I did the story on Friday about reforming oysters, but I don’t think I went into the combination of Oysters and cucumber or the natural foaming of cucumber in depth enough.

So to start from the beginning, we all know that there is a very particular flavor of Iodine within shellfish, and oysters are definitely the most obvious. When you juice a cucumber the flavors are much stronger due to the absorption into your sensors and if you juice it at a low enough temperature you do not loose any of the volatile molecules so you get the full aroma as well. When you taste this juice there is an unmistakable taste of Iodine, so with the presence of iodine in the 2 components they are a perfect fit (although this is not always the case).

So to strengthen the link between the 2 I wanted to make a foam of Cucumber so it is more the aroma you are getting from the cucumber and the taste from the oyster. This way it can be balanced perfectly without loosing one of the flavors. So something that I discovered (and later realized when I searched the Internet that it has been done before) is that cucumber will naturally foam and hold the air for a very significant period of time. But the thing is you cannot foam it too many times and it has to be very cold to work best. I use food additives in my cooking all the time but when I discover a way to do something naturally it is always so much more rewarding as it is something already within the product waiting to be discovered.

A product very rarely used in Australia is the wood from Grape vines, in fact we do not have much of a food smoking culture in general. Working with European Chefs in my more junior cooking years gave me a basic understanding of the smoking techniques, but it wasn’t until I left Australia 8 years ago that I really built on this knowledge.

For every product you want to smoke you need to choose the most suitable smoking medium. The choices are endless!!! 2 Of my personnel favorites are eucalyptus leaves for smoking Kangaroo and Monte Cristo #4 cigars for smoking aged venison loins. But as a general all round smoke nothing beats grape vine, any grape vine will do but we choose to use the vines from Rioja which are much stronger in flavor. In the south of France, Italy and most regions of Spain this is a strong part of the food culture when cooking outdoors.

For the best results put the piece of wood in the oven at about 250 degrees celcius for 30 minutes. Remove, then immediately flame with a blow torch until on fire. Extinguish by placing into a gastronom and cover to remove oxygen, place your item of food inside and leave for desired amount of time.

Something you should try is smoking low temperature eggs (64.5 degrees) through the shell then infusing an olive oil with the same burnt wood for 24 hours.

The most stereotypical thing to do when sitting in the many Plazas around Spain is to drink a jug of Sangria with your friends in the sun. I must admit this is nice but it has also been hijacked by the scores of tourists to the point that you look like a tourist in your own city if you drink sangria. The funny thing for me is; in Australia and England it is very common to drink Pimms in the summertime (as it is so refreshing), but Spain does not know about Pimms! It is just across a very small ocean!

So I am taking it apon myself to introduce the Spainish to this summer drink. To make it fit in with the “Progressive” style of restaurant we have, I have texturized the Cocktail with a little Xanthan and suspended the normal garnish inside. The trick to this drink is keep it very cold! So I keep the liquid mix at zero, Freeze the glass and shock freeze the garnish in liquid nitrogen (which actually helps to sprinkle it inside more randomly).

Let’s see if we can’t start a trend here in Spain just in time for summer.

Whenever you receive a product live it’s always an exciting feeling. This is the ultimate sign of freshness! There are a very particular type of Prawns here in Spain called Camerones, they have a very sweet flesh and a slight crunch between your teeth. I entered the walk in chiller this morning and I heard a tapping, I thought it may be the fridge so I continued to collect my samples for the day. As I was going up in the elevator I heard it again and actually saw the bag of prawns move. I ended up spending half of the day trying to work out the best dish to create to do them justice. I found some good ways but nothing fantastic yet as the problem is they are just so good when you blanch them for 3 seconds and eat them immediately.

As a Chef temperatures are critical, and don’t just think this is only applicable for the kitchen this also extends to the bar after work for that first glass of Champagne or beer. Generally your first beer of the night is always guaranteed to taste pretty damn good but I have discovered the perfect temperature to serve beer. I was in a bar in Bali in the middle of a hot day so I ordered a beer, when I drank just the neck of the beer I proclaimed that it was the best beer of my life! Now this is no easy feat I have had the finest beers from around the world in some very exotic settings and this was only a corona but by far the best. I glanced over to the fridge designed solely for the beer and it was set on -6 degrees celsius, the thing with beer is if it is too cold than it looses its carbonation and too warm, just tastes bad. So this bar found the exact degree point not to loose any gas and serve the best beer in the world, how easy it is to make an impact when you know your product and how to treat it.

Many people really don´t know what a nut looks like in its raw form, or even in some cases not even know what the shell of the nut looks like There is such an interesting experience in tasting the nuts in there soft state as the texture is obviously different and so is the taste. They are all truely unique in one way or another; the walnut is soft but incredibly bitter, the almond has a very strong purfume which is almost synthetic in taste, hazelnut is crunchy like a pear, Etc. But the award for the most effort for the Smallest yield goes to the Pinenut (for those of you who don´t know it comes from the green pinecone) as when I was up in El Bulli last time it took 25 Chefs 30 minutes to produce 2 shot glasses full of pinenuts and belive me being 1 of the Chefs removing the kernals with them it is hard work! But the effort is worth it as pinenuts in there raw form are a real treat, they are translucent and springy on the tooth. I recommend you try and find what available fresh nuts you have in your cities as they are a very underutilized resource that can add that unique point of difference to a dish.

Being a Chef Coffee is one of the most important elements of the day, it is generally the relaxed time at the beginning of the day where ideas are discussed and the time in the middle of the day when you need that boost get you to the end of the day. There are times when I have been so busy, stressed and exhausted that I have been known to consume up to 20 double shot coffees in a day! One of my most fond memories of living in Shanghai and generally of my career is arriving in the mornings and discussing Food, Chefs and life in general with Paul Pairet (who is still one of the most knowledgeable Chefs I have ever known (I would say Genius but I am sure it would go to his head)), during this time we would plan the days testing and production plus I would soak in his wealth of experience. We would be talking and drinking coffee until we realized how much time had passed then we would get back in the kitchen, but in this time we could drink many double espressos without a problem. I guess what I am trying to say is Coffee is an important part of any Chefs daily routine.

Now back to the topic of “The technique of Coffee”. Many years ago when I was living in London I was fortunate enough to recieve an invitation from the owner of the only Organic Coffee company in London to come and learn the art of coffee roasting. So we spent the day going through every process of history, growing, harvesting, shipping, roasting, grinding, and brewing. So basically everything! As a Chef it is interesting to know where it comes from etc. but for me the most interest was in the different types of beans and even the variance of flavor of the same bean which has been produced in a different climate. When it comes time for roasting there are many things to look or even listen for to see when the beans are ready. The roaster reminded me of a fancy cement mixer as it is a copper drum which is heated from the outside and is constantly spinning, when it is almost done the roaster will remove a few beans every 20 seconds to see if it is done, what they are looking for is a line of white to appear on the split in the bean, if you listen carefully you can actually hear them pop when the white appears.

The first reason I wanted to write about this is because Baristas seem to have a very strong passion for there product as do Chefs. There are a very few elements involved in making a coffee so bad technique cannot be hidden like a plate which has only a few ingredients. Starting from the grind of the coffee each step has its Critical control point, if the grind is too fine it will be too hard for the water to pass through therefore the coffee will be bitter and burnt. on the flip side if the grind is too coarse the water will pass through too fast and not allow enough time to extract the Crema (oil). Next we have how much coffee to put in the group head and how tight to pack it with the same results as point 1. The milk is a very interesting topic, I have been taught by many people in Australia (where I still claim you can get one of the best cups of coffee in the world from almost everywhere and it is purely down to how silky the milk froth is), on my last trip to Copenhagen I met with a man who was conducting a 6 month study all the aspects of milk foaming for coffee in the University of Copenhagen. The best kind of milk to use is Homogenized and it should be started from around 2-4 degrees, the smaller the bubbles in milk makes it appear silky on your tongue and ensure you coffee does not drop an inch like when you have big bubbles. To get the best bubble pattern you need a vertical rotation so the bubbles are constantly being split into smaller bubbles.

My last point is one I hope you share with others, you do not need to boil the milk for coffee. I cant tell you how many times I have burnt my mouth trying to drink a coffee, any good barista will tell you the milk should only reach a maximum of 65 – 70 degrees as it will hold the air better and it also blends with the coffee without disturbing the beautiful crema on top.

You may be asking (if you didnt give up reading before this point)why has he got so much to say about coffee? A bad coffee at the end of a meal can leave a bad taste in your mouth and over shadow the experience of your dinner. The most ironic point of this whole story is I am sitting here writing this drinking a camomile tea  as I am on a 3 week detox diet (maybe thats why I am dreaming of coffee).

This article is an attempt to undo some of the damage done by generations of people giving these little miracles a bad name. If there is a more hated vegetable out there I would love to know which one as Brussels sprouts seem to bear the brunt of all the Jokes and bullying. Well as I have always said when people tell me they hate a certain type of food “you can’t judge until you have tried all possible ways”, in my opinion peoples hatred towards these poor innocent things is misdirected and the finger should be pointed at the person “Cooking” them or should I say Killing them. The traditional way to cook Brussels sprouts is to boil the hell out of them until they are soft (and the whole house smells of methane), but if you really study the water you will notice it is a very dark army green and what you can see are all the nutrients which you will never get the benefits of when you are forcing yourself to eat them (no wonder no one likes them. Part of a Chefs mission is to try to understand all individual ingredients and how to treat them, very much like clothing, 1 fashion does not suit all people even though we are all humans………….. So to better understand every ingredient we need to take the time and go through the process such as; What result do I want? What is it to be used for? Nutrition, limitations, Characteristics, Etc. One of the characteristics of cabbage is the very fresh peppery flavor which disappears after exposure to long periods of heat, so the idea is to keep the cooking time to a minimum. Another characteristic is very compact layers of frilly leaves which separate with a little steam, this texture on your tongue is salad like. So this being said the method I worked out is Keep the whole process in 1 pan and a maximum of 1 and a half minutes.

1. Trim bottom off and remove first 2 or 3 layers of leaves (as they are a little blemished and tough)
2. Cut on either side of the stalk which will remove the core and cut down cooking time
3. In a hot pan add a small amount of water then add the sprouts cut face down in the steaming water
4. Cook until the water evaporates
5. Add enough butter to generously coat the pan and leave the sprouts face down ensuring a layer of butter under
6. Leave until caramelized in points then remove, remember to watch your time!

I have converted every person who has ever told me they “hate” Brussels sprouts, and I personally eat them 5 times per week during the season (which in Europe is right now). Another thing my doctor told me is that Brussels sprouts are the only food item which repairs your liver naturally (and living in Spain This is a good thing to do after every night out (hence the 5 times per week Brussels sprout habit)).

One of the most common misconceptions about food is that “the more expensive it is, the better it is”. In some regions of the world this is more evident with social status being given to people who eat in certain restaurants and also how much they spend when they are their. In the middle east it is a common tradition when entertaining business contacts or someone worthy of impressing to order far more than you can possibly eat, ordering the wine according to the overinflated price tag and then leaving enough food on the table to feed a family. This is power when you can show abundance. Working as a Chef in the region can be a little frustrating to see your hard work go into the bin, but this comes with being the “Foreigner”.

But in saying this price is never an indication on how good food is, it’s all down to the Chef. Take for example a dish made from carrots and basic ingredients and it can over shadow a dish made with Foie gras and Truffle depending on the skill of the Chef and the thought they have put in.

The reason I gave this fancy lead up to a story about sardines is I think it is important to understand that you cannot judge an item purely on the price tag. Sardines must be one of the cheapest fish in every country, but in my opinion they are generally one of the best as they have such a unique powerful flavour plus they are so good for you. Since a trip to Greece many years ago I have been in love with this under rated little fish. The trick was that it was so fresh that it was almost still moving, the Chef simply fried it and served it with a salad. The flavour is still in my memory today!

When handling sardines it is important to understand they are fragile, you need to be very careful and use a razor sharp knife when preparing. To remove the scales simply use your finger and rub them off under running cold water, this way you preserve the best part of the sardine…… The brilliant blue skin. Carefully remove the 2 fillets without piercing the stomach (the taste from the stomach is nice when BBQing but too rough for pan frying), next carefully remove the bones with Tweezers. Make a mix of 1 part Salt and 1 part Sugar, totally cover the flesh and leave to marinate for 1 hour, rinse in Cold water. That’s it, you have something that cost you next to nothing and you will be surprised at how surprised people are at the flavor, the cooking and serving is up to you.

We are then sticking them back together using Transglutaminase and serving the whole fish without bones, this goes in a deconstruction of “Sardines on Toast”, compleate with Texturized Ketchup and a japanese Mayonaise (plus all the trimmings)

Off you go to the market and give these little guys another go!

Today I conducted the second round of tests on the famous miracle berries that I received from Africa (for anyone who did not read it, First of all shame on you second here is the link to redeem yourself http://madridlab.net/melonas/2009/01/miracle-berries/ ). The results this time were very interesting and varied as I had 12 testers who were all giving different results. Those who were normally sensitive to the taste of Sour, sensed the acid a lot more strongly than those who normally like Acidic foods. The second is; the miraculin protein only coats your tongue, which leaves your throat and top of your palette exposed. So while you do not taste sour on your tongue, you certainly feel it as you are swallowing. Another test which the restaurant pastry Chef did for me was test the effects of miracle berries on smoking, I am a non smoker so I do not understand the importance of the end of meal cigarette but it seems all smokers seem to enjoy this one. The results were pretty strange as he did not taste any of the tobacco flavor (maybe a good idea for people who date smokers;-), and for this he felt cheated. So I am left with the same thoughts I originally had, it is a very interesting product but impractical to use during a meal as its effects last too long and change too much.

The most outstanding results were:

• Tonic water
• Gin
• Bitter chocolate
• Limes
• Soy sauce
• The effects on Sugar

This is a very interesting topic and technique I have never written about, so here it is. The technique of making “Instant noodles” (using Methyl cellulose which is a Thermal reversible gel, see an earlier post I wrote about it) is not a new one, in fact it was started many years ago (to the best of my knowledge) by a friend of mine Wylie Dufresne in WD-50 New York. Since then it has been modified and interpreted the world over. Paul Pairet made a extremely good version of this using an Asian influence which was a Coconut instant noodle into a heavily infused Thai style broth, truly spectacular. There are 2 pictures, the first is a test I have been working on which is a new family of salads I am creating, the one in the picture in a Roquette instant noodle with Parmesan consomme. the second is Paco’s which we are serving here in the Restaurant, it is also combined with his love of Spanish olive oil. The noodle is simply made of 3 ingredients: Olive oil, Methyl cellulose and water. So being so pure it has a very clear taste of olive oil, which is obviously the goal. To make it is also very easy, just make a solution of water and 3% Methyl, to this very viscous mix emulsify the olive oil slowly as if you were making mayonnaise. 150g of the base will hold 350g of Olive oil, so you can see it is a very strong definite flavour of olive oil. This mix then gets put into a syringe (make sure no air) and then gently press it into a 90 – 100 degrees Celsius stock of your choice and within seconds you have a noodle. The beauty of this technique is: you have a noodle you can pick up with a fork but as soon you start to chew it melts away, this is because your mouth is about 36 degrees and this is below the temperature which Methyl melts.  The rest is up to you

Today I have been having a bad day so I figured I needed to find something to cheer myself up and put a smile back on my face. What better than opening up a bag of Pears which I started marinating about 10 months ago! I put some very good quality pears in a stock syrup with Vanilla, Cinnamon, Orange peel and port reduction. I vacuum packed the bag 3 times to force the syrup through to the middle of the pear halves. Over the months I have been removing a pear half every now and again when I needed a boost of inspiration. Today I removed 1 half and simply pan fried it very fast in butter. Because it has been marinating for so long it had the texture of a long poached pear even though it has never touched heat and can be eaten using a spoon. When pan fried it caramelizes naturally on the face, but must be handled with care as it is extremely Fragile. The result achieved its goals, I am still smiling 5 hours later when I think about the taste, but I wasn’t greedy I shared 1 half with 7 other people

In most parts of the world you cannot expect to find Langoustines sold live, so far it has only been possible when I was working in London. So to my surprise yesterday I received my order of Langoustines Alive, but not only alive they were really active! The difference is amazing, the meat is much more firm and almost crunchy when you eat it. I put them to good use by creating a pan fried Langoustines with liquid sauce thermidor in the center. The 3 langoustines were fused together and the sauce attached with Transglutaminase, the sauce was contained using a new form of Spherification to allow it to be cooked in the oven and stay attached to the Langoustines.