Ah, supreming. French for taking twenty minutes to slice up an orange or grapefruit. As you may know, it involves the cutting off of the citrus peel and the bitter, tasteless pith and membrane located next to the flesh of the fruit. The process continues with slicing each individual segment of the citrus out of the fruit, cutting carefully along each sheet of membrane.
It's laborious. It's meticulous. And quite frankly, it can be downright dangerous if you have a dull enough knife or a slippery enough fruit.
But honestly, I have discovered a case in which it always (read: always) is worth the effort.
I love grapefruit. It is delicious. But it is just annoying to eat. You have to use a spoon to gouge out the little pyramid-shaped chunks that result when you slice it in half across the equator, like most people tend to do. And if your spoon isn't sharp-edged, all you really end up doing is eating spoonfuls of grapefruit juice and some tiny floating pieces of broken pulp.
This evening, as a matter of fact, I decided to deviate from the traditional and take a cue from the French. I got my sharp paring knife ready and tried out my supreming skills. And the results? Pretty amazing.
Did you know that grapefruit actually has texture? I didn't before this little endeavor. The fruit actually has a little chew to it when it hasn't been completely pulverized.
Now, I may not go all-out and supreme every piece of citrus fruit I come across from now on. But I'll probably keep prepping my grapefruit in the style of the French. They know what they're talking about when it comes to food...plus they love butter. Just like me.
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