[dropcap1]Q. [/dropcap1]
What does it mean when a dish is "deconstructed"? I saw a dish recently served with a deconstructed hollandaise sauce. Does that mean I will be served egg yolks and butter?
[dropcap1]A. [/dropcap1]It means that the chef has ditched the technique of a recipe, and starts over with the same ingredients. He reassembles them in a way different from the original dish. Sometimes this results in something suggestive of the classic recipe. In other cases, it's hard to puzzle what the new dish has in common with the old. It is conceivable that a deconstructed hollandaise may be butter, an egg, and a lemon, arrayed on a plate for you to play with.
[caption id="attachment_42275" align="alignnone" width="480"]
Deconstructed apple pie.[/caption]
I do not believe that the deconstruction vogue will last much longer. It's one of those ideas that is intellectually titillating at first, but loses its appeal after you've seen too many examples of it. Already, fifteen years after I first encountered the concept, it has become a rarity on restaurant menus. Good riddance, say I.
Written by Tom Fitzmorris July 24, 2014 11:01 in
