{"id":5064,"date":"2013-05-13T10:00:36","date_gmt":"2013-05-13T09:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jameswhelanbutchers.com\/info\/?p=5064"},"modified":"2014-08-06T16:16:18","modified_gmt":"2014-08-06T15:16:18","slug":"opposites-attract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jameswhelanbutchers.com\/info\/5064\/opposites-attract\/","title":{"rendered":"James Whelan Butchers: Opposites Attract"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world of snacks and treats was thrown into a state of frenzy this week as Tayto, the iconic Irish crisp, teamed up with Butlers Chocolate to produce a limited edition Tayto Cheese and Onion Milk Chocolate Bar.\u00a0 Of course it initially causes a small wrinkle in the brain as you try to imagine the two together and for many the first response will cause us to wrinkle up our noses as well.\u00a0 The thing is that this combination of salty savoury and richly sweet together isn\u2019t so unusual.\u00a0 Neither is mixing crisps and chocolate revolutionary; just google chocolate covered crisps and there are hundreds of recipes all over the internet.\u00a0 Several years ago I discovered the chocolate covered crisp in the States.\u00a0 A department store called Neiman Marcus was (and still is) doing this with a thin-ish chocolate covered crisp presented in a tall Pringle like tin.\u00a0 They were given to me as a gift and I remember biting into the first one with a little trepidation.\u00a0 They were fine, the classic combination of salty and sweet with a creamy chocolate and a little crunch provided by the crisp. If I\u2019m honest I wouldn\u2019t go out of my way to get them again but I wouldn\u2019t refuse one if it crossed my path.<\/p>\n

It got me thinking about the whole idea of opposites and how it really works very well for food combinations and creating different taste sensations.\u00a0 Sweet and savoury, sweet and sour or even hot and cold can be exciting.\u00a0 I always enjoy a hot fruit crumble with a decent dollop of cold vanilla ice cream on the top.\u00a0 Equally when we are talking hot and cold, there is nothing nicer than a spicy samosa or an onion bhaji balanced out with by a cooling yoghurt dip.<\/p>\n

We always tend to think of sweet and sour as strictly Chinese.\u00a0 We believe it does originate in China, but more and more European and American dishes are working with the idea. Salads are a great easy area to experiment with sweet and sour.\u00a0 Try an exotic mix of chopped peppers, cucumbers and baby tomatoes with some moist pineapple or even pear slices.\u00a0 Then if you serve this with, for example, a perfectly cooked duck breast or even some tender lamb chops you get the sweet and sour plus the hot and cold thing all going on together.\u00a0 These are easy combinations to get right and a great way of dipping your toe in the water of opposites.\u00a0\"Tayto<\/a><\/p>\n

Our lives are constantly twisting and turning.\u00a0 We enjoy the familiar but it is always spiced up by a surprise or the unexpected here and there.\u00a0 We should treat our food in the same way.\u00a0 We tend to eat the same foods, cooked the same way over and over again.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course familiarity makes for ease of cooking but as the saying goes, \u201cfamiliarity breeds contempt\u201d and that can be particularly applied to cooking.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If we have a small repertoire of dishes cooked regularly even the favourites and the perfectly executed can become dull.\u00a0 Make an effort to add at least one new dish, meal or menu to your skills each month and by the end of the year you\u2019ll be surprised how far you have pushed those stale boundaries.<\/p>\n

Using opposites is a great jumping off point for trying new things.\u00a0 Heavy and light for example, rich starters followed up by a light fish course.\u00a0 Oily and dry get you thinking of food textures and how they balance each other. The classic is bread and butter, the dryness of the bread with the oily butter or think sardines on a cracker for another simple combination.\u00a0 While talking of textures smooth and rough \u2013 again a crunchy peanut butter has the smoothness of the butter but the crunch of the peanut.\u00a0 Add this to a chicken stir fry while cooking and the combination is super. \u00a0Indeed try a stick of celery dipped in a smooth peanut butter for a lovely light and heavy, crunchy and soft, sweet and savoury combination.<\/p>\n

Soft and hard, hot and cold \u2013 the possibilities are enormous.\u00a0 What you are really looking for is balance.\u00a0 There is nothing I like more than a heavy chunky steak with a lovely light mix of rocket and fresh coriander.\u00a0 It is simplicity itself.\u00a0 Again I\u2019m getting heavy and light along with hot and cold.\u00a0 Contrasting colours and textures also look good on a plate.\u00a0 If everything is the same there is a blandness of colour, character and taste and the death of any meal.\u00a0 No matter how perfectly cooked the individual elements are it will always feel like there was something missing.<\/p>\n

A friend of mine is an expert with wine.\u00a0 He says the law of opposites works well here too.\u00a0 He suggests that if you enjoy spicy Asian food then that should be paired with a slightly sweeter wine like a chardonnay as the sweet will set off the spiciness of the food.\u00a0 Dryer wines like cabernet sauvignon work best with high protein foods such as steak or a cheese plate perhaps, while a heavy, creamy pasta dish works well with a Merlot that will cut through the oils within the dish.\u00a0 Personally I think you will know the wines you like and there are no rules, but it might be a rough guide.\u00a0 In fact what I have found is that many of the lovely, fruiter and lighter red wines that I have liked have been Italian and they work very well with heavy pasta or meat dishes.<\/p>\n

So this week start thinking about the everyday opposites we currently enjoy in food and that should get the creative juices flowing.\u00a0 If you do come up with some rare gem don\u2019t be afraid to drop me a line.<\/p>\n

This post was written by me, Pat Whelan, owner of James Whelan Butchers and a passionate advocate of local artisan food. My family have been producing quality Irish Angus beef for generations using a traditional dry aging process. This tradition is one that I continue to practice at our abattoir on our family farm in Garrentemple, Clonmel. These posts aim to impart some of the wisdom to readers and help them get the best out of the meat they eat! Our meat is available\u00a0online here!<\/a>\u00a0I welcome your feedback to\u00a0Pat@jwb.ie<\/a><\/p>\n

We hope you enjoyed reading this post by Pat Whelan of James Whelan Butchers. Pat is a 5th generation butcher, cook book author and the director of \u00a0James Whelan Butchers with shops in Clonmel, the Avoca Handweavers Rathcoole and Kilmacanogue, Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt, Rathmines and Swords in Dublin.\u00a0Sign up to our newsletter for more updates from James Whelan Butchers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The world of snacks and treats was thrown into a state of frenzy this week as Tayto, the iconic Irish crisp, teamed up with Butlers Chocolate to produce a limited edition Tayto Cheese and Onion Milk Chocolate Bar.\u00a0 Of course it initially causes a small wrinkle in the brain as you try to imagine the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25],"tags":[433,429,437,431,99,48,430,47,434,436,86,432,435,428],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n