Small bites of food, served formally and brought to the table by the restaurant waiter give moments of joy to diners’ taste buds as they wait for dinner or lunch to begin. Amuse bouche, finger food and hors d’oeuvres might seem similar, but history and purpose separate them completely. Amuse bouche in particular have been around for several years and have recently come back into fashion. It is a “taste” homaged by the chef and, for that, it must be able to surprise and tempt pleasantly, with a presentation that suits its purpose.
Creations that surprise, Finger line
What are amuse bouche and why are they served
An amuse bouche is a small taste, a gastronomic idea from the chef, giving a preview of what will be enjoyed with the main courses, in bold flavors that should never satiate the diner, but introduce them to the magic of cooking.
Amuse bouches are literally “fun for the mouth.” Their job, in fact, is to whet the appetite of restaurant patrons and, in fact, they are served while waiting for orders to arrive, as a foretaste of the menu and to satisfy initial hunger. It is a way of saying “welcome” to guests and pampering them with something special. These are neither appetizers nor finger foods: amuse bouche are a separate course, extra, because they are served complimentary and chosen by the chef to demonstrate his cooking style, skill, and tell the tale of creativity among combinations of ingredients, textures, aromas, flavors, and colors.
The amuse bouche was born with the “nouvelle cuisine,” of French chefs in the 1970s, the era when gourmet cuisine evolved into smaller, more delicate dishes. Competitiveness, creativity and the search for new flavors that enhanced natural taste led to the creation of a mignon, one-bite format that could showcase different techniques in a single serving. Amuse bouches, declared unfashionable in the late 1980s, have recently made a comeback because they are a way for chefs to be creative. Today, amuse bouches served in upscale restaurants can range from broths or mousses to creative aesthetic games that take advantage of space, size, and color.
Miniature line for small masterpieces of delight
How to serve amuse bouche
The appearance of the amuse bouche on a restaurant table influences about 90 percent of what guests will choose for the main courses. For this reason, great attention must be paid to the type of bite and the way it is served. The amuse bouche should be consistent with the character and style of the restaurant and match the menu appropriately. Diners may be served from a single such dish to six or seven, but it is important to present them individually, to maintain their originality and emphasize their difference from appetizers and finger food.
Delighting the eye: porcelain tableware for serving amuse bouche
If the goal is to capture the customer’s sight and palate, the chef should come up with a feast for the palate and a celebration of creativity. Innovative techniques and beauty meet in a presentation that cannot be trivial.
Amuse bouche must be small and never too complex to be savored in a bite: a vegetable broth gelèe with herbs dances suave on the finger spoon, Finger line, while a mock stuffed bell pepper flaunts its astonished color on hexagon finger, this time in the Ghisa version, in elegant matte black.
Exclusively Italian ingredients such as Parma ham and burrata chase each other in an aesthetic made of colors meant to enrapture first with a winning color combination and then with the fun of strong and delicate palate flavors. The amuse bouche never tires and can be prepared with typical vegetables of the season: in spring flower, finger line, in black or white, acts as a corolla for fresh green beans, while hat guards mushrooms and autumn sauces.
The Miniature line also represents the essence of amuse bouche with small porcelain tableware: sparkling instincts and technical workmanship that trigger emotions, in a one-bite tale. Refinement and creativity go hand in hand with saucer spoon, square cup and mini riser. An original surprise in a mini cup awaits the diner, and a concert of textures is enclosed in the oval dish.
What if Porcellana ardesia was entrusted with the task of welcoming you to the world of the star chef? It dares to surprise but never inelegantly: the slate-effect square plate exalts the delicate strength of black truffle accompanied by the intense color of salmon on white or dark gray canvas, a natural effect. It is not a twist, but a story that takes shape in the tasting of a morsel of fish and mayonnaise, with an original arrangement on slate-effect rectangular plate.
Creativity and inspiration, with MPS porcelain
The inspiration of raw materials: porcelain for amuse bouche
An adventure in inspiration, everything starts with the raw material, which is processed and transformed into what is desired: tomatoes, milk, potatoes, flour, meat, fish or shellfish on the one hand and kaolin, quartz and feldspar on the other. MPS porcelain wares are a source of creativity for all chefs, along with functional practicality: dishwasher-safe, nonporosity that allows all the aromas and flavors to be retained to the food presented, and durability along with the class of an ever new and modern material. Amuse bouche served on porcelain are the etiquette of the table, along with the chef’s gracious welcome. The good taste of these bites of delight and divertissement is also confirmed with a curiosity about their name: they were originally known as amuse gueule because of an inappropriate translation, since gueule is used for the snout of an animal, rather than “human mouth,” i.e. bouche.
