I now order water without ice instead of water with ice. After taking your breads, pastries, and cakes out of the fridge, let them sit for a while before consuming:
“Smell and taste are both highly sensitive to temperature. Human perception of taste declines at temperatures above 35°C (95°F). Cold temperatures also seem to exert a muffling effect on flavor, whether due simply to reduced volatility of aromatic compounds or to independent factors involving a particular taste receptor that's more excitable at higher temperatures.
Salty, bitter, sweet, and sour stimuli were easiest to detect in foods within a relatively balmy range from 68 to 86°F—colloquially known as room temperature Once the threshold is surpassed, the effects of temperature vary, but heading toward the extremes frequently seems to knock the balance of flavors off kilter.
Perception of sweetness appears to increase with heat, which is why ice cream, notoriously, tastes overly sweet when melted. Sourness increases at higher temperatures, while salty flavors may seem more or less pronounced with heat, depending on which of multiple salt receptors in the tongue are activated. Beer turns bitter when warmed from its typical serving temperature; coffee, on the other hand, has been found to taste less bitter when cooled down from piping-hot.
A 2013 study found that participants served ice water experienced diminished ability to sense sweetness, chocolatiness, and creaminess in dark chocolate. The study's authors propose that North Americans' unique preference for ice water may help to explain our predilection for more intensely sweet foods.
Existing research supports the idea that while a steaming-hot pot on the stove may waft tantalizing smells your way and an ice-cold glass may feel divine on a warm brow, neither is guaranteed to be delicious. If you’re the one cooking, always consider not just how you want something to taste, but what temperature you plan to serve it at. Only then can you compensate accordingly for best results.
We need our lamb chops, burgers, and duck breast to be heated beyond room temp, and remain that hot, not just to ensure that the meat is safe to eat but to warm those fats sufficiently that they liquefy and lubricate every mouthful. The fats in our favorite vegan-friendly dips and spreads, though—think guacamole, peanut butter, and hummus—achieve that desirably luscious state at room temp."
Cheese should always sit for about an hour outside the fridge before it's served. Soft cheeses, like Brie, need that time to take on their proper half-runny (or fully runny) consistency, but the flavor of even semi-firm or hard cheeses benefits when you take the chill off. Let them sit out too long, though (especially if they're thinly sliced), and they can start to sweat.
Not only are pies best unrefrigerated, they shouldn't be stored, period, for longer than necessary, as the crust will slowly absorb moisture and turn soggy. Many people still make the mistake of refrigerating breads, pastries, and cakes for storage, then not letting them return to room temperature before serving.
Chocolate is best consumed at temperatures approaching its melting point, which is roughly body temperature; it takes on a waxy feel if it's served much colder than that, and its flavor is dulled.”