Texture, Taste and the Third Thing

Angelic Lemon Tart

I'm quickly learning that the French are master alchemists in the kitchen. They practice the art of distilling essences of both flora and fauna and combine ingredients in such a way so that one can taste the golden music of the spheres. Robert relayed an old French cook's adage in class the other day, "God made the apple perfect, now lets see how we can improve upon it."

In the studio we are not just reading recipes, we are training to the inalienable contructs of French cooking, a time honored tradition based on observation and consideration. Texture and taste are the axes of orientation and we hone our trajectory while cooking toward the perfect melding of the two. Flavor is developed via a triumvirate of main ingredient, a complement, and a third component of resolution. The resulting layered richness of a dish belies the uncomplicated, yet astute nature of its preparation.

As an example, vegetables are cooked very slowly, often on top of a layer of oil or butter so that each ingredient succombs to the heat gradually, loosing its hold on its flavorful liquid and relinquishing it to the fats below. In the process the fiber begins to break down, and at a certain point the carbohydrates in the vegetable turn into sugars. The ability to recognize that moment is an art and can make the difference between crunchy, bitter onions that return a few hours later and those that are soft and delicately sweet, never to be heard from again. (To be continued)