What wines pair with lemongrass pork?
For the love of exploring and having fun figuring which wines from the UMAMU range pair with a particular dish. This search for the best pairs of UMAMU with lemongrass pork showed us how much horsepower a wine needs to sit up to the pairing. Watch our cooking pairing video below. Here is a recipe creation by Carrisa whom I met at Good Food Wine Show Perth. Thank you Carrisa for sharing this recipe!
Lemongrass Pork Recipe ![]()
By Carrisa
Ingredients:
6 pieces of pork sizzle steaks
Approx 3 tbsp lemongrass paste
8-10 shakes of fish sauce
2 tsp chilli oil
2 tbsp maple syrup, or honey if your prefer
1 tbsp soy sauce
5 garlic cloves, finely minced mixed with oil
Method:
Mix the marinade, add the pork steaks make sure they are well coated. Marinate minimum 1 hour or Carrisa's choice overnight . The pork should have a light amount of paste throughout, do not drown in paste mix.
Cook meat on grill pan, should only need 1.5 minutes each side.
You can use bottled lemongrass paste, preferably from Asian supermarkets.
You can also substitute the pork with chicken or any meat of your preference.
Wine pairing notes:
I had lined up our Sauvignon Blanc 2011, Semillon Sauvignon Blanc 2005, Chardonnay 2019 and Sauvignon Blanc Semillon 2019, Rose 2018 and Cabernet Franc 2016, MacAnn Cabernets 2019 and Shiraz 2019.
The Sauvignon Blanc 2011 paired beautifully, the 10 months in French barrels had given the wine suitable complexity and texture alongside the fruit to pair with the many flavours of the lemongrass pork. Same with the SSB05 (read more about why this wine is so wonderful here)
The high acidity of the 2019 whites overpowered the dish. I specifically chose a mature and a young SSB/ SBS to show how vintage can make a difference to a pairing.
All the reds paired well and this we can explain by the fact the dish has much flavour and the medium more intense reds could stand up and pair well.
So when dishes have more flavour, you want to look for a wine that has more character to sit up to it. So typically Asian food needs a more intense wine. That is where UMAMU comes in, our mature whites have had time to build character and the acidity keeps them fresh and lively so they can stand up to Asian and richer cuisine.
Bon appetite. Cheers.