Desserts

A special meal always needs a special dish to finish with, that little bit extra that holds the company, extends the enjoyment of the moment and lets everyone finish their wine. Because, let’s face it, it can’t be because you’re still hungry. Haven’t you just eaten enough to make your doctor worry? No, it’s not hunger, it’s the desire to finish the meal with grace and hospitality, to show the extra care that is a part of looking after one’s friends and family. In any case, we all know that the dessert stomach is another stomach altogether and that this one hungers for something sweet. No matter how much savoury food you have managed, a little sweet something is always good at the end. I quite like to end a meal with a plate of cheese and another of fruit... some fruit may go with the cheese, other fruit is just on the plate to be eaten by itself; this makes everyone at the table happy, no matter what diet they are on, and a little sweet fruit often provides satisfaction enough. One reason I don’t make many desserts at home is that I have such a wonderful pastry chef working in my restaurant. Whenever I need a really sophisticated sweet taste, I have it at work. Anyway, meal endings at home should be simple; it is informal eating at home that we all love. Dessert making in top restaurants is the preserve of the true technician: if cooking is a craft, then pastry making is a science. These chefs, the devotees of the religion of turning sugar, butter, flour, eggs, chocolate and fruit into wonderful dreams, have an exacting taskmaster. The science that drives them fails them in an instant the moment they deviate from the path.