More tea pairings in France

On the 26th of December, my family had a large reunion. We were 15 at the table and enjoyed a typical Alsatian Christmas meal: venison in a thick wine sauce, spaetzle (Alsatian noodles), chestnuts and some vegetables (see below). It's very similar to what we ate the day before, but this meal was prepared by a caterer who worked on Christmas! As you can see from the large cup, I paired it with a dark colored tea, my Concubine Oolong from Shan Lin Xi. And since I wanted to let everyone taste my tea, I brewed it in a large Meissen porcelain teapot. I used the cream jug as a pitcher for the remaining tea. I used a large amount of tea leaves and the resulting brew was concentrated enough to match the flavors of the sauce. It made the sauce taste more refined and enhanced its flavors. That was a powerful and wonderful match that helped reduce the wine consumption of our guests!
 

The next dish is the most typical of Alsace: choucroute, sauerkraut! (The meat is laid on the sauerkraut, which is why you can barely see it). I used an aged sheng puerh (above right) for the pairing. The aged feeling went well with a meal that is traditional and old, but since we were in a restaurant, my brewing conditions were not very good. (I had the leaves brew for a couple of hours in a thermos). Tea pairing in French restaurants remains a challenge!

Going back to spend time with my family in France also meant that I would cook Chinese for them in order to share my cooking skills on top of my teas. So, below, I cooked a fish (turbot) with soy sauce, ginger and garlic.

I also prepared this Shanghai specialty: braised Lion's Head Meatballs (Shizitou) with Napa cabbage. This dish also contains some ginger and soy sauce. Of course, there were a couple more dishes, white rice and a soup. Otherwise it wouldn't be a Chinese meal!! For this meal, I chose my roasted Dong Ding Oolong and its darker roasted flavors mingled well with the soy flavors contained in most dishes. 

During my stay in France, I also had French cheeses on multiple occasions. Sometimes the meal was simply cheese, a salad and bread. Sometimes cheese came at the end of the meal. And on two occasions we had raclette: warm cheese with hot potatoes and ham. Two types of teas went particularly well with cheese: cooked puerh and raw puerh. There are so many possible combinations, that I recommend brewing both and testing which type of puerh goes better with which cheese. This doubles the pleasures and also helps better digest a product that contains a large portion of fat!