A lot of kitchen desserts nowadays are made up of slices of pie, cake or tart, served on a plate that is topped with whipped cream, an lone berry or mint leaves. But there’s a lot more to a full dessert. Chefs spend time thinking about the different elements of their appetizers and entree menus and menus, they should also give attention to desserts.
Desserts must have the same balance and variety of tastes, textures and temperatures, as well as forms, and colors like any other food item. In order to achieve this, desserts’ presentation benefit from the following five components:
Base: typically crisp or cake-like
Filling: creamy or fresh fruit
Sauce: complements the textures, colors, and tastes of the other ingredients
Textural component: like dry fruit chips
Garnishes: edible as well as functional
Its base as well as the filling
The foundation of a dessert box may be anything from lemon pound cake, almond genoise that is infused with hazelnut syrup to a crunchy sugar-cookie base. Imagine the base as a edible container that can hold the primary element of the dessert like the graham cracker-crusted crust of cheesecake as well as that flaky apple tart crust, or the tender and moist biscuits of shortcakes of strawberry. The base must be delicious but not be overpowering the other elements of the dish.
The main component or filling for desserts usually includes creamy ingredients like mousse or the pastry cream or ganache, or Bavarian cream. The basic cream bases, as well as traditional savory sauces, are able to be flavored and then flavored to create unlimited variations of distinct fillings or the main ingredient of your dessert. A basic pastry cream like bechamel sauce, can be prepared in large quantities to use in a variety of ways to spice up desserts. It can be lightened by whipping cream, colored by fruit puree, or thinned using other liquids to create sauce. Chocolate ganache with cordials or liquors and mousses made of pureed fruit or nuts are appealing options. Remember to consider carefully the flavors.
Fillings can also be based on fruit with ripe, flavorful fruits that are in season. A variety of fruit benefit by “macerating” as well as flavoring them with little amounts of sugar, as well as other flavors, for example, fresh strawberries with vanilla , and citrus zests and lemons. Some fruits also benefit from cooking before to being used in desserts. Grill pineapples, poach pears, or sauté apples to provide them with new and interesting flavors in terms of colors, textures and flavors. Be aware that the methods of grilling, roasting poaching,. basically identically for fruit as they are for meats. There’s not much you could make different when grilling a fruit than you would when grilling an entrée.
Sauces
Dessert sauces also share a few common elements with the most renowned sauces from the world of savory. As we mentioned pastry cream could be the dessert equivalent to bechamel that is a starch-thickened dish consisting of eggs and milk that could also serve as a filling or binder. Creme anglaise is similar to the dessert hollandaise which is a sauce that is thickened with eggs. Although caramel sauce isn’t made thicker by roux like an savory brown sauce could be, it does have a rich, full-bodied flavors as a reduction demi-glace , or the jus lie. Beurre blanc sauces are extremely easily sweetened to be used in dessert recipes and there’s no difference between sweet and savory coulis sauces. There are also chocolate sauces that could be a good fit for beurre blanc as an emulsion that is fat-thickened.
No matter what your sauce’s base you choose, it’s just as simple to add exquisite sauces to desserts as it is to the world of savory. The Creme anglaise sauce can be made with cinnamon sticks, coffee beans sticks or star anise similar fashion to how the hollandaise sauce is flavored by tarragon. This makes the bearnaise. Caramel sauce can be flavored with cordials. Demi glaces can be completed with Madeira. Coulis can be spiced or flavoring in the same way like tomato sauces.
When you are choosing a dessert sauce, use the same thinking process when you choose a sauce to use for savory dishes. Prior to all else is the impact on flavor. What flavor will the sauce bring to your dish? The next aspect to consider is the color and texture. Sauces must play these essential functions in the dish and it must be sufficient. A suitable amount of sauces ranges from 1/2 to 12 oz to 1 1/2 ounces. There are many instances where cooks “garnish” the plates by adding three or five tiny drops of sauce, which is less than a teaspoonful, and barely enough to alter the flavor or texture the food.
Textures and garnishes
A lot of desserts are made up of soft and creamy elements. Mousses, ganaches and ripe cooked fruits and sweet cakes all have a soft texture. Crispy ingredients will delight the palate by providing a various textures. This may come from the foundation of the dessert the dessert itself. They can also serve as an element of garnishing, for example, thin tuiles that are cut or formed into a beautiful shape or a toasted flavor grain or nut. Textural elements must also be scrumptious. Include toasted spices in the batter for tuile or dough to add an extra dimension and interest, and to help it be a better match to the food.
Another option for texture on the dessert table is fruit chips. Slice fruit like pineapples, apples, or pears very thin. Sprinkle lightly with flavored simple syrup, then bake on silpats or even parchment in the oven in a lower (250o F) oven until they’re dried and crispy.
Other garnishes are also possible to put on the platter insofar as they’re useful. When you are considering the garnishes you can use, consider “What do I want my guests to be doing with it? Are I expecting that they eat it as part of the meal? Would it make the dish taste better or hinder the dish? If the guest did not eat the garnish in the course could that affect the taste of the dish?” All too often desserts are decorated with edible but non-essential garnishes. Are you sure that your guest will consume the whole mint leaf, edible flower, or sprinkle of sugar or cocoa powder on the edge of the dish? Garnishes should increase the flavor the texture, temperature and taste of the dish as well as their appearance and color.
Garnishing merely to color the dish is not really a good idea.
Copyright Reseau Actu.