n. a thing or person that is strikingly unlike in comparison; opposition or juxtaposition of different forms, lines, or colors in a work of art to intensify each element’s properties and produce a more dynamic expressiveness
—THE RANDOM HOUSE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
The fourth cornerstone, contrast, represents the last essential element in any successful work of the pastry maker’s art. Contrast can be provided by any opposing dessert elements, such as the following:
Producing a successful dessert involves not only being able to produce perfect versions of each element of the dessert, but also envisioning how the elements will contrast with each other in a satisfying dialogue that engages the attention, palate, and senses of the person consuming it. A competent pastry chef is able to make a properly textured, light sponge cake, a fine-grained short dough, or a flaky, well-baked, laminated pastry every time. To reach higher than that basic competency, however, pastry chefs must experiment to arrive at new ways to excite the palate. In pursuit of new insights, the successful pastry chef might wish to create a number of different versions of the same dessert, varying the temperature or texture of one element at a time until many permutations have been trialed. An associated required step is taking meticulous notes to record which combinations work together most successfully.
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