IDEAS IN FOOD

Dark and Stormy Brownies

I would have loved Dark and Stormys for their name alone. The fact that it was drink made with Goslings dark rum, ginger beer and lime was icing on the cake. It's the perfect New England drink, refreshing and slightly warming with a strong personality. When we were working out ideas for a recent workshop the idea of a Dark and Stormy cake came up and immediately morphed into these brownies. The addition of chocolate smooths out any edges and makes the flavors decadent and luxurious in a way that doesn't quite come through in it's beverage form.

Dark and Stormy Brownies

25 grams fresh, peeled ginger, thinly sliced (approximatel 2-2 1/2 inches)

3/4 cup/160 grams light brown sugar

1/2 cup/106 grams dark brown sugar

5 ounces/140 grams butter

1/2 teaspoon/3 grams fine sea salt

1 cup/85 grams King Arthur Double Dutch Dark Cocoa

2 tablespoons Gosling Dark Rum

scant 1/2 teaspoon Boyajian lime oil

2 large eggs, cold

1/2 cup/ 75 grams AP flour

 

Preheat oven to 325 F

 

Combines the ginger and sugars in a food processor and process until smooth. Cut butter into 1/4" slices and melt in a medium sized pot over low heat. When it is almost completely melted, remove from heat and add salt, ginger sugar, and cocoa and stir with a heatproof spatula until well blended.  Add the rum and lime oil and stir to blend. Add the first egg and stir until completely incorporated, the batter will become grainy and then smooth and shiny. Add the second egg and stir until completely incorporated. Add the flour all at once and stir until the flour is absorbed, then stir briskly for two minutes until the batter is supple and smooth. Pour into an eigth inch square baking dish and bake for 35-45 minutes until just firm. Let cool be fore serving.

 

True Blood

Eucalyptus Roasted White Sweet Potatoes

The sweet potatoes are dressed with olive oil and fleur de sel. The aroma of the eucalyptus has delicately permeated the potatoes. This is the dish. It seems simple, it eats deliciously, it blends aroma with taste and texture.

Pork Belly Puttanesa

Artichoke-Chartreuse

Aromatic Poaching broth

1600 grams water

470 grams sliced fennel

450 grams green grapes

320 grams unripe Bosc pear sliced off the core

305 grams celery chopped

260 grams green apple sliced off the core

110 grams lemon juice

10 grams salt

1 gram whole allspice

 

 

Place all the ingredients in a pressure cooker. Cook on high pressure for twenty minutes and let cool naturally. When the pressure is released allow the mixture to rest another twenty minutes, then strain out the solids and chill the liquid. Reserve the poaching for cooking the artichokes.

 

 

Poached artichokes

1770 grams aromatic poaching broth

8 medium sized artichokes

 

Put the aromatic poaching liquid in a pot large enough to accommodate the broth and the artichokes. Remove the first two layers of artichoke leaves from each artichoke. Trim the top of the artichoke leaves toward the heart so that 4 cm of leaves are still attached to the artichoke heart and stem. Use a vegetable peeler to trim around the base of the artichoke until the tender heart flesh is just exposed. Remove more layers of the artichoke leaves if they interfere with the peeling of the artichoke heart. Use the peeler to remove the outer dark green skin of the artichoke heart and stem. Start at the edge of the artichoke heart and peel upwards toward the stem end. Peel in long uniform strokes, rotating the artichoke so that it is peeled evenly. When the coarse exterior skin is removed and the white interior flesh is free of fibers, trim the tip of the stem and place the artichoke in the aromatic broth. Turn the artichoke in the broth so that it is evenly coated in the liquid, which will help prevent it from oxidizing. Repeat with the other artichokes. Put the pot on a medium flame and place a lid on the pot. When the liquid comes up to a simmer, turn the heat down to low and cook the artichokes for thirty minutes or until the tip of a knife inserted into the heart of the artichoke penetrates with just a hint of resistance. Remove the artichokes from the heat and place them in a container so that they are covered in liquid. Let the artichokes cool naturally to room temperature, then place in the refrigerator to chill completely. Let the artichokes rest in their liquid for several hours.

 

Remove the artichokes from the liquid. The artichokes will have taken on a pinkish hue from the poaching liquid. Remove any coarse leaves from the artichoke and discard. Peel off the tender interior leaves and reserve for the artichoke yogurt. After removing the interior leaves, the heart of the artichoke will be exposed, full of the thistle inedible fibers known as the choke. Use a medium sized melon baller to gently remove these fibers. Lay the artichoke on a cutting board with the stem facing to the left. Use a sharp knife to cut the top of the artichoke straight and flat. This cutting will remove only a small fraction of the artichoke. Stand the artichoke upright so that the stem stands tall. Use a round metal cutter the size of the artichoke to trim the edges of the heart so that the heart is now perfectly round. You want to uses the largest cutter possible that will still cut the edges of the artichoke, it is usually 7 cm in diameter. When the artichoke is trimmed, place it back in the cold poaching liquid. Repeat the cleaning and trimming with the other seven artichokes. When all the artichokes are cleaned, take them out of the liquid, strain the liquid into a zip top bag and place the trimmed artichokes into the cleaned liquid. This will allow the artichokes to absorb more flavors and to be submerged in the cooking liquid so that they do not oxidize.

 

Whipped Crispy Artichokes

300 grams poached artichoke liquid

3.4 grams Methocel F50

0.51 grams xanthan gum

 

40 grams Maltrin M100

 

Place the artichoke liquid in the blender. Turn the speed onto low and then increase the speed until a vortex forms in the liquid. With the blender running, sprinkle the xanthan gum and Methocel into the vortex. Increase the speed to high in order to shear the hydrocolloids into the liquid. The mixture will take on a foamy appearance and there will be no particles or clumps in the liquid. Turn off the blender and pour the artichoke mixture into a metal bowl, which is sitting in an ice bath. Stir the mixture and chill it until it reaches 10°C. At this point the Methocel will be fully hydrated.

 

Pour the chilled artichoke mixture back into the blender and turn the speed to medium. Sprinkle in the Maltrin and then increase the speed to high to completely disperse the Maltrin into the mixture. Once the mixture is homogenous, pour it into the bowl of a stand mixer. Use the whisk attachment and begin to whip the mixture, increasing the speed from low to medium and eventually to high. The mixture will increase in volume and eventually take on the appearance of stiff peaked egg whites without any dryness. The mixture cannot be over whipped, though once it reaches stiff peaks and is light, airy and shapeable it is down whipping.

 

Line a half sized sheet pan with a silicone liner. Spray the liner with pan release and then use a paper towel to wipe the pan so that only a fine film remains on the silicone. Use a teaspoon to spoon dollops of the whipped artichoke foam onto the liner, leaving an inch or two between dollops. The whipped artichoke should have irregular peaks and shapes so that they look like miniature clouds. Once the pan is full of artichoke dollops, place the pan in a 76°C oven to dry out. Let the artichoke clouds dry in the oven for an hour. After an hour feel the crisps. If they still feel spongy, put them back in the oven to dry and continue to check every fifteen minutes. When the crisps feel firm and dry throughout, remove the pan from the oven. Release the crisps from the pan and turn them all onto one side, exposing their bottoms. Place the pan back in the oven and continue to dry the crisps for another twenty minutes. Take one of the crisps out of the oven and taste it. It should be completely dry throughout. If there is any moisture left in the center, put the tray back in the oven to continue drying. Continue to check and taste them in fifteen minute intervals until the crisps are dry. When the crisps are dry remove the tray from the oven and take the crisps off of the pan. Let them cool on a cooling rack and then put them immediately into a zip top bag with a silica gel pack to absorb any moisture. Seal the top of the bag and reserve the crisps.

 

Artichoke Yogurt

200 grams reserved cooked inner artichoke leaves patted dry

250 grams whole milk yogurt

3 grams salt

 

Put the artichoke leaves, yogurt and salt in the blender. Puree the contents until they are smooth. Pass the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Dampen a piece of cheesecloth and fold it over so that it is four layers thick. Line a mesh strainer with the cheesecloth and put the strainer over a bowl so that is suspended over the bottom. Pour the artichoke yogurt into the cheesecloth lined strainer. Cover the strainer and bowl with a piece of plastic wrap and put the artichoke yogurt into the refrigerator to drain. Let the yogurt drain for twelve hours. After twelve hours, remove the artichoke yogurt from the cheesecloth and reserve it in a container in the refrigerator. The yogurt will have thickened to the consistency of pudding.

 

 

 

Chartreuse syrup

105 grams green Chartreuse

0.5 gram salt

 

Put the Chartreuse and salt in a small pot and place over a low heat. Cook the Chartreuse gently and reduce the liquid by just over two thirds. The final syrup should weigh thirty grams. In order to accurately weigh the syrup it helps to know the weight of the pot and then be able to weigh the reduced syrup in the pot as you get closer to the finished product. When the Chartreuse is reduced, strain it into a small squirt bottle. Any particles from the side of the pot will be removed during this straining process. Reserve the Chartreuse syrup in the refrigerator.

 

Chives

35 grams chives (1 bunch of chives)

 

Trim off the rough end from the base of the chives. Use a sharp knife to slice the chives into wheels, which are 1mm thick. Slice the length of the chives until you get close to the chive tips which may then be discarded as they cannot be sliced into uniform wheels, rather they appear like a small mince when cut.

 

To Assemble

 

Poached artichokes

Artichoke yogurt

Artichoke crisps

Chartreuse syrup

Chives

 

Remove the artichokes from their poaching liquid. Drain them and pat them dry. Lay an artichoke with the heart at 12 o’clock and the stem pointing downwards and sweeping to the right, in the center of the plate. Use the side of a teaspoon to place a dollop of artichoke yogurt on the right hand side of the artichoke stem. Sprinkle a large pinch of chives on top of the artichoke yogurt. Take an artichoke crisp and place a small dollop of artichoke yogurt underneath it to act as glue. Place the crisp on the plate to the left of the artichoke stem. Place a large drop of Chartreuse syrup on the plate at one o’clock and two centimeters away from the artichoke heart. Place a smaller drop of Chartreuse syrup at 7 o’clock one cm away from the artichoke stem. Place one drop of artichoke syrup at the 5 o’clock position one cm away from the tip end of the artichoke stem. Fill one nook of the artichoke crisp with a few drops of the Chartreuse syrup.

 

From the Inside Out

Daniel Patterson was kind enough to pass on his kit of favorite essential oils for us to work with. I had the opportunity to experience Daniel's deft hand with these oils at this year's ICC. I followed up his workshop by attending Ken Oringer's session on cooking and marinating sous vide. Ken used the vacuum machine to infuse ceviche flavors into raw geoduck. Watching these two talents back to back provided enough of a catalyst for a great leap of faith.

We took the essential oils and put a drop of a few different kinds inside a vacuum bag. Then we massaged the bag to disperse the oils inside. Finally we added some planks of honeydew melon to the bag and drew a full vacuum on them. Once the melon was evenly bruised, we cut the bag open and were blown away by the results. The harmonious aroma of the essental oils blended with the melon and whacked us upside the head with the result. Upon eating the fruit we were even more pleased with the results. Our first blend was ginger, green lemon and black pepper. Now we are exploring combinations of oils and ingredients and using them at different temperatures; particularly because either cold marination or the low temperature of sous vide cooking will preserve the aromatic impact of Mandy's incredible, edible essential oils.

Burnt Sugar Fluff: the recipe

We have received a number of requests for this recipe so here it is.

 

Burnt Sugar Fluff

 

Burnt Sugar Syrup

 

500 grams/17.6 ounces sugar

150 grams/5.3 ounces water

 

Put the sugar in a dry pan on medium heat. Slowly caramelize the sugar until it reaches a dark cherry wood brown. Remove from the heat and slowly add the water. The sugar and water will bubble and spurt so be careful. Once the water is added put the mixture back on a low heat to fully combine the sugar and water and form a complete syrup. When the syrup is rich and fluid, strain it into a metal container or heat proof bowl and allow to cool. When the burnt sugar is cool it will be thick and just pourable.

 

Burnt Sugar Fluff

 

108 grams/3.8 ounces/ 3 egg whites

400 grams/14.1 ounces burnt sugar syrup

4 grams/0.14 ounces/2/3 teaspoon salt

250 grams/8.2 ounces confectioners sugar

 

Put the egg whites and burnt sugar syrup in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk on medium for at least ten minutes and closer to fifteen minutes. Periodically turn off the mixture and scrape the sides and bottom to the bowl. The egg whites and syrup will come together and begin to thicken, lighten in color and gain volume. At this point add the salt increase the speed and whip for two more minutes. Turn the mixer off and add the confectioners sugar. Turn the mixer on low to blend the ingredients. Once the confectioners sugar is integrated increase the speed to high and whip for another two minutes. When down whipping the mixture will be light, airy, and sticky, just like a fluid fluff. Reserve in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Broken Asian Pear

The size and shape of an ingredient not only affects how it delivers flavor but how that flavor is perceived. It's the difference between a tea sandwich and a triple decker.The shape of something from a cubic square to a thin slice to an abstract broken piece changes the way you react to it when it is consumed. It is often the lack of uniformity which adds an element of note or stimulates the flavor of a dish. When everything is precise we become comfortably numb. When an ingredient is shaped in an unexpected way, that difference is important. The rough edges and contoured lines allow for seasoning to cling and each bite to express the flavors in a slightly different configuration. We seasoned our Asian pear-apple with salt and lime juice. We then dressed it with lime zest and peeled, diced jalapeno. The fruit is crispy and refreshing and the texture holds onto the aromatic elements so that they are delivered randomly, which in turn elevates the entire experience.

Garlic Honey

With the bee happily working these garlic chive blossoms we have to ask, how would garlic honey taste? We love how what we see connects the dots for what we will eventually cook.

Tuna and Zucchini

The tuna is minced and seasoned with olive oil, salt and basil. We fold in squash blossoms and zucchini quarters for texture. The tuna is then wrapped in shaved zucchini which is brushed with olive oil and lemon juice. Finally we add a few of the marinated zucchini pistils. This dish is almost complete but falls short. We are working on a loose herbal vinaigrette to sauce the dish. And after Daniel's workshop on essential oils today we have some new paths to follow.

Blood Sausage Cavatelli and Roasted Radish Sugo

For those of you following along our work flow.

 

Roast Radish Sugo

We almost always roast our chicken on a bed of vegetables. Usually we roast 7 pound birds, butterflied and resting on the bed. It looks like a chicken sitting on its nest. Recently we had an abundance of radishes from daikon to purple and we decided to roast our bird on them. We added some leeks and carrots, ginger and kimchee and roasted away. The chicken juices blended with the roasting vegetables. We enjoyed the dinner but there were plenty of roasted radishes and juices left over. We put the vegetables and their juices into a bowl and let them cool overnight. The following morning we decided to not just reheat the vegetables in their original form. Instead we put the vegetables and the congealed juices through a food mill. The result was an incredible sugo of roasted radishes. This result was not only delicious but it started an avalanche of ideas for creating flavored roasted vegetables: from lobster bodies roasted on white miripoix to bacon on a bed of onions. The blending of fond and roasted vegetables is delicious and a wonderful platform to build dishes and sauces upon.

Toasted Chips

When we were in Cabo last winter everybody rhapsodized about the freshly fried tortilla chips. They were at almost every meal, accompanied by salsa and guacamole, still warm from the fryer. Or so we thought. Of course when you're in the business you notice things, you can't help yourself. And one afternoon I watched as the cooks behind the line opened bag after bag of tortila chips, poured them into hotel pans and parked them under the heat lamps to warm up. It was enlightening to say the least.

The chips on the left have been toasted in a toaster oven while those on the right are straight from the bag.

Once home I tried the technique using our toaster oven and baked tortilla chips. People gushed. They were blown away that I fried my own tortilla chips and somehow managed to avoid making the entire house smell of oil. That is one of the biggest benefits of this technique, the taste of freshly fried chips without the lingering scent of oil. Since tortilla chips were so good it only made sense to try it with potato chips. We used Kettle chips with sea salt. They were fantastic. You have to let them cool a bit to maximize crispiness. But frankly you could serve them with a variety of dips before dinner and no one would complain because they are that good. Try it and you'll never serve them straight from the bag again.

Blood Sausage Cavatelli

This idea has been a long time in the making. Thanks to Tony *for supplying us with some blood sausage puree.

Blood Sausage Cavatelli

 

220 grams AP flour

1 gram baking powder

225 grams puree of cooked blood sausage

Put the flour and the baking powder into a bowl and stir to combine. Add the blood sausage puree and use your finger tips to incorporate it. Once it comes together into a rough dough, knead it until it is smooth and elastic. Put the dough in a vacuum bag and seal. Put the dough in the refrigerator and let it rest and chill for thirty minutes. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and then from the bag. Roll the dough out until it 1cm thick. Cut the dough into 1cm squares. Roll each square along a gnocchi board so that it folds over itself and forms the traditional cavatelli/malloredus shape. Refrigerate the pasta if you are cooking it the same day, otherwise lay it out in one flat layer on sheet pans and freeze them. When the cavatelli is frozen transfer them to a zip top bag and store frozen for up to a week. The pasta can be cooked in boiling water directly from the freezer.

*Perhaps if there are enough requests Tony will share his incredible blood sausage recipe and his unique way of cooking it for non-traditional presentations and preparations.

 

To Share

Tony Maws has made the art of sharing food an experience like no other. He takes off cuts and limited quantities and prepares them so that a few select people may indulge in the experience. At the lunch we just cooked he presented his red chile marinated hiramasa collar with a grated salad of Asian pear, daikon and scallion. The collar is placed in front of several guests who then are able to dig into the flesh. Fingers get dirty and diners forget about the world around them. Delicous is the key and pleasure is the goal. The picture portrays us finishing the plating of five collars prepared for twelve guests. The fact that supplies are limited makes the eating all the more exciting and challenging.

Scallop Noodles

Actually, these noodles are strips of the scallop mantle. We trim them off from the fresh shucked scallop innards and soak them in a brine of 5% salt for 10 minutes. Once the mantles are soaked, we saute them in olive oil and then quickly cool them down. When they are chilled we add lime juice, black pepper, minced cilantro, basil leaves, un-salt wort and garlic chive blossoms. The mantles have a nice snap and springiness to their texture and the dish is bright and herbaceous with notes of the sea. While scallops are ubiquitous on many menus, the mantles provide a delicious flavor with a texture we do not always consider. Furthermore, the mantle usually ends up in the bin. And if this preparation does not excite you think about scallop chile again made with the mantle.

Fresh Shucked

It has been a long time since I have shucked scallops. This morning the learning curve was steep and exilerating. The quivering muscles were deliciously inspiring. All the parts in front of me reminded me about how little we often work with and how much we let escape our creative nets. Tomorrow we begin to delve into what we usually discard, starting with the eyes.

 

To Peel

In cooking there is a lot of peeling. Prepping vegetables can be a tedious task and the idea of cutting small corners here and there can be insidious. Peeling raw peppers is one of those details that many chefs forgo. However, like the simple act of washing a dryer filter, some tasks don't appear to be necessary until after you try them, when an irritating error message suddenly goes silent or a previously unpeeled vegetable suddenly snaps into sharper focus. Years ago we made a charred jalapeno and bacon sauce, which blended candied bacon with grilled jalapenos that were mostly peeled. However, we peeled those peppers just because we could and the blistered pepper skins mostly fell off on their own. Then, last year when we were preparing the Mangalista dinner at elements in Princeton, Mr Anderson started peeling jalapenos for a relish. He picked up a peeler and just went to town, removing the tough exterior skin of the small peppers. At this point a lightbulb went off. It was one of those moments where "aha" could not cover my delight with an idea. Such a simple evolution and what an amazing difference it made. The peppers were then seeded, diced and vacuum sealed to intensify their color and make the texture juicier. And without the skin of the jalapeno to interfere, the flavorful relish was at first crunchy and then simply melted in our mouths. And this is why most Italians peel their peppers, Those skins are tough and don't add much flavor. If we're going to take the time and effort to dice them beautifully, why wouldn't we want to peel them as well? As always, the devil is in the details. Ignore him at your peril. In order to pursue perfection we have to get our hands dirty in the kitchen.

Zucchini Blossom Pistils

In looking at the zucchini blossoms we purchased I decided to eat the pistil. Normally we remove the pistil and stamen but today I was drawn into the blossom and dug in. It turns out the pistil has a texture similar to a beautiful button chanterelle mushroom. The flavor is similar too. These few were marinated in lemon juice, salt and olive oil. We have a few more that we will be trying a few other preperations from pan roasted to gently stewed. Are these a viable ingredient? That depends on how fluid your kitchen is and what you consider feasible.

Egg Yolk Confit

We use these gently cooked yolks to sit atop pasta or to be hidden beneath piles of shave vegetables, cheese and meats. Recently we paired the yolk cooked in bacon fat with padron peppers and some thick fresh extruded spaghetti. The warm thickend yolk perfumed with bacon dressed the noodles and completed the dish.

Egg Yolk Confit

 

12 egg yolks

Flavored Fat

 

Put the fat into a vacuum bag or mason jars. Slide the egg yolks into the bag and then seal the bag. Cook the eggs for 1hour at 64°C. Cool the eggs in the fat if the fat is liquid in the refrigerator, otherwise, remove the yolks from the fat and store on a flat tray covered with plastic or on individual sheets of plastic wrap.

Roast Corn Chawan Mushi

The key is the roast corn broth.

Roast Corn Chawan Mushi

 

340g/12oz roasted corn  stock

156g/5.5oz/3 large eggs

16g/5/8oz/1T smoked soy sauce

 

Place a steamer on high heat and bring to a full simmer. Use a fork to lightly blend the eggs and the soy sauce. Stir in the roasted corn stock and then strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Some egg particles will be caught in the strainer, that is ok. Pour 200g/3oz of the base into 6 ramekins. Place the ramekins in the steamer and turn the heat down to low. Cook the custards for 13 minutes, until they are firm to the touch and still jiggle. The custards will look a strange grey color if you look into the steamer before they are fully cooked.

 

Roasted Corn Cob Stock

8 corn cobs (smoked would be better)

800 grams water

1 4 inch piece Kombu

2 cloves garlic

 

Cut the top and bottom off the 8 ears of corn and discard. Cut each corn cob in half and put on a parchment lined baking pan. Roast the cobs at 425°F for thirty minutes or until foxy brown. Remove the cobs from the oven and put them in a pressure cooker. Add the water, kombu and garlic and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes. Let the pressure dissipate naturally. Strain the corn stock and reserve.

Foie Gras and Green Banana

We paired our green banana puree with aero-foie. The foie gras is stabilized with GMS, which allows us to use almost 100% foie gras in this preperation. The foie gras is cleaned and cooked at 50°C for ten minutes. Then it is is melted down, whisked back together and then aerated with an iSi canister. We extruded the foie gras into mason jars and sealed the lids. The mason jars are put in the freezer to set the mousse and then removed when ready to eat. We remove the foie from the jar and let it temper in the refrigerator. The light texture allows the flavor of the foie to quickly coat the palate and deliver the decadent richness of the liver as it melts in your mouth. The other components of the dish round out and temper this indulgence: tamarind yogurt, cilantro stems, garlic chive blossoms, tamarind-chile candy, jalapeno-lime relish and pickled asian pear-apple.

Green Banana

A puree of banana and cilantro. It is amazing the play on words and the flavor which comes together.

Watercress

What do you see?

ice cream

noodles

crisps

stuffing

soup

sabayon

juice

stir fry of stems

shave ice

tempura as is and a batter

as a cure

roasted

creamed

smoked

souffle

gremolata

salsa verde

pesto

agnolotti

An Unexpected Pleasure

We found these gorgeous little zucchini with the blossoms still attached at the Philly Farmer's market today. It's been a long time since I last played with squash blossoms and I couldn't resist them. They took me back in time to Martha's Vineyard and the squash blossoms we used to get from a local farm there. Those summers were were defined by long hours, hard work and good food. Visiting that farm was an almost forgotten pleasure from the past but these blossoms are a promise for the very near future. I have no idea what we'll do with them, whatever it is will be easy because the ingredient itself is almost perfect just as it is.

Shishito Pepper Pasta

We rolled these malloredus style noodles by hand because of the higher moisture content in the dough. The moisture comes from the addition of the shishito pepper puree. The noodles are intensely flavored with the charred flavor of the peppers and call for seafood, particularly crab meat, perhaps with a drizzle of brown butter and a generous handful of Parmigiano Reggiano. Yes we know, but we like cheese with seafood on most occasions. If you don't have crab, white clam sauce would be an admirable substitute, and if you really want to go over the top, Lobster Americaine served over this pasta would definitely take you there. Even if you want to keep things strictly vegetarian, say with great olive oil, fresh ricotta and freshly grated nutmeg, these noodles would still be amazing. I guess what we're saying, in the immortal words of Yo Gabba Gabba is try them, you'll like them.

Shishito Pepper Malloredus

260 grams shishito pepper puree

18 grams egg yolk

225 grams AP flour

100 grams semolina

 

Mix the pepper puree and the egg yolk together. Put the semolina and the flour in a bowl and stir in the pepper puree mixture. Bring the dough together, then knead till silky and smooth. Vacuum seal the dough to fully hydrate the flour and semolina. Roll the dough like cavatelli with a machine or by hand using a gnocchi board.

Whipped Chorizo Cream

Fanny at Le Sanctuaire introduced me to glycerin monostearate. It is the fat emulsifier which allows us to thicken fats (like chorizo oil) and emulsify liquids (non-fats) into the oil. Following the inspiration from the team in the modernist cuisine kitchen (they have been working on dairy-less creams with a technique I am sure will be published in their upcoming book ) we created an on the fly whipped chorizo cream. Looking at cream as roughly 33% fat we used that as our model. A bit (1%) of GMS incorporated into the chorizo oil enabled us to incorporate 66% liquid. Once the ingredients were brought together we poured them into an isi canister and added a few nitrous charges. The results were whipped chorizo cream. The cream was tasty, held its peaks and bubbles and tasted of chorizo. Do we need whipped chorizo cream? We are still undecided on that part. We need to do a ton of refining and editing, but these results were promising and we are equally excited to see what we may do with GMS.

Texturized Tomato

Similar words, completely different process, equally delicious and wonderfully surprising.

 

Texturized Chorizo Oil

Our recent trip to San Francisco opened a number of new doors. The first of which is texturized chorizo oil.