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Dégustation Automnale
Dégustation is the careful, appreciative tasting of various food, focusing on the gustatory system, the senses, high culinary art and good company. Dégustation is more likely to involve sampling small portions of all of a chef's signature dishes in one sitting. Usually consisting of many courses, it may be accompanied by a matching wine degustation which complements each dish. History The French language, French term ''dégustation'' is still commonly used in English-language contexts. Modern dégustation probably comes from the French cuisine, French kitchens of the early 20th century and is different from earlier meals with many courses because these meals were served as full-sized meals at each course. Examples Sampling a selection of cheeses, at home or in a restaurant, may also be called a dégustation. Three to four varieties are normally chosen, generally including a semi-soft cheese, a goat's cheese, and a blue cheese. The stronger varieties are normally tasted last. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Cheese
Blue cheese is any cheese made with the addition of Microbial food cultures, cultures of edible Mold (fungus), molds, which create blue-green spots or veins through the cheese. Blue cheeses vary in flavor from mild to strong and from slightly sweet to salty or sharp; in colour from pale to dark; and in consistency from liquid to hard. They may have a distinctive smell, either from the mold or from various specially cultivated bacteria such as ''Brevibacterium linens''. Some blue cheeses are injected with spores before the curds form, and others have spores mixed in with the curds after they form. Blue cheeses are typically aged in temperature-controlled environments. History Blue cheese is believed to have been discovered by accident when cheeses were stored in caves with naturally controlled temperature and moisture levels which happened to be favorable environments for varieties of harmless mold. Analysis of paleofeces sampled in the salt mines of Hallstatt , Hallstatt, Au ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustation
The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste. Taste is the perception stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor cells located on taste buds in the oral cavity, mostly on the tongue. Taste, along with the sense of smell and trigeminal nerve stimulation (registering texture, pain, and temperature), determines flavors of food and other substances. Humans have taste receptors on taste buds and other areas, including the upper surface of the tongue and the epiglottis. The gustatory cortex is responsible for the perception of taste. The tongue is covered with thousands of small bumps called papillae, which are visible to the naked eye. Within each papilla are hundreds of taste buds. The exceptions to this is the filiform papillae that do not contain taste buds. There are between 2000 and 5000Boron, W.F., E.L. Boulpaep. 2003. Medical Physiology. 1st ed. Elsevier Science ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wine Tasting
Wine tasting is the sensory examination and evaluation of wine. While the practice of wine tasting is as ancient as its production, a more formalized methodology has slowly become established from the 14th century onward. Modern, professional wine tasters (such as sommeliers or buyers for retailers) use a constantly evolving specialized terminology which is used to describe the range of perceived flavors, aromas and general characteristics of a wine. More informal, recreational tasting may use similar terminology, usually involving a much less analytical process for a more general, personal appreciation. Results that have surfaced through scientific blind wine tasting suggest the unreliability of wine tasting in both experts and consumers, such as inconsistency in identifying wines based on region and price. History The Sumerian stories of Gilgamesh in the 3rd millennium BCE differentiate the popular beers of Mesopotamia, as well as wines from Zagros Mountains or Lebanon. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tea Tasting
Tea tasting is the process in which a trained taster determines the quality of a particular tea. Due to climatic conditions, topography, manufacturing process, and different cultivars of the ''Camellia sinensis'' plant (tea), the final product may have vastly differing flavours and appearance. A trained tester can detect these differences and ascertain the tea's quality prior to sale or possible blending. Objectives The taster's objectives depend on the tea's intended purpose. The qualities desired for a tea for blending with other teas can be quite different from those desired for a tea ready for drinking. Techniques The ISO 3103 standard describes a standardised method for brewing teas to make meaningful sensory comparisons. It is not a particularly useful standard for many teas, however, requiring a six-minute brewing time and boiling water, neither of which are recommended for green teas (usually brewed at < 90 °C and for under 3 minutes). Tasters would instead u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coffee Cupping
Coffee cupping, or coffee tasting, is the practice of observing the tastes and aromas of brewed coffee. It is a professional practice but can be done informally by anyone or by professionals known as "Q Graders". A standard coffee cupping procedure involves deeply sniffing the coffee, then slurping the coffee from a spoon so it is aerated and spread across the tongue. The coffee taster attempts to measure aspects of the coffee's taste, specifically the ''body'' (the texture or mouthfeel, such as oiliness), ''sweetness'', ''acidity'' (a sharp and tangy feeling, like when biting into an Orange (fruit), orange), ''flavour'' (the characters in the cup), and aftertaste. Since coffee beans embody telltale flavours from the region where they were grown, cuppers may attempt to identify the coffee's origin. Aromas Various descriptions are used to note coffee aroma. ;Animal-like: This odour descriptor is somewhat reminiscent of the smell of animals. It is not a fragrant aroma like mus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formal Dinner
Dinner usually refers to what is in many Western cultures the biggest and most formal meal of the day. Historically, the largest meal used to be eaten around noon, midday, and called dinner. Especially among the elite, it gradually migrated to later in the day over the 16th to 19th centuries. The word has different meanings depending on culture, and may mean a meal of any size eaten at any time of day. In particular, it is still sometimes used for a meal at noon or in the early afternoon on special occasions, such as a Christmas dinner. In hot climates, the main meal is more likely to be eaten in the evening, after the temperature has fallen. Etymology The word is from the Old French () , meaning "dine", from the stem of Gallo-Romance ''desjunare'' ("to break one's fast"), from Latin (which indicates the opposite of an action) + Late Latin ''ieiunare'' ("to fast"), from Latin ("fasting, hungry"). The Romanian language, Romanian word and the French retain this etymology and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tasting Menu
A tasting menu is a collection of several dishes in small portions, served by a restaurant as a single meal. The French name for a tasting menu is . Some restaurants and chefs specialize in tasting menus, while in other cases, it is a special or a menu option. Tasting menus may be offered to provide a sample of a type of cuisine, a house specialty, or to take advantage of fresh seasonal ingredients. Coming to the mainstream in the 1990s, tasting menus evolved into elaborate showcases highlighting the culinary artistry of the chef. The trend traces back centuries, but some trace the latest evolution to the mid-1990s and two highly lauded restaurants, Chef Ferran Adrià's El Bulli in Spain, and Chef Thomas Keller's French Laundry, in Napa Valley, north of San Francisco in the U.S., that offered tasting menus of 40 courses or more. Feb. 2015. Tasting menus have since become increasingly popular, to the point where, in 2013, ''New York Times ''The New York Times'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Table D'hôte
In restaurant terminology, a ''table d'hôte'' (; ) menu is a menu where multi-Course (meal), course meals with only a few choices are charged at a fixed total price. Such a menu may be called ''prix fixe'' ( ; "fixed price"). The terms set meal and set menu are also used. ''Table d'hôte'' contrasts with ''à la carte'', where customers may order any of the separately priced menu items available. Etymology ''Table d'hôte'' is a French language, French loanword, loan phrase that literally means "the host's table". The term is used to denote a table set aside for residents of a , who presumably sit at the same table as their host. The meaning shifted to include any meal featuring a set menu at a fixed price. The use in English is documented as early as 1617, while the later extended use, now more common, dates from the early nineteenth century. In France, the term began in inns where guests ate at a common table, called the "host's table" (though the host typically did not si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapas
Tapas () are appetisers or snacks in Spanish cuisine. They can be combined to make a full meal and are served cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or hot (such as , which are battered, fried baby squid; or , spicy potatoes). In some bars and restaurants in Spain and across the globe, tapas have evolved into a sophisticated cuisine. In some Central American countries, such snacks are known as . In parts of Mexico, similar dishes are called ''botanas''. An individual appetizer (or single order of an item) is a . History The word "''tapas''", a plural, is derived from the Spanish verb ''tapar'', "to cover", a cognate of the English "top". Multiple theories for the term's use for appetizers exist. One theory holds that in pre-19th-century Spain few innkeepers at ''posadas'', '' albergues'' or ''bodegas'' offering meals and rooms for travellers could write and few travellers read, so guests were offered a sample of the dishes available on a "tapa" (“pot cover” in Sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustatory System
The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste. Taste is the perception stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor cells located on taste buds in the oral cavity, mostly on the tongue. Taste, along with the sense of smell and trigeminal nerve stimulation (registering texture, pain, and temperature), determines flavors of food and other substances. Humans have taste receptors on taste buds and other areas, including the upper surface of the tongue and the epiglottis. The gustatory cortex is responsible for the perception of taste. The tongue is covered with thousands of small bumps called papillae, which are visible to the naked eye. Within each papilla are hundreds of taste buds. The exceptions to this is the filiform papillae that do not contain taste buds. There are between 2000 and 5000Boron, W.F., E.L. Boulpaep. 2003. Medical Physiology. 1st ed. Elsevier Scie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
