The word "muscle" generally refers to muscle, but in New Zealand, muscle means mussel.
The spelling is mussel. In New Zealand, green mussels, which have greenish shells, are often eaten. They are larger than regular mussels and are satisfying to eat.
At Bokumo, the standard menu item is "New Zealand Mussels Breaded with Bread Crumbs," and sometimes we also have them steamed in white wine. In either case, white wine is a great companion.
But that muscle is now bothering me.
At a New Zealand wine tasting and business meeting held in Tokyo recently, there were booths set up by various companies, including one that belonged to a trading company that imports New Zealand mussels in addition to wine.
I tried it and it was delicious. It had a strong salty flavor and was very filling. It was very bouncy. The tasting venue was a seaside seafood restaurant.
"It is heated using a special method locally and then transported to Japan chilled," said the person in charge.
This kind of imported food is basically all frozen, but this one was chilled. No wonder it had such a strong flavor.
Okay, so let's switch from the muscle that we've been using to this one.
With this in mind, I returned to Nagoya, had the trading company introduce me to a wholesaler, and then went through the necessary procedures to establish a new transaction with that wholesaler.
We received a pack of samples, so we immediately started tasting them and creating new menu items together with the chef.
Then something troublesome happened.
This new mussel has a strong sea flavor and is delicious on its own, but it doesn't go well with wine at all.
Many people have probably experienced the phenomenon of wine enhancing a fishy smell, and this is exactly what it is.
When you drink white wine, which should be its perfect companion, especially Sauvignon Blanc, the fishy smell increases hopelessly.
This is not good.
A customer said, "New Zealand seafood and New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, isn't that great? It makes you feel like you're in New Zealand," but when I tried pairing them, they didn't go well together at all. They kept fighting. This is a problem.
Even though I found a great ingredient, unfortunately it was rejected...
However, Iwasu-kun, who knows a little about wine, is not one to disagree.
yes.
In fact, the reason why wine enhances the fishy smell has already been discovered, and there is a solution.
According to Mercian, a leading researcher in this field, the mechanism behind the development of the fishy smell is as follows:
When the lipid peroxides contained in seafood react with the ferrous ions in wine, the lipids begin to oxidize instantly, producing (E,Z)-2,4-heptadienal, a component that gives off an unpleasant fishy odor.
Roughly speaking, when you combine wine that is high in iron with food that is high in lipid peroxides, the amount of fishy-smelling substances increases dramatically.
Shellfish are prone to accumulating lipid peroxides, and dried scallops are known to be a typical food that contains a lot of lipid peroxides. If you want to experience the smell of fish, try eating dried scallops as a snack at a convenience store. You will be shocked.
This means that the chilled muscle meat probably contains a lot of lipid peroxides. And we can assume that the NZ Sauvignon Blanc contains iron.
With that in mind, there are two solutions:
(1) Pair with wine that is low in iron
(2) Be creative with how you cook mussels
(1) is simple, but a little difficult. Even if you look at the ingredient list on the back label of the wine, there is no mention of the iron content. There is no other way to check it than to actually mix each ingredient one by one.
If Sauvignon Blanc doesn't work, then Chardonnay. Then Pinot Gris. Maybe Rosé. Maybe I'll try red Pinot Noir. Wait, even if I find a good variety, it might not work if it's from a different producer. Ugh, I'm drunk.
(2) This has also been made clear through Mercian's research: when food contains oil, the fishy smell is reduced.
Breadcrumb-baked or simple white wine-steamed dishes are not oily enough, so it would be best to use butter or olive oil. However, you have to use just enough to not ruin the flavor of the ingredients, so it seems like it would be difficult to get the balance right.
So, I am currently working on (1) and (2) simultaneously with my chef.
Now that I've found such a delicious, bouncy, flavorful dish, I'd like to spend a little more time with it until I can reach the point where I think it's "delicious on its own and even better when paired with wine."
I will report back here when it's ready. Look forward to it!
