The cure for what ails you

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/11/2011 (5313 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s been called the candy of meats: no matter how you slice it, there aren’t many omnivores who don’t enjoy a good slice of bacon (or two, or three) every once in a while.

Enter Baconfest, an event cooked up by Hot 103’s Ace Burpee and some local foodies via Twitter. Taking place Nov. 30 from 7 to 10 p.m. in the atrium of Richardson College at the University of Winnipeg, this event brings the sizzle when it comes to local chefs and eateries — nearly a dozen have signed on, with local brewery Half Pints on board to provide libations. The idea is simple: chefs create delicious bacon-driven dishes for those in attendance to devour. There are no losers here, people.

Tickets (if there are any left) are $75; for info on how and where to get ’em, visit Hot 103’s site via http://tinyurl.com/wpgbacon. Here’s the info that really sells the sizzle — all proceeds from Baconfest go to the United Way through Ace Burpee’s One Man, One Hundred Thousand Dollars Campaign. If ever there were a reason to nosh on some delicious pig products, this is it.

Back to the matter at hand: all this talk about Baconfest got me thinking about wine pairings. For the most part, pork can be matched with either white or red wine, depending on how it’s prepared. But it’s tricky — bacon can enhance or mute certain flavours in both whites and reds.

The key to pairing wine and bacon is balance — since bacon is typically fairly salty, a corresponding wine should stand up to that saltiness with some acidity and/or light sweetness. I once tried pairing icewine and bacon; the sweetness and saltiness of the wine and bacon (respectively) was ratcheted up so high when paired together that it was out of whack and a huge disappointment.

Bacon’s fattiness can mess with the texture of a wine. As the palate becomes coated by those yummy bacon flavours, the acidity levels and texture of a wine on your palate will change. A big, soft, buttery Chardonnay will disappear with bacon, while even a simple, crisp Pinot Grigio will seem lively. In reds, a little bit of tannin keeps the wine from getting bowled over by the fatty saltiness. How heavy or light-bodied a wine is doesn’t matter so much — acidity and backbone are key if a wine is to stand up to bacon.

Different kinds of bacon will bring different secondary flavours as well — honey, smoke, spice, and so on. These secondary notes take wine pairings to the next level if you can track down wines with complementary/similar flavours: a smoky French Pinot Noir, a viscous Viognier with honey and tropical notes, or a spicy Syrah or Shiraz, for example.

As is always the case with wine and food pairing, there are no rules. Grab some bacon and some wine and let the games begin.

uncorked@mts.net twitter.com/thegrapenut

A COUPLE of years ago, Gary Vaynerchuk devoted an entire episode of Wine Library TV to wine and bacon (http://tinyurl.com/gvbacon). Inspired, I cooked up some bacon (your average side bacon, some back bacon and some pancetta) and decided to taste them with wines I thought would work…

INNISKILLIN 2009 EAST WEST SERIES RIESLING/GEWÜRZTRAMINER (Niagara-on-the-Lake/ Okanagan Valley, B.C. — $15.99, Liquor Marts and beyond)

This white blend combines grapes from Canada’s two main winemaking regions; it shows waxy, lemon candy, spice, tangerine and ripe red apple on the nose. It’s light-bodied and crisp, with a hint of sweetness via the red apple flavours, ripe lemon and peach notes. It worked well with the slightly sweet back bacon, but really came alive with the saltier, slightly spiced pancetta. While it wasn’t bad, this wine was better with the pancetta than it was on its own.

MITOLO 2009 JESTER SHIRAZ (McLaren Vale, Australia — $22.25, Liquor Marts and beyond)

Deep purple in colour, the Mitolo brings cherry, light smoke, vanilla, espresso and spice on the nose. It’s a deep, full-bodied red, with rich black cherry, espresso, black tea, raspberry jam and licorice notes on the palate and a long, hot finish. The sweet fruit was accentuated by the back bacon, the regular bacon accentuated the smoky notes of the wine, and the pancetta imparted a slightly strange, oily note to the texture of the wine. A big, grippy red.

EDETÀRIA 2008 EDETANA RED (Terra Alta, Spain — around $29, private wine stores)

A blend of Garnacha, Cariñena and Garnacha Peluda, the nose on the Edetana brings to mind dried cherries, clove, raspberry and wet earth. It’s a medium-plus-bodied red that balances ripe red berries, earthy notes and light tannin (and some heat on the finish). Bacon-wise, it overpowered the back bacon and was similarly overpowered by the pancetta, but found a nice home next to your run-of-the-mill side bacon.