The hors d'oeuvre can be an appetizer.
Entremés is a term that derives from the French word entremets . It serves, as a result of its definition, to refer to the food products that are distributed on the table with the purpose of livening up the day while waiting for the main meal . Nowadays, these varieties are usually served before the first course . For example: “I'm going to serve an appetizer while the meat is cooking,” “Don't overdo it with the appetizer, there's still a lot of food left to serve,” “The appetizers were delicious, but the fish lacked flavor.”
It can be distinguished, therefore, between two customs or habits related to hors d'oeuvres. In high-end restaurants, it is common for hors d'oeuvres to be served between courses as a detail to eliminate the flavor of the menu tasted last. In other gastronomic establishments and at home, on the other hand, hors d'oeuvres are usually served in advance of the main meal , especially if the diners are hungry and the dishes are not yet ready.
Cold cuts , pickles , and sausages are often among the most popular hors d'oeuvre foods. Olives , pickles , pieces of toasted bread and cheeses can also be part of the appetizer.
Origins of the hors d'oeuvre
This tradition may have reached our days from Roman customs. And in the Roman Empire we find the fact that their meals were clearly delimited or divided into four parts and that is how they have remained in Italian gastronomy:
- The hors d'oeuvre , also called antipasti , was carried out especially at parties and family celebrations.
- The first course : pasta is currently usually what gives rise to this part of the meal, although it is also frequently replaced by rice or soup.
- The second course : meat and fish are the ones that take center stage in this phase and both are accompanied by their corresponding garnish.
- Dessert : sweets and fruits are the usual desserts.
Olives are a common hors d'oeuvre.
The concept in the theater
Another use of the notion of hors d'oeuvres is associated with a dramatic work with a humorous tone structured in a single act , which in ancient times were performed between one day of the comedy and another or even in the middle of a day.
The hors d'oeuvres usually featured characters from the popular classes. Between the end of the 16th century and until its prohibition in 1780 , hors d'oeuvres were common in Spanish theater. It is possible to associate the hors d'oeuvre with the sainete or the farce .
There have been many Spanish authors who have practiced the hors d'oeuvre genre with great mastery and among them stand out writers of the stature of Francisco de Quevedo and Miguel de Cervantes . Without forgetting either Pedro Calderón de la Barca , Luis Vélez de Guevara or Luis Quiñones de Benavente .
The latter is an author who was key within this aforementioned genre during the period known as the Spanish Golden Age . Among his most significant works in this field are “The Living Dead” , “The Drunkard” , “The Sorceress” and “The View of the Prison” .
Likewise, already in the period between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, we must not forget that the most famous and important hors d'oeuvres were those made by the Sevillian brothers Álvarez Quintero , as would be the case of the one titled “Ganas de quarrel."