Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Amuse bouche: What's with the savory desserts?

Everywhere you look at fine dining restaurants nowadays, it seems you run into desserts that flirt with the line between sweet and savory. The extremely talented Plinio Sandalio of Textile may be the current Houston leader in this regard, with some interesting results. But it's a fad that needs to end. They've been doing it at Alinea since the place opened and on Iron Chef for years before that. The sweet-savory exploration has taken longer to throw roots in Houston, as is so often the case with culinary trends. Most of these forays seem to revolve around the interplay of sweet and salty. That's a good but limited medium. It's summertime. We don't need spam ice cream and its ilk. We have a bounty of fresh Texas peaches and scorching heat to squelch.

3 comments:

plinio said...

spam ice cream is not on the menu. actually, texas peaches are on my summer menu.

i make a very classical dessert with texas peaches.

peach melba vacherin. its actually a combination of two classic desserts, a melba and vacherin.

texas peach sorbet, vanilla meringue, raspberry sauce

i enjoying flirting with sweet and salty desserts, its challenging and fun. and most importantly its delicious.

we need food to survive. we must eat. so why not have fun with food and make it tasty?

Unknown said...

Thanks very much for your thoughts, Plinio. This is just the kind of interaction the amuse is supposed to generate. Food must be fun, and I look forward to trying your peach melba vacherin soon.

Unknown said...

I am just glad the flourless chocolate cake and/or molten lava cake trend seems to be waning.