While working on a corporate consultancy project I created an interesting little tapa. One of the most famous tapas in Spain is the Croquetta de Jámon, which is basically deep fried bechamel with Jamon. You can buy these in pretty much every tapas bar and quality is judged by how fluid it is on the inside without breaking the outer layer of bread crumbs.

So basically this started out as a joke, I was trying to combine the exact flavour of a hot-dog inside of a croquetta using proper hot dog sausages and all the trimmings (complete with ketchup and mustard). To finish the total hot-dog experience I used hot dog buns as the crumbs for the outside as they have such a particular taste and also some crispy Asian style fried onions. But of course an essential touch for the hot-dog is squeezing the ketchup and mustard on the top (which always touches your top lip first which you have to lick off), so for this I texturized both ketchup and Mustard to the exact same viscosity and put it in a tube so it can be squeezed out like toothpaste making a perfect line with half of each in the same line.

Success! The perfect hotdog inside of a croquetta, not be be eaten at a ball game as they are dangerously fluid

Many years ago when I was living in London I used to have a morning ritual on my way to work, I would buy a Bacon, Tomato and Avocado sandwich (everyday) from Pret a Manger. I think you will agree with me that it is probably the worlds most consensually liked sandwich (unless you are a vegetarian). The only way to make it better is to add some grilled chicken!

Whenever creating a new plate I always like to try and have a story attached to it as this makes me believe in it more and also you tend to try harder in making it better than the already fond memory.

In this case I have been working for about 3 years on this plate with no success so far, today is the closest I have come to happy. I believe that avocado tastes better when it is light, so I remembered a dessert named Viennetta from when I was a child. This form would suit the idea perfectly! So I shaved the avocado into very long thin ribbons the width of the croutons, this was layered with Jamón Iberico de Jábugo (some of the best Spanish ham), this held the perfect wavy form required. For the bread I used a seeded soy loaf as it has to be paper thin while still having a very distinct bread flavour, the reason for being cut at 1.5mm thick is so when the guest breaks through the bread it doesn’t compress and crush the avocado. The bread was then pressed between 2 baking trays and baked at 170 degrees for 13 minutes. To cut through some of the fat in the dish I used a combination of green and red tomato pulp. And of course this sandwich would not be complete without mayonnaise, for this I made a sorbet (this is a cold dish and by serving a sorbet it gives the illusion of a higher temperature), it is a combination of Greek yogurt and mayonnaise with plenty of extra virgin olive oil. An interesting discovery that came from this was that when I put the sorbet into the pacojet it held so much air from the stabilizers that it was like a sorbet mousse.

While living in Shanghai I was introduced to a wondrous texture in an animal I had never eaten………….. A Bullfrog! I have eaten frog many many times in my life, but his relative the Bullfrog does not even come close to the same. The good and bad point about using bullfrogs in Asia is that they come live, and in order to use them you have to kill them. Normally this should not be a problem for a Chef, but my first time 3 years ago I felt a little ill as I used to keep frogs as pets. Now its not difficult but still a little disturbing, without being too graphic, you need to separate the head from the body with scissors. While in Singapore last week our host hotel ordered some live Bullfrogs so I could prepare and eat them again, plus I taught them how to prepare them, in the 2 pictures above you will see the wet version is a French/Chinese fusion and the second is Wok fried, its not a restaurant dish but very good to eat.

The meat doesn’t really taste like much at all, the real beauty of the bullfrog is in the texture. It has small fillets that separate (like fish) with a very gelatinous texture in between, it needs to be cooked fast and very carefully as it it goes too far then you loose the gelatin. With the weakness being lack of flavour you need to compensate with a very strong sauce or aromatics in the cooking process.

For anyone travelling or living in Asia it is a definite must eat!

I got back 1 week ago from Singapore where I spent 10 days participating in the World Gourmet summit. But it was a bit of a different role…………. I was translating (Spanish-English) and assisting Alfonso, The Head Chef of Paco’s Tapas Bar Estado Puro. So we were preparing some new versions of classic Spanish tapas. These kinds of Chef gatherings are always good as I can meet with my friends from all over the world who are coming to present. Unfortunately as we were preparing dinner every night in the Sentosa Resort we did not get a chance to go to the other restaurants to see what our other Spanish friends were preparing during this week. The other Spanish Chefs we went with were Oriol Balaguer (one of the best Pastry Chefs in the world), David Muñoz (Chef owner of Madrid’s hardest table to book), Sergi Arola (2 Star Michelin) and of course Alfonso Castellano. But of course it wasn’t all work, we had many great lunches (and drinks) together.

I always love to visit Singapore as it is such a dynamic city with so much to offer, during this week I will be writing many stories of things I had forgotten about since my time living in Shanghai. I have a very special place in my heart for Asia so I will try to share some of the more unique things with you.

About 6 months ago Paco handed me a catalogue from Míele and asked me to choose whatever I wanted for a new Lab which Míele (http://www.miele.es/es/electrodomesticos/productos/gama_de_coccion.htm) would be sponsoring. Every Chef dreams of a new Kitchen, so obviously I was thrilled. I made a new design as well and basically tried to squeeze in every practical machine possible. Keeping in mind we have a reasonably compact space the priority was also to make sufficient work space as the last kitchen was short. The island bench in the middle is amazing as 1st it houses all of my personal small tools and knives and second it is a bench which is a pleasure to work on.

So to “Cut a short story Long”, I now have some equipment which is designed for top of the range home kitchens but to tell you the truth the features beat most machines in professional kitchens. I now have: Pressure steamer (capable of 120 degree steam), Oven with Steam (steams from 1 degree to 100 degrees, plus an oven), Microwave (normal), Oven (Steam injection feature, Wireless temperature probe, 300 programmableprograms), Plate warmer (which also has a food warming function), Induction (with a very powerful 2 stage booster function), Wok induction, HUGE Fridge/Freezer (with LED lights in every shelf), Mobile Tepan plancha, etc, etc!

Who could be anything but be inspired in a kitchen like this? Thanks Míele!

It has been at least a month since my last story……………….. Many things have been happening here in Madrid and out of Madrid.

While trying to transfer hosts I lost all of my data from this Blog, so basically after many many hours of searching google cache I found about a third of my work (as you can see all stories before this one have the same date. So I can look at this as a total disaster or a chance to start fresh and maybe even tell some of the same stories but now more updated with what I am doing today, I chose the later more positive option.

My new Lab has also just been finished (which I will write a story about) and I have also recently been to the World Gourmet Summit in Singapore. So many many stories to tell, Keep reading!