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Desserts are often an afterthought at restaurants. Casual eateries especially tend to offer a menu of tired classics, led by crème brûlée.
But at Sydney's Baroque Bistro ─ a relative newcomer to the city's scene, having opened 18 months ago ─ the setting is casual but the desserts are hardly simple. Yes, crème brûlée is on offer, but thanks to Baroque Bistro's sharing an owner with La Renaissance, a French bakery that's been pushing out top pastries and cakes for more than three decades, it's just the start of an extensive sweet menu.
One such intricate treat is described on the menu as 'a salad of winter and preserved fruits, violet crumble, elderflower granite.' The floral and fruity dish may look simple on the plate, but it requires liquid nitrogen, dehydrated fruit powders and floral essences.
Peter Robertson, Baroque's 29-year-old chef de cuisine, explains how the dish, which he describes as a bit like 'rubble on a plate,' comes together.
Elderflower granité and peach sorbet: There are two iced treats in this dessert. The bottom layer is an elderflower granité ─ ice flavored with elderflower syrup ─ that adds a base floral note to complement the intense violet flavors of the crumble (see below). The peach sorbet ─ a sorbet differs from a granité in that it includes gelatin and fruit purée ─ adds sweetness to the dish and is served atop the granité.
Blueberry meringue: While a regular meringue is made from egg white and sugar, here the chef creates a purple blueberry-infused version by rehydrating egg-white powder with blueberry juice. He then adds blueberry powder to turn up the flavor. 'I'm a big fan of this,' says Mr. Robertson. 'It's a nice way to create a creamy texture without the cream. Add the blueberry powder and you get an intensely flavored meringue.' The meringue is broken into chunks and scattered about the plate.
Violet crumble: The most dramatic touch is the chef's play on Violet Crumble, the Australian candy bar. Mr. Robertson's version skips the outer chocolate layer and instead focuses on remaking the honeycomb-like inner part, which he does with blueberry purée, egg whites, sugar and cream, with a dash of violet essence. Like potatoes going into a deep fryer, the mixture is submerged in liquid nitrogen for 10 to 20 seconds. 'A nitrogen bath is quite similar to a deep fryer: The end result is something crunchy, crispy,' says Mr. Robertson. The crumble is sprinkled atop the dessert.
More fruit: The chef also tosses in other fruit ─ recently he used poached pear, blueberries, raspberries and freeze-dried lychees ('hollow and incredibly sweet, like candy,' the chef says). He then adds whatever fresh herbs he can get his hands on, from violet flower to chocolate mint and lemon verbena. 'A lot of things in this dish have subtlety,' he says. 'There aren't any big flavors.'
Liquid nitrogen: For a dramatic finish, Mr. Robertson drizzles liquid nitrogen on the dessert just before serving, creating a dry-ice effect with vapors rising from the plate.
參考譯文：
對于飯館來說，供應什么甜點，往往是放在后面考慮的事情。尤其是簡陋的小餐館，通常就是給出一個以焦糖布丁為主打的囊括最常見經典甜點的甜點菜單。
但是，在悉尼的Baroque Bistro──開張不算久的一家新餐廳（18個月之前開張）──雖然內部設計很隨意，但是餐廳推出的甜點卻一點也不隨意。是的，他們也提供焦糖布丁，但由于他的一個股東來自La Renaissance──一家經營點心和蛋糕達三十多年的法國烘烤食品店，焦糖布丁僅僅是其品種多樣的甜點菜單上的一道甜點而已。
菜單上對一道精細復雜的甜點的描述是這樣的：“一道低溫沙拉，由冬季鮮果、果脯、violet crumble巧克力棒、接骨木花冰糕（elderflower granite）做成。”這道由花和水果組成的沙拉看上去很簡單，但它需要加入液態氮、脫水水果粉和花精。
Baroque餐廳29歲的大廚彼得•羅伯遜（Peter Robertson）講解了這道放在盤中有點像是“一小堆碎石”的甜點的做法。
接骨木花冰糕和桃泥雪糕：這道甜點里有兩種冰鎮美食。底層是接骨木花冰糕──用接骨木花糖漿制作而成的冰塊──為巧克力糖塊濃郁的紫羅蘭香味加了一點花香的基調。桃泥雪糕──雪糕跟冰糕不一樣，雪糕中含有凝膠和水果泥──增加了沙拉的甜味，放在冰糕的上頭。
藍莓酥皮：普通酥皮是用蛋白加糖做成的，而這位大廚用藍莓汁來攪拌蛋白粉，獨創出一種紫色的具有藍莓味道的酥皮。然后，再加入藍莓粉進一步強化了藍莓的味道。羅伯遜說，“我很喜歡這種方法，這個辦法很棒，不用奶油就可以營造出一種奶油的味道。加上一點藍莓粉，就可以做出藍莓味道很濃的酥皮。”他將酥皮切成幾大塊，散放在盤子里。
Violet Crumble：最具戲劇性的手筆是這位大廚對澳洲Violet Crumble巧克力棒的處理。他跳過對外層巧克力的處理，而是將主要精力放在蜂窩般糖塊內部的精心改造上。他添加了藍莓泥、蛋白、糖、奶油，最后摻入少許紫羅蘭花精。然后將混合物放入液態氮中靜置10-20秒鐘，就像是將土豆條放入鍋里油炸一樣。羅伯遜說，“放在液態氮中靜置和放在鍋里油炸的效果有些類似：最后的結果都是讓東西變得又酥又脆。”他將這種巧克力糖塊散放在這道甜點的最上面。
其他水果：這位大廚還要在這道沙拉上添加其他水果──最近，他添加的是水煮過的梨塊、藍莓、覆盆子和經過冰凍干燥處理的荔枝（“去核處理之后，荔枝甜得很，就像是糖塊一般。”）。接下來，他又隨手加上少許新鮮的香草──從紫羅蘭花到巧克力薄荷、檸檬馬鞭草。他說，“這道沙拉中很多材料的味道都很清淡，一點也不濃烈。”
液態氮：為了獲得新潁獨特的最終效果，在沙拉上桌之前，羅伯遜往盤中灑入少許液態氮，讓盤中徐徐升騰而起的蒸汽創造出一種干冰煙霧效果。
