Eating Food Too Hot and Too Cold

During a cooking lesson the other day, I was teaching a student how to sauté. We were tasting what we cooked, but instead of letting Debbie (fictional name used to protect the innocent) eat the food piping hot as she normally would, I had her wait for the food to cool a bit.

She acquiesced and was amazed how much more flavorful the food was when it cooled slightly.

The moral of the story? We tend to eat food too cold and too hot, not giving our taste buds a chance to enjoy the food’s true flavor.

In a similar vein, there was an article in this week’s Dining section of The New York Times that discussed the habit of drinking white wine at much colder-than-necessary temperatures:

"Basic science makes clear that raising the temperature at which a wine is served allows the various flavor compounds in a wine to evaporate and rise, thus adding to a wine’s aroma, which contributes greatly to enjoyment on the palate."

As Debbie witnessed the other day, a similar idea holds for food. Give your meal a chance to get closer to room temperature; you may be surprised at the new flavors you are experiencing:

"The other night I pulled a bottle of white Bordeaux from the fridge, a 2006 Blanc de Lynch-Bages. I opened it and poured it right away. It might well have been an anonymous inexpensive white. As it warmed, though, its creamy texture and complexities emerged. It was waxy and floral with depth and detail, even at room temperature."