Trendwatch: Grilled cheese sandwiches and French fries to go upscale
The grilled cheese sandwich will be the new hamburger, and French fry menus that allow customers to choose the cut and crispiness of their spuds will become all the rage next year, according to the crystal ball predictions of a food trendspotter.
‘Tis the season for industry analysts to presage what's expected to be hot in the food industry next year. Following on the heels of Baum + Whiteman last month, San Francisco-based trendspotter Andrew Freeman & Co. released its annual forecast for 2012 last week, singling out childhood favorite the grilled cheese sandwich as a menu item that will undergo adult makeovers for more sophisticated palates.
The humble grilled cheese sandwich, traditionally made with slices of processed cheese, will appear on menus from fast-casual to high-end restaurants in varying degrees of dress, the report says.
Grown-up versions could involve stuffing the sandwich with layers of premium cheeses like Spanish Manchego, Fontina, Brie, or Smoked Gouda and adding embellishments like caramelized Belgian endive, figs, or Jamón Serrano (dry-cured Spanish ham).
Bread may also get promoted from standard sliced white bread to Brioche, olive focaccia or sourdough.
Meanwhile, the Freeman report also declares 2012, ‘the year of the potato' and foresees innovative restaurateurs and spud trucks allowing customers to choose the cut, crispness and sauce they want with every order.
Custom-made ‘mashers' would also allow customers to create their own mashed potatoes with different mix-ins, in the same way frozen yogurt and ice cream bars allow customers to create their own flavor.
In the Baum + Whiteman report, analysts likewise said more adventurous consumers are demanding that comfort foods -- which became popular following the fallout from the global recessions -- offer more than just a full stomach on the cheap.
"Crisis foods" like macaroni and cheese, for example, are being reinvented with pork rillettes or with chicharrones -- crunchy fried pork rinds popular in Latin America. Cream and cheese-coated pasta carbonara is being rejigged with meatballs, snails and chorizo, while hamburgers -- which the group admitted they had prematurely predicted would go bust this year -- are being stuffed with everything from head cheese (a terrine made with bits of meat from the cow or pig's head) to bone marrow and Cajun crawfish.
The Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Academy, run by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, offers a website dedicated solely to this childhood classic, with grown-up recipes that revamp the sandwich with interesting flavor pairings that go beyond the standard ham and cheese.
‘The Perry,' for instance, is an open-faced sandwich made with blue cheese, Port wine-braised pears, and candied almond slices on a piece of Brioche bread.
There's also ‘The Brasserie,' slices of country French bread stuffed with Brie, braised short ribs and pickled red onions.
