Bitterness gives a dish complexity and definition. It cuts through, it leaves its mark, and it brings subtle notes when handled with a gentle touch. It even acts as a counterweight: bitterness balances sweetness and umami, and pairs beautifully with briny flavours. The challenge with bitterness: knowing how to measure it so that it does not overpower every other flavour. With Sylvestre Wahid, formerly the two-star chef of his eponymous restaurant at the Hôtel Thoumieux in Paris, our bottarga and our black lemon bring this balance to his dish of Maison DEHESA octopus and white asparagus.
Bitterness, a flavour often poorly mastered
It can sweep everything away in its path, yet bitterness can be a true source of pleasure in a dish. Sylvestre Wahid, who “adores the natural saltiness of produce”, chose our Maison DEHESA grey mullet bottarga to accompany the briny flavours of our octopus, with its authentic flavour and incredible tenderness. Here, bitterness is approached with the utmost delicacy, alongside white asparagus. “Bitterness is a taste we rarely work with, or one that is poorly mastered. Yet it is very good when it is mastered,” he says. To do it justice, everything is a question of balance, “not too much, but there mustn’t be too little either”, the chef insists.
Our bottarga, for a balanced bitterness
Thanks to Maison DEHESA’s slow maturation, our bottarga reveals a discreet bitterness, with no dominant saltiness. A quality the chef recognises: “this bottarga isn’t too salty, and it has just the right level of bitterness”, he sums up. A key element of the dish, lifting the octopus and the mild asparagus, the bottarga brings the “perfect” balance.
From our range of bottarga, the chef opted for the sliced King Size. A bottarga that reveals briny and bitter notes, with an extraordinary candied fruit paste texture. A jewel of the seas, honoured in all its splendour and tradition thanks to a deliberate choice: every female mullet is caught at maturity. And we work the King Size roe pouches with great delicacy, taking all the time they need. A slow maturation over two months that also avoids the excessive saltiness some bottarga on the market can have.
The bitterness of our black lemon as a finishing touch
To season this dish built around bitterness, two-star chef Sylvestre Wahid chose to add, as a final note, our Maison DEHESA organic black lemon, ground to a powder. Its particularity? An acidity reminiscent of our aged Pedro Ximénez vinegar, joined to the bitterness of the citrus that nestles in its peel. Flavours that burst forth thanks to our slow natural fermentation process, inspired by the black lemon tradition of Iran.
Find all our products in our shop, and experience bitterness for yourself with our bottargas, as unique in their textures as in their flavours. No astringency, no overpowering salt! Gentleness itself.