I was talking with Sean about low country cooking, oysters, hot sauce and Saltine crackers. My mind jumped and I found myself pondering a Saltine puree with oysters. I felt it might be too heavy. What about Saltine pudding pearls? I set about testing the process and failed miserably in front of an audience. I ended up with noodles, extremely dense noodles, of Saltines.
Still,
I was not going to let this one get away. I made a much lighter Saltine base. The flavor was still intense, although it tasted more focused than my original version. That is the beauty of failure. We get a chance to rethink and correct our mistakes.
Yesterday the Saltine pearls worked perfectly. While my initial idea was to pair the pearls with oysters, I took another path. I thought about after school snacks, for me there was jam spread on Saltines, a way to curb hunger and pass the time. I really enjoy the combination of salty and sweet. With that in mind we set about creating a raspberry base which we could form into similar pearls. In this case, failure was not an option.
The result was magnificent. We have tiny pebbles of Saltines and raspberry jam which may be eaten individually and together. I opted to take the two flavors and use them to compliment peekytoe crab meat which we flavored with tarragon. At first glance you may think that we perhaps we are stretching. The doubt is whisked away with the first bite. The different bites are salty, sweet, tart, herbal and redolent of the ocean. It brings to mind hot summer afternoons under a clear blue sky. The dish is quite simply delicious.
