Gourmet Column: Gourmet Detective S: Investigating the pairing of Kesennuma ingredients and local sake! ~Part 1~

Pursuing the pairing of Kesennuma ingredients and local sake - Part 1 - "Port town sake for port town flavors?"

table of contents
1. Kesennuma Crew Card Members' Favorite Kesennuma Foods
2. A trip to taste local sake and local snacks
3. The latest trend? Sake pairing
4. Pairing and their respective meanings
5. Re-imported?! A new way to enjoy sake

1. Kesennuma Crew Card Members' Favorite Kesennuma Foods

"Oysters are the best in winter."
"I'm Winter Mecha Shabu Shabu"
"Which place would you like to eat some good sushi?"

What foods and ingredients do people want to eat in Kesennuma? What kind of cuisine do they want to eat? We have conducted several surveys to date of Kesennuma Crew Card members, who are fans of Kesennuma and heavy users of the area.

"Oysters," "swordfish," "sea urchin," "pacific saury"...　It's very interesting to hear from people who have experienced Kesennuma to those who have only been there once, about the various Kesennuma ingredients and dishes that are available in each season.

Our detective agency also cooperates with the investigation and reviews the results every time, but what surprised us the most was the answers."Seafood"There was a phrase like that. And the number of such phrases had increased considerably.

If you grow up in a town with a fishing port nearby and fish being familiar to you, when asked "What would you like to eat in Kesennuma?" you tend to predict answers based on the names of specific ingredients or dishes, such as "shark fin" or "returned bonito."
However, what was great for me was the realization that most people don't actually come to Kesennuma because of the specific fish names, but because they come to enjoy delicious fish, seafood, and seafood.

And another harvest"Japanese sake".

When asked what he wanted to eat, he answered "Kesennuma local sake."
When asked what their purpose in traveling to Kesennuma was, they answered, "To taste Kesennuma's sake."
This means it ranks highly regardless of the season.

It's true that the alcohol in this town is delicious."Kakusei" "Otokoyama Main Store"These two sake breweries compete with each other to produce excellent sake.

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Otokoyama Main Store

2. A trip to taste local sake and local snacks

I enjoy drinking the local alcohol when I travel and do this often, but traveling to a port town with the sole purpose of enjoying the alcohol was a refreshing experience.

Kazuhiko Ota, a designer and izakaya critic,"Visiting a local fishing port, going into an izakaya, and having a drink with freshly caught sashimi is something every drinker dreams of."Say.

I am also a drinker, and one of the best parts of traveling is popping into an izakaya and enjoying local ingredients paired with local alcohol.

Only in a port town can you eat such freshly caught oysters.

The sake from both Kesennuma breweries goes very well with fish.
Port town sake is the perfect match for port town flavors!
It is said that...

Hmmm.
Is that true? Does the alcohol from port towns really go well with the food from port towns? Is it just a misconception?

Hmmm.
There are many different ingredients in Kesennuma, but which ingredients go well with which sake?

There are various types of sake, such as Junmai, Junmai Ginjo, and Junmai Daiginjo, as well as Namazake and Active Sake.
Kesennuma is also home to some famous aged sake shops.

Are there any alcoholic beverages that go well with hormone?

All right.
My editor-in-chief has been urging me to write a sequel soon, so I've decided to take up this topic this time.

Does Kesennuma sake really go well with Kesennuma food? A sake-loving detective begins a delightful investigation at his own expense...

3. The latest trend? Sake pairing

The term "pairing," which is familiar in the world of wine, has recently become popular in the world of sake.
"Pairing" is the process of judging the compatibility of food and alcohol and combining them to create a synergistic effect of flavor. It is also called "mariage."

This is easiest to explain using wine, but since wine is originally made to be drunk with meals, it has long been said and thought about how it should match the ingredients and flavors of the sauces used in the dish.

For example, the common saying goes "red wine goes with beef" and "white wine goes with chicken or fish."
Of course, since this is a matter of taste, strictly speaking there is no absolute correct answer, but in French, Italian, and other restaurants, there are specialized staff members (the well-known sommeliers) who help customers choose wine and give advice on pairings with the restaurant's food.

4. Pairing and its meaning

There are said to be five main types of food and alcohol combinations:
Harmony, balance of the five tastes, neutralization, flavor, textureThat's it.

tuningThis means combining things with the same flavor.
For example, pairing a sweet drink with a sweet dish.

Balance of the five tastesThis means that food and alcohol complement each other to make up for any lack of the five flavors: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.

neutralizeThis means neutralizing something, for example by combining something salty with something sweet.

FlavorFor example, this means aligning the direction of the scent.

TextureFor example, the temperature and hardness must be suitable.

"Marriage"is used in the same way, but originally it meant "the best combination," and just as mariage is French for marriage, it seems to mean a combination that creates new happiness, like marriage.

Like wine, sake is a brewed alcoholic beverage and has been enjoyed as a drink with meals. However, people tend to be more interested in enjoying the flavor of sake itself, or tasting it on its own rather than pairing it with food. Despite the large number of brands and types of sake available, it seems that not much attention has generally been paid to how to pair it with food.

Rather, sake is said to go well with all kinds of food, and it seems that drinkers have not always thought about pairing it with other dishes.
Considering that sake is made from rice, and Japanese cuisine is composed to go with white rice, it makes sense that sake "goes well with all dishes."

I feel that this is a big difference from wine made from grapes.

However, in recent years, the enjoyment of pairing food with sake, much like wine, has become popular.

5. Re-imported?! A new way to enjoy sake

Last year, I visited a restaurant in Azabu-Juban, Tokyo, that specializes in pairings with Japanese sake.

Each dish served in the course is accompanied by a sake selected by the restaurant's sake sommelier from all over Japan.
The food and alcohol blended together in my mouth, and I enjoyed the expanding flavors one after the other.

It was served as a perfect match for sea urchin, cockle, and red tuna sashimi.

The sommelier was originally qualified as a wine sommelier, but while studying in New York he discovered the joy of sake, and after returning to Japan he decided he wanted to open a restaurant that would pursue the pairing of sake with food, just like wine.

As sake's reputation and popularity abroad has grown and exports have increased, one could say that the way people enjoy sake has evolved, and a new way of enjoying sake, such as pairing it with food as an accompaniment to meals, is becoming more and more popular as a sort of reverse import.

Is it possible to combine such dishes with sake, to create a pairing, using Kesennuma ingredients and Kesennuma sake?
If we can do that, we may be able to offer travelers a new way to enjoy food travel.

To do this, firstLearn about the characteristics of Kesennuma sakeSo the detective visited two storehouses in Kesennuma.

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Otokoyama Main Store

(Continued in Part 2)