Savoury pork fillet in a light puff pastry coat and a mixed salad with a delicious plum yuzu vinaigrette.

The ideal Sake for this dish was a Hatsuhinode Daiginjō genshu from the north of Kyōto, available only in Japan in a limited edition.

This undiluted, powerful Sake with a slight fruity note reminding of pear and melon is also characterised by a nice dryness. The dryness on the one hand combines ideally with the pork fillet. On the other hand it creates an interesting combination with the acidity of the vinaigrette.

Pan-fried salmon fillet with crispy skin and lemon-flavoured mashed potatoes, steamed carrots and fennel.

This was served with a highly aromatic yuzu Sake liqueur that can be enjoyed either straight or mixed with some Prosecco.

The wonderful lemon notes of the yuzu Sake create especially along with the salmon and the lemon-flavoured mashed potatoes a great combination.

The different aromas enhance each other and develop regarding the rather fatty salmon fillet a pronounced and lovely lightness.

The prefecture Niigata is famous for their sake style known as tanrei karakuchi: light and dry.
The brewery Imayo Tsukasa has released with their new product Imayo Tsukasa Black the driest sake available at the moment with a Nihonshudo (Sake Meter Value) of unbelievable +18 (the scale normally ends at +15).

When you drink this junmai sake straight you can perceive wonderful notes of rice along with a light fruitiness, a medium body and a fantastic dryness, indeed.

In order to find out how this sake can be paired with food, I just tasted it together with a veal steak topped with morel cream sauce and potato gratin.
The sake just wonderfully matched with this dish, the rather heavy character of the morel cream sauce and potato gratin got a perceivable lightness thanks to the strong dryness and the meat’s flavour was emphasized in a well-balanced way.

The Swiss people’s most favourite dish during Christmas is without doubt Fondue Chinoise, a hot pot where beef, veal and poultry meat is being cooked in a shared aromatic broth. Together with all ingredients consisting of different sauces, fruits, salads and potato chips you get in regard of aroma and taste a highly savoury dish.

To find an alcoholic beverage that fits well in an ideal and harmonious way with all the components is quite an interesting task.

My choice was a Fukuju Chōtokusen Junmai Sake from Nada (Kōbe area), which pairs great with different kinds of meat dishes. Having a dry note it creates a nice balance with the various sweet and fruity components of this dish. It also combines great with the spicier ingredients like curry and becomes an ideal partner for the meat due to its full-bodieness , but without being dominant.

Freezy Pear by Charly Iten

Looking for some new drink?

Well, just take a tablespoon of pear sherbet and 3cl of a premium Sake like Shichiken Velvet and shake all together until the sherbet and sake build a creamy, fluffy mixture.

Pour this mixture in a white wine glass and combine it finally with 3cl of a nice sparkling wine.

Enjoy it!

For all lovers of sweets here comes a great combination: home made apple strudel with Kirin Vintage 2014 Sake.

The sweetness and full-bodied character of this sake along with its wonderful notes of honey, toffee and a tinge of fruitiness create a fantastic match with the apple strudel, which brings in some great notes not only of apple combined with a slight acidity but also of cinnamon.

By the way, if you like some nice sparkling effect you can mix the Kirin with some prosecco or other sparkling wine. This will add a great dimension of freshness to this whole pairing.

Have you ever thought of combining a flavourful beef goulash with spaetzle and home-made apple puree along with a sake?

Most of you would certainly choose a red wine. However, being aware of how to make the right choice you easily find a suitable sake that is not only able to cope with the amount of umami this meal is bursting of but also combines harmoniously regarding taste and flavour without dominating the meal.

Now the right season’s arriving again for savoury Swiss home-made food.

A great Raclette is just the right choice. All people gathering around the table fill their plates with jacket potatoes, pickled cucumbers, onions, fried bacon and of course delicious Raclette cheese.

It’s no question of who’s having the aesthetically most appealing plate but a matter of enjoying how all the aromatic, savoury ingredients that are full of umami work together.

Why not try a sake with this that easily keeps up with the umami? You will be surprised how much more delicious this dish becomes.

Caffè alla prugna giapponese by Charly Iten

Here in Switzerland we have a tradition of blending coffee with all kinds of spirits.

So why not use some Sake for that?

Inspired by the so-called “Kafi Zwätschge” (a coffee with some plum spirit) here comes my interpretation of it:

Make a cup of some great tasting Caffè Lungo, put some sugar in it (it needs to be rather sweet) and finally blend it with about 1cl of Fukuju umeshu (a premium junmai sake flavored with Japanese ume).

A wonderful hot drink for the colder season of autumn.

When it comes to sake and cheese pairing the possibilities are just inumerous.

However, for beginners who are curious to discover this culinary field there’s a Swiss cheese that is quite easy to pair with sake: The Tête de Moine is a semi-hard cheese with a silky body that easily melts in your mouth. It’s tasteful with a moderate saltiness.

I paired it with different sake types like honjōzō, junmai, ginjō, kimoto junmai daiginjō…They all created great combinations with this cheese.
My favorite pairing however is the Rihaku Dreamy clouds tokubetsu junmai nigorishu.

Its semi-dryness, nicely pronounced acidity, chewiness and creaminess combined with some fruity, nutty flavors pair so well that you can’t resist to have second helpings.