Last week I Co-hosted with Ezra Star, a Cognac Expert, “Roll with Cognac”, educational webinar, for journalists. Pairing Cognac and Sushi – how fun and cool it was!
Both Cognac and Sushi are examples of highly refined culinary arts. Cognac and Sushi shares similar history and characteristics in many ways. Both are adopted from foreign culinary culture. Cognac’s origin lies in the 16th century with the arrival of Dutch in France. Preliminary forms of sushi arrived in Japan from China in early centuries. These adopted children are respectively taken care of by the people of France and Japan. Both have matured and became two of the most celebrated food products in the world.
Cognac and Sushi bring to mind high quality, artisan skills, tradition and excellence. As Cognac production maintains strict rules for its making, crafting sushi, in this case I mean nigiri-zushi – the sushi that is a block of rice topped with a slice of seafood – also obeys and follows guidelines in order to serve raw fish safely and deliciously for consumption.
For this Webinar I chose particular fish for each Cognac to pair. Remember that sushi is composed of sushi rice, a slice of seafood, tiny amount of wasabi and soy sauce. Each of this element has its own flavor, and as a sushi piece it has five distinctive flavor characteristics. The reason for the particular choice of fish for each sushi is to properly balance the five flavor components of sushi and the four flavors of Cognac. By doing so we can create the best gastronomic experience.
Hit the click and watch ‘Roll with Cognac’! https://cognacconnection.com/virtual-events/2021/2/10/roll-with-cognac
By the way I am not a hard liquor drinker. I have tasted Cognac (just sipping to taste it) only few times in my entire life. For this Webinar I was exposed to five different kinds. I sipped little bit of each at a time over a week in order to find the best nigirizushi pair. Two VS, one VSOP and two XO. I was amazed to find delightful characters in each Cognac, both young and aged.
Cognac and sushi pairs very well from the point of how we enjoy them. We pop into our mouth a small nigirizushi at a time. We take time to enjoy the flavor of it using our all five senses. Sipping a little Cognac in between this is ideal. Cognac enhances sushi flavor in our mouth, but not washing it away.
Roll with Cognac!!!
Hiroko