What's the SWEETEST thing you've eaten, recently?

[peterb]

*Salt is frequently (but not always) good as a flavour enhancer, and salting caramel creates layering to it.

Apparently the same goes for chilli - it is a flavour enhancer (in small quantities) - but I'm with you all the way with salted caramel - this decades fad!

[Ttaskmaster]

Apparently the same goes for chilli - it is a flavour enhancer (in small quantities) - but I'm with you all the way with salted caramel - this decades fad!

I understand the concept of both, but it's such a minute quantity that even two-starred chefs get it hideously wrong... that, or their taste buds have been burnt off by previous experiments!

Speaking of fads - G8ina, perhaps you can tell me.... When did pies stop coming with a base? I now generally avoid pies at restaurants and pubs, since they all seem to just chuck something in the dish and only include a pastry lid. I thought the whole point was the sauce soaking into the base !

[g8ina]

Aye, I agree. My TT is actually a sort of apple upsidedowncake, put the puff pastry top on, bake it off, then turn it out and upsidedownit.

The lurvely caramel saucy stuff soaks perfectly into the puff pastry

[Saracen999]

Which chef was this?
I already know who invented it and I know why*, but I owe them both a bop on the nose, for ruining caramel. It was fine as it was... now every halfwit with a food product dumps a load of salt into perfectly good desserts, utterly ruining my day.
Same for whoever popularised putting chilli into chocolate, although they're only getting a spanking compared to several other perpetrators of crimes involving hot spicy food...


As for sweet foods (topic says eaten, not drunk), I don't actually know. I tend to stay away from most sweet things, so whatever it was likely got spat out for being too sweet. Probably some grapes, as the Ttaskmistress has really been into her Vitorias lately.








*Salt is frequently (but not always) good as a flavour enhancer, and salting caramel creates layering to it.

I honestly don't remember who said it. Might have been Tom Kerridge but I have a feeling, a VERY slight feeling, it was Raymond Blanc. I'd rather noses weren't bopped as I really csnnot be sure.

Coincidentally, just last night, "Food Unwrapped" vovered it and, yes, flavour layering. That, combined with the brain's chemical "reward" response and the diminishing marginal return nature of it, which is mitigated by layering, like salt and vinegar, caramel and salt and, yes, chilli and chocolate.

Also, as that progeam demonstrated, the balance between salt and caramel is critical. Too little and it has littke effect, but too much and the result is disgusting.

[Saracen999]

Oh, another great example would be one of my personal favourites, a (really good) Lemon Meringue Pie, with the sharpness of the lemon countering the sweetness of the meringue.

Or a hard meringue topped with tart raspberries, and of course, a good dollop of cream.

[g8ina]

The recipe I use for that TT is one of M Leblancs

[TooNice]

but how MANY?

The whole bag except for the three I saved for the morning hot chocolate?

I justify it through the amount of snowboarding I am doing

[Smudger]

Back to the OP:

Some Scottish Tablet my wife brought back from the Ideal Home Exhibition at the weekend. Really quite nice. Also some salted-caramel fudge, which was nice, because 1 piece is just never enough... I managed to stop before I induced a sugar-coma though. That's self control...

[peterb]

I thought the whole point was the sauce soaking into the base !

Soggy bottoms!

[Ttaskmaster]

I honestly don't remember who said it. Might have been Tom Kerridge

Gah, I knew it!!!!
I did actually use his name, but deleted it before posting, as I thought I'd be a grown-up and reserve judgement... Should'a hearkened to my Spidey Senses.
That man is a door-handle of the first order. Any starred chef who has to explain their dishes and tell their diners what they should be experiencing, or how they should be eating them, has clearly failed to justify their star.

I'd rather noses weren't bopped as I really csnnot be sure.

Well, I still owe Kerridge and his wife one each for the snotty email they spat back at us when we explained why we walked out of the Hand and Flowers mid-meal... We were so displeased, we didn't want to even talk about it at that point, never mind bother trying dessert. Just paid the bill and promised to give feedback once we'd gone home and calmed down. The response has permanently blackened their name, for us.

Coincidentally, just last night, "Food Unwrapped" vovered it and, yes, flavour layering. That, combined with the brain's chemical "reward" response and the diminishing marginal return nature of it, which is mitigated by layering, like salt and vinegar, caramel and salt and, yes, chilli and chocolate.

All of which I fully understand, none of which I generally like, and rarely do I find them done well.

The recipe I use for that TT is one of M Leblancs

Matt Leblanc? He's a chef, now??!!
Jeez, first Top Gear, now Masterchef... Is there anything that man cannot spoil?

Soggy bottoms!

Now that, as any Bake Off or Masterchef fan will know, only happens when your pastry hasn't cooked. In order for the sauce to soak in it must first be cooked properly, so it is dry and spongy enough!
I generally blind-bake for 10-15 minutes for this reason. I'm actually gonna do this for the melktert I'm making later this week, which just happens to be something to eat which is fairly sweet.... And as if by magic, we're back on topic!