American-Chinese cuisine, a delightful fusion born from immigrant ingenuity, offers a unique culinary landscape different from traditional Chinese food. This article celebrates these iconic dishes and explores exciting cider pairings to enhance your meals. Discover how the right cider can transform your favorite Chinese takeout into a gourmet experience.
Wonton Soup & Nashi Orchard’s Hukari Asian Pear Perry
Wonton soup, with its delicate balance of savory broth, tender dumplings, and subtle sweetness from bok choy, is a comforting and light appetizer. Whether you opt for vegetarian wontons or the traditional pork and shrimp filling, this soup deserves a pairing that complements its lightness. Nashi Orchard’s Hukari Asian Pear Perry, with its delicate citrus, floral, and honeyed notes, mirrors the soup’s subtle sweetness and enhances its refreshing character. This perry’s nuanced flavors won’t overpower the soup, creating a harmonious start to your Chinese food feast.
General Tso’s Tofu and Broccoli & Eden’s Peak Bloom
General Tso’s, a hugely popular dish in American-Chinese cuisine, boasts a bold, sweet, and deeply flavorful sauce coating crispy fried chicken or tofu. To cut through the richness and complement the sweetness, a bubbly and semi-dry cider is the ideal choice. Eden’s Peak Bloom cider, with its gentle semi-dryness, ripe apple flavors, and vibrant minerality, is a perfect match. Its approachable yet sophisticated profile mirrors the universally appealing nature of General Tso’s, creating a balanced and delightful pairing for this quintessential Chinese food takeout dish.
Hot Pot & Stormalong’s IPC (India Pale Cider) Collaboration with Exhibit A Brewing
Hot Pot, a communal and customizable dining experience, features a simmering broth filled with various ingredients, from bok choy and green onions to ginger and noodles. The rich umami flavors and potential spiciness of Hot Pot call for a cider that can cleanse the palate and provide a refreshing contrast. A hoppy, crisp, and citrusy cider like Stormalong’s IPC (India Pale Cider) collaboration with Exhibit A Brewing is surprisingly wonderful. The hop bitterness and citrus notes cut through the richness of the hot pot, waking up your taste buds between each flavorful bite of this interactive Chinese food dish.
Sweet-and-Sour Chicken & Thor’s Hard Cider Arctic Rosé
Sweet and sour chicken, a classic American-Chinese dish, offers a satisfying combination of crispy chicken, sweet pineapple, and tangy bell peppers, all served over fluffy rice. This dish is characterized by its contrasting flavors and textures. A complementary cider that mirrors these elements is Thor’s Hard Cider Arctic Rosé. This rosé cider, crafted with wine grapes and Dolgo crab apples, achieves a perfect balance of sweet and tart notes, echoing the sweet-and-sour profile of the chicken. This pairing enhances the dish by harmonizing with its inherent flavor complexities.
Ma Po Tofu & Stem Cider’s Le Chêne
Pairing cider with spicy Chinese food like Ma Po Tofu requires careful consideration to ensure the beverage complements rather than competes with the heat. Ma Po Tofu, with its Szechuan peppercorns, chili oil, silken tofu, and peanuts, is a complex dish offering texture, spice, and richness. A petillant or still barrel-aged cider like Stem Cider’s Le Chêne is an excellent choice. The barrel notes of vanilla and toast in Le Chêne work to temper the spiciness of the Ma Po Tofu, creating a balanced and nuanced pairing that allows both the dish and the cider to shine.
Vegetable Fried Rice & Wayside Cider’s Hunt the Fox
Fried rice, a versatile and comforting dish in Chinese food, comes in countless variations. Whether you prefer pineapple, shrimp, tofu, or a mix of vegetables, fried rice offers a savory and often rich base. To balance the richness of fried rice, a bold and funky high-acid cider like Wayside Cider’s Hunt the Fox is recommended. This still cider cuts through the unctuousness, cleansing the palate and providing a refreshing counterpoint. For a spicier fried rice, a funky sparkling cider can also work wonderfully, adding an extra layer of refreshment and complexity to the pairing.
Fortune Cookie & Woodchuck’s Mimosa or Graft’s Lost Tropic
The fortune cookie, an iconic and uniquely American-Chinese treat, is a delightful end to any Chinese food meal. Its subtle orange and almond aromas make it a perfect candidate for a citrus-forward cider pairing. A mimosa cider, combining tart orange juice with the crisp apple notes of hard cider, echoes the cookie’s citrus element beautifully. Woodchuck’s Mimosa offers a readily available option, while Graft’s Lost Tropic, with tangerine and passion fruit additions, provides a more adventurous choice. Both ciders create a celebratory and sweet conclusion to your Chinese food and cider pairing experience.
Whether you’re cooking at home or ordering takeout, exploring cider pairings with your favorite Chinese food dishes can elevate your dining experience. Cheers to delicious discoveries!
Explore more cider and food pairings in our Cider Loves Food series!
