Wine and food lessons

All
I have been very busy with the Thanksgiving holiday and other events so I am keeping my blogs a bit brief but will get back to doing more stories after the holidays.

Here is an experiment you can do at home to learn how different wines and foods work together.

Here is what you will need:

A glass of wine that you typically drink. Please note that for this experiment you should pick something that will most likely work together.  I wouldn't suggest picking Chardonnay if you are going to cook a piece of steak.

A piece of meat, chicken or fish that you like.

Glass of water.

Six types of condiments.  For example, if you are using a piece of steak have barbeque sauce, dijon mustard, horseradish, mushroom sauce, an Asian condiment like chili sauce and a lemon wedge.  This is just an example but I picked things that one may normally eat with steak. I picked six condiments but you can use more or less.

Take your condiments and pour a small amount of them on separate, small plates.

Cook your meat, chicken or fish then cut it into at least one more portion than you have condiments.  For example, if you have six condiments, cut your piece of meat, chicken or fish into seven pieces.

Take a taste of your wine. Then take a piece of the meat, chicken or fish and eat it plain.  How does it work with the wine? 
How can you tell if you food and wine are a good or bad pairing?  If you take a drink of wine, then eat the food, if you get a burning sensation in your mouth that is not good.

Rinse your mouth with water.  Take another drink of wine and taste it with a piece of your meat, chicken or fish with one of the condiments.  Note how different the pairing is.

Now repeat this process tasting the wine with a piece of your protein dipped in a different condiment and note how different the taste is.  This is how you learn and develop your palate.

Another way to do this is just the opposite.  Take a piece of meat for example and try it with six different wines. 

The ways you can try this experiment are endless but not only is it fun, it is also educational.  If you do this enough you will also learn that red wine does not always go with red meat and white wine does not always go with white meat such as fish.