Product Description

Mystified by the art of choosing a wine to go with your meal, or vice versa? The Wine Lover's Cookbook is a unique guide for the wine lover and cook who considers wine an essential part of a meal and wants to understand the dynamic interplay between wine and food. Sid Goldstein describes in detail the flavour profiles of 13 popular varietals, such as Merlot and Chardonnay, and explains which ingredients balance each wine, giving the reader a professional's foundation for planning meals with each kind of wine. Best of all, Goldstein offers 100 recipes, from appetizers to desserts, specifically created to complement a particular varietal. The Wine Lover's Cookbook is a truly essential reference, an irresistibly beautiful cookbook, and an inspiration for all who want to make the most out of an excellent glass of wine.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7707 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From Amazon.com
Which came first: the chicken or the Eglise-Clinet? Well, if you're a disciple of author Sid Goldstein--and you will be--you've had that Bordeaux decanted long before you even thought of shopping for those Cacciatore ingredients. And "wine-first" cooking is precisely what Goldstein--vice president and director of marketing communications at Mendocino, California's Fetzer Vineyards--so ably demonstrates in The Wine Lover's Cookbook, soon to become indispensable to anyone who has ever chosen the wine first and the groceries second. In 100 easy-to-follow-yet-impressive-as-heck recipes, Goldstein shows you how to exquisitely match the tastes and textures of wine varietals to food. In fact, if you want to find specific recipes, you have to look in the back index; the chapters themselves are divided into grape types! Serving a Chardonnay? Chapter 7's Spinach Fettuccine with Sea Bass and Lemongrass-Coconut Cream Sauce is seamless. Pinot Noir? Coffee-and-Spice-Rubbed Lamb with Coffee-Vanilla Sauce shouldn't work; and yet lamb marinated for hours in mint, pepper, red wine, freshly ground coffee beans, and rosemary, then grilled and sauced with a combination of honey, brewed coffee, shallots and vanilla bean--any one of which elements should have bullied a Russian River Pinot--provides a tightly woven hammock on which the wine can luxuriate.

Chapters discuss the grape variety and list "Base Ingredients"--the main medium of the dish (Game Hen and Rabbit are a couple for Sangiovese)--as well as "Bridge Ingredients"--those connectors of food and wine (Plums, Fennel, and Green Peppercorns among those for Syrah). This "wine-first" regimen is not without pitfalls: it's fine to decide that tonight is Riesling or Pinot night, but if you can't find radicchio or pomegranate, you might as well skip a few pages. Yet if you've ever been made to feel immoral by cookbooks that give you the recipe first, then deign to suggest a "perfect" wine pairing beyond your means, let Father Sid absolve you of all your Zins (or Merlots or Viogniers). After all, the Bible talks of wine 650 times; food barely rates a mention. Perhaps if they'd had The Wine Lover's Cookbook in the Garden of Eden, Adam wouldn't have wasted all that time trying to pair ribs and an apple with a Sauvignon Blanc. --Tony Mason

Publisher's Weekly
In a simpler time, we knew that red wine was meant for meat and white was to be served with fish. But now, as explained in this handy cookbook and reference tool, all bets are off because so many influences are at play in transforming American cuisine into a global smorgasbord. Using color-coding, select recipes and ample photographs, Goldstein leads readers through food wine and pairing in a systematic fashion. Even as the database format of this book proves Goldstein to be an exacting connoisseur, the variety of these dishes show him to be a multicultural man for all seasonings as well.

Ingram
When a glass of wine is paired with the right dish, it can resonate in a magnificent way. This gorgeous cookbook lets anyone plan a meal in perfect concert with a favorite or special wine. 45 color photos.

Customer Reviews

Yes, Perfect! Every time.
I love trying new recipes, i always shop for my wine before my food, and with my vast collection of cookbooks and subscription to Bon Appetit, this is my most favorite cookbook ever. I'd highly recommend it.

The recipes may be on the intermediate to advance level of cooking, but they are easy to follow, and ingredients are easy to find. I've prepared probably 80% of the recipes and found them all to be delicious!

Pefect... absolutely perfect
What a remarkable discovery! It's one thing to find a book on wine, another to find a book on food, and something unheard of to find one book on both that so perfectly expresses the joys of marriage between food and beverage. This was a truly ingenious tome that belongs in every kitchen.

For those of you who are visually inclined, you might be a tad disappointed. Only some of the recipes include pictures. Still, considering the subject matter and the great plethora of facts, tidbits, and ideas, you are not missing out. Each type of wine (most if not all) is given a treatment, from a brief background, to what to expect in regards to flavors and aromas. From there, you are guided to the perfect food matches that complement and heighten those aspects of the wine (and vice versa).

Wine and food have long been enjoyed together. Sometimes, we miss out by not having the right wine with the right course. This is your guide, your Magellan for sailing the culinary world. I am so glad that I own this wonderful book. It made a great gift to me from a dear friend, I'm sure your friends would love a copy of it as well! A must-own!

Find out what the hype is all about.
If you are like me and have struggled with the idea that wine and food can make great partners(not just good but great), then you must buy this book. Not only are the recipes top-notch but the wine pairings and explanations are outstanding. I own many cookbooks but this one gets used the most by far. I now can convincingly say that wine and food can make majestic partners, so much so that one without the other most of the time seems one dimensional and lacking. Enjoying home cooked meals like these with a glass of the appropriate wine is truly a gift.