1. What is western food?
The word western food is determined by its specific geographical characteristics. What we usually call western food includes not only dishes from western European countries, but also dishes from Eastern Europe, America, Oceania, Central Asia, South Asian subcontinent and Africa. Western food generally uses knives and forks as tableware, bread as staple food, and long tables and dining tables are table-shaped. Western food in China has developed from the earliest China businessmen's "residential food", "foreigner's restaurant" and "model restaurant (early 20th century)" to numerous "western restaurants" and foreign-related hotels and restaurants.
The main characteristics of western food
(1) has a full-bodied taste. Compared with other domestic dishes, the unique materials of western food have obvious characteristics of strong fragrance. Western food often uses dairy products, such as whipped cream, butter, cheese and so on. There are many kinds of spices and spices in western food. Cooking a product often uses many kinds of spices, such as cinnamon, clove, cinnamon, pepper, mustard, garlic, ginger, vanilla, mint, coriander, hops, clove, onion and so on.
Wine is often used as a condiment in western food. When cooking, you should pay attention to the dishes with wine and what wine to cook with. Among them, white wine and red wine made in France are the most commonly used.
(2) Unique cooking methods. The common cooking methods of western food are frying, roasting, frying, roasting, stewing, roasting, steaming, smoking, stewing, boiling, roasting, iron roasting, iron plate frying and so on. Among them, iron roasting, roasting and baking are more distinctive in cooking. Many high-end products are cooked by roasting, roasting and frying on iron plates, such as roast turkey and steak.
(3) The seasoning sauce and the main ingredients are cooked separately. Western food products are mainly large pieces, such as big steak, lamb chops, chicken, barbecue and so on. And the main ingredients are rarely cut into small shapes such as silk, chips and dices. Large pieces of raw materials are not easy to taste when cooking, so most of them should be mixed with or poured with sauce after the product is mature. Sauce plays an important role in western food. There is a special chef in the kitchen. Different dishes are cooked with different sauces, which are strictly distinguished when used, such as mint juice with lamb chops, French juice, Italian juice and vinegar juice with salad.
(4) Pay attention to the tenderness of meat products. Western food pays great attention to the tenderness of meat products, especially beef and mutton. When the waiter accepts the order, he must ask the customer's demand clearly, and the chef cooks according to the customer's taste. Generally, there are five different degrees of maturity, which are well-done, medium-done, medium-done, medium-done and medium-done.
2. The main cuisines of western food and their characteristics.
Western food can be roughly divided into European and American styles and Russian styles. European and American cuisines mainly include English, French, American and Italian cuisines and a few local cuisines such as Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. Here are some major cuisines.
(1) English food is characterized by less oil and light taste. Wine is rarely used for seasoning, and most seasonings are placed on the dining table for customers to choose. Standing condiments include vinegar, vegetable oil, mustard, tomato sauce, spicy soy sauce, salt, pepper and so on. Cooking methods are mostly burning, roasting, smoking, boiling, steaming, branding and so on.
The main famous dishes are: potato stew, roast lamb saddle, game pie, winter solstice pudding, steak kidney pudding and so on.
(2) The characteristics of American food are salty and sweet. The cooking method is similar to that of English food, but roasted vegetables are more common. Americans are generally not interested in spicy dishes, and often burn fruits in dishes as ingredients, such as roast ham with pineapple, roast duck with apple and roast game with purple grapes. Snack salads are mostly fruit-based, and people generally like to drink various juices for breakfast.
The main famous dishes are: clove ham, American turkey, apple salad, sugar and oil pancakes with smoked bacon or ham, etc.
(3) French cuisine is characterized by a wide selection of ingredients, such as snails, Malan, lilies and foie gras. Seasoning wine is heavy and exquisite, and there are strict rules about what wine to use in any dish, such as what wine to use in clear soup, brandy for seafood, champagne for turkey, and sweet wine or brandy for fruits and desserts.
French people like cold dishes, sardines, ham, cheese and liver sauces of various birds, garlic as ingredients, clear soup, cakes and steamed snacks. They also like to eat fresh fruit and fresh cheese.
French cuisine also pays attention to raw food, such as oysters and beef, and the leg of lamb is only seven or eight times ripe. Pay attention to vegetables, and every dish should be accompanied by vegetables.
French cuisine is also very famous, because it has many pre-guest cooking (Flambe) performances, such as the waiter performing the cooking of green pepper steak in front of customers and the burning of Susan's special cake.
The main famous French dishes are: Marseille fish soup, Paris lobster, French snail, red wine pheasant, creamy thousand-layer cake and so on.
(4) Italian food is characterized by rich flavor, paying attention to the original flavor and few barbecue dishes. Cooking is famous for frying, frying, frying, braising in soy sauce and braising in soy sauce. Italians love pasta and regard all kinds of noodles, macaroni, jiaozi and acne as delicacies. There are many kinds of spaghetti, including long, short, thick, thin, hollow, round, fan-shaped and curved, and the cooking methods are also varied. Italian products such as ketchup, bacon and cheese are also famous.
The main famous dishes are: macaroni and vegetable soup, grilled scallops, grilled wonton, baked macaroni with cheese, pizza and so on.
(5) Russian cuisine is characterized by heavy oil and heavy taste, and its preparation is relatively simple. Meat, poultry and all kinds of patties should be cooked before eating. Taste generally likes sour, spicy, sweet and salty, and also likes to make steamed buns with minced meat, eggs and vegetables. Salted fish and smoked fish are eaten raw, and sour cream is the first choice for seasoning.
The main famous dishes are: skewered pheasant, assorted cold dishes, mackerel jiaozi, sour cucumber soup, cold apple soup, fish steamed stuffed bun, Baita chicken roll, jam and sour cream, etc.
3. The composition of western food
Lunch and dinner in western food, whether a banquet or a light meal, are generally composed of the first course, soup, side dishes, main course and dessert.
(1) appetizer. The first course is the first course of a meal, aiming at appetizing, so it is also called appetizer or appetizer, which is generally not large. The first dish is divided into cold dishes and hot dishes. The first course is usually served in a medium or small dish or cocktail glass. Bright colors and beautiful decorations can stimulate customers' appetite.
Cold cuts: As the name implies, they are made of cold food, such as smoked salmon, black caviar, oysters and foie gras, shrimp and cocktail glasses.
Hot head plate: made of hot food, such as Escogot, grilled shrimp, creamy chicken crisp box, stewed plate chicken and vegetable paste.
(2) Soups. There are many kinds of soups in western food, which can be roughly divided into cold soup and hot soup, and can also be divided into thick soup and clear soup. Original soup, primary color and original flavor are required. Hot soup includes oxtail clear soup, chicken clear soup, cream soup and French onion soup. There are few cold soups. The famous ones are Spanish frozen soup, German apricot cold soup and Gowasu cold soup.
(3) salad. Salad means "cold salad", which has the functions of appetizing, helping digestion and stimulating appetite. Salads can be divided into three categories: fruit salad, vegetarian salad and meat salad. The first two kinds are light and refreshing, suitable for lunch and dinner with main courses. The latter is mostly used for cold dishes and can be used as a western food alone. Common salads are mixed salad and chef salad (chef? Salad), seafood salad, fruit salad.
(4) the main course. The main course, also known as the main course, is usually a dish before dessert and is the soul of the whole set of dishes. When it is made, it is exquisite, considering not only the color, fragrance, taste and shape, but also the nutritional value of the product. The main courses are seafood and livestock, such as fried, roasted, roasted, boiled, steamed and roasted, such as prawn Gillette, French roast chicken, Cuban fried pork and French roast leg of lamb.
(5) Cheese and dessert. Dessert is served after the main course is finished. Western restaurants also need to ask customers if they want cheese. Cheese first, then dessert.
Eat cheese with butter, bread, acrylic acid, celery sticks, radishes, etc. Season with pepper and salt. Cheese is usually accompanied by wine (port wine).
Dessert can be divided into hot food and cold food, which is the last meal for customers. There are often ice cream, pudding, soup, pies, jellies, cakes, fruits and so on.
4. western breakfast
Western breakfast consists of juice, fruit, grain, eggs and meat (ham, sausage, bacon, etc.). ), bread and hot drinks.
Morning is the beginning of a day's activities. In order to rush out to work or do things, people's requirements for breakfast are simple and fast. However, different countries or regions have different requirements for the variety, quantity and quality of meals. Western breakfast is divided into continental breakfast, English breakfast and American breakfast.
(1) Continental breakfast includes juice or fruit, croissants or Danish biscuits, various breads with butter and jam, coffee or tea.
(2) English breakfast includes juice or fruit, cold or hot cereal, eggs or fried cuttlefish, toast with butter and jam, coffee or tea.
(3) American breakfast includes juice or fruit, cold or hot cereal, sugar-coated pancakes or eggs with meat (bacon, sausage, ham, etc.). ), toast with butter and jam, and sometimes French fries, coffee or tea.
In addition, Americans like to eat eggs made of broken eggs, drink iced milk and add cold milk to cereals and other cereals.
Some western restaurants often combine three breakfast methods when serving breakfast.
In western food, the collocation of drinks and dishes is regular. These laws are the summary of people's long-term dietary practice, which can also be called eating habits.
Generally speaking, wine with elegant color, aroma and taste should be matched with foods with cool color, elegant aroma and pure taste, such as aperitif (frozen), fish and seafood. Full-flavored wine should be matched with warm colors, rich flavor, miscellaneous taste and indigestible meals, such as meat, poultry and red wine. In addition, dry and sour wine is selected for salty food and sweet wine is selected for dessert. When it is difficult to determine, choose neutral liquid.
Knowing the collocation knowledge of western drinks can help us to sell the right drinks to customers when serving, so that they can complement each other with the meals ordered by customers. Of course, in the end, it depends on the customer's own views, and it is not allowed to push hard.
5. Several popular ways to match food and wine.
(1) Drink before meals. Before eating, you can choose wine with appetizing function, such as cocktails and soft drinks.
(2) Soups. Alcohol is generally not used. If necessary, it can be paired with dark sherry or white wine.
(3) The first course. The first course is mostly light and digestible food. You can choose low-alcohol and dry white wine, such as German messer white wine and French Bursundy white wine.
(4) seafood. Seafood is made of dry white wine and rose wine, such as German Rhine white wine and French Bordeaux white wine, which generally need to be frozen before drinking. Generally speaking, red wine is not suitable for fish and seafood.
(5) Dry red wine with alcohol content of 12~ 16 should be selected for meat, poultry and game. For veal, pork, chicken and other white meats, it is best to choose dry red wine with low alcohol content, such as beaujolais, Bordeaux and Eric Shanteau. Beef, mutton, turkey and other red, strong and indigestible meats, it is best to use red wine with high alcohol content.
(6) When eating cheese, it is usually accompanied by sweeter wine. You can also continue to use wine with the main course, and sometimes you can choose port wine with blue cheese or goat cheese.
(7) Sweet wine or sparkling wine is selected for dessert, such as German Rhine red wine, French Graff red wine champagne and henkel.
(8) After meals, you can choose sweet wine, distilled wine, Liqiao wine, brandy and Irish coffee. Champagne can be drunk with any meal at any time.
Second, the types of western food services
Western food service originated from aristocratic families in Europe, and different regions adopted different service methods.
After years of induction, summary and improvement, western food service has formed four common service types: French service, Russian service, British service and American service. Today's western restaurants often combine two or more service methods to coordinate their menus with the facilities of western restaurants. The characteristic western restaurant adopts a unique service mode, such as the French service of the French western restaurant.
We will focus on French service, Russian service, British service and American service.
1. French service
French service is a very polite way of service, which is very popular in western upper class. Let customers enjoy exquisite meals, perfect service and elegant romantic mood is the purpose of French service. French service is thoughtful, slow and expensive.
The traditional French service is quite cumbersome. Customers have to leave the table after eating a dish, and waiters have to spend a lot of time cleaning up before they can continue eating. Western restaurants must also prepare a lot of tableware, and every meal has a lot of dishes, which is also very wasteful. Now, this service is no longer available.
The popular French service now is to cook all or part of the food in the kitchen and serve it to the western restaurant on a silver plate. The service staff will perform impromptu processing performances in front of the guests, such as Diana's steak, black pepper beef tenderloin, dessert Susan pancakes, etc., and slice them after the final cooking in the cooking car and serve them to the customers. Another example is Caesar salad, which is prepared by the waiter in front of the customer, put into the salad bowl and then served to the customer.
French service needs two service personnel, namely a waiter and an assistant of the waiter, to serve a table of customers. The waiter's task is: to accept customers' orders and provide drinks; Do impromptu cooking performances in front of customers to set off the atmosphere of western restaurants; Send bills to customers and settle accounts. The task of the waiter's assistant is to send the menu into the kitchen, put the dishes prepared by the kitchen on the cart and send them to the western restaurant, send the dishes already packed by the waiter to the customers, be responsible for clearing the tableware and obey the arrangement of the waiter.
In French service, except bread, butter, salad and other foods must be placed on the left side of the guest's seat, all other foods and drinks are served from the right side of the guest's seat with the right hand.
French service is a very luxurious service, which can attract customers' attention and give them more personal care. French service needs a lot of expensive tableware, dining cars and side tables, so the space utilization rate of western restaurants is very low, and more trained professional service personnel are needed.