Sunday Dinner: Sake goes great with fried chicken and barbecue

So, what sake goes with fried chicken?

“But that’s not Japanese food,” you say. Well, do you only order Beaujolais Nouveau at a French restaurant? Or restrict Spanish rioja to paella?

Thinking that sake only goes with Japanese food is one of two major things that restrict its appreciation in the U.S. The other: The widespread perception that sake tastes like jet fuel and is just as strong.

This according to Shima Enomoto, born in Tokyo, who is a certified kikizakeshi or sake sommelier. She moved to Durham with her husband and started Sake Durham (sakedurham.wordpress.com), offering classes and tastings to boost appreciation of the traditional Japanese rice wine.

At one of her tasting classes, The Hub and I sampled eight different sakes made in different ways. Before you ask, it was on two different nights, and with delicious small plates, at Yamazushi in Durham. So there was no drunken karaoke involved.

She has also given classes at Waraji in Raleigh.

My first sip of sake, years ago, did indeed provide the classic jet fuel experience. It was served hot, and burned down my throat like Novocaine.

It was a long time before I was willing to try it again, reluctantly, when a friend ordered some at a sushi bar. This time, the sake came in a pretty frosted blue bottle, and chilled. This unfiltered version poured out like a fluffy cloud and tasted just as soft, and slightly sweet. It also didn’t leave a hole in my stomach. Much better.

It was the nigori variety, considered unfiltered, where the sake maker leaves some of the rice lees behind. The appearance can be slightly cloudy to completely opaque and thick.

There is almost as much variety in sake as there is in wines, Enomoto says, starting with makers selecting the varieties of sake rice they prefer, then determining how to polish and press it. Each variety and how it’s handled give a different flavor to the result. The rice is polished, washed, steamed, combined with mold to convert the starch into sugar, then combined with water and yeast and fermented.

Some varieties do add alcohol. The cheap jet-fuel stuff, of course, adds a lot of it to make a lot of sake for drinkers who prefer results to flavor. Premium types – called honjozo, ginjo and daiginjo – add only a small amount. But the biggest difference is in the sake maker’s skill in milling and treating the rice for flavor and aroma of the final product.

Think Boone’s Farm vs. Dom Perignon.

Another group of sake contains no added alcohol – called junmai, junmai ginjo and junmai daiginjo.

For each type, there are variables to control at every step, just as in making grape wine.

Sake connoisseurs talk about rice varieties as much as wine fans do types of grapes.

Enomoto says that pairing sake with food is a relatively new idea in Japan, and grew out of the common practice with wines. Traditionally, she says, people drink sake solo, and never with sushi, interestingly.

How about sake with good old Southern dishes? Enomoto and I got intrigued by the idea.

A sweet premium sake we tasted, Dassai “Otter Festival,” went great with a salty dish. Enomoto drinks it with prosciutto. I could see it with fried fish, or sipping by itself after dinner. And I thought it went pretty well with another small plate: scallops with a crispy, slightly spicy-salty rice cracker coating and lightly fried. That dish made me think about fried chicken.

The Yuri Masamune “Beautiful Lily” was smooth, light and less sweet. That goes with fried chicken, for sure.

What about barbecue? Enomoto suggests Nanbu Bijin “Southern Beauty” (the name is certainly right). It has a rich flavor and is slightly more sweet than some of the others but not overwhelmingly so. It might just work.

The sour, mushroomy flavors of Tengumai and the name, “Dance of the Demon,” seemed right for some spicy pig, and it could be a great stand-in for beer.

Now, what sake goes with deviled eggs?

This story was originally published July 4, 2015 at 4:26 PM with the headline "Sunday Dinner: Sake goes great with fried chicken and barbecue."