Dessert doesn't have to be simply sweet
Those who agree with celebrity chef Thomas Keller that ``the ability to salt food properly is the single most important skill in cooking " will appreciate the ice cream float at Dante restaurant in Cambridge.
Pastry chef Dan Morley serves vanilla cream soda with ginger ice cream and a crisp almond-ginger tuile cookie. On top is a quenelle of caramel mousse, then a sprinkle of black Hawaiian salt. One bite of the salted caramel brings your mouth to attention. Another bite and you taste the salt opening up the other flavors and textures in the dish -- the fizzy soda, the spicy-sweet ice cream, the nutty cookie, the lush mousse.
This dessert could never be dull, but salt makes it dynamic.
Salt, in fact, makes many sweets more interesting. Just as in savory cooking, adding salt to a dish draws out flavors, pushing some forward while balancing others. Salt has always been used in the pastry kitchen; a pinch is standard in most baking recipes. But as different types of salt become available, and diners are more open to experimentation on the dessert menu, some pastry chefs are using salt as a defining ingredient. They say that certain salts add another layer of flavor.
Of course modern chefs didn't invent the salty-sweet union. Snickers bars and Cracker Jack both push the combination, as do salsas, marinades, and chutneys. Many people sprinkle salt on watermelon; others have a fondness for chocolate-covered peanuts or pretzels. In some coastal regions, such as France, sweets are intentionally made with salted butter.
``If you're eating something sweet, it can get boring," says Morley. ``Adding salt gives your mouth a little rest, and it also gives other flavors a longer finish."
A good example is a piece of caramel. The intense sweetness of this chewy golden candy welcomes salt's counterpoint. Salted caramels have long been a product of Brittany, on France's northwest coast. ``They [Bretons] have salted butter," says Kara Nielsen, trend analyst for the Center for Culinary Development in San Francisco. ``So when they make caramels, that's what they use." Called caramel au beurre sale, the candy is intriguing, especially when tasted next to an unsalted caramel. Salt brings out the caramel's buttery flavor and gives the candy depth and dimension.
Chocolate also benefits from a sprinkling of salt. ``I use salt any time I make a chocolate dessert," says pastry chef Michael Geldart. On his latest menu at Sel de la Terre, he pairs carrot cake with salted chocolate ganache. ``It cuts through the rich chocolate and also balances the bitterness."
A light shower of salt on a cookie, candy, or composed dessert has the effect of making diners take notice. Salty snacks like nuts or olives are offered before a meal to stimulate the appetite. Pastry chefs say that salt wakes the palate up and can reinvigorate it for a new set of flavors at the end of a meal, too. ``You can't let [the customers] down after dinner," says Oleana pastry chef Maura Kilpatrick. ``They've just eaten a meal full of interesting flavors and you have to stay on that level," she says.
To that end, Kilpatrick and other pastry chefs build desserts the way savory chefs build entrees -- by developing layers of flavor and texture and seasoning them properly. On one dessert, Kilpatrick garnishes a mini chocolate tart with a salad of mint leaves dressed with mint syrup, Maldon sea salt, and shaved chocolate. The salt is for flavor, she says, but also ``for the texture in your mouth. With the flakes of Maldon salt, you get that crunch."
Morley, the Dante pastry chef, says salt's texture is a welcome element. He likes ``the surprise of using sea salt with some texture in it. Your tooth goes down on it and you get this slash, almost, of flavor." A dusting of salt on Morley's doughnut-like fratelli absorbs the oil and gives the fritters a clean finish.
After the entree, however, some diners might not want something challenging on the plate. Nielsen, the San Francisco analyst and a former pastry chef, wonders about this. ``By the time [customers] get to dessert, they have palate fatigue," she says. ``They don't necessarily want to experiment."
Instead of complex desserts, perhaps they want to stick with standbys such as warm chocolate cake or creme brulee.
No matter. Pastry chefs may indeed offer the dependable favorites, but they'll continue using salt to season and deepen the flavors in their confections.
They'll also be having fun. ``All these different salts have flooded the market," says Oleana's Kilpatrick. ``Why not play around with them?" 