Fruit in savoury dishes

Herbie

Herbie

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My husband is rather anti fruit in savoury dishes.

He can't understand the fruit sauces served with mackerel and with roasted meat, for example, and was horrified at the thought of a prawn salad with mango, and apple in a Waldorf salad.

I've pointed out to him he likes citrus with some seafood (I have a dish for the lime challenge). And he likes chutney and hot banana sauce (but I suppose that is more savoury by the time it mixed with spices and vinegar).

Scabbard fish served with grilled banana in Madeira is a delicious combination.

I'm not counting tomatoes and avocados ;)

What are your thoughts on fruit in savoury dishes?
 
We make chicken salad with green grapes, almond, and a curry spiced mayo sauce. Also, we've used cherry and peach compote type sauces with pork and poultry. Although not technically part of the dish, we serve melon and/or strawberries and/or kiwis with grilled chicken with a 3 (sometimes 4) mustard sauce. The fruit was the recommended side, although sometimes we'll just serve home fried potatoes with the dish. Plus, the onion and grape sauce that I made to go with chicken for the recent chicken challenge.

I don't get the Waldorf comment as apple is an integral part of that dish. It's not a Waldorf salad if it doesn't have apple in it. ??
 
Mr K would agree with Herbie's husband. Won't have anything fruity or sweet near his savoury food. Whereas I love it. I remember going to a friend's birthday meal as a teenager and her mother served us the most amazing creamy chicken dish with peaches in. It was a revelation to me as I'd never had anything like it. I'd always enjoyed the pineapple slice on my gammon if we'd had a rare meal out (1970's!)but that was it.
 
I don't have an issue about this but it depends, of course on the combination. Lots of Persian dishes use fruit with meat - as do North African tagines. Fruit with fish and shellfish is more tricky although there are many tried and tested combinations such as the classic Sole Veronique (grapes) or as you mentioned @Herbie, mango with seafood.
 
medtran49 said:
We make chicken salad with green grapes, almond, and a curry spiced mayo sauce.
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Me too! I suppose it's Waldorf salad morphing into Coronation Chicken but it all works for me.

I often make fruit based sauces to accompany game or dark meats. Thanks to this thread I now feel the urge to knock up something over Easter that involves lamb and sloe gin.
 
The most spectacular fruits with savory applications, I think, are blueberries and blackberries. Cook these down to form a barbecue sauce, like @detroitdad's Blueberry BBQ Sauce, and you'll wonder if you'll ever want anything else. @Herbie: if you want get him to try fruits in a savory dish, make the sauce, serve it, ask how he likes it (which I can't imagine he wouldn't), then congratulate him on how much he enjoys fruit in the savory preparation you just made. :whistling:

I use skulduggery like this with my family. My wife wouldn't have wanted cauliflower in the Cauliflower Tater Tots I made yesterday, so I didn't tell her. She tried them and loved them, and then I told her. She said she wished I hadn't told her there was cauliflower in it, but she still loved them! :laugh:
 
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I love dried cranberries and walnuts in chicken salad.

Or dried or fresh berries with goat cheese on a spring mix salad that includes some bitter greens.

Mango salsa on grilled fish or chicken is a favourite summer dish.

I make a pork loin end roast with apples where the apples become part of the gravy after a long cook, but it isn't particulary sweet.
 
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