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Italian Wine Pairings for Chinese Food, Page 3
Pairings at a Glance
Showing 21–30 of 32 dishes
Sweet and sour prawns
Sweet and sour prawns swap the battered-chicken base for peeled prawn, holding the same pineapple-ketchup-vinegar sweet-sour glaze over fried bell pepper and onion. The prawn sweetness doubles the sugar load. Falanghina del Sannio's aromatic lift handles the pineapple; Conegliano Prosecco Superiore brings the sparkling alternative; Moscato d'Asti is the off-dry sweet-dessert option.
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Cheung fun
Cheung fun are silky rice-flour rolls, steamed thin and poured over with sweetened soy. Cantonese versions fold in char siu, prawn or Chinese doughnut sticks for textural contrast. The dish sits low on fat but high on soy-sweet, which clashes with tannic reds. Falanghina del Sannio's volcanic mineral backbone and Grillo's saline bite both hold up; Conegliano Prosecco Superiore adds the sparkle option.
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Crispy chilli beef
Crispy chilli beef is a Hakka-origin British-Chinese takeaway classic, not a mainland dish: strips of beef coated in cornflour batter, twice-fried to crisp, then tossed in a sweet-chilli glaze with dried chilli and sesame. The sugar-heat combination is the wine test. Lambrusco di Sorbara's fizz and cranberry acid pass it; Moscato d'Asti covers off-dry; Nero d'Avola from Sicilia DOC is the dry-red alternative.
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Lo mein
Lo mein is softer-style Cantonese wheat noodles tossed with shredded vegetables and protein in a dark-soy glaze: the wok-char is lighter than chow mein and the sauce wetter. Typical fillings are chicken, beef, pork, shrimp or plain vegetables. Barbera d'Asti's bright acid handles the soy-heavy coat; Falanghina is the white alternative.
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Steamed sea bass
Steamed whole sea bass, Cantonese-style, is the banquet flagship: fish steamed over ginger and scallion, finished with hot sesame oil and soy dressing at the table. The flesh stays silken, the skin just-set. Vermentino di Gallura is the textbook Italian match for whole-fish freshness; Fiano di Avellino brings aromatic weight for the ginger-scallion top-note; Soave Superiore is the neutral safe pick.
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Szechuan beef
Szechuan beef (shui zhu niu rou or dry-fried gan bian niu rou) is Sichuan beef cookery at its hottest: sliced flank stir-fried with chilli oil, dried chilli, doubanjiang and Sichuan peppercorn. Versions range from numbing-hot broth to shredded dry-fry with celery. The chilli-spice load vetoes tannic reds. Lambrusco di Sorbara is the signature sommelier pick; Frappato holds the still-red option; Falanghina covers the white angle.
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Cashew chicken
Cashew chicken is a mild Cantonese-style stir-fry: cubed chicken with roasted cashews, celery, onion and sometimes bell pepper under a light oyster-soy glaze. The dish is gentle compared to Szechuan cuts, so the wine can be softer. Falanghina del Sannio lifts the roasted-nut notes; Pinot Grigio from Friuli Colli Orientali is the crisper option; light-body reds like Dolcetto handle the oyster-sauce umami.
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Char siu bao
Char siu bao are Cantonese BBQ pork buns, steamed with a fluffy milk-white wheat-flour shell or baked with a sweet-crisp top. The diced char siu filling brings honey-hoisin sweetness, five-spice aroma and deep caramelisation. The glaze sweetness rules out tannic reds. Acid-led Etna Rosso and fresh Lambrusco di Sorbara both work; Falanghina del Sannio covers the still-white option.
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Lemon chicken
Lemon chicken is a British-Chinese and Hong-Kong takeaway staple: battered fried chicken breast with a bright yellow lemon-sugar sauce thickened with cornflour. The sauce runs sweet-citric rather than savoury. Conegliano Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore matches the sugar-acid duality; Moscato d'Asti goes deeper into sweet territory; Falanghina del Sannio is the drier still-white answer.
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Crispy pork belly
Siu yuk, Cantonese crispy roast pork belly, is slow-cooked with five-spice rubbed into the flesh and vinegar-salted skin to force a shattering crackling layer. Served with hot mustard and sometimes hoisin. The fat content is full. Etna Rosso (Nerello Mascalese) handles the fat and crackling salt together; Barbera d'Asti is the acid-forward alternative; Nero d'Avola covers the bigger-fruit angle.
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