Humphry Slocombe is a boundary-pushing ice cream shop in San Francisco. It's near my house, and I've made several trips to sample their bold flavor experiments, like Hibiscus Beet sorbet and Secret Breakfast ice cream (the latter a mixture of vanilla, frosted flakes and bourbon). Recently they've made a foray into sweet snacks, sold in little cellophane bags. This year, two of their offerings made up the representatives from California that I brought for the holidays to Texas.
Alongside the standard dark chocolate souvenir box from See's Candies, these peculiar little experiments offered a counterpoint to the traditional. My verdict: bacon and peanut brittle are an unlikely but harmonious pairing. Salty, sweet, crunchy and chewy, they were a justifiable use of calories.
Lard and caramel - not so much. The low melting point of lard means that these candies never quite solidified, and were greasy to the touch. The flavor wasn't offensive, but it was unclear throughout the experience just exactly what the lard was bringing to the party. Butter is smooth and clean, and rounds out the simmered brown flavor of cooked sugar. Lard, on the other hand, seems to sit on top of the sugar flavor like a malcontented lump of swine. It's an admirable experiment, but not a fruitful result in my opinion. For the time being, I'll stick with my bacon brittle and hold onto hope for the next addition to the series - duck fat pecan pie...
The tried-and-true and the experimenters
0 comments:
Post a Comment