Ice-cream based treat is city’s signature dish
An ice cream containing Italian meringue with honey, nougat and fruit confit on a red berries sorbet is Orlando’s Signature Dish.
Chef Catherine Delrieu’s Honey Nougat Glacé was one of 10 desserts from Central Florida centered on honey for the competition sponsored by Visit Orlando. Delrieu’s win was announced Thursday during the tourism marketing agency’s end-of-year industry meeting and luncheon.
Delrieu, chef at Mon Petit Cheri Cafe in Winter Park, moved to the United States from France about three years ago. She said it took her awhile to understand and adapt to American tastes. The Honey Nougat Glacé was designed to satisfy a sweet tooth while offering contrasting flavors and textures.
About 30 minutes after the announcement, Del-
rieu was still in shock.
“It’s indescribable,” she said.
Honey is a $27 million industry in Florida, with 17 million pounds of honey produced each year. The signature dessert highlights this local ingredient while also giving Orlando visitors something to indulge in, said Visit Orlando’s President and CEO George Aguel. Other restaurants can serve their own interpretation of the dish, he said.
“We have a history, a story now to educate people,” Aguel said of the dessert.
About a year ago, the search for a signature dish was suggested by Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs, who was inspired by a bite of a Philly cheesesteak on a visit to Philadelphia. A panel of chefs and food experts was initially brought together to design the food, but the search soon turned into a competition.
“I thought this was a simple task — I had no idea,” Jacobs said during Thursday’s Visit Orlando presentation.
In August, local chefs were asked to create an original honey dessert. Local voters had a chance to taste and vote for the creations, which were available at the participating chefs’ restaurants.
About 30 desserts were submitted, including cakes, tarts, cheesecakes, pies, baklavas, ice creams and even a gelato float. The Top 10 candidates were then presented to a panel of judges that included celebrity chef Art Smith, co-editor of Dessert Professional magazine Tish Boyle, local restaurant critic Scott Joseph and myself in November.
Even though Vincent Gagliano’s “Honeymoon” dish of honey and pine nut ice cream on a French meringue didn’t win, the importance of this moment wasn’t lost on the chefowner of Chez Vincent in Winter Park. Friends with Delrieu, Gagliano first told her about the search for a signature dish.
“A lot of people think of Orlando and never think of the culinary scene,” Gagliano said. “This will bring the culinary scene to the table.”