A pescatarian dish can quickly tip out of balance. Too much acidity makes it sharp, too much richness makes it heavy and too much umami makes it dense. Balance appears when the three pull against one another.
Scampi ceviche is a good example of acidity as lift. It needs to be fresh rather than sour. If the acidity dominates, the sweetness of the scampi is lost. Without enough salt it becomes flat, and without richness or sweetness around it the dish can feel too tight.
Lemon butter works from the opposite direction. It begins with richness and roundness but stays awake through lemon. With monkfish it can bring both substance and freshness. When the butter takes over, however, the fish becomes merely an excuse for sauce. That is not the idea. The fish still needs the leading role.
Seaweed pesto can connect sea and garden. It brings depth to dishes with ravioli, ricotta, nuts and ceviche. The marine character of the seaweed needs careful judging so that it does not overpower delicate ingredients. It should be the bass line rather than the siren.
At Kromans this works particularly well as practical learning because the differences can be tasted directly. You adjust the ceviche, taste the lemon butter and see how seaweed pesto changes a dish. This is not theory in a tie. It is tasting with spoons, forks and a little kitchen music in the background.
The social setting also improves the balance. One person notices the acidity, another misses richness and a third thinks the seaweed pesto is slightly too assertive. The dish then becomes better, not because somebody was right from the outset, but because several people tasted their way forward together.
