Amuse Bouche....any ideas?

dillodaffs

Hi,

As part of my dinner party id like to do an amuse bouche....anyone got any ideas on what i could do tho? one of my guests not a fish eater so nothing fishy. And nothing to time consuming to make either...any thoughts?

Magic Monkey

What are the rest of your courses? It should complement them. Ideally something palette cleansing, like a chilled shot of juiced melon, or cucumber consomme.

lonestargirl

There are some nice recipes on this site, I made the parsnip-honey soup with the sweet potato crisps and it went down very well.

foodaholic

how about a spicy gazpacho served in a shot glass, and for the fish eaters you could put a big juicy prawn on top

Mr Magnolia

An amuse-bouche isn't palate cleansing it's a little taste of what's to come in that the chef is trying to excite and titillate the diner about the meal ahead.

A small piece of dressed crispy pork belly or fois gras would be 2 that I enjoy. You will have to invest a little time in whatever you chose. The gazpacho or the parsnip-honey soup with the sweet potato crisps suggested above both sound great.

Magic Monkey

Palette cleansers usually come between courses, that's true, in the form of something cold and light. But in my view it's good to serve them as an amuse bouche, to "reset" everyones tastebuds in order to fully appreciate the courses that follow.

Mr Magnolia

An amuse bouche is served at the very start of a meal as a first course, it's nothing to do with palate cleansing or resetting taste buds. You seem to be confusing them with a sorbet or something of the like.

olaola

Mini bruschetta?

Or spicy salsa on a crisp round of bread with a dollop of creme fraiche on top.

Magic Monkey

You're correct in saying that those items served as an amuse bouche and as a palette cleanser are, clasically-speaking, generally different things.

An amuse bouche is served pre-starter to, as you've said, excite the diner. It should stimulate their mind and their mouths. Palette cleansers are served between courses to prevent palette fatigue and to neutralise any lingering tastes in the mouth, e.g. alkaline foods such as egg whites, tofu and corn have a high alkalinity above 7.0 which help to neutralise any sour notes from the previous dish, so as not to spoil the succeeding course.

My point is that it's better to serve something as an amuse bouche, that while stimulating the diner mentally and gastrically, as is it's whole purpose, will also cleanse their palette. In my view, this is an important property for an amuse bouche to have.

For example, I mentioned a cucumber consommé. The reasoning behind this as an amuse bouche is it can be visually appealing with the addition of shaved fennel, cucumber and radish, floating in a small bowl of the semi-clear liquid, which can look tasteless, but actually taste quite strongly of cucumber. The cucumber flavour can be accentuated with lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, and sake. The bitterness of the lemon juice will stimulate the salivary glands, as well as the sourness of the vinegar, and all those flavours are carried well by the alcohol, which is quick to dissipate in the mouth. The addition of a chiffonade of mint also enhances the cleansing properties.

To me, this satifies all the criteria of an amuse bouche - visually stimulating, exciting, surprising, and has the additional benefit of being cleansing. It can then be followed up with a starter that would pair well with cucumber, e.g. potted crab. Or even do something with peaches as an amuse-bouche, and follow it up with foie gras, etc, as this is a nice tie in between dishes and shows thought in the menu.

Faith

An amuse bouche is literally only a mouthful of food. Any bigger and you're in starter territory. It's two bites at most generally.

Minder

dillodaffs wrote: »

...nothing fishy. And nothing to time consuming to make either...any thoughts?

Don't bother.

An amuse bouche is a chefs treat - a small, intricate morsel of deliciousness that shows off the skill of the chef, it should make the diner gasp with pleasure at the picture perfect presentation, excite the taste buds to the pleasure of the plates to follow...

Do it well or don't do it at all.