IDEAS IN FOOD

December 31, 2008

New Year's Eve 2008

Popcorn Gelato
smoked wild char roe, lime crisps


Quail Spring Roll
date-onion, mango pickle


Cold Smoked Lobster
peanuts, Grenada pepper vinaigrette, papaya


Nantucket Bay Scallops
powdered lardo, celery root, onion syrup


Walnut Soup
pickled kasha, Japanese eel, marjoram


Parsnip Porridge
black truffles


Ricotta Dumplings
shrimp bolognese


Octopus
sweet and sour potato noodles, pear puree, blis elixer


Chicken Liver and Kimchi Terrine
puffed cilantro


Skirt Steak
butter pecans, eggplant-treacle, consomme


Fourme d’Ambert
red grapes, smoked port syrup, arugula


Sliced Chocolate
cherry-olive compote, white chocolate-beer ice cream

The Cooked Yolk

The egg yolk encased in a gellan skin cooked up wonderfully. The yolk is easily handled and in this form it allows us to cook an extremely runny egg yolk and not have to worry about it breaking during plating. The next evolution is encasing the egg yolks in a smoked skin. Those should be ready by the new year.

Pretzel Macaron

I was immediately inspired by Linda's work with brioche macarons to explore new forms for familiar flavors. We were already working with a number of flours so her post proved timely. My first idea involved pretzels. I made a few mistakes in our initial evolution. These mistakes detracted from the exact replication of a French macaron rather than the flavor and texture of the delicate cookie. I planned on a beer ganache for the filling though some miscalculations led to a delicious ice cream base instead. For now I am happily eating these tender pretzel bites and searching for other applications: parsnip, onion, ginger, carrot to name a few.

Egg Yolk

Continuing the thought process of encapsulation we did a bit of research on egg yolks. There is a good amount of calcium in egg yolks. This bit of information presented the question about whether we would be able to encapsulate an egg yolk. It took a bit longer for the calcium in the yolk to react with the gellan bath though the end result is a thin skin which allows the yolk to be handled and moved and in theory to be poached in its new skin. The next steps are flavoring the skin and seeing if we may make smaller egg yolks, perhaps the size of small gnocchi.

Potato and Apple Gratin

If you know a bit of French the combination of apples and potatoes makes all kinds of sense. We thinly slice apples and potatoes and layer them brushed with a pecorino and garlic seasoned cream. We then place the mix in a vacuum bag and cook the gratin base sous vide for an hour at 84 degrees C. Once the base is cooked we cool it down, press it and then slice and portion it into planks. The planks of gratin may then be seared or broiled to serve. Initially we planned to pair this gratin with braised short ribs. In actual eating of the complete dish we have restructured the idea. Now we are working on seeing if we may find a home for this earthy and tart gratin.

In a Nut Shell

What is our philosophy? What do we go about every day? We are looking for delicious. Anything and everything to support delicious. Delicious is about aesthetics, delicious is about taste, delicious is about emotions, delicious is about the ability to produce the food. Now we are getting somewhere. Our efforts, our creative attempts, our scientific approach is to allow for delicious, to highlight and elevate delicious. Without delicious there is no point.

The 12 Questions of Christmas

Why is mozzarella elastic?

Where do ideas come from?

At what temperature does collagen begin to denature and turn into gelatin?

Is it delicious?

What allows for balance?

If we have a better understanding of the ingredients and the process can we make better food?

What does your gut say?

Did you smile?

What is necessary?

What is extraneous?

Do you know why?

Can you say yes?

Thank You

Two words, two syllables, mountains of meaning. We would like to utter these words to those we know and those that know us and take the time to visit with us and share ideas. Happy Holidays and thank you.

Researching Taste

Learning about how taste works may help us become better cooks. I know it certainly makes me think more about the combination of flavors and how they are received. In looking at umami and its reception some new paths may open up. Understanding allows for more questions to be asked and hopefully more delicious food.

Onion Flour

Realizing that anything can be flour and looking at your cooking with the hopes of producing and creating useable flours is the difference between an idea and execution. We were making onion syrup and a bi-product of juicing a kilogram of onions is five hundred grams of onion pulp. We spread the pulp out and placed it in a low oven to dry out. It turned bright pink, a result of oxidation. The flavor of the onion is intense and rich. We ground the dried onion pulp in the blender to create a fine powder and then added some cornstarch to give it stucture and dilute the bold onion flavor. The initial plan is to use it in a tempura batter for onion rings, though it might be nice in a fish and chip batter or even in an onion brioche.

This is Important

If you could meet one person...

In Memoriam, Marie DeRiso

 Growing up I was lucky enough to have a Mom, an Aunt Marie and an Uncle Steve. Three parents instead of one or two, which was difficult to explain to the other kids at school and incredibly lucky for me. Through all of the ups and downs of the last 35 years they have always been there for me, constants in an ever changing life. This past Monday, December 15, 2008, Aunt Marie passed away. It was sudden and very quick, which would have made her happy and she got to spend time with Whitney Amaya before it happened, which is a comfort to us all. She was incredibly excited about her new grand daughter, bubbling over with joy and excitement. She will be greatly missed although per her instructions we will do our best not to mourn and instead celebrate the life she had and the person she was.

Auntie was adopted as a child and because of this she understood better than most that family is as much a choice as it is an inheritance. She had love and good will enough for everyone and was gifted at listening to people and finding ways to give them what they needed. It was amazing to see the number of people from her past who came to the wake last evening and hear their stories about how she touched their lives with her willingness to share a smile or a helping hand. Aunt Marie was the kind of woman who willingly went without in order to share with someone else and she firmly believed that happiness and laughter were meant to be shared at every opportunity. 

She was an easy woman to love and a very difficult one to say goodbye to. We will remember her always and she will live on in hearts. Whitney Amaya may not remember knowing her Aunt Marie, she will always know that she was loved by her, as were we all. Marie's stories will live on for as long as we do.

 

To cry

A beautiful woman passes away.

Our lives are framed with tears: tears of joy, tears of sorrow, tears of pain, tears of pleasure.

Today we shed tears to celebrate your life and happiness.

I felt afraid when you died. I felt angry your life was too short. I felt sad and a hollow void appeared. The void was large, larger than life, a giant cavern of emptiness. I started to think of you: your smile, your laugh, and your ability to light up a room.

I felt joy when I began to let your beautiful memories flow through me. The space in our hearts for you is large. It needs to be this big to hold all the memories you helped create.

You changed our lives with love.

Thank you Marie, these words only scratch the surface of your radiance, your strength, your love, your passion, your joy, and your happiness, which you gave to us openly. We can only hope to live up to the example you have set and with your memories, your teachings and lessons we have a fighting chance.

This is not good-bye it is the awkward introduction to a new place, which your love has decorated for us and turned on the lights so we feel welcome and at ease.

We love you and miss you.

On Food

Often times I may make too literal an interpretation of what is written and then begin to box myself in. I need to understand the literal and open the door to possibilities as well as look at the broad and apply it to the literal. In understanding these two views we are able to expand an approach to ingredients and explore tastes and textures which may be overlooked. What ingredients and techniques allow us to make these manipulations and leaps in possibilities and executions?

Bone in Short Ribs

Cooking short ribs on the bone produced the results we were looking for. We are able to keep the shape and structure of short ribs while still allowing them to be cleaned of sinew and imperfections. The cold weather is upon us and we will be looking at preparations to compliment the short ribs without taking over the entire dish. When summer roles around again we will revisit this approach and a fresh tomato stew we worked on when we were at Sean's. This approach to bone in might prove exciting with pork and veal ribs as well.

Lobster, young leeks, goat cheese dumplings, smoked plum condiment

This is a recipe we have been working on for a bit.The various elements may be made in stages and brought together or used as accents to other creations.

Lobster

8 566 gram lobsters

Place the lobsters in a large container or pot. Cover the lobsters with water. Place this amount of water into a pot and bring to a boil. Pour the boiling water over the lobsters and let them set for one minute. Remove the lobsters from the water and quickly cut the tails off the lobsters with a pairing knife. Return the lobster bodies with claws attached to the hot water and let them set another two minutes. After two minutes, remove the body and claw sections and place on a sheet pan. Working quickly remove the tail meat from the shells and pull out the digestive track which runs down the middle of the tail. Rinse the tails under cool water to remove any albumen or other particles then pat dry. Place the cleaned tails in a container and then loosely cover with plastic wrap. Place the container in a bowl filled with ice to expedite the cooling process. Break the knuckle sections off of the lobster claws and use a pair of kitchen shears to cut though the shells. Remove the claw meat in one piece. Rinse the claw meat quickly under cool water and pat dry. Place the claw meat in the same container as the tail meat. Use the kitchen shears to cut the shell off of the lobster knuckles. Remove the meat and rinse any impurities off of the knuckles under cool running water. Reserve the cleaned knuckles in the container with tails and claws. Once the lobster meat is ice cold, cover the lobster meat tightly with plastic wrap

Lobster Stock and Concentrate

8 reserved lobster heads
815 grams water
795 grams canned San Marzano tomatoes
740 grams red Chianti
120 grams soy sauce

Remove the outer shell from the lobster heads. Use a small spoon to scrape the gills off of the lobster head. Cut off the eyes and rinse the heads under cold water. Use a meat mallet to smash the heads and then place them in a pressure cooker. Add the water, tomatoes, Chianti and soy sauce. Seal the pressure cooker and cook on high pressure for thirty minutes. Let the pressure release naturally. Remove the lid from the pressure cooker and let the stock rest for twenty more minutes. Remove the solids from the pressure cooker and then strain the stock through four layers of cheesecloth. Place the strained stock into a pot and  reduce the liquid by half. Strain the reduced lobster stock through four layers of cheesecloth and place in a metal bowl set in an ice bath. When the reduced stock is cool, place it in the refrigerator and let it rest overnight. The following day decant the lobster stock through four layers of cheesecloth, stopping as soon as the sediment gets close to the edge of the bowl. Discard the sediment and the small amount of stock it resides in. Reserve the lobster concentrate.

 

Goat Cheese Dumplings

300g fresh goat cheese
200g fresh ricotta
36g egg yolk
3.5g salt
.25g cayenne
5.38g activa y-g (1%)

 Place all ingredients in a Paco Jet canister.  Put the four bladed cold preparation blade in place and process the mixture once with the blue air valve pressed in.  This is done to prevent excess air from being incorporated into the mixture.  When the cycle is done, remove the canister and scrape the inside walls to bring the entire mixture together.  Put the canister and blade back on the Paco Jet and process one more time with the blue air valve pressed in.  When the second cycle has finished, remove the canister from the machine and place the mixture into a squeeze bottle.

Spray the inside of the magnetic sphere mold with pan spray and then with a dry paper towel wipe clean.  The fine film remaining will ease the un-molding process.  Close the sphere molds and then fill each cavity through the top opening by extruding the goat cheese mixture into the opening.  Fill all the spheres and then tap the plastic mold on the counter to force out any air bubbles.  If the cavities empty during this process, top them off with any remaining apparet.  Loosely cover the top of the sphere mold with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 18 hours.

Remove the mold from the refrigerator and carefully remove the top section of the magnetic mold.  The spheres will have set and there will be a small extension on each sphere from the fill hole.  Use a pairing knife to cut this cheese extension off of each sphere.  Once the spheres are trimmed, gently remove each sphere from the mold and place in a shallow container.  Cover the container and reserve in  the refrigerator.

To serve, gently warm the spheres in simmering water to heat through.  Once the spheres are hot, remove them from the water and place them in the pan with the appropriate sauce and glaxe.

Young leeks

8 young leeks 2 cm in diameter
water
salt

Trim the leeks of the dark green parts and so they 15 cm long. Peel the layers of leek down so that the leek is 1.25 cm in diameter. The leek will be white at the bottom and a pale green towards the top. Fill a pot with water and add salt. Blanch the leeks two at a time for three minutes then transfer the leeks to an ice bath and cool them down completely. When the leeks are cold, remove them from the water and pat them dry on paper towels. Lay the leeks out on a flat tray and reserve covered in the refrigerator.

Smoked plum-prune condiment

225 grams Italian plums, pits removed
140 grams French prunes, pits removed
50 grams balsamic vinegar
3 grams salt

Turn on the smoker and add the wood chunks. Let the wood burn for five minutes to allow the impurities to burn off the wood.  Open the smoker and release the initial smoke. Place the plums and prunes in a shallow pan. Place the pan in a smoker and smoke the fruit for forty-five minutes. Remove the fruit from the smoker and place into a pan large enough to hold the fruit. Add the salt and the balsamic vinegar to the pan.  Cover the pot and cook the smoked fruits until they are soft and broken down and the vinegar becomes absorbed into the plums and prunes. When the fruit is cooked, cool it down and then finely chop the stewed fruit into a fine mince, just short of a complete paste. Reserve the smoked plum-prune condiment.

Lobster Smoked Prune-Plum Puree

400 grams lobster concentrate
400 grams smoked plum-prune condiment

Place the lobster concentrate and the smoked plum-prune condiment in the blender and puree for five minutes until the mixture is silky and smooth. Remove the puree from the blender and pass it through a chinois. To remove the air incorporated by blending the puree, place the puree in a container so that it comes only one third of the way up the sides. Place the puree filled container in the chamber of the vacuum machine and close the lid.  The vacuum pulled on the chamber will begin to pull the air bubbles out of the puree. The puree will begin to climb the sides of the container and when it comes to just below the edge of the rim, shut the machine off. The chamber will then fill with air again and the puree will shrink back down in the dish having dispelled many of its air bubbles.  This process should be repeated until the puree loses 95% of its air bubbles and changes from pale chocolate to an intense brown in color. Once the first batch puree is free of air bubbles, remove it from the container and reserve in a bain marie or other suitable storage container.  Repeat the process with any remaining puree.  Reserve the lobster-prune puree in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Lobster Sauce

300 grams lobster concentrate
0.3 grams xanthan gum
100 grams butter

Cut the butter into small cubes and keep cold. Place the lobster concentrate in a blender and turn the speed on low. Increase the speed until a vortex forms in the blender. Sprinkle in the xanthan gum and increase the speed to shear in the hydrocolloid. Turn the blender off and strain the lobster concentrate through a chinois. To remove the air incorporated by blending the concentrate, place it in a container so that it comes only one third of the way up the sides. Place the concentrate filled container in the chamber of the vacuum machine and close the lid.  The vacuum pulled on the chamber will begin to pull the air bubbles out of the concentrate. The concentrate will begin to climb the sides of the container and when it comes to just below the edge of the rim, shut the machine off. The chamber will then fill with air again and the concentrate will shrink back down in the dish having dispelled many of its air bubbles.  This process should be repeated until the concentrate loses 95% of its air bubbles and changes from pale airy mixture into the clear lobster concentrate. Place the concentrate into a pot and bring it to a simmer. Turn the heat down and slowly whisk the cold butter into the concentrate. The concentrate will thicken and become the color of a red stained café au lait. Place a lid on the pot and keep the sauce warm on a low flame.
 
To Assemble

Young Leeks
Lobster Meat
Goat Cheese dumplings
Lobster Sauce
Chives
Lobster Prune Plum Puree

Heat the lobster sauce in a pot large enough to hold the lobster meat, leeks and goat cheese dumplings. When the sauce is hot, add the tails and leeks. Cover the pot and keep on a low flame. Turn the leeks and the tails in the sauce so they are coated with the liquid and heat evenly. After five minutes add the dumplings and the claws to heat through. Meanwhile, heat the lobster prune-plum puree in a small pot. Remove the lobster meat and the leeks from the sauce and drain on paper towel. Trim the claws of the actual claw tips so that they are oval parcels of lobster meat. Add the sliced chives to the sauce with the goat cheese dumplings allowing them to be coated in chives and sauce. Open up each lobster tail and place a leek in the center. Close the tail around the leek. Place a spoonful of the lobster prune-plum puree in the center of each plate. Place a lobster and leek seam side down on the puree with the leek running through the center of the plate left to right. On the front left side of the lobster tail place one claw parcel. Remove the dumplings from the sauce and pat dry. Place one dumpling on the lobster claw parcel on the left, supported by the leek. On the right side of the tail place one dumpling in front of the leek and two dumplings behind the leek. Place the other lobster claw on top of the back dumplings and the leek. Strain the sauce to remove any excess chives. Spoon a bit of the lobtser sauce over the claws, dumplings and the tail.

A Passion For Food

I have been waiting, holding the cards close to my chest. Many may already know what I am about to reveal: John Sconzo, aka docsconz, aka our good good friend, has a blog. It is a chef's dream blog because it tells the tales from a passionate diner's point of view. John looks at food, dining, and cooking, not with an axe to grind, rather he is looking for the pleasure and joys of the experience. He is educated, opinionated, and eloquent.  We are thankful for all of these attributes. He shares the good, the bad, and the unusual experiences with an eye towards the celebration of food. John recently wrote about another of our friends, Eliot Wexler, and his restaurant NOCA in Scottsdale, Arizona. Eliot's place is inherently an extension of Eliot's incredible enthusiasm for food and dining for everyone to share. According to what we've heard the place exudes comfortable delisciousness. Eliot has dedicated the past several years, actually longer, to building and refining his experiences in order to share the best of what he loves about dining. For the details, check out John's write up and pictures or visit Eliot in person and tell him we say hello.

Rugelach Inspirations

Rugelach, not just for breakfast anymore.

Parsnip Porridge

In an extension of the idea that most anything can be flour, we have added parsnip porridge to our repertoire. We have worked with non-traditional grits in the past and our recent questions combined with a glut of parsnips led to the evolution of parsnip porridge. The parsnip flour is coarsely ground to resemble stone ground  cornmeal in order to bring texture and substance to the porridge. Alternatively we could grind the flour extremely fine and use it in breads, cakes, pastas, and even macaroons. The porridge is made by infusing cream with parsnip peels then adding the juice of parsnips and reducing until the mixture is nape. The liquid is strained and reserved. The pulp left from the juicing is dehydrated in a low oven until it is dry and crumbly with a light blond color. The dried parsnip pulp is then cooled and ground into the rough consistency of Cream of Wheat. We then combine the parsnip cream and the parsnip flour, adding a bit of half and half and water to adjust the consistency. Today we ate it with a drizzle of olive oil and some ground Tasmanian pepper. Tomorrow I am being sent out for Nantucket Bay scallops to see how they pair together. Aki is counting on a good match.

Walnut Soup

A work in progress may be exciting and equally daunting. The excitement comes from the initial spark, the idea, the first tastes, the tweaking of flavors and aesthetics. The daunting emerges in the integration and development of the final dish. The idea for walnut soup stemmed from my tastes for wet walnuts on ice cream sundaes. I wanted to capture the rich nuttiness of those nuts which are enriched with a dark caramel like syrup. We started by slowly roasting walnut halves until they were a foxy brown. Once the nuts were roasted we covered them with water and added barley malt syrup, cane syrup and salt. We stirred the mixture together and then placed the mix in the refrigerator for the nuts to soften and the flavors to blend. Initially, I planned on soaking the nuts for one day.

Time got away from me and the nuts soaked longer than I anticipated, five days. What happened in the extended soaking is that the flavors harmonized and the rich toasty nuts and the malt notes balanced while the tannic nature of the walnuts mellowed. We took the nuts and the infused water and pureed them together into a smooth soup. Once the mixture was completely smooth we strained it to remove any particles which avoided the blender blades. The finished soup captured the idea of the wet nuts, while still remaining grounded on the savory side of food.

With the soup complete, the accompaniments began to loom. Yesterday we worked with integrating our encapsulated yogurt and compressed celery slices. The crisp refreshing celery and the lactic tang of the yogurt both married extremely well with the soup. These additions worked, though I believe the soup, the finished soup, will go in another direction. Maybe that is the point. Perhaps we are discovering what we already knew. Create a base, a simple and tasty platform and then depending on the situation and scenario adjust the accompaniments to suit moods and appetites.

Jerky

Have you looked at beef jerky? The bags and sticks, the different flavors all lined up in manly packaging at your local convenience store begging to be purchased and devoured, chomped, torn, chewed, snacked upon, and savored. Sometimes it's eaten with purpose and  other times it is mindlessly consumed like some sort of natural chewing gum. People who are passionate about beef jerky truly adore it and will travel distances for prime specimes and go to the trouble of making their own. I must admit that I do not look at beef jerky in this way. I have been known to stick my nose up at jerky. Why would I want dried meat chunks and strips? What is the point? I did not really know because I had never really tried it. I just was not a jerky kind of guy. Still, in the back of my mind I knew I was missing something. Perhaps the gas station mystique of jerky helped me construct a wall of avoidance. Yet, I like dried things. Cured meat is good. And jerky is just a variation on the current salumi craze, which is the current pin up model of kitchens today. Jerky's key difference it where salumi is fat, jerky is slim. Knowing this distinction is important for the creation of jerky as well as for sparking ideas.

Aki is a jerky aficionado. She can remember all of her favorite variations, and is not a fan of teriyaki or peppered beef. She like real jerky with rich meaty flavor and the perfect dry, chewy texture. She has made jerky before. She waxes poetic about the beef jerky she made at NECI, although truth be told, I don't think that she's made any since those days. I do not have these memories. I have memories of dodging the Slim Jims that seemed to be ubiquitous. Then one day I took a leap of faith. I was gathering ingredients for a workshop and saw a bag of Jack Link's Teriyaki Tips and just picked them up. I had never noticed Jack Link's up until a few years ago when he stayed at Keyah Grande on a hunting trip. Let's just say the man loves his jerky and is happy to share his passion. I think he brought a duffel bag of all kinds of jerky for his hunting associates. With jerky in hand I let my mind wander. I first ripped into the bag and then tentatively took out a teriyaki tip and tasted. It was sweet, meaty, salty, rich, it was good. Surprisingly good, heck, I actually liked the darn stuff.

We have zested cured meats before like chorizo and country ham so why not try it with jerky? It works, jerky zest works. We paired the jerky zest with a hot spring egg, not much of a reach-steak and eggs. After eating the first iteration of this dish I knew we could do more. I also felt the idea of jerky, lean dried meat cured with flavorings from ketchup to hoisin, could be exciting. With new ideas came more questions. What else could be jerky: duck, lamb, salmon, tuna? What flavors could we explore? What else is lean and could be dried and prepared as jerky: apples, quince, turnips, pumpkin? With these assorted jerkys on hand what will be their role in our pantry: as themselves, ground, zested, powdered, as a flavor base, as a piece to be shaved like a truffle? With new ideas the understanding of the possibilites is still unknown. What we have is an exciting new road to explore with many stops along the way.

Vinegar: what the heck it this stuff?

We have made vinegars in the past though our knowledge of the process was more rumor and light research. In continuing down learning lane we realized that we needed to know more about what goes on in the vinegar barrel and the techniques to making an incredible pantry staple. Our findings, culled down to what we believe to be the vinegar essentials are documented in out most recent article Making Vinegar at Home.

There may be enough time left to get a barrel started in time to cook with over the holidays or at least to bottle and give as a gift which continues to give.

Not Knowing

It is without surprise I am reminded of how little we know. Plans, ideas, sketches, designs; they change. Not knowing is frightening, not knowing is invigorating, not knowing is hard work. It's like walking through thick brush without a map for finding a clearing or an oasis. The challenges and the stress of the situation lead to making discoveries, about the situation and about our ability to handle it.  Not every step is easy nor are they the same. Each experience, good and bad, must be lived, savored, and remembered. Not knowing leads to finding out, which in turn leads to a quest to learn more. What you discover from the experience of not knowing is up to you. Rushing along blindly leads to a lot of stubbed toes and cracked skulls. Taking the time to develop the skills to move slowly first and speed things up later is all part of the process. Learning to curb impatience and take the time needed to effectively learn from each new experience is priceless.

Whitney Amaya Talbot

December 6,2008 2:27 PM 3015 grams 49.5 cm

Balancing

How often does an ingredient capture your attention? These beautiful long stemmed artichokes caught our eyes. Unfortunately the price tag prohibited our purchase. I am concerned when markets bring in produce outside the norm and then attach seemingly inflated prices due to the obscurity factor. We saw others captured by the beauty of these artichokes only to discover they were not financially viable. In fact, these artichokes were most likely doomed to rot in the market rather than rewarding someones palate. Should we have taken the plunge and paid a premium to capitalize on an exceptional product? Upon reflection our choice was about balance. Understanding a need for balance is one small step in learning to improve.

Encapsulation: Are You Gellan?

Yesterday was revitalizing. Workshops tend to fuel my creative tank and yesterday's was no exception.  Working with giant rotary evaporators, large enough to hold Aki, to make clear sour cream and onion potato chips and the aroma of Dr. Pepper will often do that to you. Lately I have been intrigued by a new (to us) approach to the process of encapsulating liquids. In the just published book Under Pressure, the first recipe includes the process for making a mango yolk using Gellan merely sheared into a mango puree and dropped into a calcium bath. In the recipe, sodium hydroxymetaphosphate is also added to the mango, I believe as a sequestrant, because mango contains a fair amount of calcium. We discovered this when we made an instant mango pudding using low methoxyl pectin. Unfortunately, I was unable to find out what sodium hydroxymetaphosphate is. We have made the assumption it is a close cousin to sodium hexametaphosphate, a sequestrant that we were introduced to by Ted at CP Kelco.

In reading the recipe I was taken aback by the fact that the Gellan was merely sheared into the mango puree with no heat needed. I had not heard of this technique and it warranted a call to Ted. It turns out that under the right conditions Gellan may be sheared directly into a base. After a long conversation on this and a few other subjects, Ted had planted enough seeds to fill a garden of ideas. Like seeds ideas need time to germinate. Another recent conversation, this one with Nathan, brought the encapsulation of Gellan to the table again. As he is writing a modern cookery tome when he mentioned his pleasure with Gellan encapsulation I took notice. We still had not tried the process though clearly we needed to because the approach was mentioned twice in the span of a few weeks .

Driving home from yesterday's workshop, brimming with ideas, Gellan encapsulation finally sprouted. We have witnessed the continued use of calcium and hydrocolloid reactivity. First it was calcium rich products dropped into alginate baths. Unfortunately, alginates are often tasteless and rob foods of flavor. Next we were introduced to and embraced the idea of dropping calcium rich and reactive flavor bases into pectin baths to encapsulate them in a fine shell of pectin. In looking at the recipe in the book a Gellan based yolk is dropped into a calcium bath. What if we flipped this technique around? We would then be able to control the calcium level in the bath with ease and have more flexibility in the product to be encapsulated. This was the theory. As Aki says, there is only one way to find out if it works.

I made bath with 0.5% Kelcogel F and 0.05% sodium hexametaphosphate. I sheared the sequestrant in first and followed with the Gellan. A quick straining and the bath was complete. I then took spoonfuls of yogurt and dropped them in the bath. The viscosity of the bath helped hold the yogurt in a roundish shape and the Gellan reacted with the calcium by forming a fine skin on the exterior. After a few minutes in the bath we pulled out the spheres and rinsed them in cold water. We then made a quick bath of honey and water to hold the orbs. To say that I was pleased would be an understatement. This morning I was like a ten year old on Christmas day. When I realized that because we were using Gellan, the orbs could be served hot as well as cold, things got even better.

Now comes the fun part, seeing what we can do with this incredibly simple and easy to work with approach to encapsulation. The permutations are endless, flavored baths for the encapsulation and a seemingly infinte array of possible fillings. Oh the places we'll go...

the marinade

Double cut short ribs with red miso and Dr. Pepper marinade. Originally we worked root beer into the marinade though the complex flavor of the Dr. Pepper blends quite well with the red miso. We added a splash of brewed coffee to round out the mixture and then allowed the ribs to marinate for three days. Once the ribs were marinated we cooked them sous vide for 24 hours at 65 degrees C. While the steps are time consuming they are currently worth the efforts.

Sweet and Sour Potato Noodles

 The evolution of white yam sweet and sour noodles took longer than I had planned to revert back to the original concept of sweet and sour potato noodles. Procrastination and an ever churning and changing mind led me astray. Over the past few days we have been able to tie down the noodle preparation as well as complete the dish they belong to. The noodles are made using a sweet potato and a vegetable sheeter. We marinate the sheets in a mixture of Dr. Pepper, lime juice and salt. The sheets are cooked in this marinade for thirty minutes at 83 degrees Celsius. Once the sheets are cooked, we cool them down, pat them dry, and then cut them into tagliatelle shaped noodles. For the dish we warm them in a steamer which allows the noodles to heat up in a gentle environment which does not dilute their flavor. The result is a supple, tasty noodle filled with sweet potato flavor and balanced by a hint of tang and complexity.

Caramel Cake

Every so often I get the urge to revisit the idea of the caramel cake. The Daring Bakers recently featured Shuna's Caramel Cake for their monthly challenge. It seemed as though everywhere I looked there was caramel and there was cake, causing me to head for my mixer and make one of my own. I didn't use Shuna's recipe, instead substituting buttermilk cake layers and Edna Lewis' caramel icing, simply because I've been meaning to try it for years. The last caramel cake I made was actually for a chocoholic with rich chocolate cake layers sandwiched with creamy caramel and salted peanuts, inspired by the ubiquitous Snickers bar that lives in my freezer at all times. This cake was something entirely different, a little bit simpler and more approachable. It was in the spirit of the classic layer cakes that used to be part of weekend suppers all around the country, back when baking was done on a routine basis, and families loved their homemade cakes. Somehow those days seem to be coming back, and no one could be more pleased by the transition than me.

The layers of this cake are it. The flavor, the lightness, the slight tang and the moisture. I have not eaten better cake. And with a cup of coffee for breakfast, now that is living large.

A Few Important Questions

What is the first question to ask?

Are you sure?

Do not hesitate when asking questions. Sure, there will be some blunders and wrong turns. When you second guess the first question without finding an answer, ideas are never born. The first question, the one that just pops out, is often the catalyst for a roller coaster ride without an end.

I begin again...

What can be flour?

What can be fat?

What can be stock?

What role does an ingredient play in a composition?

How far are you willing to go to create and capture flavor? What if you knew more? Knowledge makes it easier to break through barriers and take new steps. If you had more information what would you do?

What tastes best to me?

How can I hone flavors and sharpen the edges?

What makes a great dish?

What makes a great dining experience?

How do I take that to the next level?