PrintIce Cream, Unsweetened
Gelato from Otto
Recently, I had a great meal at Salt in the West Village. Even better than my wild salmon and braised fennel entrée was my dessert: upside-down pear cake with a scoop of homemade rosemary ice cream. It was fragrant, herbaceous, and creamy, with only a slight hint of sugar.
Dishes that blur the line between sweet and savory are all the rage in New York right now, from Tailor's black olive clafoutis to P*ong’s stilton soufflé. Mario Batiali's Otto serves an olive oil gelato that is simply out of this world. It’s got me thinking: how long before savory ice cream flavors hit supermarket shelves?
Will chocolate be replaced by chipotle? Peppermint by pignoli?
While I doubt that sesame will ever supplant strawberry, I would love to see more savory flavors in stores. Roasted beet would be delicious, and just imagine the color! And how about carrot-walnut, black pepper, or plum tomato showered in fresh basil chiffonade?
So, what do you think? Let us know what savory ice cream flavors you've had, and what you would to try. Because when it comes to ice cream, the possibilities—like the toppings—are endless.
About the author: Lucy Baker is a graduate student in the writing program at Sarah Lawrence College. Before returning to school to pursue an MFA, she was an assistant cookbook editor at HarperCollins. She lives in Brooklyn and is currently obsessed with all things fennel.
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14 Comments:
For a quick taste of the savory and the unexpected, hit your local Asian market. In my market down the street, I can find flavors like red beans, taro or even corn! They're a little bit sweet, but definitely not birthday-cake playmates!
Teahlo at 4:29PM on 02/21/08
When I was 5 (1981), I got a kid's ice cream maker for Christmas. I think my mom got it mostly for herself because she went kinda crazy with it. First, she made avocado ice cream, which was actually pretty tasty, and then she made sweet corn ice cream ... which was actually also pretty tasty! Thought the whole kernals of corn in it made me crack up. I liked the yellow color, though!
Someone should compile (or share if they have one) a list of all the savory ice cream flavors ever made on Iron Chef (that cheater of a show!).
OneWallKitchen at 4:29PM on 02/21/08
I have made olive oil ice cream with a dark chocolate balsamic reduction syrup that is incredibly good. It was sweet though. Tomato sorbet is delicious, sort of like frozen gazpacho. I think an avocado ice cream with sweet roasted garlic would be fantastic. So would a maple pumpkin. Brown butter and sage. Sweet roasted corn and bacon. And I've heard that white chocolate and caviar go well together.
In general though, I am not a fan of the sweet + savory trend, the food at Tailor being a bit confused and precious.
seyo at 4:30PM on 02/21/08
I would love to find some unsweetened ice cream up here in Boston. What a great idea. I have tried the taro and green bean popsicles from the Asian markets here, but I find they are pretty darned sweet. Although I love the savory green bean flavor peeking through.
RheaB at 4:46PM on 02/21/08
We made a pecorino-pear ice cream last summer from David Lebovitz's book. I wanted it to be more-odd, but it was surprisingly mundane (if delicious).
anitaepler at 4:51PM on 02/21/08
i can recommend the avocado ice cream at the chinatown ice cream factory. creamy and delicious, particularly after hot pot for dinner.
j at 5:11PM on 02/21/08
http://www.jenisicecreams.com
Jeni's in Columbus, Ohio is an amazing source for interesting ice creams of all kinds. She was recently featured in the Dean & Deluca holiday catalog, and she'll ship her stuff all over the country. Now all of us can get Jeni's on a regular basis.
She's become quite famous for her Salty Caramel, and you can't beat her Lapsang Souchong with Aramagnac Prunes. Her Queen City Cayenne is super-spicy, and her Thai Chili (peanut butter, cayenne, coconut milk) is a revelation.
If you haven't profiled Jeni yet, you really should!
Oh, and the Goat's Cheese with Cognac Fig Sauce is mind blowing...
johnmccollum at 6:02PM on 02/21/08
I recently made a sweet potato ice cream to go go with Blake Makes.com's Peanut Butter Dulce de Leche. I paired it with PBDDL marinated Pork Belly. www.chickenfriedgourmet.com
Chicken Fried Gourmet at 6:45PM on 02/21/08
Pignoli ice cream sounds good! Or Pignoli peppermint ice cream, mmm! Actually, when I had dinner this past weekend at Citizen Cake in San Francisco with my family, my dad ordered steak, and it was served with blue cheese ice cream. It complimented the steak quite well; it was almost like frozen yogurt since it was tangy!
sfpaulina at 8:12PM on 02/21/08
I made an olive oil and lemon ice cream last summer that was delicious, but the lemon overpowered the oil.
The Bent Spoon in Princeton NJ has all sorts of interesting flavors - I had an heirloom tomato flavored ice cream, which unfortunately I thought was a little dull. But it could have had more flavor. But they make it. (The peach flavor was amazing though, they have perfectly good ice cream.)
anado at 8:49PM on 02/21/08
When I lived on the coast of Kenya, we frequented the Arab-style ice cream cafes. By far my favorite flavor was cardamom-saffron and my friend loved the avocado drizzled with rose water. Definitely not sweet, but not quite savory either- they were delicious!
oregonpinot at 9:50PM on 02/21/08
OMG, I feel like I have found MY people in this thread! As soon as I saw the headline, my first thought was OTTO. Olive oil gelato w/Maldon sea salt! SWOOOOOOOOOOON. It's fantastic. I was there a couple of weeks ago and ordered the olive oil along with the ricotta, and my friends thought I was nuts. Someone did include the Guinness in their order, but it was so malty that it seemed like a natural choice; not quite savory enough. As a woman with a tiny sweet tooth (sometimes I don't even think I have a tiny one), I'm thrilled by the savory desserts that I'm seeing more often. Pumpkin is a seasonal favorite, but some places still make it too sweet.
anitaepler, I'm loving the idea of pecorino-pear, esp since I'm a pear freak. What kind of pears did you use?
Curlz at 9:55PM on 02/21/08
wow, we posted almost the same things, at almost exactly the same time! Lots of great ideas here. Time to get my ice cream maker humming...
seyo at 11:52PM on 02/21/08
I've had both onion ice cream and salt + pepper ice cream at Providence (in Los Angeles). The onion ice cream was absolutely incredible. The salt + pepper ice cream was interesting...I guess. But the onion ice cream!!! I've never had anything like it, and it's the one ice cream by which I measure, and will measure, all other savory ice creams.
acidspit at 12:20AM on 02/22/08