Amuse-Bouche was published in 2002. Author Rick Tramonto [teamed with writer Mary Goodbody] wrote this book on the heels of his dramatic success with the restaurant Tru in Chicago. A leading edge chef and author, Rick did not go to culinary school. He began working in American fast food restaurants, and then had that “travel” to France experience that is life-changing or life-inspiring.
If you ever wondered whether cooking was art or science, I think this book amply demonstrates that art dominates.
The Spanish have had tapas for centuries. We’ve had appetizers, or snacks, forever. But about 30 years ago, high end French restaurants introduced the amuse-bouche, which roughly translates to “please the mouth.” You don’t order these treats. They are not appetizers. They simply arrive, thanks to chef, soon after you are seated. They are your introduction to the style and quality of the food that is yet to arrive.
And, they are small. One bite, maybe two. You are left with two very contrasting feelings: nostalgia because you just had one bite and now it is gone, and excitement for clearly wonderful sensations are yet to appear.
Restaurants offering amuse-bouche do find it a challenge. It is that forward statement to each diner about what is to come. It is not just a mere first appearance. It can be the memory of the evening that the diner takes homes and tells everyone about, over and over.
And so we come to the substance of this lovely book. Chapters here let you fine one-bite wonders in many forms:
- Soup
- Vegetable
- Pasta and Grain
- Fish and Seafood
- Meat and Poultry
- Forks and Spoons
- Juice
- Foam
- Savory Sorbet
Some of these recipes do take a little work, like the Cinnamon French Toast with Turnips and Prunes. Yes, that recipe is in the book. But other things are very simple and direct. At the end of this post is a most striking photo of Venison Carpaccio with Chocolate Sauce and Champagne Grapes. If eating venison is something you cannot do — look, Bambi is a fictional movie — then that meat at the bottom can be something you do enjoy: beef, chicken, lamb.
At the top, the book cover has four pictures. In the lower right, you see a Terrine of Pencil Green Asparagus with Goat Cheese Puree. It’s simple, elegant, and makes you pause before you stab with your fork.
Sample recipes here include:
Avocado-Peekytoe Crab Salad Balls with Citrus Vinaigrette
Carrot Clementine Sorbet — on of those savory sorbets
Roasted Shallot Custard
Salad of Radish and Fiddlehead Ferns
Tangerine Juice with Sage — one of those promised juices
Warm Onion Tart with Thyme
There are recipes in this book that let you speed your way to satisfaction using puff pastry, like the Warm Onion Tarts. At other times, you are going to be using gelatin sheets and sipping wine for the afternoon in the kitchen.
I was not going to say anything about the foam chapter. I’m not Spanish. I don’t have a Ph.D. in kitchen science. But, but, in that chapter you will find a recipe for Wasabi Foam made with wasabi and honey and then squirted out onto sushi-grade tuna. That canister Suzen and I bought? The one to make whipped cream that we have never used? It’s being dusted off.
Simple or complex. Quick or challenging. Vegetable or protein. Liquid or solid. Somewhere in this book there will be just the thing to trigger your next kitchen adventure.
In fact, a terrific way to use this book is to “go tapas.” Make four or five of these dishes, and do it in some quantity. Open a great bottle of wine. Sit with your significant other and just enjoy. One bite at a time. The treat goes way, way beyond your mouth.
