Hot and Cold, Soft and Crunchy, Mild and Spicy

A chef I know uses a predictable pattern in all his wine-dinner menus. He starts with something cold, then serves a hot dish, then another cold item, followed by another hot item. If he could get away with it, he’d keep the pattern going all the way through the dessert.

My suspicion is that he does this mainly for logistical reasons. A cold dish can be prepared in advance, shoved into the refrigerator, and pulled out when it’s time to send it out. This gives him more time to get the hot dishes ready. But there’s a good taste reason for the strategy: contrast. Creating contrasts among flavors, spice levels, textures, colors, temperatures, and ingredients is a fine art. It’s one of the things that separates the great chefs from the ordinary ones.