One of the top ten food trends for 2016 is the “burned movement”—including all types of smoked, charred and burnt items. Market research from Technomic shows a 61% rise in use of the word burned and a 19% rise in use of the word smoked on restaurant menus.
This trend is not reserved to just meats, as items menued include eclectic desserts with burnt sugar toppings and cocktails with smoked ice, smoked salt, or smoky syrups. Far and away the most significant use of this trend on menus is with burnt vegetables. This ties into another trend for 2016…vegetables as the main dish.
With the elevation of the vegetable to the main plate, chefs have started to use the same care and preparation methods that they normally reserved for meat. Gone are the soggy sides of green beans swimming in butter, now replaced with fresh, caramelized charred asparagus, lightly seasoned. Or, enjoy a delicious ear of yellow corn with seasoned butter dripping across the dark grill marks.
The opportunities are endless and while vegetables are the main focus of this trend the possibilities for other courses abound for this searing hot trend.
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