Beware: Dessert Development in Progress

Posted 04/16/2008 at 03:36 AM by Dirk

After mentioning Mustard's desserts last time, I thought I should say that we spend a lot of time thinking about desserts, and even more time about what desserts go best with Dolce. (I fall into the school that sometimes Dolce is dessert enough on its own...)

While I am used to tasting wines for work, (It is part of my career and it lets me complain about how unpleasant young red wines are at 8 a.m.) it is a different thing to be tasting and critiquing the latest ideas from Abi, our executive chef, and Trevor, our sous chef.

Several of us gathered in the kitchen yesterday to try out three new desserts to see how they pair with Dolce.

Is that cool or what? I only figured out how cool it was when I was at dinner and my kids think that I get paid to eat dessert!

We started with a Poached Pear with Dry Fruit Compote. The name hardly does it justice since there were dried figs, dried golden raisins, lemon zest, vanilla beans, cinnamon sticks and all sorts of goodies artistically arranged around the poached pear in a giant martini glass. I tried a picture with my phone...(may need a new phone).  So how do we evaluate this dessert? It isn't so different from

Poached Pear with Dry Fruit Compote

tasting wine. First, we look at it. Does it make the dessert lover in us want to dive in? Then, how does it taste and what sorts of impressions does it leave? What different textures, flavors, and temperatures are at play? Are they in harmony? Only after we have examined the dessert do we turn our attention to the combination of dessert and wine.  Short version; this was a wonderful dessert, was a bit hard to eat so a well-poached pear is required, but it did not compliment the wine as expected and left it seeming less full and lush than normal.

The second dessert, Apple Calvados Tart with Sour Cherry Compote and Maple Ice Cream, was a show stopper. It is one of those desserts that is like the siren's song and keeps calling you back. The texture of the tart melted on the palate.

Apple Calvados Tart with Sour Cherry Compote and Maple Ice Cream

(Texture is incredibly important when matching food with Dolce.) Its warmth was a perfect contrast to the cold ice cream. In short, we loved this dessert. Our only critique centered on a discussion surrounding the flavor and underlying bitterness of maple as the flavor for the ice cream. We may try another flavor but I know that we will be seeing this fantastic dessert again.

Almond Pithiviers and Frangelico Sauce rounded out the morning tasting. I have a significant weakness for almond paste. (When my daughter makes macaroons, she will try to hide them from me. Like Lays...I can't stop after just one.) The fluffy pastry with its underlying layer of almond paste was capable of stopping conversation in our tasting. The warmth and texture coated the palate and begged for the compliment of Dolce. Abi managed to get just the right sweetness for a perfect balance. (Remember, if the dessert is sweeter than the wine...the combo will not work.) This dessert too will be back by popular request before long.

It is a different process helping to develop a dessert than admiring a finished creation. It adds still another level of examination when we spend the time to see if the pairing of the dessert and Dolce is harmonious or even synergistic.

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