There is not much more rewarding than getting rave reviews to a meal that you serve to friends. One key is the fact that people “
If a meal looks good, chances are people will say it tastes good. A second key is layering in flavor. Really great dishes are quite often multi dimensional where the chef as added flavors in multiple forms. The third key is the power of suggestion. If an expert tells you that this is going to taste great, chances are you will think it tastes great.
Think of the importance how a plate is presented at a good restaurant. The good chef will go to great pains to make sure that the first impression that people SEE is good. There has been considerable research on the subject that all points to the importance of the fact that “people eat with their eyes”. The key point for the supper club is to go an extra step to make sure the food presentation is good. I am a huge fan of plating dishes versus serving things family style. In plating you get to add a few touches. Arrange the food well. Dress the plate with herbs. Pay attention to how you serve a sauce. It doesn’t take all that much effort but presentation is important.
Great chefs will layer in flavor. They season a dish multiple times. One great chef told me that at culinary school she was taught that if you don’t get at least one complaint a night about too much salt you are not adding enough. The proteins are quite often marinated or brined. At Kraft Food Ingredients we had a line of flavors called the “The flavors of cooking”. (Grill, Roast, Sauté etc.). We had marketing tag line that said: “Nothing influences the flavor of food more than how it is cooked. Think about it. A good chef will go to great lengths to sear, grill, sauté, roast, braise etc. What they are doing is layering in flavor.
If you want people to like a dish, have an expert, or someone people think knows something, whisper in their ears “Oh you are really going to love the rack of lamb”. In my last blog I talked about flavor panels. When working at Kraft I worked with one of the world’s greatest cheese experts. Larry Woodford developed the cheese sauce that was used in Kraft’s Mac and Cheese for over 30 years. I used to tell my kids that I worked with the guy that invented Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. To which they would say wow he must be rich. To which I would say no he is just fat. Kraft made all the money. However, Larry had forgotten more about cheese than I would ever know. One thing about Larry, whenever we would have a blind taste test, he was notorious for going around beforehand and whispering to folks “you are going to love sample B”. Invariably sample B would win out. We all figured if Larry who invented cheese likes something, it must be good..
And when all else fails remember the old quote from the great American philosopher Billy Crystal on Saturday Night Live: “It is better to look good than to feel good. You look marvelous darling”.
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