Planning Your Gourmet Meal

Meal-planning can be a terrible trap for the unwary.

A gourmet menu must be considered as a whole; each course is
a subtle bridge between all others; each flavor should be separate, yet blend with everything else; wine is used as an accent to clear the palate.

In the excitement of mastering gourmet-cookery, do not go overboard, and create an end product of indigestion for all!

1. The theme of the meal depends on the main dish; other
courses should support this. If East Indian curry is the entree,
do not precede it by Italian antipasto or follow with crapes
Suzettel.

2. Emphasize one course, and simplify all others so they
will point up you masterpiece.

3. Never serve more than one rich sauce within the same
course. A Chateaubriand with Sauce Beamaise does not team
with Broccoli Hollandaise, although this will be wonderful
with plain broiled hamburger.

4. Salad is used to clear the palate, in preparation for the
final sweet dessert. Following a richly sauced main dish,
serve a plain salad with tart dressing...and because salad is
basically used in this way by gourmets, wine is never served
with it.

5. Learn to think of food in its colors: green peas, red
tomatoes, white fish, yellow squash, and so on. No gourmet
cook would schedule creamed cauliflower with mashed pota¬
toes and boiled codfish, for no amount of paprika or minced
parsley could relieve the general colorless appearance.
Think, too, of the color of china, tablecloth, candles and flowers; gourmet cooks display a delicious dish to advantage . . . red tomatoes in a white dish, lettuce in a brown wooden bowl, white mashed potatoes against pink roses . . .

6. Some foods (spinach, asparagus, broccoli) are always
watery; French fried foods grow soggy in contact with plate
juices; noodles, mashed potatoes and such acquire added
savor from meat sauce. A gourmet cook considers which foods
may be combined on one dinner plate—and which should be
served at the side, such as Asparagus Hollandaise.

7. No matter how small your flat or apartment, get the guests on
their feet and away from the dinner table after the dessert
course! If you like to be lazy over coffee and liqueurs, serve
them elsewhere (even if only three feet from the table; the entire effect of a delicious meal is dissipated by sitting too long over the remnants. Furthermore, even this small move-ment will prevent torpidity as an aftermath of good food, and allow everyone to digest, feel good, and sparkle conversationally.

Follow the above tips and your gourmet meal WILL be a success!