Kitchen Mysteries_ Revealing the Science of Cooking Part 8

Then, using a spatula, stiffly beaten egg whites are added in order to form a kind of light sponge. Finally, add just barely melted b.u.t.ter and mix it in gently with a fork to obtain a viscous batter that does not easily run. Pour the batter into an ungreased cake pan with high, smooth sides and place in a very hot oven. During the baking process, all the bubbles will expand, vapor bubbles will appear, and the surface will take on color through various chemical processes, caramelization in particular. The sponge cake rises and turns golden, and in 15 to 20 minutes, the blade of a knife that pierces it will emerge clean and dry, a sign that it is fully baked. It is left to cool in the pan, and the result is an airy, delicious cake.

Why this mode of operation and these results? First of all, the egg whites provide proteins that coagulate during the baking, stabilizing the network of inflated bubbles, while the sugar, in melting, reacts with the egg yolks. The preparation is similar to a souffle, but the sugar serves as a load, stabilizing the network. In addition, the various reactions involved in caramelizing the sugar and cooking the eggs give the sponge cake its pleasant taste.

Finally, a note on genoise. This sponge cake differs from the one described above in that the egg whites and yolks (as well as the rest of the preparation) are whisked together. How do the egg whites rise into stiff peaks with the yolks present? Isn't this much too difficult? Difficult, but not impossible. You must whip them for a long time (up to about a quarter of an hour, with a brief rest in a hot water bath), remaining intent on introducing air into the mixture.

Leavened Doughs Without addressing bread, which merits a chapter all its own, let me examine the question of leavened doughs in pastry making. For these doughs, we often use what are incorrectly called in French "chemical yeasts."

What are we talking about? First of all, let me make it clear these are not biological agents like yeast, single-cell microorganisms that release carbon dioxide when they are in the presence of sugar. "Chemical yeasts," also known as leavening powders, are excellent leavening agents for the finest cakes. They are compounds that release carbon dioxide when they are in the presence of heated water. Sugar is not required for their action.

Often these leavening powders are a mixture of sodium bicarbonate, an acid (or, often, two acids, such as tartaric acid and sulfate acid of sodium and aluminum), and starch, which acts as an excipient, separates the particles of acid and bicarbonate, and prevents the active components from reacting prematurely.

Leavening powders act twice: once, at room temperature, because of the action of the tartaric acid on the bicarbonate, which releases carbon dioxide and produces little bubbles in the batter; then a second time, because of the action of the aluminum salt at high temperatures, which increases the size of the bubbles and makes the dough lighter.

This has nothing to do, however, with the live leavening agents, yeasts, like the baking yeast, Sacchoromyces cerevisae Sacchoromyces cerevisae, that die when the temperature becomes too high. On the other hand, baking yeast is much more effective for leavening a dry dough, like bread dough, as opposed to a batter.

Sugar What Happens When Sugar Is Heated?

Louis XIII's cook, Jean de la Varenne, said that "a man who attaches great importance to dessert after a good meal is a fool who spoils his spirit with his stomach." Some gourmands will share his opinion, but many of us, even as adults, have not lost our immoderate taste for sugar and its various forms ... like caramel.

Why its golden color? Why its inimitable flavor? Table sugar is composed of a molecule called sucrose, a glucose ring with six carbon atoms, bound by an oxygen atom to a fructose ring.

When this molecule is heated, it undergoes a complex series of decompositions, and, since each molecule possesses many oxygen atoms, rearrangements are possible. The molecules break up, and little volatile fragments, such as hydroxymethylfurfural, either evaporate or dissolve in the substance and give it its odor, as fructose dianhydrides form, react with simple sugars, and make the caramel ma.s.s.

Why Are We Advised Against Using Aspartame in Cooking?

Abhorred by those who aspire, as Brillat-Savarin said, "to be unfinished creatures," 48 48 sugar is sometimes deposed by various sweeteners, such as aspartame. Why are we advised against using the latter in cooking? Because its molecule is composed of a molecule of aspartic acid bound to a molecule of phenylalanine. When heated, the two parts separate, and their two tastes replace the one sweet taste of aspartame. Aspartic acid may be tasteless, but phenylalanine is bitter. sugar is sometimes deposed by various sweeteners, such as aspartame. Why are we advised against using the latter in cooking? Because its molecule is composed of a molecule of aspartic acid bound to a molecule of phenylalanine. When heated, the two parts separate, and their two tastes replace the one sweet taste of aspartame. Aspartic acid may be tasteless, but phenylalanine is bitter.

We should also remember that aspartame slowly breaks down in aqueous solutions. Drinks sweetened with aspartame should be used promptly; if stored, they will become bitter.

Bread How Do We Make Good Bread?

Many city dwellers have forgotten the taste of their origins. Sometimes they have also forgotten what, after a millennium of civilization, has become second nature to humans: the preparation of bread. A few elevator stops separate them from the baker, who lets them benefit from his professional expertise, his specialized equipment ... and his appetizing breads.

Why should we go to the trouble of arduous kneading and baking, with sometimes mediocre results? Will we ever attain those golden baguettes, those crusty, sweet-smelling breads neatly lined up behind our pleasant baker? Where can we find the flour and yeast we would need to put our own daily bread on our table? Where do we find the time to make bread? And, finally, what about the techniques necessary to bring about the miracle of bread making?

There are many among us who have never made bread and hesitate to give it a try, for fear of failing. But if they only knew! If they only resolved to make their first loaf, the only one that counts! They would be proud of work well done and feasting on products much superior to the breads that, more and more frequently, bakeries that are only fronts do not even make themselves but buy already prepared.

I invite you now to a celebration of domestic bread making. I want to help you share in this child's play, the preparation of a good homemade bread. And to help you avoid witnessing your dreams of a baguette reduced to the disappointment of a poorly baked doughy lump, this is my proposal: that you discover the physical chemistry of bread by putting your hands in the dough.

From Water, Flour, Yeast ...

If our earliest ancestors who made bread obtained results that encouraged them to continue experimenting, it is because the principle behind bread making is simple. To make bread, we need only water, flour, two hands to knead, and an oven. Three operations will do it: kneading, fermenting, and baking. Nothing is simpler, nothing more ancient, than the techniques of bread making. They have hardly changed since they were practiced in Egypt three thousand years ago.

First let us a.s.semble the ingredients: 12 deciliters (about 5 cups) of wheat flour, 5 deciliters (about 2 cups) of water, 25 grams (a bit less than an ounce) of yeast, and a teaspoon of cooking salt. In a large bowl, we dilute the yeast in the water; then we add the flour and salt. We mix, knead, and pummel for a long time, and then we form a ball that we pat with flour. We cover the bowl with a cloth and let the dough rest for three hours. This is the first step. The dough swells up.

We then knead it until it returns to its initial volume. Then we form it into a sausage shape that we lay in a b.u.t.tered baking pan and cover with a cloth. The dough rests for another three hours in the kitchen or overnight in a cool spot. During this phase of preparation, the dough must rise well and overflow the pan. Be careful not to touch it! After making small incisions in the top of the loaf with a knife, we finally put the bread in the oven, preheated to the highest setting, generally 250 (almost 500F). We turn the oven off and let the bread bake in it for thirty minutes. Then we turn the bread out of its pan onto a cooling rack.

Let us taste it. There is a good chance that our bread will be heavy and dense, or not baked in the middle, too limp and full of holes. That is because each operation has its reasons, the importance of which bakers have learned to appreciate through experience. These reasons will make our future attempts crowning successes. And here they are.

To Work!

The first operation, the kneading, consists of combining into a dough the water, yeast, and flour, with a bit of salt to make the kneading easier and to improve the final taste of the bread. Why do we make a dough? Why is it elastic?

The main ingredient in bread, flour, most often comes from wheat, the only grain (or almost) that now allows for making leavened bread. Flour contains two princ.i.p.al components: starch granules, composed of two types of molecules, amylose and amylopectin; and various proteins, either soluble in water, such as the alb.u.mins and the globulins, or insoluble, such as the gliadins and the glutenins. We will see that these daunting preliminary chemical distinctions are significant enough, I hope, to make us overlook the heavy didacticism of the following explanation.

Let us begin by examining the proteins. If the dough produced during the kneading is elastic, that is because the insoluble proteins form the network that we call gluten. We must not think we are hopelessly far afield from bread. It is this network, stretched, that will form the thin part.i.tions in the crumb. Air will be trapped when the dough is folded over on itself, and these walls will pull away from the gaseous cells.

Initially, the protein molecules are like chains folded back on themselves into a ball because of the intramolecular bonds already discussed: hydrogen bonds, between a hydrogen atom and an oxygen or nitrogen atom to which it is not chemically linked, or disulfide bridges, between two sulfur atoms.

Before kneading, these bonds are established between the atoms of a single protein molecule, thus producing its wound configuration. Kneading, however, separates the various proteins and gradually loosens the b.a.l.l.s they form. As when spaghetti is poured from a saucepan into a colander or when waves sweep seaweed along the coast, the proteins become unwound by the movements of kneading, and they tend to form into lines.

When the proteins are aligned in this way, linked by hydrogen bonds, disulfide bridges, and perhaps other chemical bonds as well, the ma.s.s of dough becomes stiff, harder to work with, smoother, and more elastic. Many irregularities remain in the proteins, however. These intramolecular loops make up the springs that ensure the dough's elasticity.

So is the dough elastic or fluid? It all depends on the relations.h.i.+p between the concentration of glutenins and the concentration of gliadins. The glutenins are very large proteins that make the dough compact and fluid because they establish a tough, inextensible network; the gliadins, molecules about a thousand times smaller than the glutenins, ensure elasticity because they are more mobile and their loops reform more easily. Finally, the mechanical behavior of the dough also depends on the lipids present.

Why is wheat one of the only grains that make a good bread dough? Because its protein composition is such that the gluten formed is resistant enough to make a leavened bread. Wheat gluten is both elastic (it lets the bread expand) and viscous (it flows); hence it is described as "viscoelastic." It is because wheat contains more proteins good for bread making and less starch than other grains that the gluten is more durable when mixed with water.

Why Must the Flour Be Dry?

Enough about the gluten proteins. Let us move on to the starch granules that const.i.tute the essential part of flour (70 to 80 percent). These spherical granules, two to forty micrometers in diameter, are, as we have seen, composed of two different molecules: amylose (20 percent) and amylopectin (80 percent).

Why do chemists call these molecules carbohydrates? Because their general chemical formula contains one carbon atom per each unit made up of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms, as in water. But there are no isolated carbon and no water molecules in these molecules. Carbohydrates is thus a misnomer and should be dropped. Why do dieticians call these molecules glucides? Because the amylose and amylopectin of starch are both long chains, the links of which are the glucose molecule.49 The difference between amylose and amylopectin is only the arrangement of the glucose groups in relation to one another. In amylose, the chain is perfectly linear, whereas in amylopectin, the chain branches. These two glucides are in the same family as cellulose, the structural compound of plants, formed by a chain of ten to fifteen thousand molecules of glucose. These are the building blocks of plant cells and bread. The difference between amylose and amylopectin is only the arrangement of the glucose groups in relation to one another. In amylose, the chain is perfectly linear, whereas in amylopectin, the chain branches. These two glucides are in the same family as cellulose, the structural compound of plants, formed by a chain of ten to fifteen thousand molecules of glucose. These are the building blocks of plant cells and bread.

And the bread builders? These are specialized proteins, present in small quant.i.ties but playing an important role. I am talking about enzymes. Enzymes are catalysts, that is to say, molecules capable of implementing chemical reactions without partic.i.p.ating in them.

A simple example: when oxygen and hydrogen gas are brought together, they remain quietly mixed with each other. But if they get near a flame, they immediately explode, because the flame has catalyzed that reaction. Likewise, if a metal powder like platinum is introduced into a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen gas, an explosion takes place without the flame. The molecules of the two gases stick to the metal, split apart, and react. The metal serves only as a transient intermediary, and the reagents leave it in the state in which they initially found it. Another culinary example of catalysis: try to burn sugar with a flame. It will not burn, only caramelize. Now dip the sugar cube in ashes before trying to light it. This time, it will burn. Similarly, in the organic world, enzymes catalyze, promote, and accelerate biological reactions.

In the case of flour, it contains enzymes, the amylase group, that use water to detach long starch molecules from maltose, a molecule composed of two glucose groups and various other polysaccharides called dextrins, which serve as a nutritive substance for the yeasts. A remarkable twist of fate: flour contains precisely the enzymes that release the nutriments yeast needs from the dough, and yeast makes the dough rise.

Thus we can understand why flour must not be stored in a moist environment. The enzymes present in the flour would decompose it by using water from the atmosphere. Let us draw a lesson from this: for enzymes to act efficiently, let us hydrate especially the starch granules by kneading for a long time, and let us not skimp on the water. Thus, thanks to the enzymes, we will release the maltose that the yeasts will then consume, releasing the carbon dioxide that will make the bread rise.

The reasoning is straightforward. A long kneading produces a lot of maltose; a lot of maltose produces a lot of yeast growth; a lot of yeast growth releases a lot of carbon dioxide; a lot of carbon dioxide fills the alveoli in the bread with a lot of gas; and a lot of gas in the alveoli produces a loaf of bread that rises perfectly when baked.

Old Flour Makes Good Bread Bakers know that flour that has been stored for a month or two makes better bread than fresh flour. Why?

We have just seen how kneading unwinds and aligns the proteins and how the proteins remain linked by hydrogen bonds and disulfide bridges that ensure the formation of intramolecular loops that serve as springs and give the dough its elasticity.

Disulfide bridges are bonds that are established just as easily between sulfur atoms in the same protein as between sulfur atoms in two neighboring proteins. Their reestablishment, after an extension, is compromised by the presence of thiol (SH: one sulfur atom [S] and one hydrogen atom [H]) groups on the neighboring proteins: the bond is established with the neighboring protein and not within the intramolecular groups; the loops do not reform after being stretched.

When a disulfide bridge is stretched with a thiol group in the proximity, there is a danger of a hydrogen atom pa.s.sing over to one of the initially bonded proteins. The dough is more fluid than elastic. Aging the flour, which is accompanied by an oxidation of the thiol groups, gives dough better elasticity because the disulfide bridges reform better.

Let us note however that water can also give up hydrogen atoms to sulfur atoms when the dough is kneaded too much. But this danger is only a problem with mechanical kneading equipment. Bread makers usually get worn out kneading by hand well before this threat surfaces. And the actual practice of kneading? Begin by placing the dough on the far side of the kneading surface; unstick the dough from the surface and form a ball that you then bring toward yourself by folding it, trapping air in the process. Pound the folded dough firmly and repeat, flouring from time to time.

The Fermentation Now that we know what hard work kneading is, let us take a rest and let the second step in preparing bread take place: the fermentation. This natural, spontaneous phenomenon is produced when the yeasts, mixed with the flour kneaded with water, can finally enjoy the pleasant environment that we have prepared for them.

There is a difference between wild fermentation, using sourdough (dough leavened with dough retained from the last round of baking) and fermentation using manufactured yeast, obtained by selecting yeast colonies cultivated on organic breeding grounds.

To keep things simple, we will first use baking yeast (not to be confused with baking powders, which do not have sufficient leavening power). During bread making, the yeast serves to lighten the dough by creating alveoli; it also gives it flavors and aromas.

Yeasts: the intrusion of living organisms into the dough. It is really a matter of single-cell microorganisms that proliferate when they have at their disposal specific compounds such as maltose or glucose. Beginning from these nutriments, the yeasts synthesize proteins and various other const.i.tuent molecules. Then they divide into two new identical cells, which divide in their turn, and so on. The higher the temperature rises (to the extent that the yeast is not destroyed), the more rapidly the yeasts develop. That is why they are first put in suspension in warm water; this awakens them.

During the first fermentation, which lasts about an hour, the yeasts ferment the maltose. The maltose is altered by the yeast enzyme, maltase, which breaks it down into two glucose molecules. These glucose molecules are then transformed into carbon dioxide, ethyl alcohol, various aldehydes, ketones, and other sapid and aromatic alcohols.

The fermentation of yeasts couples two reactions: the transformation of glucose C6H12O6 into two molecules of carbon dioxide and two molecules of ethyl alcohol C into two molecules of carbon dioxide and two molecules of ethyl alcohol C2H 5 5OH (Gay-Lussac reaction), coupled with the transformation that produces ATP, the molecules that serves as fuel for living cells.

Sourdough We are not aware of them because they are so little, but yeasts-and various other kinds of microorganisms-are everywhere. Leave fruit out, and after a few days microscopic fungi, carried by the air, will naturally develop on them. Heat milk to a moderate temperature, and you will get yogurt, because the bacteria naturally present in milk will be nourished and will transform the milk into a gelatinous ma.s.s.

Similarly, you can prepare sourdough bread without adding baking yeast by simply using a mixture of flour and water that has been left to be colonized by the yeasts and bacteria that const.i.tute bread's natural microflora.

Begin with some dough and add a bit of honey to it. After a day of fermentation in the open air in a spot that is moderately warm, mix this dough with the same amount of fresh flour and work in a bit of water and salt. Repeat this operation four times at about six-hour intervals. Then use this sourdough to make your bread. The wild Saccharomyces minor Saccharomyces minor yeasts obtained will give it its slightly sour character. yeasts obtained will give it its slightly sour character.

White bread, the delicious white bread of baguettes and batards that we know in France, is a relatively recent development in human history. In the past, most bread was sourdough bread, and much attention was given to its preparation. In L L'art du meunier, du boulanger et du vermicelier, published in 1771, Paul-Jacques Malouin (1701-77) writes, Sourdough bread is made from a piece of dough taken from one of the batches of the day; this is the princ.i.p.al sourdough, or the princ.i.p.al, and its weight varies from five to ten kilograms.The baker adds flour and water to it in order to double or triple the weight. This sourdough, revived by kneading, is the first sourdough, which is left to ferment for six to seven hours. After another addition of flour and water, followed by another kneading, it becomes a second sourdough. Then once again the operations are repeated to form a completely achieved sourdough. After a fermentation of two hours, this serves as a culture for the dough. One obtains a light dough, bound and airy, by adding to the sourdough flour and water, mixing it, adding salt, cutting and folding it, and finally beating it.

Brewer's yeast only appeared in bread making in 1665, when a Parisian baker made the first yeasted bread. Until 1840 sourdough and cultivated yeasts were used in conjunction for the "French product." Then an Austrian baker introduced the use of yeast alone into France, and yeasted, or, as they are known in France, Viennese breads were born.

When Is Fermentation Complete?

The optimal temperature for fermentation for bread is 27C (80F). The yeasts would develop more rapidly at 35C (95F), but bitter metabolites would be released, and the dough produced would be stickier.

Through experience we know that the fermentation is complete when the volume has doubled and when we can poke a hole in the dough with a finger and it does not immediately close up again. At that point, the gluten has been stretched to the limit of its elasticity.

Why the Second Kneading?

When the fermentation is complete, we must go back to work. The function of the second kneading is to distribute the developed yeasts so that, during a second fermentation, there will be more of them available to release carbon dioxide.

The principle is the same as before, but after this second kneading, when the loaves are formed, we will slit the top of the dough with a knife a few times, so that the gluten network is not stretched to the limit of its elasticity just before it bakes. The bread will be able to expand under the pressure of the carbon dioxide without creating ugly tears in the crust.

The second fermentation, called the appret appret, or finis.h.i.+ng, is the opportunity for the yeasts to use the sugars from the flour or those released by the starch and the amylase.

The Virtues of Carbon Dioxide The carbon dioxide that yeasts provide is the same gas that is released from beer or champagne. It leaves the beverage in which it was dissolved as soon as the bottle is opened and the pressure diminished. In water, where it is dissolved in the form of carbonic acid, it stings the tongue, heightens the flavor, and acts as a mild bactericidal. Carbon dioxide is said to speed the transit of the bolus from the stomach to the intestines, which might explain why we can get intoxicated on champagne so quickly.

Finally, as we have seen, carbon dioxide is produced during the anaerobic fermentation (in the absence of air) of glucides by yeasts. Often this fermentation also produces ethyl alcohol, which gives bread its flavor, as well as various aldehydes, alcohols, ketones, and diacetyl, which contribute to the taste and aroma even before the baking, when Maillard reactions take place. But let us not get ahead of ourselves.

Why does carbon dioxide (and the air introduced during the kneading process) make the bread inflate? Because, like all gases, carbon dioxide expands when it is heated. In order to expand, it needs s.p.a.ce, which it creates by pus.h.i.+ng aside the dough, which is still soft before baking.

Thus it is important that the baking process not rigidify the gluten network too greatly before the gases present in the dough or formed during the baking can expand. Also the importance of long kneading becomes clear. The more the dough has been kneaded, the more finely distributed the gas will be, and the smaller the alveoli.

The Baking The crucial moment has arrived, the moment of baking, which will crown our endeavors and give us the golden, sweet-smelling bread we have been waiting for.

During the baking process, the air introduced by the two kneadings and the carbon dioxide released by the yeasts expand. Simultaneously, the water and alcohol are vaporized and the yeasts' activity increases. At temperatures above 60C (140F), the yeasts cease all activity, and at temperatures above 90C (194F), the crust begins to form. Then, at 100C (212F), the water evaporates, and the vapor is distributed in the bread. The starch jells and pa.s.ses from a semicrystalline state into an amorphous one, and the body of the bread forms. The gluten proteins are denatured by the heat; they coagulate after losing their hydration, and they form the rigid framework of the bread.

The water that evaporates leaves only via the surface of the bread, which dries and hardens; the crust is formed. In this regard, let us not forget to mention that the crust's color and aromas result from Maillard reactions. And let us note that, to obtain well-browned crusts, bakers toss a bit of water into their preheated ovens before putting in the bread. That is what they called the coup de buee coup de buee, the puff of steam.

At what temperature should the bread be baked? We know that the baking temperature must not be too high, or the gases will have no chance to inflate the bread before the network of proteins rigidifies, or too low, or the water will remain in the bread despite the baking. Baking must be done between 220 to 250C (428 to 482F), some say at 230C (446F) for 15 to 20 minutes for baguettes. It is a question of balance. If the oven is too hot, and if there is no steam injection first, the crust forms before the bread inflates, but if the temperature is too low, the bread inflates before the crust forms, and the starch on the surface does not have time to form a network and the gluten doesn't coagulate; thus the bread falls again.

Why Does Bread Go Stale?

Going stale is not a matter of drying out. The concentration of water in the bread remains constant, but the starch molecules, which are irregularly distributed and bound to the water molecules, crystallize, expelling a portion of the water; the crumb becomes more rigid.

Why does well-baked bread rapidly become dry and stale? Why does stale bread become "fresh" again when heated in the oven? Why does the baker put fresh bread in the freezer to prevent it from going stale? Why does bread go stale less quickly in cloth or a closed box?

The explanation is clear if we remember that bread is obtained by baking a starch, that is, flour and water. If the bread is not baked enough, too much unused water remains. This water establishes additional bonds between the cellulose fibers; the bread hardens. If you heat it, you will break these hydrogen bonds, and the bread will become crispy again.

In the open air, bread goes stale by forming new hydrogen bonds. If it is not baked enough, putting it in the freezer prevents the excess water molecules from migrating and creating new bonds. Covering bread protects it from the air's humidity and prevents water molecules from penetrating it to create unwanted bonds. In well-baked bread, there are just the hydrogen bonds necessary to a.s.sure consistency and a good texture. This bread remains fresh longer, especially if it is enclosed in a bread box. Let us remember that!

Wine The Mouthfuls Most Discussed Taste Best Writing down "wine" is already to ask a question. Did I say a a question? No, a thousand of them! Because of its complexity and diversity, wine escapes the closest a.n.a.lysis. We perceive the subtle odors, search for memories, often get lost there. Thus I will not proceed in my usual manner. With more modest goals than in other chapters, I will be content to try and describe this divine product, in order to appreciate it better. This is not just an intellectual exercise, because according to Grimod de la Reyniere, "the mouthfuls most discussed taste best." question? No, a thousand of them! Because of its complexity and diversity, wine escapes the closest a.n.a.lysis. We perceive the subtle odors, search for memories, often get lost there. Thus I will not proceed in my usual manner. With more modest goals than in other chapters, I will be content to try and describe this divine product, in order to appreciate it better. This is not just an intellectual exercise, because according to Grimod de la Reyniere, "the mouthfuls most discussed taste best."

Because wine is a liquid, we can treat it differently from solid food when we taste it. Wine appeals first to the eye: we study its "robe." Then to the nose: we breathe in its bouquet. Finally to the mouth: tasting it many times, we confirm or alter our first impressions, we search for tastes and other odors, and we a.n.a.lyze their development and general harmony.

Tasting with the Eye We scrutinize the wine's "robe" by gently tilting the gla.s.s and looking at it from above, so as to see a decreasing thickness of liquid.

The eye distinguishes many characteristics: the nuance (that is, the color); the highlights; the frankness (transparency, clarity, turbity); and the brightness (the luminosity, that is, the brilliant or dull character).

The eye provides much information to the one who knows how to use it. Is the color dark or light? Does it have nuances that remind you of other nuances detected at earlier tastings? Is the robe young and fresh or a little darkened with age? What does the colored disc indicate? Does the intensity of the robe extend to the edge of the gla.s.s, a sign of a quality product?

To describe these impressions, choose among the following terms for the robe: raspberry, intense, beautiful amber, yellow straw, light, limpid, brilliant; for the highlights: cherry, purplish, rose, ruby, old rose, garnet, green, yellow-green; for the tears (more on these below): yellow, clear, viscous.... This list is not exhaustive, because wine is all poetry.

And this is also why our eyes can misguide us. Two scientist friends of mine, Gil Morrot and Frederic Brochet, did some remarkable experiments in which they added red pigment to white wines and measured how professional wine tasters were misled. More recently, they observed how acidity was wrongly detected when green pigment was added to white wines.

The moral of this story? First, let us use all our senses to experience our food and not rely on just one. Second, let us be aware of the conditions influencing our food evaluations. And, finally, let us not forget poetry!

Drinking with the Nose The nose, the sense organ for wine lovers! It perceives four features: the bouquet, the finesse, the aroma, and the development.

First of all, the bouquet can be more or less ample; "una.s.suming" or "powerful" are the usual qualifiers. Second, the finesse is an especially qualitative notion: wine can be common, even vulgar, or elegant, racy. The aroma corresponds to the wine's perfumes. A wine can be flowery because it has the odors of violets, for example, or peonies. It can be fruity, because it has the scent of raspberry, cherry, or plum. It can evoke the odors of wood, mushrooms (truffles, for example), or present animal smells. Development, finally, is essential. If a wine is too young, we will note that it is dumb or, on the contrary, aggressive; if it is too old, we will find it faded, stale.

To judge a wine's odors better, to track them, we must have an idea of what we can look for. The following list of descriptors should be useful: exuberant odors of red currant, raspberry, violet, flowers, ripe fruit, mushrooms, undergrowth, green wood, game, caramel, leather, smoke, tobacco, red fruits, black currant buds, roasted almonds, fresh fruit, green pepper; fruity, slightly acid, pleasant, wild, developed, present, rustic, complex, racy ...

Search your memory for those terms that best correspond to the wine you are drinking and take advantage of the euphoria of wine tasting to overcome excessive modesty. Do not hesitate to be a bit individual: given the same wine, Western tasters will distinguish the aromas of dark and red fruits, whereas j.a.panese tasters will recognize the scents of seafood!

The Beginning of Ecstasy In the end, it is the mouth that initially provides confirmation of the features identified beforehand by the nose and then allows us to proceed in identifying these four features: the strength in the mouth, which is relative to the degree of alcohol in the wine (light wine or fortified wine); the smoothness, which is the result of the glycerine, which makes the wine "fat," or results from the presence of sugar for mellow white wines (a red wine can be thin or fat; a white wine can be dry or sweet); the acidity, which makes a wine acerbic (halfway between incisive and piquant) when it is too p.r.o.nounced or flat or soft when it is lacking; the body, which results from various biochemical factors, such as the degree of alcohol, the concentration of glycerin, the concentration of sugar and acidity, already mentioned, but which also takes into account other factors, like the concentration of tannins, which make the wine "keep" in the mouth, where its flavor lingers.