The Anger of Compassion

Tuesday's vintage will go splendidly with the Camembert

Hold it! Researchers have concluded that fats are strong in flavor?

Scientists have found that, when sampling a fine claret or expensive burgundy, the last foodstuff it should be paired with is cheese. The study, which submitted the tastebuds of 11 drinkers to eight cheeses combined with cheap and expensive wines, found the cheese always masked the flavours of a pricey vintage.

Where the tasters would have expected to hold forth on the berry and oak flavours of a full-bodied cabernet sauvignon or the light tannins of a pinot noir, it was found they were indistinguishable from a bottle of plonk.

New Scientist magazine said that the strongest-flavoured cheeses - stilton and gorgonzola - overwhelmed the flavours of wine more than milder products such as mozzarella. But the American researchers found all the cheeses reduced the flavours and aromas of wine, regardless of cost, exploding the myth that a fine cheese can be enhanced by a perfect wine.

Seems the writer is indulging in a slight case of If A, therefore B; B; therefore A here, but never mind. What grabbed my attention was the scientific/culinary conclusion:

The researchers think that molecules of fat in the cheese may coat the mouth and deaden perceptions of other flavours.

Now, I'm no Craig Claiborne, but I always understood that to be the reaon we cooked with fats in the first place. Are scientists now telling us that the reason we do something actually stands to, er, reason?

Somebody better tell Jennifer.

Posted by Craig Ceely at January 19, 2006 09:58 AM