On October 21st, I was in Phoenix for an event called Pleasures of the Palate—an annual art auction and dinner held at the Biltmore Phoenix, which helps to raise funds for a local charity—Casa: Center for Abuse and Prevention.

I love participating in off-site events, especially those that benefit charities. Most times, I will make a dessert that will be the last course of a dinner, or be responsible for little bite-sized sweets to be passed as hors d’ouevres. But, for this event, I did something completely different. I created and operated an “interactive food station!”

This meant that I spent the evening entertaining guests with my idea of dessert-related activities after the auction and dinner. As several other pastry chefs were assisting guests in learning how to decorate cakes, make new dishes, etc., I decided to go in a completely different direction—my interactive station was entirely about challenging the guest to try new flavor combinations!

Because one of my favorite things to do with desserts is to sneak in traditionally savory ingredients into my recipes, I thought I would go all the way with the concept and create a station that would challenge the guests to try flavor combinations that they never would have imagined could be used in desserts, thus I decided to create tiny tastes of a handful of my favorite flavor combinations for the guests to experience.

The six different flavor combinations I chose were:

Asparagus Panna Cotta + Macerated Strawberries
Lemon Pound Cake + Berry – Rosemary Compote
Fresh Watermelon + Rosewater Syrup
Milk Chocolate Ganache + White Truffle Oil
Caramelized Bananas + Crispy Bacon
Candied Beets + Dark Chocolate Sauce

The event was a blast! As guests approached the table they delighted by the idea of trying something new and jumped right in, asking question after question about why the flavor combinations worked and where my inspiration for the combinations came from. Even the other participating guest chefs were amused by the intrigue of it all and stopped by to chat about their favorite sweet and savory flavor combinations and try something new.

The highlight of the evening was definitely the asparagus panna cotta and macerated strawberry combination—I think this was the one concept that really challenged the guests to open their minds and tastebuds to something especially different. One guest remarked that he did not like asparagus, but after a gentle push he tried the panna cotta and decided he might be wrong about asparagus after all—he preferred it in a dessert!

Filed Under: Cool Stuff