Flavors of Fall

Chefs turn toward heartier dishes with local autumn ingredients and preserved summertime finds

By Kathryn Kjarsgaard

With an increased interest in specialty seasonal ingredients and easier access to farms and farmer’s markets, there is no need for restaurants to transition to a fall menu simply by adding a few pumpkin and apple dishes. Instead, many fall menus today highlight ingredients that showcase a wider array of seasonal fruits, vegetables and proteins as well as finds from the summertime harvest that can be easily dried or pickled.

Still, ever-changing growing seasons and weather do affect the availability and selection of ingredients in fall months, according to Shaun Brian Sells, executive chef of Parcel 32, Charleston, S.C.

“Chefs have to approach their fall menu differently depending on where they are located in the country,” he says. “I try to access the full seasonality of Charleston, and we use all local purveyors, farmers and fishermen and women.”

Leonard Hollander, chef/owner of Arbor in Chicago, spreads out the use of ingredients from the fall through the winter months.

“The biggest struggle is to avoid giving in to exhausting the larder,” he says. “There is a long winter ahead, and the ingredients get really thin so I try to avoid jumping into things too early in the fall.”

Changing it up

At Arbor, Hollander changes the menus quarterly, seasonally or even daily depending on the impact of the weather on harvests.

“I seek to not repeat,” he says. “I do revisit the ‘crush’ dishes of years past, but they are always viewed through a new lens.”

Sells, who sources many ingredients through GrowFood Carolina, a Charleston-based food hub that connects restaurants with 85 local farmers throughout South Carolina, changes menu items in twos and not all at once to avoid scaring away customers and keep things interesting in the kitchen.

“You can go for two weeks with one seasonal ingredient, and then have summer squash for four months, so there is a lot of versatility,” he says. “By adding new dishes every two weeks, by the time you go through the seasons, you have gone through all the ingredients, trends and techniques.”

Perennial favorites

On fall menus, Hollander like to utilize squash, apples, pears and other seasonal produce.

“I enjoy the perennial and expected delights that we all get so excited about with fall produce and techniques like braising and slow cooking using these warming and richer foods,” he says. “Single-varietal apple and non-alcoholic pear ciders and the fun items and products that come from them allow you to see how the nuances follow through to the end product.”

Hollander says he leans heavily into cauliflower, celery root, mushrooms and heirloom squashes in the fall with favorite apples being Mutsu and Senshu. He also uses a lot of roasted nuts like hazelnuts, pecans and pistachios as well as fruits and herbs from the summer that have been dried.

In terms of protein, Hollander uses braising cuts, with oxtail and short ribs of beef and bison as autumn favorites. “I also love goat for fall, and I don't use it enough,” he says.

At Parcel 32, Sells can utilize vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower from summer through the fall, as they are ready for harvest in the South earlier in the season. “Some farmers get two or three harvests of these vegetables,” he says.

He also tries to be mindful of what people think of as seasonal. “I always use pumpkin, such as Hubbard or Kabocha squash, which I refer to as hard fall squash,” says Sells, who makes a silky pumpkin soup with an onion base, sofrito sauce, white wine, coconut milk, thyme and local ginger. It is topped with local yogurt and spiced pumpkin seeds.

Unexpected autumn ingredients

At Parcel 32, Sells uses many pickled ingredients to add interest and cut down on food waste. “Pickling lets you preserve what is plentiful in the season,” says Sells. “You can also ferment items for hot sauce or make them into a miso or vinegar.”

He does a lot of foraging in the fall, particularly for chanterelles, and then, as the winter approaches, he plucks oyster and chicken of the woods mushrooms.

A favorite fall offering is tea timebrined chicken with cassava dumplings, which features pickled mushrooms, wilted kale and dumplings made with cassava. When it comes to proteins, Sells says he rotates fish seasonally, sourcing triggerfish and trout in the fall.

Fall desserts

Parcel 32 offers a selection of desserts with fall ingredients, such as zucchini dark chocolate cake with blackberry sauce. Sells says they offered a pumpkin blondie last fall, and this year may create a pumpkin panna cotta or curd.

“A real favorite of customers is our green tomato pie, which we offer in the summer and fall,” he says. “The flavor is like a green apple, and we spice it like an apple pie. We serve it with buttermilk ice cream on top.”