SupplySide

Side Dishes

February 1, 2003 Danny Bruns Comments

Posted in Articles, Bakery, Beans, Cheese, Colors, Dairy, Flavor, Fruit, Grains, Pasta, Sensory, Texture, Vegetable, Meat Products, Topics, Bakery / Cereal, Fruits / Vegetables, Grains / Pasta / Tuber

What more can you say about a category that hasn’t been already said, done, tried, toppled over and tunneled under? I’m talking about side dishes. You know, those things that you were forced to eat as a kid — like lima beans — slipped under the table to your dog and now are trying to create as a hot-selling consumer product.

Whether it is a bag of potato chips or sweet parsnips, we still want something to complement our main entrée, incorporating crunch, flavor, color, and a whole array of sensory attributes that will satisfy our mouths and stomachs in the process.
But as we venture though the retail aisles, or dine in restaurants, the side dish is still the bridesmaid of the wedding plate. In general, the foodservice industry does not place a whole lot of emphasis on the creativity and/or combination of the items served with the main entrée. And today’s retail products often suffer from the “same-old, same-old” syndrome.

Do consumers care about what is being served with their steak, fish or chicken? I think yes! People want something that completes the whole plate, complements the flavor and enhances the eating experience. That’s why we ask waiters to make substitutions. That’s why we choose things other than baked potatoes with our home-grilled steak. We’re all becoming more sophisticated about flavor, texture and, increasingly more important, nutrition. And the more educated we become, the more we want our side dishes to go beyond the basics.

Sidestepping the norm
Side-dish creativity can stem from how we pair up the starch, vegetable or fruit with the protein. Are you locked into thinking that a baked potato must go with steak, or rice with chicken? Or are there ways we can create a cure for the common combo? To me, it starts with the three T’s of Texture, Temperature and Taste, and playing with complementary and contrasting attributes.

We all know that a baked potato is a great pairing with a New York strip. For a fresh approach, that same steak could easily be matched with a thin, crisp potato pancake, or fried polenta cake. One step further, you could top the polenta with a roasted fruit salsa and you’d have a whole new steak entrée combining hot/cold, crunchy/ smooth, mild/zesty. And instead of typical sautéed mushrooms for that steak, a crunchy veggie slaw with Oriental dressing would introduce an exciting new flavor, texture and temperature combination.

And rice is rice, right? Chicken and rice is always nice, but the rice doesn’t have to always be boiled, hot, and white. How about a poached chicken or fish with a savory, crispy fried rice cake, or served with a chilled Tuscan pilaf using wild or basmati rice, marinated olives and tomatoes? Rice is the perfect carrier for creating unique flavors, whether it’s jasmine rice spiked with ponzu sauce or wild rice with porcini mushrooms.

Fruit also has a place on the main plate. The combination of fruit with heat or fruit with savory has been growing in acceptance as we see more products hit the retail shelves. Mainstream menus are seeing more tropical fruits, particularly mango, as the popularity of this fruit has exceeded salsas, chutneys and Floribbean cuisine. With the rise of Latin American cuisine as well as the regional Asian influences, the tropical-fruit trend will only continue.

Sassing up starches
Let’s return to the humble potato. We’re all familiar with the basic ways we can either purchase or prepare it. The great thing now is that manufacturers have started to build in convenience by preportioning, mashing, roasting, grilling and even turning them different colors. But what if we were to take it even further?

Beginning with the three T’s again, let’s look beyond regular mashed or classic baked potatoes. Begin by seasoning potatoes with fresh herbs, even some crab or chopped mushrooms, and stuff inside a portobella mushroom and bake. Talk about textures! Capitalize on rising Indian flavors by taking basic potatoes and adding cilantro, cumin, chile pepper, garam masala and lightly pan-frying. How about that taste? Or take popular roasted red potatoes and add chipotle peppers for smoky roasted pueblo potatoes. Now you’re talking temperature!

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