Wine Dinners provides recipes and matching Bordeaux wine recommendations for 12 wine dinners. Each wine is one of the couple’s favourites. Each menu includes a starter, two mains and a dessert. The recipes use European cooking techniques as the foundation while blending in Asian flavours and ingredients.

About the Authors

Melina and N.K Yong are well-known in Singapore (and internationally) for their wine dinners, Bordeaux wine collection and friendships with vineyard owners and wine aficionados globally.

Melina – She won a Best Amateur Chef cooking competition in Singapore in 1986. In 1987 she took a trip to France with N.K. that involved eating at Michelin-star restaurants – 21 stars in five days. The trip made her realise that she had a lot to learn and so she enrolled in an advanced class at a school in London. This led to increased entertaining and professional cooking engagements.

Melina has been cooking for wine dinners (private and public) for more than 20 years and has trained with some of Europe’s best chefs. She has been the guest chef at notable restaurants and chateaux, for example, she has cooked at the Michelin-starred restaurant Le Montrachet in France.

N.K – N.K is a respected wine personality and Bordeaux expert. The French government has twice honoured him for his services to French food and wine. He is also a doctor and is credited with pioneering open-heart surgery in Singapore and Malaysia, performing both countries’ first open-heart surgery in 1965 and 1970 respectively.

Pros
Melina’s introductions to the recipes have an easy conversation style and are informative. She has used her knowledge of matching European food and French wine to introduce Asian flavours to dishes, pairing wines with these flavours.



The recipes are easy to follow, recreate, and use readily obtained ingredients.

Large images clearly show the plating and how the dish should look when finished.

Useful tips and additional recipes for interesting items such as squid ink pasta dough, fried glutinous rice, and lobster oil are included. 



Cons
The wine notes are limited and of limited value, especially for the novice as there is no explanation of the reason why the wine is a good match for the dish just basic tasting notes and comments that it is a good match. This brevity does not succeed in increasing wine knowledge, which is one of the book’s implied aims. A few times Melina gives some insights into the reason for the matching in her introduction to the recipes.



Only one vintage is recommended for each dish and many of the wines are hard to get or beyond the financial reach of many. While the wines chosen are the couple’s favourite it would have been better to recommend several vintages or an explanation of why the matching worked allowing the reader to shop for a wine within their budget that had similar characteristics. It is implied that this book is for the wine novice, yet the matching choices are not, especially if the reader wishes to recreate the dinner using different wine.



A sense of confusion arises from the dinner recipes, which for the same dinner include recipes for six (for example a starter) and a main recipe for four persons.

Authors’ Tips
Melina says that at the heart of wine and food matching is balance and that it is important to learn how to create a sense of balance between the levels of acidity and tannins in a wine and the food being served. She gives the example of a rich, coconut-milk curry being paired with a wine that has enough acidity to cut through the richness and the fat.



When starting with a wine and creating a matching dish she says the trick is to tweak the sauce and accompaniments. For example potato gratin matches well with a big, heavy red because of the lactose in the cream.

Great ingredients prepared simply make the best meals says Melina.

N.K says to make an “enormous difference” to a non-vintage champagne store it for four months.

He also provides useful information on starting a wine collection, the number of bottles to begin with and how best to store the wines.

It is important to trust your own palate when choosing a wine, as more than one wine can match a dish.



Reasons to Buy
The recipes, which are uncomplicated and use readily available quality, fresh ingredients.

The use of various Asian flavours can serve as an inspiration for creating your own dishes.

The book can be purchased online at mycuisin@pacific.net.sg or in Hong Kong at Kelly & Walsh Books in Pacific Place.

Two Menu Examples
Oyster Escabeche with Melon and Yuzu Vinaigrette
Short Rib Curry with Roti Prata
Five-spice Crispy Duck with Spring Onion Pancakes
Lychee, Longan and Persimmon Strudel with Strawberry Coulis
All paired with wines from Chateau de Valandraud



Pan-fried Fillet of Soon Hock with Laksa Sauce
Kobe Beef Striploin Rolled with Truffle Paste, Asparagus and Enoki with Baby Spinach
Homesmoked Quail on Japanese Pumpkin Risotto with Bordeaux Wine Sauce (recipe below)
Mango Crème Brulee
Paired with wines from Chateau Rauzan-Segla and Chateau Canon

NK Responds
WOM: The book contains very basic tasting notes only and no explanation of why the wine is a good match, except on a few occasions only. Why was the information so brief?
Good question. The book was designed to be more a cookbook than a wine book. We did not want to enlarge the wine section with discussions re choices of wine as a)it would have increased the size, and b)it would have taken attention away from the main purpose of the book – to show how European cuisine modified with Asian flavours could match Bordeaux wines.

The chateaux selected were those with whom, we had over the past 20 years, developed close friendships.



WOM: Only one vintage is recommended, and mostly these are hard to find/buy wines or are relatively expensive, it is implied that the book is for the wine novice, yet these choices are beyond the reach of most wine novices, please comment.
It should have been pointed out at the outset that the menu (as published) for each wine dinner was put together from one or more wine dinners centered on the wines of the Chateau which the respective owner/wine-maker wanted to showcase to our wine club. In these wine dinners the wine comes first and Melina has to design the courses to complement the wines.

It was not intended that readers should attempt to replicate exactly the wines listed for each dinner. That would defeat the purpose of the book. The wine notes highlight the attributes of the wine which the food should complement. The wine notes allow readers to select a wine with more or less the same attributes.

Unfortunately some of the wines mentioned are now both very expensive and difficult to come by.

WOM: Why are some recipes in the same menu for six (for example a starter) while the main is only for four?
The quantities prescribed in the recipe simply give a basis for calculating the actual quantities of each ingredient according to number of guests.

Photo Credit: All photos are from the book and were taken by Lynn Chen

Home-smoked Quail on Japanese Pumpkin Risotto with Bordeaux Wine Sauce
Serves 6



2-3l chicken stock, kept simmering over medium-low heat
150g Japanese pumpkin, peeled, diced and blanched
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
200g Arborio rice, washed and drained
1 tsp saffron threads, soaked in water
100ml white wine
1 tbsp unsalted butter
50g parmesan, grated
salt and pepper to taste
6 quails (250 g each), cleaned and deboned
2 sprigs of thyme, stemmed
2 tbsp rock salt

Bordeaux wine sauce

Combine 150ml of the chicken stock with the diced pumpkin in a pan and cook for 10 minutes or until tender but not mushy.
Heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the onion and garlic, covered, over gentle heat until soft but not browned.
Add the rice and saffron, then stir to coat with oil.
Pour in the wine and stir until it is absorbed.
Keeping the heat low, add the chicken stock one ladleful at a time, stirring well between each addition. Each ladleful of stock should be absorbed before the next is added.
When the rice is nearly cooked, fold in the cooked pumpkin and butter.
Continue to cook until the rice is tender.
Stir in the parmesan, then season with salt and pepper, and keep warm.
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Place a wok lined with aluminium foil over medium-low heat. Place some woodchips inside the wok and lay a wire rack over it (the rack should not touch the chips).
Rub the quails with thyme and rock salt, and then place them on the rack inside the wok and cover. Smoke them for 5 to 8 minutes. Remove them from the wok and slow-roast them in the oven for 15 minutes before serving.
To serve, place a portion of risotto in the centre of each plate. Top with a smoked quail and drizzle some Bordeaux wine sauce around it.
Serve immediately.