What is an Amuse-Bouche?

A French Culinary Term that Means "Mouth Amusement"

Cooking shows are currently at the height of their popularity, ranging from simple instructional shows on concocting flavorful meals, to fast-paced cooking competitions. Programs such as Iron Chef, Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, and many others have introduced a number of interesting ingredients and cooking styles to the world that watches, but unless you've had some culinary education, you may not be familiar with many of the terms used.

One such culinary term that tends to tossed around quite often on several of these shows is amuse-bouche. On Top Chef, for example, the competing chefs are often asked to create an interesting amuse-bouche to be sampled by the judges. From simply watching the show and the dishes produced, it is fairly easy to determine that an amuse-bouche is a small, rather petite morsel of food, that should be able to be consumed in one or two bites. Sound familiar? Yes, it's the French equivalent of the hors-d'oeuvre, though an amuse-bouche tends to be more extravagant than cocktail franks and bite-sized potato puffs.

In French, amuse-bouche translates to "mouth amusement", and while an amuse-bouche can range from something relatively simple yet enticingly flavorful, they can also be quite creative and appealing to the eye, and are meant to further our enthusiasm for the main course yet to come.

An amuse-bouche should have a successful balance, both in the hand and on the tongue. It is typically much smaller than a typical appetizer. An amuse-bouche can serve a number of applications; they can be used as a compliment to meals, or chef's can utilize them to test new recipe ideas. They can also be used to highlight a chef's creative style or simply to offer diners an extra treat as an introduction to the main course, in essence, setting the stage for a fine meal.