Where Does Dessert Go For You?

[wspohn]

This question is something I have to mentally debate whenever I do a formal dinner (doing one in November and so once again renewing the old struggle).

Do you have a cheese course with a final wine as they do in France followed by sweets, or a dessert followed by the cheese and final wine afterward, as they tend to do in Britain?

On one hand, a sweet dessert does no good to an interesting and often venerable wine served after it. On the other hand, a short break between all the earlier wines and the final usually higher alcohol wine can be beneficial.

I almost always end up going with cheese and Port or Sauternes or what have you first and then am content to abandon the field to the 'pastry people' (I am not a dessert fan). I wondered what the most common practice was among wine fans. I prioritize the wine over food, so opt for whichever will affect my enjoyment of the wine the least.

Or sometimes I dodge the whole issue by reviving the fine English tradition of having a savoury course in place of a sweet one which serves as a palate cleanser before the final wine. I have found that things like an unsweetened Roquefort and walnut tart works perfectly in that role. I have also used savouries like Devils on Horseback, but not the version wrapping dates in bacon, the one wrapping small oysters, or a small piece of toast with some anchovy paste.

Either way, for me the sweet comes last after it can do no harm to the wines being enjoyed that evening (if I serve one at all).

[Magnus Solhjell]

When the French and the English disagree about food, side with the French. Always.

But not after the last wine, with the last wine, the last wine being a dessert wine.

[Ethan Abraham]

In my belly.

[Victor Hong]

Thighs and butt(s).

[PeterH]

Thighs and butt(s).

And bellies. You win this one, Victor!

I don't serve dessert. My wife does.
I don't eat it.

[Scott G r u n e r]

Given the choice I will always choose cheese over dessert. I am not big on sweet desserts, but there are some more savory desserts I can enjoy. Have a bit of a thing for good olive oil cake for example.

[Randy Bowman]

Flawed poll. We eat dessert after dinner. Cheese has nothing to do with it and wine is going with dessert. It can be berries, dark chocolate M&Ms, Coffee Buzz Buzz Ice Cream with caramel sauce, sliced apples dipped in caramel sauce. The question is what wine do you serve with your desserts. Oh, the caramel sauce, Mrs. Richardson's. Try it and get back to me.

[C. Mc Cart]

Complicated subject.
I'll start by saying neither are regularly served after dinner at our home. Only with company or on the occasional weekend night.

Generally I prefer cheese over dessert.
My wife (and kids when home), prefers dessert and will leave the cheese for me most of the time. Because of that, if I happen to have decent cheese in the house, I'll usually wait an hour or so after dinner and have a bit with a glass of wine on my own.

If a wine focused dinner - never dessert, only cheese.

If I was serving both (as we do with only a few friends who coincidentaly are French), then dessert is served before cheese. Cheese does tend to 'close' the stomach or stop hunger, so serving it before another planned course isn't logical even if that is a traditionally French order.
I prefer cheese to end myself as I find the way someone eats cheese tends to be a bit more slow & comtemplative than say eating a piece of cake or a tart, so the end of meal discussions flow in many directions.

[Brian Tuite]

It goes to my mid-section/waist.

[wspohn]

The question only arises for me because some of the wives are rabid sweet seekers and demand dessert, so the best I can do to stem this tide is to delay it until after the final wine and then let them have at it.

[Eric Ifune]

Before the cheese but the wine should not stop.

[Brandon R]

In our house, we very rarely do either. We NEVER do both. Doing both a dessert course and a cheese course, in my opinion, would be way too much. That said, if I was to do both for some reason, I would end with cheese I suppose. It would be more satisfying to me to end with a bit of salty/savory and the last of the wine/beverage than with something sweet. We do more dessert than cheese to end a meal (mostly because our kids love it), but still rarely either.

[Nowell Karten]

Cheese with the last wine/dessert wine and then dessert.

Almost everyone I know with an experienced palate who also has an appetite for both cheese and dessert prefers cheese before dessert. When you serve the cheese, you can state that dessert will be next, and everyone can then proceed to eat one, both, or neither at their pleasure.

[wspohn]

Cheese with the last wine/dessert wine and then dessert.

Almost everyone I know with an experienced palate who also has an appetite for both cheese and dessert prefers cheese before dessert. When you serve the cheese, you can state that dessert will be next, and everyone can then proceed to eat one, both, or neither at their pleasure.

That has been my practice. Although when I do a printed menu (which helps those who like to keep notes on the wines) my wife got a bit shirty when I once put in "Whatever" instead of "Dessert" as the final item.

[Michae1 P0wers]

Prefer cheese to sweets, and in general can do without desserts, but would put dessert last if I was doing both. Transition back to savory cheeses, even with sweet or fruity accompaniment, doesn't work well for me.

[John Davis]

Prefer cheese to sweets, and in general can do without desserts, but would put dessert last if I was doing both. Transition back to savory cheeses, even with sweet or fruity accompaniment, doesn't work well for me.

Same.

[Jay Miller]

Definitely cheese before sweet dessert for me. And I would serve the sweet wine with the cheese rather than with dessert.

[Jeremy Holmes]

If cheese is part of the equation, it makes sense to have cheese before dessert. This assumes that there is some dry table wine that will still go with cheese and then you can move onto something sweet with dessert. I also think our bodies register that a meal is over when you finish with something sweet.

Wit regards to cheese, I almost always prefer to serve a white wine with the sort of cheeses I tend to eat (think Comte, Morbier or Pont L'Eveque). Almost never does red wine pair better with cheese. If having blue mold cheese a botrytis affected sweet wine is a no brainer.