Amuse-Bouche: You Might Not Know What This Is, But You'll Want To

Clearly, if you're reading this, you have Taste.

Let's face it, you either stumbled across this blog because you, too, attend/aspire to black tie events and like drinking bloody marys, Or you're a friend of mine, or a friend of my friend. You probably have At Least a gold star or two (and if you don't, you'll want to find out how to get them- they're good to have...) And let's just be honest, you probably love food. I mean, I love food (I especially love Mexican Food). If I could have named this blog "Black Tie, Bloody Marys and Food," I would have (it was just a really long title, and I feel like someone else is already using it).

In any case, I have recently learned of the most unusual and interesting bit of food culture: the Amuse-Bouche (pronounced uh-MYUZ-boosh). 'What,' you ask 'is that?'

First, we'll do a little bit of translating (I feel confident about these particular words in French, they're among the 17 I know). 'Amuse' in French is pretty much the same as it is in English- to amuse or entertain. 'Bouche' is the French for 'mouth.' So put together (and flipped because French does that), 'amuse-bouche' means 'mouth amuser.'

'Mouth amuser? Really, Aaron? You mean like a grape slush?'

Yes, like a grape slush, only better. Chefs sometime serve an amuse-bouche at the very beginning of a meal to wake up your taste buds. Give them a bit of a shake. They're like appetizers, but they're only one bite and you don't get to pick them (I know, I know, I thought it was unfair at first too, I mean what if I'm alergic? What if I'm morally against one of the ingredients? What if they're made with bacon? BUT THEN I realized that HELLO amuse bouche's are served by CHEFS, and if you're being cooked for by a chef, then either a) they're totally able to modify it for you or b) you shut up and eat it anyway because you're at a restaurant with a Chef (who, p. s. is serving you an amuse bouche, which is not something many chefs do anyway), for crying out loud).

They're also like little surprises- because you don't even know you're getting one (ok, sometimes you know, but sometimes you might not), and as mentioned above, you won't know what they are til they show up.

'So, essentially, you're excited about a small piece of quiche that some chef is serving you?'

Well, I guess, in essence, yes, but it's more than that.

This is going to be the superest, awesomest quiche ever in the history of all small quiches (it's a good thing I don't have amuse bouches all the time or I'd have to re-write the Greatest Foods of All Time Ever list from start to finish). And really, in the limited research I've done on the subject, they're usually more than a quiche. Just sayin' (I do love quiche, though.)

Again, the surprise factor cannot be overstated. It could be a drink or a bit of soup or a little truffle or something completely different. Clearly, your mouth will be amused.

And the flavor combinations are known to be wild- remember, this is a mouth amuser, and this girl/guy is a CHEF, so s/he's gonna make sure your taste buds are like "ZOMFG what was that?!???!! give me more!!!"

To give you a better idea, I'll end this with some pictures, so you can understand just what I mean:










Wow. Just wow.