Botanically, the eggplant is a berry, but culinarily it resides firmly in vegetable territory. That makes it challenging to incorporate into a dessert, says Beacon Tavern pastry chef Kevin McCormick, who was tasked with just that by Kymberli DeLost (the Gage, Acanto, the Dawson). “It doesn’t have a lot of flavor on its own, but you can manipulate it in a million different ways,” McCormick says. “Every manipulation gives us a different quality of the eggplant itself.”
McCormick also made a sunflower seed streusel, which he says adds texture and toasty flavor, and raisins soaked in riesling (for a sweet-tart flavor). Eggplant wouldn’t be his first choice for a dessert ingredient, McCormick says, but he was pleased with the result. “We get a lot of layers and depth with all the different elements. It’s got characteristics of a carrot cake, but you get some of those vegetal notes, a lot of spice.”
