Contrasts and a bit about layers

"Sweet meat must have a sour sauce" Ben Jonson (1572-1637)

Opposites attract they say, although I'm not at all sure that this is true when it comes to love. However, when it comes to food, contrast, according to Ottolenghi, is vital. Well most foodies as well. He wrote about it in the second episode of his newsletter trilogy on how to create and present salads, although, of course, a lot of what he said applies to food in general - not just salads.

In the newsletter he referenced this rather wonderful diagram which is the cover of a book by Max Halley - Max's Sandwich Book, which demonstrates his (Max Halley's) theory about balance:

"you should balance six elements in every sandwich: hot, cold, sweet, sour, crunchy, soft. The principle is sound - contrast creates interest, and interest keeps you engaged with your food rather than just mindlessly forking through it."

It's interesting that he should mention balance as well, but contrast on its own is not necessarily a good thing. Chocolate and sardines, for example, just pulling something out of my head, are not likely to be appetising. Shall I see if someone has done it?

OMG as my grandchildren say - someone has! A guy on TikTok did it - you just put chocolate on sardines - in tomato sauce I think - melt and eat. So Amanda Keller in her TV breakfast show Amanda and Jonesy tried it - as shown here. Her conclusion - 0 out of 5. The other two who tried it were probably even more extreme in their verdict. Which I guess just goes to demonstrate the experimentation that goes on today in the social media world. In some ways it should perhaps be applauded - and maybe sometimes a weird combination is world-beating - although I can't think of one right this minute - yes I can - salty caramel.

We should perhaps bear in mind Maria Montessori's quote - not about food, but relevant - about balance:

"Beauty lies in harmony, not in contrast; and harmony is refinement; therefore, there must be a fineness of the senses if we are to appreciate harmony." Maria Montessori

But back to the rather more serious world of Ottolenghi - herewith his list of contrasts:

"Sweet against salty - the salt makes the sweetness sing louder (especially sweet with cheese, like peach with goat’s cheese, or Medjool dates stuffed with blue cheese)."

The picture is of his Sweet and salty cheesecake with cherries and crumble, which I swear I'm going to make someday, and anyway, as I said, salted caramel, as we all know and probably love, is really the archetypal sweet and salty contrast.

I suppose adding salt to a sweet dessert is almost a cheat. We all know it works. But what about in a savoury dish? Well he has many suggestions - bacon and corn, feta and watermelon and so on plus a dressing suggestion which is not quite normal:

"the pairing of salty soy sauce, sweet honey and tahini might seem unconventional, but mix them with a little cider vinegar, a tablespoon or two of water and some crushed garlic, it makes perfect sense when poured over some just-cooked green beans or broccoli."

I guess the cherry crumble cheesecake dish also demonstrates the second contrast on his list:

"Soft against crunchy - tender lentils with toasted nuts, creamy yoghurt with crisp seeds, ripe avocado with dukkah."

Which he illustrates in his newsletter with Kale and tahini caesar salad with za'atar, chickpeas and roasted grapes. The crunch here is from roasted chickpeas, the soft from the roasted grapes, and the kale which has been massaged with salt and lemon juice - salt and sweet as well.

Number three -

"Warm against cool - cold yoghurt spooned over something that's just come blazing out of the oven, or room-temperature grains with vegetables still warm from roasting."

And we all know by now I would think, of his Hot charred cherry tomatoes with cold yoghurt another variation of his, which is the

Warm tomato salad shown here, which I made a week or so ago. Both of them so very, very easy and quick, and so utterly sumptuous.

Or what about icecream drizzled with crispy garlic chilli oil - which is not hot or warm in the same sense, but is definitely a contrast? And a good one too.

Number 4

"Bright against rich - a squeeze of lemon over slow-cooked vegetables, fresh herbs cutting through heavy cream, pickled onions alongside anything involving tahini."

I'm not quite sure whether this Tabbouleh with extra greens and pomegranate molasses hits the right note here, but I think it does. Bright - would be the greens, and baharat spice and bulgur the richness perhaps. Maybe the pomegranate molasses provides both bright and rich. Anyway it looks lovely.

And his last is colour:

"Contrasting colours - different hues of green, one against another; or the bright green of a cucumber contrasting the bold red of tomato; the mustardy yellow of turmeric oil drizzled over pristine white yoghurt"

Well we've all been sprinkling chopped parsley over things to make them look more attractive for years haven't we?

Difficult to choose an example from Ottolenghi here - there are so many - this is Lamb shawarma with caramelised onions, which more than likely has a bit of everything in it. Although he does say that:

"Not every salad needs all of these - that would be exhausting."

He says 'salad' because his article is about constructing salads, but of course it applies to everything we cook. And I have only given examples from Ottolenghi here, because the article that gave me the impetus was his. Every cook from time immemorial has probably unconsciously and at least occasionally in a minor way been practising these precepts because, as Sigmund Freud said:

"We are so made that we can derive intense enjoyment only from a contrast."

Maybe opposites do attract.

I mention layers in my post title, because he did, and because my beginning illustration showed that the layers were important as well:

"Different layers mean different bites and sensations - some forkfuls will be all creamy yoghurt and soft aubergine, others will give you the full journey from bottom to top." Yotam Ottolenghi

The trick is really to make those brown/beige dishes that most of us lean into, more enticing by contrasting the brown and beige - both in appearance and taste - with unexpected colour, texture and flavour.

He really gets stuck into layers in his third part of how to construct a salad. Another time.

YEARS GONE BY

September 17

2024 - More mayo - this time with pineapple - now there's an unexpected contrast.

2023 - To keep or not to keep

2022 - Nothing - we were on holiday with the family in Port Douglas

2021 - Tried and true vs New and different

2020 - Missing

2019 - Another kind of 'A word from ... ' On pizza and Matt Goulding

2018 - Like milk - really?

2017 - Yoyos or melting moments?

2016 - The magpie's song