The chef Mario Batali says that the single word “crispy” will sell a restaurant dish quicker than any number of clever adjectives. Picture “aubergines” on a menu. You might hesitate to order them, fearing they would be flaccid or oily, as they so often are. Now think how much more appealing “crispy aubergines” sound. “Crispy” makes everything appear as safe and crunchy as chips.
The word’s universal appeal is a sign of how much we are governed by texture in what we eat. Yet we hardly seem to mention it (unlike in China, where many foods, from fungus to tripe, are prized for texture alone). When we praise a meal, we tend to talk about the flavours, as if it weren’t quite polite to mention the marvellous way it felt in the mouth: how the artichoke gave just enough resistence to your teeth or the rhubarb fool shimmied gently down your throat.
In Coi: Stories and Recipes (Phaidon, £35) the Californian restaurateur Daniel Patterson argues that “after seasoning, texture is the most important element of our cooking”. Patterson sees texture as “the delivery mechanism for flavour”. Sometimes you might want a thin broth that “disappears quickly”, other times a “viscous gel” that lasts longer. A good meal mixes up things that snap and things that melt or flow.
The chef Mario Batali says that the single word “crispy” will sell a restaurant dish quicker than any number of clever adjectives. Picture “aubergines” on a menu. You might hesitate to order them, fearing they would be flaccid or oily, as they so often are. Now think how much more appealing “crispy aubergines” sound. “Crispy” makes everything appear as safe and crunchy as chips.The word’s universal appeal is a sign of how much we are governed by texture in what we eat. Yet we hardly seem to mention it (unlike in China, where many foods, from fungus to tripe, are prized for texture alone). When we praise a meal, we tend to talk about the flavours, as if it weren’t quite polite to mention the marvellous way it felt in the mouth: how the artichoke gave just enough resistence to your teeth or the rhubarb fool shimmied gently down your throat.In Coi: Stories and Recipes (Phaidon, £35) the Californian restaurateur Daniel Patterson argues that “after seasoning, texture is the most important element of our cooking”. Patterson sees texture as “the delivery mechanism for flavour”. Sometimes you might want a thin broth that “disappears quickly”, other times a “viscous gel” that lasts longer. A good meal mixes up things that snap and things that melt or flow.
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