Bolognese and “Modern Senkin” by Tochigi’s “Domaine” brewery

Good day!
This is a reporter “R”!

I feel cool and comfortable wind more often recently (the end of August).
Today’s report is the third report of the theme “Mariage of home meal and Nihonshu(Sake)”.

Today’s topic is “Bolognese pasta and Sake”!

Many people should think that Bolognese and Sake don’t match.
It is indeed standard to have Sake with Japanese foods.

If you choose right ones considering the characteristics, other types of foods can go well with Sake as well.
You should be able to enjoy different aspects than that of Japanese foods.

I’d like to report an example with my special recipe of home-made Bolognese using minced meat and any vegetables left at your home.

Contents

Modern Senkin Kame-no-O Muroka Genshu

The sake of today’s article is “Modern Senkin Kame-no-O Muroka (unfiltered) Genshu”.
After I decided to have Bolognese for dinner, I went to a liquor shop in neighbor with my family on a walk.
I told our dinner menu to the staff of the shop, and asked which sake would match the food.

Talking with people at liquor shops is very interesting because they teach me new combinations which I haven’t thought of, and it expands the choices of the sake.
In addition, I simply got impressed by the staff’s politeness on that day!

The sake “Modern Senkin Kame-no-O Muroka Genshu” is made by a brewery which grows Kame-no-O rice for the ingredient by itself in Sakura City, Tochigi Prefecture, which is like “Domaine” brewery in wine (“domaine” means wine breweries which produce not only wine, but also the ingredients).
The rice used for this sake is all their own grown rice.

They use only the rice fields upon the same water vein as the one streaming beneath the factory from which they take out the groundwater for the sake.
I was very surprised at their strong policy that they use same water for growing rice and brewing sake.

When I tasted it, I felt sweet scent as I brought the glass near my mouth.
I felt the fresh sourness like an apple when I had it in my mouth.

I heard that this sourness is made by storing the sake in the low temperature until bottling.
It tasted like mild carbon gas melted into the sake in the bottle.

The recipe of my Bolognese

Now, I’d like to introduce the special recipe of my Bolognese.
Every food I make for my family is basically lightly seasoned because we have a child at the age of 1 and a half.
Therefore, you don’t have to be accurate about my recipe, and please take this just as a reference.

< INGREDIENTS (for 2 – 3 serves) >

(You can keep the remaining in freezer.)

– minced meat, any kinds 200- 300g
– a half carrot
– a half onion
– other vegetables you like
(my recommended vegetables are eggplants, zucchini, and tomato for this season. I used eggplants for that night.)

* stock cube: 1 – 1,5
* tomato juice (salt free): 120-130ml
* ketchup #1: 1,5 tablespoons
* ketchup #2: 1 tablespoon
* Worcestershire sauce: 1,5 – 2 tablespoons
* carrot dressing (secret ingredient): 1 tablespoon
* salt: a little
* black pepper: a little

< HOW TO COOK >

1. Cut vegetables in fine pieces.
2. Fry the minced meat. Add some oil if needed. (I used mixed meat of beef and pork.)
3. After the meat got cooked, add root vegetables (carrot, onion, etc). Add other vegetables when onion becomes clear.
4. When all the ingredients are cooked, add * seasonings.

Finally, add seasonings to make the taste you like. Black pepper can go at last on the top to make it look good.
I put the photo of the seasonings I used. You don’t have to buy the same products.
Just use what you have at your home.

Ketchup #1 (next to Worcestershire sauce) was a souvenir from someone. It has some pepper in it. Ketchup #2 is for normal use.

My family usually eat salad with Ponzu vinegar or olive oil and salt, so salad dressings often remain for a long time.
Therefore, we choose vegetable based dressings to use them for the seasoning for other cooking, too (my recommend is onion dressing).
The food gets the richer and deeper flavor if you add such dressings.

Modern Senkin Kame-no-O” and Bolognese

The dinner menu was western, so we chose glasses for Burgundy wine, not the normal sake cup (Ochoko).
I had a sip of “Modern Senkin”.
Sweet fragrance spread in my mouth, and it was so smooth and enjoyable enough by itself.

And then, I had Bolognese pasta.
The sweetness of the sake and vegetables such as onion and tomato matched very well.

It remained good sweet and sour aftertaste.
The aftertaste matched the juice of the meat perfectly!

When I had the next sip of “modern Senkin”, its fresh sourness like an apple washed the oil of the meat away.
The sake which had fresh impression like fruits.
The rich sake flavor was still very clear with the thick meat.

Burgundy glass and sake cup

Some days later, I did an experiment to compare how different the sake tastes with a Burgundy glass and a sake cup (“Ochoko”).

The sake a few days after opening had become sweeter.
I felt that its sake flavor was clearer.

In the point of the fragrance, the wine glass made the scent much more roundish and rich in my nose than the sake cup.
The sake cup, on the other hand, was sharper and the aroma stroke my nose with the fragrance of Sake.

For the taste, the wine glass brought the bigger sweetness, and the sake cup made sharp and clear sourness and refreshing dry taste.

The sake cup which has traditionally been used for drinking Sake through the ages, has nice feeling of pottery when touching lips, and the perfect size to fit in a hand.

The volume is convenient to drink up one serve.
I thought that it’s good in summer because one serve is small and we can drink it up while the sake is still cold.
I thought that the Burgundy glass is good when you want to enjoy the aroma more.

Changing glasses or cups depending on the feeling or foods is a convenient way which you can try at home very easily to enjoy sake more!