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Are you a chef with vanilla ice cream for desert on any menu?
Good I’m glad I’ve found you. Because I’m going to hunt you down, your family down and you children’s children down and force feed them vanilla ice cream.
Whatever vanilla ice cream is served with, apple pie, tamarillos, the most gorgeous chocolate souffle in the southern hemisphere, it is very very boring. It shows that the chef has a complete lack of imagination and is catering to the lowest common denominator.
If you are one of these chefs, please get a life and go and work for McDonald’s – the chain is now doing pasta, you’ll be stretching yourself. And keeping out of my way.
I really don’t care that your ice cream is crafted with fair trade vanilla beans, but when I visit a restaurant I expect to be surprised by some level of innovation. I can easily stagnate at home, without your help.
So today, this bright sunny winter day in Melbourne I’ll give a quick alternative. My contribution to the Ice Ice baby themed Sugar High Friday 21st edition hosted by Sarah over at The Delicious Life is a plate cleanser masquerading as a dessert.
I was inspired by a single left over egg white, something I am continually trying to find new uses for outside the obvious pavlova, and a bottle of Aperol, an amaro that is made from bitter orange, gentian and rhubarb, I was sent by a local PR agency run by a former reality TV star.
INGREDIENTS
1 left over egg white
A couple of tablespoons icing sugar
drip of white vinegar
1 orange
Splash of Aperol
METHOD
Whisk the egg white. Add a drip of vinegar to help thicken the mixture and whip in the icing (the second ice in the theme) sugar until the mixture hits stiff peaks.
I then whisk in the juice of an orange and a splash of Aperol. That’s it! Stick it in the freezer. and occasionally mix as it freezes.
I was worried this wouldn’t work as the mixture separated during the freezing. Each time I beat it back together and when frozen it became one.
This was a very soft mixture that can be spooned and eaten right from the freezer. Aperol is not as bitter as campari and mixed with orange serves as a pleasant and fairly non confrontational palate cleanser or it can simply be slurped down as an ice cream cocktail just because it is (in the northern hemisphere) a hot summers day.
Whatever, it is a welcome change to that old cliché, the plain vanilla.
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks good! I love this photo!
Paz
Plate cleaner ? Palate Cleanser ? I’d be pretty happy if my ice cream cleaned my plates for me…
But yes, beside being facetious… Vanilla icecream is a tad underwhelming for a quality restuarant to have on the menu… I was going to say that vanilla *bean* on the other hand sounds much fancier… But you got me there too…
As an aside, I’ve also noticed that my head aquires an interesting tilt every time I come to your website…
i agree completely! i can’t stand vanilla. it’s such a let down when there are so many wonderful potential flavours out there. if the dish comes with vanilla ice cream, the dish does not come to me!
Cheers Paz!
Anna, glad to hear I’m not the only one out there.
Matt, sorry you were junked for a while but I’ve learned a trick that will allow me to turn down the old spam filter. Hope the tilt isn’t causing any medical problems! I should try and get back onto the level.
your disdain for something as sensual as vanilla is unfortunate. as a chef, no flavors should be thought of as boring and uninspiring; you’re doing yourself a disservice, plus you sound like a snob. i’ve never known snobbery to be a good thing.
do you abuse your creme brulee with other flavors or do you keep that unadulterated? is it so wrong to keep things simple? just because something sounds complicated doesn’t mean it’s good or it will work.
also, not to nitpick, but you seem to know it all… oops:
desert = the Sahara
dessert = vanilla ice cream
Perhaps I am a snob although I don’t have anything against vanilla itself. I’ve just reviewed 27 restaurants for a local restaurant awards scheme. All had vanilla icecream on the menu.
What I am saying that vanilla icecream on every menu is very very boring when there are other great things to serve up iwth a vanilla falvour - such as creme brulee. Personally, I love vanilla flavours and even visited a vanilla plantation this time last year.
i’m not advocating something overly fancy but something that shows thought and originality.
And yes, I do know the difference between the Sahara and dessert. i’m just a poor proofreader, pressed for time catching short snaps of time to blog in between my real job as a journalist.
ED, ED, ED. TSK, TSK, TSK.
I do admit that I love some of other flavours of ice-cream, but when I have a good vanilla ice-cream…..
All other flavours, no matter how exquisite, delicious, adventurous, mind-blowing,etc just go out the window.
But why is plain boring? What about stark white kitchens? Are they boring/plain too? lack of imagination by the designer? But don’t worry Ed - the fashion will change (as will the white kitchens, if they haven’t already) and the vanilla ice-cream will be off the menus soon!
Lucas, I’m not attacking Vinalla ice cream just the fact that it is on every menu. I only have one white kitchen and that wasn’t anything to do with fashion - it’s just the least offensive of finishes fom Ikea.
nothing to do with vanilla ice-cream but what’s this restaurant review that you’ve been doing???
I guess I can reveal it now as I only have two left to do on Friday. I’ve been helping judge the Golden Plate awards, they are a regional restaurant awards scheme, so far for the Geelong region and the Mornington Peninsula.By Staurday it will be 27 meals in five weeks and four speeding fines. I’ve had to keep it low key but next week and after the finalists are announced Monday week I can write more about it.
that’s a whole lotta meals! so every weeknight for the last 5 weeks pretty much then. looking forward to your recommendations!
Angry, angry young man. I am quietly reserved to being labelled a spam whore by your filters Ed… I’m just hoping one day you’ll see the light and install Wordpress and leave this Moveable Type insanity behind
Matt, believe me I am thinking about it but I’ve invested all this time in learning MT and have now decided - inconsistency being my middle name - that philisophically I’m against CAPTCHA. I’ve edited by spam word filter ad hopefully this won’t happen again.