Archive for the ‘Gourmet’ Category
French cuisine is the amazingly high standard to which all other native cuisines must live up to. The country of France is home of some of the finest cuisine in the world, and it is created by some of the finest master chefs in the world. The French people take excessive pride in cooking and knowing how to prepare a good meal. Cooking is an essential part of their culture, and it adds to one’s usefulness if they are capable of preparing a good meal.
Each of the four regions of France has a characteristic of its food all its own. French food in general requires the use of lots of different types of sauces and gravies, but recipes for cuisine that originated in the northwestern region of France tend to require the use a lot of apple ingredients, milk and cream, and they tend to be heavily buttered making for an extremely rich (and sometimes rather heavy) meal. Southeastern French cuisine is reminiscent of German food, heavy in lard and meat products such as pork sausage and sauerkraut.
On the other hand, southern French cuisine tends to be a lot more widely accepted; this is generally the type of French food that is served in traditional French restaurants. In the southeastern area of France, the cooking is a lot lighter in fat and substance. Cooks from the southeast of France tend to lean more toward the side of a light olive oil more than any other type of oil, and they rely heavily on herbs and tomatoes, as well as tomato-based products, in their culinary creations.
Cuisine Nouvelle is a more contemporary form of French cuisine that developed in the late 1970s, the offspring of traditional French cuisine. This is the most common type of French food, served in French restaurants. Cuisine Nouvelle can generally be characterized by shorter cooking times, smaller food portions, and more festive, decorative plate presentations. Many French restaurant cuisines can be classified as Cuisine Nouvelle, but the more traditional French restaurant cuisine would be classified as Cuisine du Terroir, a more general form of French cooking than Cuisine Nouvelle. Cuisine du Terroir is an attempt to return to the more indigenous forms of French cooking, especially with reference to regional differences between the north and south, or different areas such as the Loire Valley, Catalonia, and Rousillon. These are all areas famous for their specific specialty of French cuisine. As time has progressed, the difference between a white wine from the Loire Valley and a wine from another area has slowly diminished, and the Cuisine du Terroir approach to French cooking focuses on establishing special characteristics between regions such as this.
As part of their culture, the French incorporate wine into nearly every meal, whether it is simply as a refreshment or part of the recipe for the meal itself. Even today, it is a part of traditional French culture to have at least one glass of wine on a daily basis.
A “Dessert” is a meal course that usually comes after dinner. Most often Dessert foods are of sweet food but can also be of a strongly flavored food, such as cheese, like cheese cake. The world dessert comes from the Old French word “desservir”, which means ‘to clear the table’. Often times in the English language dessert is confused with the word desert(note only one “s”), which is a baren peice of land normally with sand as soil.
It wasn’t until after the 19th-century where the rise of the middle class, and the mechanization of the sugar industry, brought the privilege of sweets into the general public and unreserved it exclusively for the aristocracy, or as rare holiday treat. This was because sugar became cheaper and more readily available to the general public. As sugar was widely spread, so was the development and popularity of desserts.
In today’s culture dessert recipes have become a popular item for discussion, as they are a winning way to win people over at the end of any meal. This is partly because if you serve a mediocre meal, with an excellent dessert, people will remember you for the dessert and forget about the meal.
Most cultures, have a seperate final distinction between the main course, and the sweet course. This is not true however in some cultures such as Chinese, who will mix in sweet and savoury dishes throughout the entire meal. Dessert is, often times seen as a separate meal or snack, rather than a course, and can be eaten some time after the meal by many individuals. Because of it’s wide spread popularity there are even some restaurants that specialize in desserts.
Some of the most common desserts are:
- Biscuits or cookies
- Ice creams
- Meringues
- Fruit
- Cakes
- Crumbles
- Custards
- Gelatin desserts
- Puddings
- Pastries
- Pies or tarts
When it comes to making a good impression, saying “Thank you,” or selecting a gift sure to delight, few other choices guarantee success like gourmet gift baskets; especially when the food basket comes from Full Moon.
That’s because Full Moon Gift Baskets are particular. We include only the highest-quality of gourmet foods; ones with the highest of palatable standards. With a variety of styles from which to select, our gourmet gift baskets are the perfect choice for corporate business gifts, birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, and weddings, just to name a few. There is a “just-right” gift basket brimming with select gourmet foods, one to fit every occasion.
Take the Crowd Pleaser Gourmet food basket, for instance…as visually impressive as it is appetizing. A lavish basket adorned with cascading ribbons, bows and gift card, filled to overflowing with delectable treats: gourmet cookies, coffees, herbal teas, flavored popcorns, Ghirardelli chocolates, hot cocoa, lemon cake, and more. Plus three humorous perpetual calendars, sure to bring a chuckle to help ease work related or holiday stress. This generous food basket is sure to win rave reviews!
“WOW” is the only way to describe our corporate gift baskets, theme oriented with high-impact visual appeal. Exquisite and elegant, each gourmet food basket a masterpiece – offering such tantalizing tummy-pleasers as gourmet cheeses and mustards, mouth watering sausages, wine crackers, dried fruit, candies and so much more. Quality with executive flair!
Don’t forget our sampler Gourmet Delight. It offers a variety of taste-teasers sure to satisfy the most scrutinizing gourmet connoisseur. Custom-made Gourmet gift baskets can also be personalized to your specifications. Our talented design team is just a phone call away; on standby to create the perfect gift basket extraordinaire…classy, tasty, affordable, and custom made. Make a good impression and choose a gourmet gift basket for your gift giving occasion.
