Strategies for Creating Healthful Dessert Options
The retreat's three days of discussions and demonstrations produced a trove of ideas for pastry chefs who would like to offer more healthful options. In a nutshell, the following strategies were among the best that emerged. They won't all work in every operation, but you will surely find some that make sense for you:
Leverage world cuisines and global flavors
"Third-world countries had a lot to contribute to my pastry efforts," recalls Stroot, who used a wide variety of tropical fruits in his spa desserts, which had to be under 150 calories. Seek out unusual ingredients like chickpea flour, which pastry chef Surbhi Sahni from Devi in New York City uses in her fabulous spiced shortbread. Sahni's dal ka halwa is a warm saffron-scented pudding made with ground yellow lentils, almond flour, sugar syrup, nuts and raisins. Lincoln Carson, pastry chef at the Daniel Boulud Brasserie in Las Vegas, scents beignets with galangal and serves them with strawberries and a lychee sorbet—familiar concepts, exotic flavors.
Be an incrementalist
You don't have to make massive changes to your pastry program. Take one small step at a time and see what works. "This is a long-term proposition," says Mark Erickson, the CIA's vice president of continuing education. "We're running a business, after all, so pick the low-hanging fruit. Just face in the right direction and begin the march."
Tell a story
Add a local angle or a little romance to your menu to make healthful dishes more enticing, suggests Michel Nischan, the author and chef. Instead of a "laundry list" of ingredients, evoke the farmer who grew the fruit or the exotic region that is the source of the recipe.
Develop some "bridge" desserts
On most pastry menus, the options are either high-calorie, rich and indulgent or so abstemious that they are obviously "dieters' desserts." Fill out the middle ground with choices that allow guests to end on a satisfying sweet note without a guilt trip.
Practice stealth health
You don't have to tell guests that a dessert is low fat or reduced calorie. Indeed, that information can doom the dish. Many diners avoid so-called "heart healthy" desserts, figuring they can't possibly taste good. Better to offer some pastry choices that sound appealing, taste delicious and just happen to be good for you. Health-conscious diners will gravitate to these desserts without any flagging on your part.
Talk about what's in the dessert, not about what's missing
"We don't call it lowfat," says Jim Dodge of the lean Chocolate Apricot Cake he developed for his customers at the Bon Appétit Management Company. "We entice them with description." Instead of touting your cheesecake as low calorie, highlight the local strawberries it's served with or the toasted almond topping.
Be wary of re-engineering the familiar
Your customers know what a great apple pie tastes like, so a reduced-sugar apple pie with a whole-wheat crust will never measure up. It may be wiser to devise a new apple dessert that diners don't have a standard for.
Think fruit first
Make it the centerpiece, not the garnish. Make big fruit tarts rather than individual ones so there's proportionally more fruit to crust. Of course, a peach tart is only worth making if the peaches are sweet and juicy. Demand ripe seasonal fruit from your suppliers, fruit that is worth showing off in desserts.
Be the inventor
Go where others haven't gone, says Nischan. Experiment with ingredients you don't normally use in dessert. Reduce the juice of golden beets or kabocha squash with vanilla bean to make a sauce. Get to know ancient grains like quinoa. Use Campari in sorbet, soy milk in a pudding, or fruit leather in place of nori in fruit "sushi."
Leave the classics alone
Don't compromise the perfect brioche by trying to devise a whole-grain version, pleads Mark Furstenberg, owner of the Bread Line in Washington, D.C. "Start with the ingredients and move forward," suggests the baker. Ask yourself what you can do with health-promoting ingredients like whole grains rather than how you can make an already perfect dish healthier.
Rethink the classics
It's another approach, diametrically opposed to the preceding one, but both may have their place. Is the classic recipe necessarily the best? At the retreat, CIA pastry instructor Stephen Durfee made shortbread with almond oil in place of some of the butter, and many tasters thought the experiment surpassed the classic.
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