Your question reminds me of the comment by the emperor in the film Amadeus. Here the emperor proclaims that one of Mozart's compositions has "too many notes". You have to be careful, though, with generalizing here. A great piece of art can have many notes as exemplified by the musical example above. In gastronomy: Think of the spice mixes in indian cuisine. They may contain dozens of spices. Leaving one out would destroy the balance. The same is said about the great works of Mozart.

The parallel between music and gastronomy is an interesting one. Herve This and Pierre Gagnaire are exploring the technical, artistic and divine (= love) aspect of gastronomy.

The parallel between the music and cuisine is interesting. Here a personal array of parallels between music and culinary artistry:

note = flavor
chord = flavors acting together
length of the note = flavor endurance
melody = sequence of events after bite or sip: head note, middle, tail
volume (pp, p, mf, f, ff) = intensity of flavor
rithm = repeating sequence (sip of wine - bite of meat - bite of carrot - sip of wine - ....)
parts of a symphony = courses in a meal
composer = creative - skilled chef
musician = skilled - creative chef

So the question can we define where one starts to have "too many notes" is a complicated one. Simplicity is, however, to my opinion always the best start. The more notes you use the more carefull you must be. The purpose of using many notes could be to achieve an effect of an entire new sensation, the birth of a new simple (!) and enchanting melody.

Now a question: If you think of your favorite song or piece of music, what meal or dish would correspond to it ?

Hoi Jan,

Wat ik interessant vind is het moment waarop een gerecht te complex wordt. Gisteren bij een heel fijn etentje waren er een tweetal gerechten die volgens mijn disgenoten teveel smaken bevatten. Zoveel smaken dat er geen ruimte meer was voor een wijn. Kunnen we zoeken naar een regelmaat in dit omslagpunt aan smaken. Op welk moment heeft het toevoegen van nog een ingredient aan een gerecht geen toegevoegde waarde meer?

Groet, Eke

Hi Jan,

I wonder if we could define a certain point whereby a dish gets to complicated. Yesterday during a great dinner in Antwerp (Belgium) a couple of my tablepartners thought two of the dishes were too complicated. They meant that a few ingredients less would have given a better dish. Also you said that the first dish didn't leave any space for an acompanying wine. Maybe we can try to find out on wich point an extra ingredient in a dish doesn't increase the result anymore.

Eke