food-and-wine-pairing-a-sensory-experience-robert-harrington

Aperitif/The Exemplary Nature of a Symbiosis Between Dishes and Cognacs 151
The Paul Bocuse Institute is a unique place where passionate and talented young students from
around the world come together with teachers and professors recruited from among the best in Europe.
The Institute’s gastronomic training restaurant, Saisons, and the Sofitel Royal hotel-school welcome a range
of guests, many of whom are well-informed food lovers who thoroughly enjoy the attentions of the students
and the professional team of faculty.
How would you describe the mission of the Paul Bocuse Institute? And how is the process of innovation integrated
across the curriculum (including the food and Cognac pairing experiment)?
At the launch of the Institute in 1991, it was decided that the school’s mission should be to prepare
the students for management posts in the complex yet inspiring professions of hotel management, catering
management, and the culinary arts.
Hence, a three-stage pedagogy was created. To begin with, the students acquire theoretical and
practical knowledge that is indispensable to the profession. Once in possession of these skills, they must
then put them into practice, not least through group work, during which they are required to manage other
students and demonstrate their ability to produce precision work by employing these fundamental skills.
Finally, the students must demonstrate their own creativity, both in theory and in practice, the two being
interdependent. Such opportunities include the creation of a series of temporary concept restaurants, a
junior enterprise project, the organization of events, or the design and distribution of innovative products.
It is in this pedagogical context that a group of students worked to produce an innovative and effective
range of pairings between food and Cognac. In essence, the research carried out led to an original and
thorough sensory analysis, the results of which were immediately put into use and presented before a panel
of experts during a special gala dinner hosted at the Saisons restaurant.
How would you describe the objectives of the food and Cognac pairing project?
It was effectively a question of creating the pairings and sensory symbioses between different foods
and different Cognacs in order to present them to both professional and consumer audiences in an effort
to determine how the consumption of Cognac might be broadened in the realm of gastronomy as a complement
to the dishes offered, without distorting or depreciating their singularity.
Hennessy has at their disposal a Tasting Guide created for professionals such as chefs, restaurateurs,
and sommeliers. It is clearly inspired by the methods defined by D. Hänig through his 1901 mapping of
the tongue, because it establishes the basic flavors and then focuses on food types rather than their physiology.
Although this mapping is still studied today and considered as a useful basis, its limits have become
apparent, and the students have been able to catalogue them before suggesting appropriate improvements.
They have also catalogued some inaccuracies in the terminology, all the more regrettable because they tend
to reduce the range of possible savory discovery.
In effect, the terms defining the tastes in the guide go beyond simple flavors. The students grouped
them into four categories, each of which concerns different types of sensation: the simplest flavors (sweet,
acid), olfaction and retro-olfaction (empyreumatical, herbaceous), the texture (soft, smooth, unctuous), and
finally, other terms referring to the products (marine notes, chocolaty, etc.). Thus, we began by modifying
the guide in order that it cease to be a simple guide to flavors and become a complete sensory guide. This
guide was to present eight fields, each illustrated with a typical recipe.
Second, we were able to study the recipes suggested by way of illustration of each of the eight
determined fields. Many of them contained errors, which we grouped into three categories: errors in terms
of product choice, errors concerning the recipes, and finally some confusion relating to the distinction
between certain tastes.