Bogle Red Blend plus Cantonese Comfort Foods

People from the southern part of China traditionally liked to cook snake soup and fried sticky rice during the fall and winter months. This combo has the medicinal benefit of warming your body and nurturing your stomach. Nowadays these two comfort foods are readily available all year around and are served as street foods or delicacy in pricier and ‘old-brand’ Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong. The nuances justify the price and quality differences. At pricier and traditional places, the careful deboning process of the snake and lightly coating the lean pork julienne with corn starch that are cooked in the soup ensure the customer enjoys a non greasy and creamy soup. The white chrysanthemum petals and dill that typically sit in a glass jar on the dinning table of these old shops are to be accompanied the soup, adding aroma and flavor. The right balance amount of sticky and long grain rice, cooked to perfection, is the base of the successful sticky rice...chewy, sticky but still allowing you to pull out each grain by chopsticks if you want to. Chinese sausages that are used in the rice need to be lean but fat enough to flavor the rice. The sea aroma of the scallion infused dried shrimp ties the rice and sausage together, distinguishing a great bowl from an average one. This Bogle Essential Red is an affordable red blend of old Zin, Syrah, Cab and Petit Siraz that I would pair with these Cantonese delicacies. The medium tannin of this red is ripe and mouth-filling and can tame the complex flavor of the soup and rustic texture of the rice.