By Chef Michael Pataran

The battle rages on!

It's the old time war waged by sommeliers versus chefs versus customers versus scientists around the world on what beverage goes best with what dish — and one thing I always preach to young aspiring chefs (and even older ones) in regards to cooking and food and wine pairings is "follow nature and history's guidelines."

There is a reason that countries with the spiciest, raciest and most pungent of cuisines on this planet, really don't produce any wines, besides the very odd one, (which aren't great wines at all) and that is because wine is not a "great" match for spicy, pungent, bitter flavors (i.e. Thailand, China, India, Vietnam, etc.. And I will argue (and have) with many sommelier and technically and scientifically destroyed his/her argument much to the displeasure of many snobby, and technically culinary deprived sommeliers.

I still say, (and always will) that nothing pairs better with a spicy lamb vindaloo, pork pho, sichuan fermented black bean beef or phad thai than a nice frost, cold, crisp one. For some reason I didn't know why, most sommeliers take this as a personal insult against their mother. GET OVER IT!

There is a reason why these Asiatic countries produce large amounts of beer or rice wines to pair with their cuisines. In Japan there is a term called "Nama gusai", which means "raw stink."

Japanese scientists have proved through researching chemicals that the compounds in wine produce a raw stink smell when wine is paired with fish. On the other hand, sake is very clean and leaves no aftertaste at all when paired with fish — hence sake with sushi. There's that nature/history guideline again.

There's another saying that goes "Beer before wine can be fine; wine before beer ain't so dear". There is a lot to be said about this statement in regards to the pairing of food and beverage. While we believe (in the western world) that there are four basic flavor characteristics (or flavors we can perceive) the East Indian world has through all of antiquity believed that there are 13 taste sensations beyond sweet, salty, sour and bitter. Think about that for a mere second . . .13 taste sensations. How many could you add to the original western four?

To add to this, how does one separate taste from flavor sensation, as there are foods that project "flavor" but is it truly flavor? Our western palates I believe are in the infancy stage of tasting. We are a new culture derived from a young culture. Chinese, Indian and most other Asiatic culture/food history go back 4,000-5,000 years. That means 4,000-plus years of experimenting and experiencing tastes and textures, much of which I remind you has been transplanted onto, and spread through DNA via genetic "hand me down" mapping and blueprinting. It is inborn. Basically what I'm saying here is that the older the culture, the better trained and more progressive the palate.

This is a strong belief and theory of mine through my travels from Bali to Germany and from South America to Russia. That is why I feel that north Americans (and new cultures) have the worst palates as far as the general population goes. The fact that we thrive and live on junk foods and chemicals doesn't help either. We live in a world of "wants" and "needs".

Although we may have very good, beautiful restaurants, in many cases it comes from a more superficial level and approach than a soulful one. I truly believe we as a western culture need to do a bit of "soul-squeezing". Our palates are juvenile and immature on a global scale

On the humility side of things we are hazed by the façade of eating and dining as it is the act we are into more than what is on the plate. Any waiter at a high end restaurant can second this thought, as in our world, the event of dining takes center stage and eating slips into second.

Now slide wine pairings into that mix — then the powder keg blows. What wines do customers want, versus what they think they want, versus what really goes best? This is a debate that will go on forever with science playing a tennis match between beer and wine and what truly goes best. It seems that every month there is one finding that replaces the other to keep the race going.

The most important thing is follow what you like as the customer. The best wine is always the one you enjoy whether its a '72 Chateau Palmer or '07 Yellowtail Shiraz — it's what is best for you. Over time, your palate will grow and expand to appreciate so many more things, just remember, no reservations. Save that for your favorite restaurant.

Michael Pataran is a sommelier and sake master, and executive chef/partner at Shogun Revolver restaurant.