Le Trou Normand and Other Palate Cleansers
Ever since my first outing to a French restaurant as a little girl, I’ve been fascinated with palate cleansers. Imagine how wonderful it was for my fourth-grade self to have my unfinished plate of vegetables whisked away only to be replaced by petite dish of frosty sorbet.
“For the palate, miss,” the waiter intoned in a serious voice. To this day, I don’t remember the flavor of the sorbet, but it was beautiful, pale green, and so exquisitely delicious. Of course, at the time I didn’t understand that the waiter wasn’t serving dessert in the middle of dinner, but by the end of the meal I was well schooled in the art of palate cleansing.
A palate cleanser, by nature, is used in the middle of a meal to remove lingering flavors from the mouth so that the next course may be enjoyed with a fresh perspective. The French also use it as an all-important digestive, to avoid heartburn, indigestion, and to stimulate the appetite. It can be sorbet, a light beverage, a neutral food, or fiery Calvados - le trou Normand. Experiment with your own palate cleansers and soon you’ll know enough to impress your friends and family with your culinary ingenuity! Bon appetit!
Recipes for palate cleansing sorbets:
Citrus Sorbet Photo: Michael Gordon
Comments
Merci for your great articles and recipes, they remind me a bit of my french home. When I was a child I remember the long meals spent at the family table and the little glasses of “eau de vie” that were passed around between courses. For the children, the liquor was dropped on sugar cubes ! What a treat !
Please note that the word “trou” (hole) is masculin so Normand does not have an “e”. it’s “trou Normand”.
Oh, how lovely! Those sugar cubes must have been delicious… I almost feel as though I deprive my children now.
When I was a girl, my father kept a jar of cherries in Cognac. Every once in a while, he would dole one out to me when my mother wasn’t looking. How I loved those cherries… I can taste them right now!
Thank you for contributing; I’m so glad you enjoy my writing.