Yes, you can pair sake with pizza, cheese, pasta, and Filipino food | Lifestyle.INQ

OCTOBER 27, 2022

Yes, you can pair sake with pizza, cheese, pasta, and Filipino food
Art by Ella Lambio

Contrary to popular perception, the Japanese fermented rice drink is versatile enough to suit a range of dishes you might not have expected

If an intimate gathering at a wines and spirits store is a chance to learn more diverse arrays of alcoholic beverages, then the self-taught and certified sake educator Raymond Joseph’s afternoon sake soiree with chefs and key industry players is an emblematic success.

After all, the casual self-discovery session didn’t just involve tasting different types of sake—from the pure junmai and the prized 50 percent polish rate of daiginjo to the ultra-premium junmai daiginjo—it also opened up our palates to the reality of the Japanese alcoholic beverage’s versatility and pre-koji “mouthcrafted” origins (kuchikamizake), which some anime and Japanese literature fans might remember is depicted in Makoto Shinkai’s 2016 fantasy drama film “Kimi no Na wa” (“Your Name”).

These revelations proved transformative for me—a sake starter whose initial foray into the fermented rice drink was at a restaurant somewhere in Aoyama, Tokyo in February 2015 when my first sip of hot sake on a winter night became a light bulb moment

“At some point after rice came to Japan from China around the 3rd century BC, it was discovered that if the rice grains were cooked, chewed up, spat into a tub, and set aside for a few days, the resulting brew had pleasurably intoxicating effects,” writes Jessica Thompson for Vice.

While the traditional mouth-chewed sake may still exist in Japan, according to Joseph, the discovery and introduction of koji for the fermentation process in the 8th century and the commercial production of sake have since led to the practice of using saliva to diminish.

These revelations proved transformative for me—a sake starter whose initial foray into the fermented rice drink was at a restaurant somewhere in Aoyama, Tokyo in February 2015 when my first sip of hot sake on a winter night became a light bulb moment.

Helping achieve this newfound wisdom on the beverage—including the fact that the more polished the grain is, the lesser the yield and thus the more expensive the sake—is Joseph’s simple appreciation masterclass where the sake specialist brought out bottle after bottle of sake varieties, and plate after plate from their extensive Bar Koji menu.

“Why do people drink sake now? They want a taste of Japan, simply put. They want to experience what a Japanese experiences,” he says.

For sake’s sake

Amabuki Tokubetsu Junmai Yamadanishiki Chokarakuchi
Amabuki Tokubetsu Junmai Yamadanishiki Chokarakuchi

Joseph opens the affair with a super dry but clean Amabuki Tokubetsu Junmai Yamadanishiki Chokarakuchi that uses, interestingly, cultured yeast from begonias surrounding the Saga brewery. “Here you’ll have some aromas of steamed rice and hints of fruit and earth.”

From there, armed with an array of wine glasses as the vessels, he takes us along a sake journey across different Japanese prefectures (like sake from Niigata in the west is commonly clean or that the short-grain Yamadanishiki rice from Hyogo is arguably the best), distinct sake categories, and stories with some semblance of the drink’s evolution.

“When I was promoting sake, no one paid attention. Today, it’s growing,” Joseph says with a smile, as he blithely drops backstories while pouring more sake into our glasses.

“When I was promoting sake, no one paid attention. Today, it’s growing,” certified sake educator Raymond Joseph says with a smile, as he blithely drops backstories while pouring more sake into our glasses

At this point, we were trying the Dassai 45, a junmai daiginjo from Yamaguchi Prefecture that’s been polished down to 45 percent, which makes it fruity and silky. But this bottle of Dassai represents so much more than the heady flavors you can taste in your mouth. It signifies the continued pursuit of sake appreciation—in whatever way possible.

“What’s happening now in Japan is that Dassai, which is a junmai daiginjo polished down to 45 percent to 39 percent and 23 percent, are now being enjoyed even though they are junmai daiginjos. The question is why? And the philosophy of the owner is this: When a sake is crafted properly using the finest ingredients, even if you warm them, they will be enjoyable.”

When you warm up junmai daiginjo, Joseph explains, the tendency is that the drink will “tighten up.” Akin to wine’s behavior over heat, when warmed up, alcohol is exaggerated and thus, you get more alcohol notes while losing other aromatic expressions. 

“But Dassai, what they’re saying is, when it is warmed properly, and if the sake is crafted properly, you will not lose those expressions. In fact, you may gain new expressions,” Joseph clarifies, before pulling out “one of the most polished sakes in the world,” a Dassai 23 Junmai Daiginjo, which elegantly smells and tastes of green apples, honeydew, berries, and floral profiles.

You can go against the grain

What this moment denotes then is that the ways you can appreciate sake is constantly expanding. Exploring the food pairing territory is another vehicle to get to know the products at a deeper level.

“Can you pair sake with things other than Japanese food?” I ask. And the answer is a resounding yes.

“If you look at Dassai, although it’s fruity, it is a very clean finish. You have fruit with an impression of sweetness but you’ll see how it cleans out,” Joseph explains. “And that’s what sake is—don’t ever let people tell you junmai daiginjo is better than junmai because it depends on your food, your mood, or why you are drinking. [A lower] polish [rate] doesn’t mean it’s superior. Even if it’s one percent or eight percent, no one can dictate to you what’s good. It’s like wine, it’s like food.”

That said, like wine, there are relaxed rules to follow when it comes to pairing sake with food. If you’re having a really fatty wagyu, you can drink it with the Hakushika Chokara because of the remaining fat and protein content. “But it doesn’t mean Dassai will not go with it,” explains Joseph.

“The good thing about sake is that it has higher levels of amino acids compared to wine. That’s why it allows itself to pair well with other kinds of food—almost any kind of food—and they have lower acidity than wine, and then it does not have the tannins of wine, which is very tricky.”

“The good thing about sake is that it has higher levels of amino acids compared to wine. That’s why it allows itself to pair well with other kinds of food—almost any kind of food—and they have lower acidity than wine, and then it does not have the tannins of wine, which is very tricky”

It’s a point that Joseph makes when he brings out a bowl of fresh sashimi and a hamachi aburi with miso paste from their Japanese bar and from the kitchen, a hearty vongole spaghetti, a pair of creamy tamago mentaiko, crisp and light tempura you sprinkle with salt, and a beautiful kurobuta pork sausage.

Across the spread, it felt as if the sakes on the table played well with the diversity of flavors. The effervescent and aromatic Okunokami built up the sumptuous sausage into an impassioned experience, while the Izumibashi Dragonfly Junmai Ginjo filled the vongole bites with a lush mouthfeel.

Sake pairing specifics

Piqued again by the multifaceted tastings, I wonder if he’s ever tried sake with Filipino food. “Yes, sake with Filipino food. Sake with Spanish food go so well. Sake with Italian and French,” Joseph says, echoing that junmai sakes and their rich rice flavors might be the best pairing for Filipino food.

“I’ll tell you the reasons why sake can handle Filipino food. Number one, sake is made out of rice. Number two, the beauty about sake is that it’s a time-tested match with miso. A lot of our food have alat, toyo, umami, and patis. That’s why there is no reason why it cannot go with Filipino food.”

“I’ll tell you the reasons why sake can handle Filipino food. Number one, sake is made out of rice. Number two, the beauty about sake is that it’s a time-tested match with miso. A lot of our food have alat, toyo, umami, and patis. That’s why there is no reason why it cannot go with Filipino food”

An unusual pairing that equally works is cheese and sake. “You know those Tasmanian blue cheeses, the stinky ones? It’s very hard to pair that with wine. But with sake, it’s a walk in the park.”

Dassai 45
Dassai 45

In many ways, it’s an expression that aptly sums up sake appreciation. Sure, it can be an acquired taste, but once you immerse yourself into the brewing world of this historical tipple, it’s inevitable to want to understand more about its intricacies. In Joseph’s words, ease yourself into sake.

“Number one advice is, don’t look at price. Number two, enjoy and taste the sakes that are entry level. Then work your way up. Polishing is not king. Just because it’s highly polished doesn’t make it the best.”

The key is to taste, taste, and taste. Gone are the days to get stuck in one place.

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