Pad Thai Pandemonium

2006 Fritz-Josef Schwibiger Riesling and Authentic Pad Thai: 4/5

2006 Fritz-Josef Schwibiger Riesling: 80/100

After seeing a picture of some good looking Pho on facebook, I was hit with the craving for some good pad thai. Most would call up their favorite Thai restaurant and order some carry out, but with a day to dedicate to cooking, I thought I would try making it from scratch.

As with a lot of eastern-world street vendor recipes, the cooking process doesn’t take long, but there are tons of things going on very quickly. After reading some mediocre comments about Alton Brown’s Pad Thai recipe I clicked a link that claimed to have a “real” Pad Thai Recipe: http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/recipes/Pad_Thai.htm The website looks a little sketchy, I know, there are no comments, and if you click the pronunciation link, an entertaining sound bite will pop up, but there were plenty of pictures, step by step instructions, and some history related to Pad Thai, so I was willing to step out of my comfort zone. What’s the worse that could happen.

If you have accessibility to an oriental market, you shouldn’t have a problem finding any of the ingredients to make this dish, but if you are stuck with shopping at Jewell or Dominick’s, you might have to do some modifications. I took a trip to whole foods, and was able to find everything except preserved turnip, and banana flower. Preserved turnip add a little zing, so I substituted ginger instead.

When looking to pair the light complex flavors in many oriental dishes, while dealing with a spicy element, when it comes to wine, the way to go is a white. Since this Pad Thai called for crushed red chili, I wanted to make sure I chose a wine that would stand up to the immediate heat the flakes provide. With lime, tamarind, fish sauce, and peanuts, the delicate flavors might fall flat when paired with a rich and buttery Chardonnay, but would playfully interact with something like a Riesling or a Chenin Blanc.

Perusing the wine section of Whole Foods I stumbled upon some German Rieslings. Now if everything goes according to plan I will be doing a study of Rieslings in the weeks to come, so keep an eye out, but with Pad Thai on the menu, I was thinking Riesling was the way to go. Unless you are fluent in German, Spanish, Italian, and French, you will more than likely run into some language barriers when looking over non-American wine. Not to fear. If there is no sommelier on hand to assist you, there are a few things that can give you an idea of the wine without having to bust out your iPhone and translate the bottle.

If sold in America, a bottle of wine must contain an alcohol per volume (apv) percentage. In most cases, this is also an indicator of the wine’s body, the lower the APV the lighter the wine. When looking at foreign red wines, vintage is another. The older the wine, the more mature the flavors, and vice versa. So if you are going to splurge on a 10 year old bottle of Cabernet, you can expect some well developed flavors. If you are feeling completely lost, look for bottles with awards, usually a sticker or something attached to the wine that is not the actual label, if the sticker is gold, most likely that wine won some sort of gold medal, and someone, somewhere, likes it.

Priced at $9.99 a bottle, I decided on a 2006 Fritz-Josef Schwibinger Riesling, from the Reinhessen region of Germany. With a alcohol content of 11%, I knew that the wine would probably be lighter and sweeter, and was hoping that it would have enough acidity to stand up to the tamarind and fish sauce.

When it came time to cook, I first put my mis en place, in order, a very important step with this dish. If you do not have everything set out, chopped up, portioned out, and ready to use, you will fail. Okay, you might not fail, but it makes cooking a lot easier if you have everything ready to go. Since Shelbey was already over, I decided to enlist her to be my recipe reader and assistant. The recipe said that a large pot would work if you didn’t own a wok, but I recommend a large non-stick frying pan, especially after trying a stainless steel skillet first.

Taking a deep breath I started heating my skillet with some olive oil, and toasting my peanuts. After burning the first handful of peanuts, and filling the apartment with smoke from the olive oil, I decided to switch to vegetable oil, which yielded much better results. With a hot skillet, and constant stirring, and adding, and sorting, and dividing, I was lucky to have Shelbey on hand.

With the smell of tamarind, fish sauce, and peanuts lingering in the air, the first batch of Pad Thai, hit the table as an 80% success, the other 20% burnt to the bottom of the stainless steel skillet. With Zachary and our friend Andrew still on their way over, I was sure that the second batch would come out even better.

Swirling my wine, I noticed a mature golden hue, indicative of the wines age. Met with aromas of apple, and hints of tropical flavors, the wine’s aromas matched that of the Pad Thai splendidly. Taking a mouthful, my palate was coaxed with a fairly sweet sensation that gave way to a slight acidity and a light finish. I probably could have done with more acidity, but with only a slightly spicy dish, the wine worked well.

A combination of sweet and savory the tamarind flavor of the Pad thai immediately made my mouth water, awakening the fruiter flavors left from the wine. A subtle crunch of bean sprout and peanut gave way to the softer textures of noodle, with the slightly chewy texture of shrimp. With the added freshness from the lime, every bite left me wanting more.

Paired with another mouthful of wine, the effect was refreshing and light, perfect for a spring or summer dinner. Enhancing the complexity of flavor, the Riesling was able to handle the lighter flavors of green onion and fish sauce, while the lime in the Pad Thai brought out the acidity of the wine.

As Michael and I fried some bananas for dessert to accompany the chocolate and orange liqueur tureens Andrew brought from his cooking class, everyone hit the couch to watch Project Runway. Nothing like good food, good friends, and a good night. Another perfect pair.