Offbeat Sweets
The increased interest in culinary experimentation as of late that has produced some amazing results. Some people have done so by devising new techniques and ingredients that have wowed the people fortunate enough to partake in them. Others have been taking old, forgotten techniques and familiar ingredients and using them in new and unusual ways. It’s the difference between fruit juice caviar and beluga caviar. Like night and day, they contrast but balance each other.
The combination of salt and sweets is nothing new. Salmon roe has been paired with chocolate in the past but people don’t expect to see it on top of a cupcake. Only a few, small eggs on top of a sweet cream frosting coated chocolate cupcake will act as tiny bursts of salty flavor on an otherwise rich and decadent dessert.
Fruit caviar is pretty much the polar opposite of real beluga caviar. Dessert caviar is, most often, golden caviar infused with fruit flavors and bursting with bright sweetness but lacking the salt of traditional caviar. They are most commonly infused with tropical flavors and liqueur but others have been cropping up as of late.
A more familiar to some but even more bizarre to others has been the current theme that is bacon. Bacon maple and jelly doughnuts are an insanely indulgent treat. A beer based on that exact doughnut, brewed by Rogue Brewing, has been knocking people’s socks off and turning heads. It’s sweet enough that I would call it a dessert all alone. Southern Tier has taken the dessert beer idea to a slightly more refined level with flavors like the crème brulee milk stout and their beastly Chocolat. Chocolat is a hugely sweet chocolate stout that has an ABV of 11%. That a dessert that can kiss you goodnight and put you to bed.
These are just a few of the unique options now on the market to perk up your dessert. Now it’s time to take these new plateaus and use them as stepping stones to reach even greater heights. Chocolat Stout with a surprise of guava caviar floating about just waiting to burst onto the scene could result in more than a few wide eyes at your next dinner party.
Filed under Uncategorized by on Jan 2nd, 2012. 
