One of the tastiest developments which emerged from yesterdays dinner was grilled fish bone oil. The dish began with the aroma of Eureka lemon leaves. We wanted to cure a fish with these leaves and highlight their aroma in the dish. We powdered the leaves with liquid nitrogen and used half of them to flavor a cold infused dashi. The other half was blended with white miso and sake. We wrapped the loins of the Medai in cheese cloth and then applied the lemon leaf miso to cure the fish. The cheese cloth allows the seasoning to gently permeate the fish and still be easily removed. As we looked at the beautiful fish, the bones layed to the side. I decided to use them to create an accent for the fish. We grilled the bones until they were well charred and the oils began to come to the surface. We cut them up and vacuum sealed them with Chardonnay grape seed oil. The bones macerated in the oil for several hours and were then pushed through a fine meshed sieve. The resulting elixir was a grilled fish bone oil. It is one of the tastiest elements we have made in a long time, the essence of grilled fish which we were then able to brush onto the sliced Medai to add depth to its flavor. Cooking is about nuances and we are constantly searching for ways to make things taste just a little bit better. Yesterday was a good day in the kitchen.
