Gastronomy

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For our fine dining, we chose to combine food from two totally different countries which are India and Italy. We chose those two countries because they are absolute opposite and we wanted to give ourselves a challenge. When we think about of India, we think of all the spices from that country and when we think of Italy we think of freshness and simple but good products.

Gastronomy is the study of food and culture, with a particular focus on gourmet cuisine. According to Gault and Millau the nine representative characteristics of gastronomy are that cooks reduce the cooking time in order to keep the natural flavors, encourage steam baking, use fresh products, use simple recipes, reduce marinades, avoid thick sauces, encouraging oven baking, use regional products, create own recipes. Also, in order to make a dish gastronomic, the customer has to feel the 5 senses before the tasting, during the tasting, and after the tasting. Our main dish and our desert were gastronomic. We could find the 5 senses in these two dishes. In the main dish, the look of the risotto with the gambas was well presented, it had a nice smell of spices, the taste was very tasty according to the customers, the feeling in the mouth is smooth in the mouth and for the feeling it was smooshy. Since the risotto was “soft” and the gambas were solid it made a contrast which pleased the customers. Now for the desert, the panna cotta, the look was also pleasant with the different colors, it smelled like fresh fruit with vanilla and little speculos biscuit, the taste was very refreshing according to the customers and seemed a good idea to finish on a lighter note. In the mouth it was very smooth. The feeling of the speculos was crunchy compared to the panna cotta which was smoother.

The choice of our menu: for the appetizer and the starter, we couldn’t find something to cook that was half Indian and half Italian so we chose a typical Italian appetizer which is the goat cheese with chives and sesame enrolled in cured ham. For the starters we chose a typical Indian dish: rolls which is mashed potatoes mixed with ground beef and spices. For our main dish and our desert, we made a fusion of India and Italy. For our main dish, we chose to make a risotto with gambas. The risotto is typically Italian and the spicy gambas which makes us feel the Indian side of the dish. And for the desert we made a panna cotta with a little biscuit. Panna cotta is very Italian and we added cardamom which reminds us of India. We chose the most appropriate equipment to cook each dish and chose the right plates that will fit the food and put it at its advantage.

In the Appendix, you will find all the standard recipes. You will find the fully completed standard recipe of the appetizer in the Appendix 1. You will find the fully completed standard recipe of the starter in the Appendix 2. You will find the fully completed standard recipe of the main dish in the Appendix 3. You will find the fully completed standard recipe of the dessert in the appendix 4.

You will find in the Appendix, the appropriate rating scale with criteria and values to determine the acceptability and quality of food and drink (Appendix 5). By viewing all the customer satisfaction feedback forms, I think that we made a very good choice in the choices of our menu because customers were very pleased with what they ate.

You will find in the Appendix, the taste panels that we have made in class (Appendix 6).

After each tasting in class, we have made changes in our dishes. For example, for the appetizer we wanted to put some grapefruit with the goat cheese enrolled in the cured ham, but after our classmates tasted they said that it wasn’t good in terms of flavors and texture so we decided to take it out. After for the starters, in the rolls we wanted to add some pea but with the pea it was too stuffy so we took them out so that the customers will still have place left until the end of the meal. For the main dish, we made a lot of changes, firstly we were supposed to put saffron in the risotto but since it was too expansive we took it out, then we were supposed to have some mushrooms in the risotto but when we went to go get the groceries, we forgot to buy some so we just decided to not put any for the real fine dining. After still for the risotto, we added fresh cream and more parmesan in order to make the risotto creamier. For the desert, it was supposed to be only a panna cotta but we felt like it was missing something so we added a little speculos biscuit.

Appendix

Appendix 1

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Appendix 2

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Appendix 3[pic 3]

Appendix 4

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Appendix 5

Questions:

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[pic 6]

[pic 7]

Votre repas (les sens)/ Your meal (senses)

La vue/ The sight

X

(effort on the presentation)

L’odeur/ The smell

X

Le gout/ The taste

x

Le son/ The sound

x

Texture/ The texture

x

Le prix/ The price

Rapport qualité- prix/ Value for money

X

(good value for money for 4 dish and 3 different drink)

L’ambiance/ The atmosphere

Décoration/ Decoration

X

(too little decoration)

Courtoisie/ Politeness

X

(well trained staff)

Accueil/ Welcoming

X

Accessibilité/