Which flavors are appropriate to sweet dishes and which to savory sometimes seems to be more a matter of culture or habit than any innate preference of the human palate. For example, when a Brazilian-American friend served us a beautiful green salad with avocado last week he told us that the first time he tasted such a salad he felt sick and had to leave the table. In Brazil, avocado is a “sweet” flavor used in dishes like fruit salads and desserts like Avocado “Creme Brulee,” and its flavor in a savory salad took him a while to get used to.
Of course, our tables are now full of successful sweet-savory crossovers brought to us by other cuisines: chocolate in rich Mexican moles; hot chillies in hot chocolate; cinnamon and cloves in North African tagines and the now-trendy use of bacon flavor in ice cream and other sweets (which may come from a culture that only exists in parts of Brooklyn and a couple square miles just south of Market Street in San Francisco.) My mind is open, but I’m not quite there yet.
Here’s a savory-sweet crossover inspired by San Francisco’s Bi-Rite Creamery that I think you’ll take to very quickly: an olive oil ice cream sundae topped with a generous sprinkle of crunchy sea salt. It sounds a bit odd, but it’s completely delicious. The silky texture of the oil is a wonderful complement to the creamy ice cream, the gentle sweetness of which brings out the fruitiness of the olive oil. The salt provides a a pleasing crunch and a sharp flavor contrast that heightens all of the others. The taste is a lot like butterscotch, but lighter, more complex and less sweet. I recently served this as an experiment (I didn’t tell people that the topping was olive oil), and ended up serving seconds.
The key to success here is the olive oil: use your best extra-virgin estate olive oil, and make sure that it’s very fresh. Even a hint of stale aftertaste will ruin the dish. (In general, olive oil keeps well unopened for about 18 months from pressing if it’s stored in a cool, dark place. Once opened, though, it should be used within about two months.) And use a good, medium-grain, natural sea salt such as Maldon or one of the gray sea salts from France.
But I’d skip the bacon bits.
Recipe
Vanilla ice cream or gelato
Best quality extra virgin olive oil
Medium grain natural sea salt such as the flaky Maldon, French gray sea salt or fleur de sel
Scoop the ice cream into bowls or dessert glasses. Pour the olive oil over the top — about 1 tablespoon per scoop. Top with a generous sprinkle of the salt and serve immediately.
