Sake Has Easily Proven Itself To Be Worthy Of Appreciation On The Same Level As Fine Wine

Sake or saké is a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice. This beverage is called sake in English, but in Japanese, sake or o-sake refers to alcoholic drinks in general. The Japanese term for this specific beverage is Nihonshu, meaning "Japanese sake". Sake is also referred to in English as rice wine. However, unlike true wine, in which alcohol is produced by fermenting the sugar naturally present in fruit, sake is made through a brewing process more like that of beer. To make beer or sake, the sugar needed to produce alcohol must first be converted from starch. But the brewing process for sake differs from beer brewing as well, notably in that for beer, the conversion of starch to sugar and sugar to alcohol occurs in two discrete steps, but with sake they occur simultaneously. Additionally, alcohol content also differs between sake, wine, and beer.
　　
Interestingly, though, traditionally in Japan sake and food have not been paired as precisely as wine and food in the west. Sure, they have always enjoyed sake with food in Japan. But sake was used to support the food, taking a supporting role. “Ryori ni jama shinai,” they say. “Sake that does not interfere with the food.” Sure; this is changing. But historically, and often today as well, this was the thinking.
　　
So what do you look for? What do you latch on to when pairing? Lots of things. Sweetness or dryness, fruity aromas or earthy ones, flavors that can run from rice-like to herbal or nutty. Structure, volume, acidity, texture, and length of finish are valid too.
　　
In Japan drinking sake has always been accompanied by eating, and there are some traditional and classic combinations, such as sake with sashimi. (Although sake is also served with sushi (vinegared rice) some traditionalists maintain that, once rice is brought to table the sake should go, as it’s considered that rice with rice is too much of a good thing.)
　　
Philip Harper says that sake is the preferred partner for raw fish, because fishy odours can be amplified by beer and some wines. Lighter sakes are best here – a DaiGinjo (Chikuha is a good one) a fruity Ginjo, or even a crisp dry Honjozo – served chilled at 5-10°C.
　　
Later on in the meal when grilled or fried dishes appear, an umami-rich sake with high acidity, such as ayamahai or junmai, is what you want to help oily dishes such as tempura or grilled eel, or rich spicy meat dishes, such as Korean barbecue.
　　
Sake is especially good with fermented foods – and this includes a great number of the staples of Japanese cuisine – soy sauce and miso in particular. Indeed sake itself is an important part of Japanese cooking – it reduces odour and lessens bitterness, so it’s commonly used to poach fish. So any dish with miso or soy sauce is enhanced by sake.
　　
Sake is also good with traditional pickled foods, as the pickling process (using salt, rice bran or sake kasu – the lees or solids left when sake is pressed) increases the amino acid content.
　　
The presence of koji mould in sake means that sake can marry surprisingly well with cheeses, especially creamy, aromatic and mild types. (The Kyodogakusha Shintoku Co-operative in Hokkaido have developed a cheese whose rind is washed in sake – a particularly good pairing).
　　
One more biggie with sake and food is umami – that elusive savoriness that some call a fifth flavor element. Without it, sake is too simple. Too much umami and it’s cloying. But matching umami in sake and food is a great pairing principle.

Premium sake has easily proven itself to be worthy of appreciation on the same level as fine wine. The fragrances, flavors, complexity and nuances can draw you in and fascinate. And the range of these flavors and fragrances, while admittedly within a more narrow bandwidth than the wine world can hold, are incredibly diverse.
　　
A natural extension of all this is the concept and practice of matching food and sake. With the advent of fine sake in the west, not only does the door open for this bold new world of match-making, but at the same time the sake industry duly inherits a veritable responsibility to educate the interested public on how to go about this.
　　
The matching of sake and food developed much like the matching of wine and food: the local beverage was a natural counterpart to the local cuisine; so much so that no one ever thought much about it.
　　
If you study the flavor profiles of sake from around Japan, you can easily see how well the local sake jibes with the original cuisine of the region. Sake from mountainous regions of Japan, like the Tohoku region in the north, is sturdier and more rice-laden in flavor, complementing well the salt-preserved and fermented flavors common in that region's food. Sake from Shizuoka, Toyama and Miyagi are lighter and more supple, which works perfectly with the abundance of fresh fish found in these areas.
　　
But now, like wine from Europe, sake is being taken out of its original zone of familiarity, and transported to a world bound neither by geographical nor culinary limitations. A bit of imagination and ingenuity - not to mention vision - are called for.
　　
In developing a sense for matching food and sake, a little bit of theory goes a long way. With this, and a healthy dose of confidence and creativity, pairing sake and food becomes a wonderfully fun, if subjective and imprecise, process.