John Harrison, the official taste tester for Edy’s Grand Ice Cream
Any meal that’s worth eating should be an orchestration of flavors wherein the various components compliment rather than compete. Making sure that this happens is as much about etiquette as it is flavor for those who are really serious about food.

Probably the best example of this is wine; a drink that most people carefully coordinate with the meal they’re serving. If dinner is steak or pasta with red sauce, you’ve more than likely got a bottle of red wine on the table. If it’s chicken or pasta with white sauce, odds are you’re drinking white.

Here’s something else to consider. What ice cream should you serve at the end of that meal? Last week, I had a chance to talk with a guy who had no trouble answering that question. He’s John Harrison, the official taste tester for Edy’s Grand Ice Cream. Possessing a gifted palate for all that’s dairy, he studies and critiques ice cream flavors with a sophistication characteristic of the most refined wine tasters.

So, if you’ve ever wondered what ice cream to serve, wonder no more. Here’s what he had to say about the flavors he would eat after the following meals.

Surf and Turf

“I think you’d want to go with an orange sorbet or an orange sherbet. You’ve got the heavier beef along with the rich seafood flavor that you get with something like lobster. The sorbet or sherbet would help clean the palate, and they’ve been used for that purpose for some time.”

Pasta w/ Red Sauce

“Pasta is a clean product. I would celebrate that meal with a desert that stayed in the area of vanilla. You might even want to add a red topping to it; perhaps strawberry or raspberry. You might as well carry that color and flavor combination into your white vanilla.”

Pasta w/ White Sauce

“If you’re eating something like Alfredo, than you’ve got something that’s quite heavy and creamy. In that case, you’re looking to finish off that meal with something that will compliment that flavor note. You don’t want anything too heavy, but you should choose a flavor that has a bit of a bite to it. That said, I would go with a mint chocolate chip here.”

Baked Chicken

“With something like baked chicken you have a lot more flexibility in flavors. Cookies and crème or marble fudge would work very well. Coffee ice cream would also go well with baked chicken—and even barbeque chicken for that matter.”

Mexican

“If you’ve just finished eating Mexican then you’re going to want something that can put out the fire. In that case, your basic vanilla would be quite nice. I would even add a good caramel to top it off.”

Chinese

“To close out a dinner of Chinese food, there are a couple of flavors that are simply no-brainers. For instance, here at Edy’s we produce a green tea ice cream. Now, it’s not quite as sweet as most other flavors because of the tannic acid that’s in tea, but it’s a great flavor for those who enjoy green tea.

Another great flavor following a Chinese or other Asian-style meal is almond, especially considering that many restaurants give you almond cookies at the end of the meal. A third choice is cherry, which is actually very popular in Japan.”

Clearly, the choice of a desert to compliment a meal is important. Happy eating!