Luncheon (double N) by spirited, active branch of a venerable gastronomic
group, Sunday at a member's home in pleasant setting, to check out some
Burgundies.

With snails in puff pastry and steak tartare with oyster, NV Louis Bouillot
Crémant du Bourgogne Perle Noir. Finely yeasty, long-flavored sparkler in a
more than usually Champagne style. Opening toast saluted the people of
Burgundy. Heirloom-tomato gazpacho followed.

With shellfish and avocado in a lobster mousseline sauce (retro!
Escoffier!), 97 Ch. Maltroye Chassagne-Montrachet "La Romanée." Oaty-walnut
nose with signature acid and hints of oily pit fruits like cherries. Rich,
nutty wine. (The sauce was richer though, a little heavy.) Granité au Marc
followed.

With quails stuffed with forcemeat, pistachios, truffle bits; green (basil)
potato purée; shredded vegetables: 96 Dom. Ponsot Clos de la Roche "Vielles
Vignes." Classic sassafras and orange peel in smell, hints of
"tutti-fruiti" (That Pineapple Ester, one of the salicylates, ubiquitous in
synthetic fruit flavors, one of you chemists please help me out here).
Flavor was seriously closed, hints of good fruit but some question of its
future. (Many 96 Nuits hibernate now, by the way, in my own and reported
samplings. Hope this one will wake up.)

With cheeses and figs, 96 Dom. Daniel Rion Vosne-Romanée Beaux-Monts. Now
we are cooking. Rich, meaty, raisiny nose. Also somewhat closed but much
more structure and fruit than the other red.

"Soupe de melon au mélange de fruits" (called fruit cocktail in the US until
the canned version clouded that name) followed, and NV Louis Bouillot
Crémant du Bourgogne Brut Rosé. Pleasant tart strawberry sparkler.

Group's cavalier style showed in demonstration by our host (originally from
Europe) of technique from the Topless Champagne Club at Saint Moritz. He
held a bottle of Champagne, placed a sword blade flat along the bottle,
perpendicular to its length; held the bottle safely away from anyone, ran
the blade in a swift stroke along the bottle so as to catch the flange and
knock off the top of the bottle neck, with the cork. (Done right, I was
assured, any bits of glass fly off in the same direction.) A little of the
wine was lost (as often with popped corks) but the topless bottle was
served.

Those Crémants, by the way, are excellent value wines. They have much of
the charm of Champagnes without the market cachet.

Max Hauser wrote:


> With quails stuffed with forcemeat, pistachios, truffle bits; green (basil)
> potato purée; shredded vegetables: 96 Dom. Ponsot Clos de la Roche "Vielles
> Vignes." Classic sassafras and orange peel in smell, hints of
> "tutti-fruiti" (That Pineapple Ester, one of the salicylates, ubiquitous in
> synthetic fruit flavors, one of you chemists please help me out here).

Isoamyl salicylate? It's often compared to pineapple, but ethyl
salicylate is the "tutti frutti" odor.


> Group's cavalier style showed in demonstration by our host (originally from
> Europe) of technique from the Topless Champagne Club at Saint Moritz.

Quite the bilingual pun there, Max. Nice notes!

Mark Lipton

Max Hauser wrote:


> With quails stuffed with forcemeat, pistachios, truffle bits; green (basil)
> potato purée; shredded vegetables: 96 Dom. Ponsot Clos de la Roche "Vielles
> Vignes." Classic sassafras and orange peel in smell, hints of
> "tutti-fruiti" (That Pineapple Ester, one of the salicylates, ubiquitous in
> synthetic fruit flavors, one of you chemists please help me out here).

Isoamyl salicylate? It's often compared to pineapple, but ethyl
salicylate is the "tutti frutti" odor.


> Group's cavalier style showed in demonstration by our host (originally from
> Europe) of technique from the Topless Champagne Club at Saint Moritz.

Quite the bilingual pun there, Max. Nice notes!

Mark Lipton

"Mark Lipton" in ...
> Max Hauser wrote [before correcting spelling]:
>
>
> > With quails stuffed with forcemeat, pistachios, truffle bits; green
> > (basil) potato purée; shredded vegetables: 96 Dom. Ponsot
> > Clos de la Roche "VieillesVignes." Classic sassafras and
> > orange peel in smell, hints of "tutti-fruiti" (That Pineapple Ester,
> > one of the salicylates, ubiquitous in synthetic fruit flavors, one
> > of you chemists please help me out here).
>
> Isoamyl salicylate? It's often compared to pineapple, but ethyl
> salicylate is the "tutti frutti" odor.

When I was in my teens we had a teacher who was an organic chemist with some
food-science experience. In an unforgettable set of hands-on lab sessions,
she showed us preparation of simple esters out of alcohols and organic
acids. (It would amaze some people, though it is old stuff to you, Mark,
what pleasant fruit-like scents can be synthesized from truly, poetically
vile-smelling starting materials like Butyric and Valeric acids.)

My memory is that one or the other of the two salicylates you mentioned (I
believe we made both of them) had a distinct fruity smell that is very
familiar -- pink bubble-gum pieces in the US and other things were flavored
with it -- but the teacher pointed out that it was a major natural component
in pineapple aroma, but was used widely for general synthetic "fruit"
flavoring. ("Tutti-fruiti" is my own choice of words for it and may differ
from industry practice.) Or maybe the years have clouded the distinction.

-- Max

"Mark Lipton" in ...
> Max Hauser wrote [before correcting spelling]:
>
>
> > With quails stuffed with forcemeat, pistachios, truffle bits; green
> > (basil) potato purée; shredded vegetables: 96 Dom. Ponsot
> > Clos de la Roche "VieillesVignes." Classic sassafras and
> > orange peel in smell, hints of "tutti-fruiti" (That Pineapple Ester,
> > one of the salicylates, ubiquitous in synthetic fruit flavors, one
> > of you chemists please help me out here).
>
> Isoamyl salicylate? It's often compared to pineapple, but ethyl
> salicylate is the "tutti frutti" odor.

When I was in my teens we had a teacher who was an organic chemist with some
food-science experience. In an unforgettable set of hands-on lab sessions,
she showed us preparation of simple esters out of alcohols and organic
acids. (It would amaze some people, though it is old stuff to you, Mark,
what pleasant fruit-like scents can be synthesized from truly, poetically
vile-smelling starting materials like Butyric and Valeric acids.)

My memory is that one or the other of the two salicylates you mentioned (I
believe we made both of them) had a distinct fruity smell that is very
familiar -- pink bubble-gum pieces in the US and other things were flavored
with it -- but the teacher pointed out that it was a major natural component
in pineapple aroma, but was used widely for general synthetic "fruit"
flavoring. ("Tutti-fruiti" is my own choice of words for it and may differ
from industry practice.) Or maybe the years have clouded the distinction.

-- Max