine. It's similar to the principle of pairing white wine with Western seafood dishes to reduce the fishy smell.

Sasi-tongeum Ju means "a drink to brew throughout all four seasons to enjoy with friends." It had disappeared over time but was restored by Kooksoondang Brewery after a long period of research based on documents written in the 1800s.

Wine

Traditional liquor is not always easy to create a beautiful pairing.

Some say the reason why Korean fine dining restaurants recommend wine is because it harmonizes with the presentation and the plate. The plates used at modern Korean restaurants are usually French-style.

The image of a dish from a fine dining restaurant such as Jungsik doesn't exactly match with the cheap Jangsu makgeolli. In the end, expensive food balances out with expensive liquor which is why premium Korean restaurants have in-house sommeliers and a variety of top-quality wines.

Wine is a drink most actively used by sommeliers to match with fusion Korean food.

Finding the right wine to pair with Korean food is a significant task for the sommeliers and the wine industry. It has been this way since the 1990s when the wine boom occurred.

To the question of which wine best matches with hansik (Korean food), sommeliers, alcohol industry officials, chefs and gourmets all give different answers. Some say Zinfandel wine pairs well while others say full-bodied, strong tannin-flavored wine matches better. The discussion is still ongoing.

These days, as the cuisine has become more delicate, white wine has become a strong candidate.

Kim Seora, marketing and public relations manager at Shinsegae L&B, recommended Pinot Noir red wine which boasts a complex flavor, or champagne with a refreshing flavor to match with hansik which mixes a variety of ingredients.

Billecart-Salmon Extra Brut, which has fine bubble particles, matches well with vegetable dishes or seafood. It offers a lemon-like refreshing acidic taste as well as a soft taste. Extra Brut is a style which has the least sweet flavor out of the champagne varieties. It pairs well with clean and elegant modern Korean cuisine.

"For dishes that utilize kimchi, rose wine will be a good choice in reviving the sour taste," Kim said. She recommended pink-colored "Canyon Road White Zinfandel."

Park Yeon-ji of wine importer Keumyang International, says white or rose wine pair well with fusion or modern Korean cuisine instead of red wine because the abundant acidity in those wines helps cleanse the flavors in the mouth.

"For modern or fusion Korean food which creates complex flavors resulting from a variety of ingredients and sauces, it will be difficult to savor the taste of the food if the flavor of wine is too strong or have high level of tannin," she said.

She recommended "Schloss Vollrads, Edition," "Schloss Vollrads, Kabinett," and "Caves d'Esclans, Whispering Angel" which are elegant, refreshing and full of minerals.

The house wine which received the best customer feedback at La Yeon, the Korean restaurant at The Shilla hotel, was "Condrieu 'La Doriane,' E. Guigal, France 2013" from the Rhone region in France. This white wine is rich with a fruity aroma and matches well with hors d'oeuvre featuring meat.

Of the red wines, those from the region of Bourgogne are popular. Because of the soft taste, it goes well with La Yeon's lightly sauced food. Bourgogne wine recommended by The Shilla is "Vosne Romanee Domain Jean Grivot 2011" which is "as soft as velvet."

The basics

The basics of wine pairing is to match rich and heavy wine with strong flavored dishes and light and refreshing wine with mildly flavored dishes. At most times, pairing this way based on intensity and flavors doesn't fail you.

Matching similar flavors is another basic principle. To sour-sauced salad, match acidic white wine, and to sweet dessert, match sweet wine. Sommeliers usually recommend wines based on this principle.

But you can always make new attempts. The beauty of hansik is that the diverse flavors harmonize in a variety of ways. If you've found balance between the food and the drink, you've succeeded.