Nils Gustaf Lindgren wrote:
> Hello,
> Last night we had friends over, and finished a fairly plesant meal with a
> frozen fennel mousse, the which I found in a French cook book. The procedure
> is fairly convoluted and invvolves cooking fennels in a sugar syrup, then,
> making an infusion of star anise, using that for making ANOTHER sugar syrup
> which is heated to 118 centigrade, at which it starts to caramellise
> slightly, then, pouring the hot syrup into egg yolk, whipping energetically.
> The fennels are puréed, and it is all mixed with whipped cream and a glass
> of pastis, and frozen. In Swedish, it would be called a parfait - it is
> similar, when served, to an Italian semifreddo. In all, it has a clear
> taste of fennel and anise, but also a bit of fudge. It is served with a
> raspberry sauce.
>
> I served this with Mas Amiel, a Maury, red and fortified to 16.5 % alc, but
> the dessert and the wine only barely tolerated each other. Fennel, with its
> notes of liquorice, is not an ideal wine partner. Does anybody have a
> suggestion?

Coffee?? That's actually a half-serious suggestion, Nils, as I see it as
a very difficult pairing with wine. The licorice flavor of fennel is
quite powerful (not ton mention the star anise), so only fairly
non-aromatic wines would do, and they'd have to have high acidity and
residual sugar IMO. How about a sweet Chenin from the Loire or a sweet
Pinot Gris from Alsace, the more powerful the better. Perhaps a use for
those Z-H wines you've been waiting for the proper moment to serve? ;-)

Mark Lipton
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