When The Scotch Malt Whisky Society launched and commenced operations in Australia back in 2002, one of the earliest and most staple activities was a healthy program of whisky dinners. The tradition of whisky and food matching has never died and, here in Sydney at least, the Society continues to hold at least two significant whisky dinners each year for its members. When it comes to matters culinary, if you’re going to promote something as being uniquely special, delivering excellence, and showcasing “the best”, then you need to work with the best. For this reason, wherever possible, the Society chooses to team up with Franz Scheurer – the maestro of matching food to whisky.
To truly understand what successful whisky and food matching is about, here are some words I penned previously for another article when writing about Franz…
“Whisky dinners are a dime a dozen these days.
Actually, that’s not true…I concede they’re not that frequent, and they definitely cost more than a dime. However, where they often become tiresome is that they are usually just no more than a regular dinner with some whiskies thrown into the equation – rarely with much thought (or expertise) being applied to match the two.
Anyone can match a whisky to a dish. It’s relatively easy to taste a dish and then reach for your nearest whisky that vaguely shares commonalities. The classics get wheeled out all the time – smoked salmon with Talisker; venison with Glenmorangie; Ardbeg with dark chocolate; etc. Yawn.
Where real skill lies is to actually match the food to the whisky. Did you catch the distinction? Who out there can taste a whisky, and then go off and create or re-shape a dish that is built around the whisky’s flavours; builds or contrasts against the malt’s texture, depth, and alcohol; and then – most amazingly of all – create a pairing where the whisky improves the dish, and the dish improves the whisky? I know of only one man who can do this. And his name is Franz Scheurer.
Franz’s chief philosophy with food and whisky pairing is some simple maths: 1 + 1 = 3. It’s not enough for the whisky and the dish to complement (and compliment) one another – they should enhance and improve one another.”
And so, with that as background info, you’ll appreciate why the Society once again teamed up with Franz for its latest dinner, this time at LuMi Bar & Dining, located at Pyrmont. LuMi is a relatively new kid on the block, having opened only in September last year, although chef Federico Zanellato comes with an impressive background and pedigree. So much so, that LuMi was recently awarded two Chef’s Hats by the Sydney Good Food Guide, before it had even been running for a year!
For this particular SMWS Whisky Dinner, I threw Franz a curve ball by selecting in advance the whiskies that would be featured for the dinner. No room to manoeuvre or suggest alternatives, he took one small sip of each of the whiskies and then set about working with Federico to match the dishes.
And it is the food and whisky matchings where both the fun and the pleasure lie. In the lead up to the event, Franz emailed me and claimed cheekily, “This will be the best one yet”. Having collaborated with Franz on numerous occasions over the years, working with some of Australia’s most respected chefs, I confess I was slightly dubious. Now, with the benefit of having enjoyed the magic that unfolded on my palate, I believe he was right. In terms of the actual matches, this was the best Whisky Dinner yet.
At one point during the night, Tony Chapman, a long-time and regular attendee of Franz’s whisky dinners, shared with the room his observations of how Franz’s matches work. The dining room applauded in agreement, and Tony nailed it so accurately, that I asked him to write down his thesis for this article. His comments were:
“The over-arching objective of Franz when matching food to whisky is to create “synergy”, i.e. 1 + 1 > 2. Sometimes the whisky will really be the beneficiary; other times, it’s the food which really takes off. Both of these are a “>2” outcome. But when both the food and the whisky go into the stratosphere, you know you’re experiencing a very special epicurean moment. I have identified four classes of whisky-food matching. I do not claim these are exhaustive; neither are they discreet. You can sometimes find flavour/texture combinations that can easily fall into more than one class. I merely try to use this as a framework or tool, so I can hopefully better deconstruct the experience, and gain as much satisfaction and enjoyment possible!
- The basic match
This is the simplest and most obvious match, i.e. sweet–sweet; spicy-spicy; vanilla-vanilla; smoke-smoke. Imagine serving a Glenfarclas 25 with a piece of Christmas pudding. Or imagine a Springbank 12 served with smoked oysters on crackers. You get the idea. This is where most food-whisky matching pundits start and finish. But Franz almost never does these. Too easy, too boring!
- The jigsaw match
Once you start juxtaposing the flavours and textures of the dish and the whisky, you notice that there was a slight “gap” or “missing link” in both the food and the whisky. But when tried together, each element acts to supplement the other’s perceived “weakness”. Weakness is probably too strong a word here, as the elements are by themselves obviously very tasty. It’s just that once the combination is made, you notice how much BETTER the combination has become! Some examples might be: “This whisky was a little short and bitter without the food, but with the food that bitterness transformed into a longer and spicier finish”. Or, “The food seemed a touch salty without the whisky, but the alcohol and creamy malt perfectly improved it.” This is Franz’s main game, and where you really notice his “1 + 1 > 2” thing happening.
- The see-saw match
This one is a bit tougher to describe. You have to imagine a see-saw, with the food at one end and the whisky at the other. The “plank” is normally some ingredient in the food which provides a link or bridge between what might otherwise seem quite disparate elements. For this to work, the “see-saw” has to balance, which means neither the food nor the whisky dominates. In No. 2 above, the operative word was “supplement”; here, the operative word might be “complement”. By this I mean that there are flavour and texture elements which do not appear that compatible, but they combine to reveal and enhance elements in each other. One could almost describe the phenomenon simply as “opposites attract”. But without the “plank” or “bridge” the food and whisky never connect in the first place. If there is no link, it fails. It can be risky but Franz gets it right so often, it’s remarkable. At the LuMi dinner, we had a particularly good example of this: Franz paired some slow-roasted lamb rib with a “first-fill bourbon” expression. On the face of it, this is about the same as matching a juicy rump steak with a sauvignon blanc! But it worked splendidly. The juicy fats and deep savouriness in the lamb rib were complemented by the clean maltiness (& some of that heather honey typical of this expression) in the whisky. The “bridge” was the softly sweet/savoury flavours of leek (& the lime) which matched up with some citrus and vegetal/grassy notes in the whisky.
- The X-factor match (aka the “I have no idea why this works, but it’s bloody fantastic!” match)
This is the match that Franz seems to get the most kick out of. There are possibly elements of all the other matches here, but you just can’t manage to switch your brain on and figure it out. It normally starts with a pretty strange combination, but shortly you find your eyes rolling back in flavour nirvana. You then find yourself glaring at Franz while thinking (or, in my case, blurting out) “You bugger, how the hell did you pull this off?!” It’s also the domain of what I have also described as the match for the heart, not the head. You don’t care that you don’t know how or why it works, you’re just loving it too much to care. The dessert on Wednesday night was a classic example.”
The menu for the night was as follows:
CEANNSAICHE (Conqueror) Cocktail | Canapés
(The obligatory Franz Scheurer whisky cocktail – a sublime concoction that featured Islay whisky, Triple Sec, preserved ginger, a few other goodies, and a drink that played the sweet/sour line perfectly).
Course 1
Parmesan Churros with Konbu Mayo
SMWS Cask G13.1 4yo alc 58.3 – “A complete revelation”
Course 2
Chawanmushi
Mystery Whisky (later revealed to be the Kavalan Solist Sherry release)
Course 3
Angolotti filled with Gruyére and Burnt Butter Cream
SMWS Cask 124.4 17yo alc 60.0 – “Full of secret pleasures”
Course 4
Lamb, Red Miso, Leek, Lime, Koshi
SMWS Cask 4.204 15yo alc 60.5 – “Mouth-drawing, chewy and delicious”
Course 5
Yuzu, Mandarin, Liquorice Meringue, Wakame Powder
SMWS Cask 127.41 12yo alc 64.7 – “Wham bam, thank you ma’am!”
Photographs of each dish are presented above; my usual apologies for the quality, I’m afraid an iPhone in a dimly lit room can’t work miracles.
Of course, it goes without saying that the whiskies were extremely good. Superb, in fact. And the dishes were stunning and delicious in their own right. But that was expected and a given.
What struck me with this dinner is that every match was a winner, and every match was…well…a match. Whiskies that otherwise seemed already perfect suddenly found a new dimension or displayed a hidden trait and quality once paired with the food. Course 5 was a stunning example of this, as Mr Chapman alluded to above. SMWS Cask 127.41, a brutally peaty and smoky whisky, was suddenly found to exhibit rockmelon and other tropical fruits on the palate once the dish had worked its influence.
And, on that finishing note, 25 very happy diners left the venue sated, happy, and having experienced some culinary magic. Well done, Mr Scheurer.
Cheers,
AD
PS: You might like the account of this other SMWS whisky dinner, SMWS Whisky Dinner with Franz Scheurer & Brent Savage held at Bentley Restaurant & Bar.
