Miso to Amplify Sweetness

A spoonful of mild white (shiro) miso does more than season a sweet purée: its salt and glutamates push the perceived sweetness of the sweet potato forward, so the dish tastes more intensely of itself. The trick is restraint. Blend the miso into the warm roasted flesh, then taste before adding any further salt, because miso already carries plenty. Too much flattens the very sweetness you are trying to spotlight; the right amount makes it sing. On Top Chef, the judges singled out this contrast of salty and sweet as the reason the plate worked, calling the miso the element that made the sweet potatoes sing.