Pastry chefs "or not" and wine

[cape chef]

When you incredible pastry people create your luscious desserts,What are some types of wine you find appropriate for your dessrts ETC.

When I prepare desserts with Chocolate..I always think "port" and when I do something with caramel I think "sautern" or the like.
But thats what I like to drink with certian things. What do you like to cook with?
cc

[Kimmie]

I agree, you can match the sweet, dark complexity of chocolate with ruby and vintage ports or a sweet sherry or Madeira. Just make sure to adjust the level of the wine's sweetness to the chocolate dessert being served, remembering that the sweeter the dessert, the sweeter the wine should be.

Some exotic desserts (tropical fruit combinations) pair very well with Eisweins from Canada or Germany.

Surprisingly enough though, an aged rum from the Caribbean Islands complements tropical fruit ice creams perfectly.

Muscat-de-Beaumes-de-Venise is a natural with citrus fruits.

[Isa]

You make me wish I had more wine knowledge. Not liking red wine, or strong alcohol does make things harder. I only like white wines and Champagne, sparkling wines. To me everything has to go with either one of those.

[Kimmie]

Isa,

You should read the wine notes from Paul Greico, Gramercy Tavern's brilliant wine director; part of The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern by Claudia Fleming.

For this book, he has carefully selected styles of wine to go with all the desserts in the book and you will find his excellent recommendations at the end of each chapter introduction.

Awesome!

[Pete]

Kimmie, talking about Eiswiens from Canada. About a year ago I was introduced to some from the Niagrara area that I thought were absolutely fantastic. I just wish I could remember the name.

[Kimmie]

You've got me there Pete as I'm not personally very familiar with Canadian Eisweins, let alone from Niagara. I will post my findings right here.

[Isa]

Try this

St-Hubertus Estate Winery

Icewine Niagara

[Kimmie]

Thank you Isa.

[momoreg]

Port and Sauternes have distinctive flavors on their own, and I almost feel as though if I tamper too much with it, I'm doing it a disservice. I might use a wine like that to marinate fruits, or to finish off a sauteed dessert. I might even soak a financier in a Sauternes syrup. But I've never gone much deeper than that. One wine that I've only tasted a couple of times, which falls into the same flavor category, is Tokay. Again, I wouldn't take it too far away from it's original state. It's just too special on its own.

This is an area where I still have a lot to learn.

[cape chef]

Momoreg,

I assume when you are talking about Tokay you are referring to the Hungarian one. The only reason I point that out is because there is also Tokay from Alsace which is made from pinot gris.

You are right about using high end wines to flavor your desserts. Some Tokays for example can run you a pretty penny, Like the Essensia. The complex make up of this particular wine deserves it's own thread.

However, I am thinking about when you flavor maybe with poire williams or a nut based liguer,frangelico,Calvados,port ECT.

cc

[momoreg]

Yes, I'm referring to the Hungarian Tokai, Tokaj, Tokay...

I use liqueurs much more often than wine in pastry. I love Calvados in apple tarts, Frangelico in a soaking syrup, Creme de Cassis in raspberry sorbet...

[elakin]

great thread....

i really love dessert wines and it's one of the few wine-related areas where i feel like i have any idea of what i'm talking about.

i discovered quite a few excellent dessert wines in italy.

three different varietals are produced in sicily. malvasia, zibbibo, and muscato. they're really popular there. in fact, some kind of liquor with dessert is pretty much the norm there. in the restaurant i worked, we sold certain desserts with a glass of something included. you couldn't order cantucci (which are like the small, traditional almond biscotti) without getting a glass of zibbibo to dip them into. and we did a chocolate canoli that we served with a glass of whisky.

and, of course, they go so well with foie gras as well. at one place i worked we served a slice of our foie gras "torchon" with kracher gelee, which we'd dice fine and then pipe onto the plate. it really worked well with the foie and it looked like little jewels on the plate.