This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...
To find out more...
Too much sweet and savoury
There is a food trend which is creeping in everywhere in France right now: mixing sweet with savoury. In some restaurants, it is becoming difficult to order a classic dish, like “roast veal” for instance, without being served fruits in the garnish or honey/conserves/syrup in the sauce or cooked into the dish, or even both.
28 K 4.5/5 (28 reviews)
Keywords for this post:RestaurantTasteSweet and sourExcessLast modified on: November 3rd 2011
Too much sweet and savoury
Alright, I admit I'm at a disadvantage here, as I really don't like this sweet-savoury combination: I detest fruit in a main course dish, and I can't stand anything sweet to accompany meat or fish. When I was little, I found rabbit with prunes or black pudding with apple a real ordeal, which I still shudder to remember!
So, of course, with that mind-set, it's almost impossible for me to appreciate the roast veal I mentioned earlier if I find the sauce has been made with honey or that it is garnished with pineapple, however pretty it looks with the accompanying vegetables.
Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not just stubbornly clinging to childhood memories; I do try things again from time to time, but to no avail: it's just not for me.
But it's not really the sweet+savoury combination itself which bothers me, it is more the fact that it has found its way onto every menu and into every sauce – well, almost. This seems to be a relatively recent trend in France, and it is taking over from our straight savoury+savoury tradition. Just where does this fashion come from: is it a foreign idea, a chef-induced madness, or something else?
Allow me to offer my own explanation, beginning with a quotation from Alain Dutournier (the great chef), who once said. “In cooking, everything has already been invented; all we do is adapt.” This is undoubtedly a bit hard, but it is at least partly true and I feel this lies at the root of the problem: as roast veal (yes, that again) is not a very original dish, the chef feel obliged to add a personal touch in attempt to distinguish himself. The easiest way is to add some unusual ingredient, so here we go with all those fruits and sweet things which are (alas!) too much of a contrast with the meat.
And that is how so many perfectly good dishes, which would be delicious even if not at all innovative, end up being “dressed up” in a sweet-savoury version to look like something fresh.
This fashion also gives rise to heresies such as apple and camembert charlotte, something I have seen prepared on television – yuk!
If this is what is going on, then it's somewhat naïve and misses the point on the flavour front. Above all, it's completely idiotic! The aim of a chef should not be to create the most original dish, but rather the best: people should flock to his restaurant because his roast veal is simply the best for miles around, not because he serves it with slices of kiwi fruit.
So, come on, you chefs! Don't be seduced by this silly rend; don't be afraid to put good old well-known dishes on your menus, but use all your skill, all your heart and soul, to make every mouthful a pure delight.
P.S.: for those who do enjoy sweet and savoury combined, I have always wondered why it is that fruit is supposed to go well with meat, but that apple tart with tomato sauce doesn't work. Can anyone explain?
So, of course, with that mind-set, it's almost impossible for me to appreciate the roast veal I mentioned earlier if I find the sauce has been made with honey or that it is garnished with pineapple, however pretty it looks with the accompanying vegetables.
Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not just stubbornly clinging to childhood memories; I do try things again from time to time, but to no avail: it's just not for me.
But it's not really the sweet+savoury combination itself which bothers me, it is more the fact that it has found its way onto every menu and into every sauce – well, almost. This seems to be a relatively recent trend in France, and it is taking over from our straight savoury+savoury tradition. Just where does this fashion come from: is it a foreign idea, a chef-induced madness, or something else?
Allow me to offer my own explanation, beginning with a quotation from Alain Dutournier (the great chef), who once said. “In cooking, everything has already been invented; all we do is adapt.” This is undoubtedly a bit hard, but it is at least partly true and I feel this lies at the root of the problem: as roast veal (yes, that again) is not a very original dish, the chef feel obliged to add a personal touch in attempt to distinguish himself. The easiest way is to add some unusual ingredient, so here we go with all those fruits and sweet things which are (alas!) too much of a contrast with the meat.
And that is how so many perfectly good dishes, which would be delicious even if not at all innovative, end up being “dressed up” in a sweet-savoury version to look like something fresh.
This fashion also gives rise to heresies such as apple and camembert charlotte, something I have seen prepared on television – yuk!
If this is what is going on, then it's somewhat naïve and misses the point on the flavour front. Above all, it's completely idiotic! The aim of a chef should not be to create the most original dish, but rather the best: people should flock to his restaurant because his roast veal is simply the best for miles around, not because he serves it with slices of kiwi fruit.
So, come on, you chefs! Don't be seduced by this silly rend; don't be afraid to put good old well-known dishes on your menus, but use all your skill, all your heart and soul, to make every mouthful a pure delight.
P.S.: for those who do enjoy sweet and savoury combined, I have always wondered why it is that fruit is supposed to go well with meat, but that apple tart with tomato sauce doesn't work. Can anyone explain?
Lasts posts
A tablet holder
Perhaps you too cook by consulting your recipe on a tablet or phone, and putting it down on your worktop? It's practical, but not the best solution. Here's a look at how you can make an inexpensive, almost universal stand.March 14th 20264075
Pre-calibrated pastry dough
When making pie dough (shortbread, shortcrust, sweet...), it's always a good idea to make a lot at once, and then divide it into pieces, which you can freeze. I've already pointed out the mistake not to make, which is to form a ball before freezing. It's difficult to roll out afterwards because...March 9th 20268285
Butter vs. grease
We often read in a recipe where a pastry is put into a mould that, just before pouring, the mould should be buttered or greased. But what's the difference between these 2 terms?December 1st 20252,9265
Getting out of the fridge early
Very often when you're cooking, you need to take food or preparations out of the fridge, to use them in the recipe in progress. There's nothing tricky about this: you just take them out of the fridge and use them, usually immediately, in the recipe. But is this really a good method?November 24th 20251,8815
Who's making the croissants?
When you look at a bakery from the outside, you naturally think that in the bakery, the bakers make the bread, and in the laboratory, the pastry chefs make the cakes. It's very often like that, with each of these professions having quite different ways of working, but sometimes there's also one...November 23th 20251,709
Other pages you may also like
Steam for baking bread
What does steam have to do with bread-making? This is not only a bakers' secret, it is something you might not think of at all: if you make bread and bake it like a cake, you will end up with bread, but pale and with a thick, hard crust – a long way from the golden-brown crusty loaf you had in...June 16th 2021149 K4.5
Circles vs. moulds tins
If you like to bake or make quiches, pies etc. you must surely have one or more pie pans at home, in different diameters and perhaps materials. They are indispensable, without them there is no way to make beautiful pies, and they work very well, but you have another option, instead of moulds,...October 2nd 202017 K5
Small, regular pieces
When we cook, bake or pastry, we often have to cut food into small pieces, often cubes, to incorporate them into a recipe or preparation. How do you get regular pieces fairly quickly?November 28th 202012 K4.5
From website to blog
Hello everyone, Today I'm inaugurating the cooking-ez.com "blog". The idea is to have a space for discussion open to everone, but not necessarily linked to a particular recipe or page. I hope the posts will be sufficiently interesting that you'll enjoy reading and discussing them. The...January 1st 201121 K3.9
The secret of cooking until "done"
This is a real chef's skill: being able to look at a fish fillet cooking and say, "Stop – that's enough, it's cooked". I always admire this ability to see at a glance if something is done. It is what sets the professionals apart from us mere amateurs. And it's true that how fish is cooked is...November 26th 201221 K4.4
Post a comment or question
Follow this page
If you are interested in this page, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the page is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.
Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.
Alternatively: you can subscribe to the mailing list of cooling-ez.com , you will receive a e-mail for each new recipe published on the site.