I was reminded today about a technique that I did about 6 months and I never wrote about……………………
The technique that I am talking about actually came after I was watching “The Bee Movie”, I wanted to make Honey Jelly candies that were chewy on the outside but a texturized fluid on the inside.
You may remember quite some time back I received the very famous miracle berries from Africa…………….
Well if you don’t here’s a recap:
Miracle berries are a berry grown in Africa which contain a protein called Miraculin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraculin), Miraculin acts as a protective film which coats your tongue and stops the penetration of Acidic and Bitter elements. I tested the effects on about 160 different products ranging from Bitter, Sour, Spicy, Sweet, Artificial sweeteners, Umami etc. There were some surprising results such as it actually made artificial sweetener about twice as sweet and regular sugar half as sweet. The power was taken out of the Umami effect.
After discovering the natural wasabi flavor in Brussel sprouts last year this next dish is a bit of an obvious yet also very justified progression.
Wasabi is naturally associated with sushi/sashimi and Japanese cooking in general, so it makes sense to do a bit of an eat meets west theme.
One of the more symbolic food investigations I undertook in 2009 was the search for the perfect representation of both Australia and Spain, As I am an Australian living and working in Spain,
My tests took me all around the many options available from both countries but I settled with the most symbolic ingredient from each of the countries…………. Kangaroo from Australia and Jamon Iberico from Spain!
Who doesn’t love fondue?
What is there not to love…………… Melted Cheese with tasty things to dip into it!
Imagine having the best part of fondue without the worst part of fondue, Having to clean up the mess!
Do you recognize this Chemical above? Probably not!
It actually happens to be what I call one of the biggest misconceptions in food and cooking. How many times have you said or heard someone say “My steak is still bleeding” or “I like my Steak Bloody”? What if I told you that in most cases it is not even blood (obviously depending on the cut). When you think about it for a while it actually makes sense! Where does the blood circulate in your body? Your muscles or your veins? Obviously your veins! So if you are eating a piece of animal muscle why should it be any different? So when you think of it logically then it makes sense that the piece of rare steak you have in front of you is not actually bleeding nor does it contain any blood.
After 6 months of work (not every day but every now and again when a different solution comes up) finally we are closer to the goal. The idea is to have a perfect “Mozzarella” which looks as it should but in fact be filled with warm Tomato and balsamic liquid and a perfect “tomato” which is filled with liquid Mozzarella. Like my favorite salad Caprese, but in a warm and totally unexpected form. In the picture is the “mozzas” and instead of the liquid mozzarella in the tomato skin I have put a mozzarella mousse.
Something I did about 10 months ago but never really wrote about was an inverted poached egg………………
When decontructing a dish there are many things you need to think about in order to make it good and of course so the guest doesn’t get too confused while eating it, Make it understandable:
In this particular dish I have combined the famous Tortilla Espanola and the traditional poached egg…………….
Ikea have a loyalty program called Ikea Family.
This year we needed to design a tapa using 1 of the hundreds of suggestions which the members gave us for a new Family Tapa. This tapa is given away free in every store in Spain and Portugal when the member presents their card.
This year we decided on a pizza using a whole wheat cracker which is sold in the stores as a base as the flavor is very Swedish and actually adds a lot to the overall concept. What can be more Swedish (or Scandinavian) than Salmon Gravadlax? This must be one of the most stereotypical flavors that conjures up images of a trip you may of taken to Scandinavia.
As I am sure you are aware by now, We have the contract to design and produce a new range of Swedish Tapas in Ikea.
We needed to design 1 new tapa for Christmas to be offered for a month before Christmas.
Some time back I was doing a study into using all the different parts of Provolone Cheese for a conference we were preparing for, I ended up with about 5 or 6 new techniques. Since then I didn’t really use any of them.
So I decided to go back through my notes and try to utilize the best techniques for new dishes.
Check out this amazing story on the study of plants and how “Alive and aware” they really are………………….
I was about to eat a bowl of Brussels Sprouts, but now I might eat a roast chicken instead as I can’t bring myself to eat these intelligent little fighters. Might leave a few vegetarians with no options on what to eat for dinner tonight 
This is actually an evolution of many other techniques all rolled into one.
Imagine being able to eat all the ingredients from Scrambled eggs and mushrooms all inside of a “Poached egg”, well now you can.
Well it’s Brussel sprouts season again and let’s just say i’m happy about this!
You might remember the story I wrote last year about them but just in case you didn’t get to see it let me do a recap with some added goodness.
Last year when cooking brussel sprouts for my dinner I found a way of cooking them that was amazing! It is the most simple and time efficient method of cooking them but the proof is in the pudding and let’s just say I have converted a record amount of people who tell me they hate them.
While passing through the restaurant kitchen I noticed how wonderful the smell was coming from the Bulls tail which was cooking in the pressure cooker. This smell was the steam coming from the blow off valve in the top of the pot, or another way of looking at it is these are the Volatile molecules escaping without being utilized……………