This story is a continuation from the discovery in amongst my tests yesterday.
When I was studying the flowers I realized that they could be divided into a perfect 5 point star which was beautiful. So I put them in between silicon paper and applied a little pressure on top so they would stay flat and not curl. I dried them at 65 degrees for 36 hours so as the crystallize them perfectly and also keep the full intensity of the color. Read the rest of this entry »
With a second story about things that I have dug out of my fridge in 2 days you are going to think that I must be just hoarding everything in vacuum bags for a rainy day! As I will be leaving my lab soon, I have started wrapping up all the outstanding tests which I need to log a result.
I admit I do love to observe the changes food undergoes as it is preserving in sugar. It takes on a translucent appearance and it’s light refraction and transparency makes it look like plastic. Plus of course there is the flavour which becomes so much more rich and intense. And the 3rd and somewhere most interesting thing with fruits preserved in Sugar syrup is there ability to perfectly caramelize when pan fried.
You might remember more than 3 months ago I was doing many tests on Aloe Vera. At the time I could not find anything to do with it that was as good as my favorite way of eating it with Greek yogurt. So I left it in vacuum bags until now.
Last week I made a kombu stock which I was intending on using as a base for risotto. So in keeping with the kaiseki traditions I infused the kombu at 60 degrees for 30 minutes to take advantage of the umami properties.
But I observed something very funny when I returned to it 7 days later………
Quite some time ago I wrote a story about a Melting courgette flower I have been doing for the last 3 years. The original was filled with a anchovy mousse, when you broke through the paper thin crispy tempura it would come running out as a liquid filled with bubbles. This together with the Kalamata olive oil was my perfect idea of a flavor combination as it was full power without loosing any of the subtle flavors.
When we created the Ikea Swedish Tapas menu 6 months ago we started with a line of what the Spanish call “Leche Frita” which means Fried Milk. It is a very traditional dessert all over Spain and is very typical to eat at home.
I am sometimes writing topics on www.egullet.org, and I wrote one today which I thought might be interesting to also be debated on my blog. See the below topic.
Who is sick of the going back and forth debate regarding the name of our new cuisine?
A couple of months ago I started making yogurt in my kitchen. I have been experimenting with all different types of milk which are available here in Spain including; Sheep’s milk, Goats milk and Cows milk.
This is not a technique I can or would want to claim as my own, this is a technique by a brilliant Chef and friend of mine Paul Pairet. Paul is a French Chef based in Shanghai and is now in charge of a restaurant named “Mr and Mrs Bund“.
A few weeks ago I wrote a story about Mediterranean Red Mullet (Salmonete) and my absolute love for the fish. Well finally I have found a dish to do it justice!
A very simple yet very effective technique is emulsifying Extra Virgin olive oil into Honey. Obviously you need to find a very good quality Extra virgin olive oil as you really taste all the characteristics of both the honey and the oil.
Who doesn’t love a really good piece of Tuna Otoro (the fattiest part of the belly, to be honest I generally prefer the Chutoro which is in between the Akami and Otoro and is less fatty with more flavour)? It is something the Japanese will pay there life savings for and/or fish the waters of Blue-fin tuna until extinction 
The reason it is so expensive is the numbers of fish are dwindling and of course compared to the total weight of the fish the belly is the smallest part and in the highest demand.
So we can think of this technique as an environmentally friendly alternative, and a way to use up the excess loins.
The Spanish have been mixing tuna and pork for a long time, so the combination is not a new one. But the technique to combine them is new! So I ordered some top quality tuna loin and some amazing Jamón de Jabugo. The idea is to mix to two products in a way that they replicate Otoro but the fat instead of being from the tuna is actually from Jamón.
I tried to follow the natural pattern of the tuna when slicing it to keep it as real as possible. I sliced the Jamòn fat into sheets of equal thickness so it would have a better chance of sticking evenly…………….. So using a mix of Transglutaminase WM,GS and EB (I used a mix to utilize the strengths of each type when they work together), I powdered the surfaces and built it up in the same way that it was cut so the grain would all match up.
Obviously in Otoro the fat is marbled through the meat, but in my case I had to settle for veins of fat. What you see in the picture is the first test, for the next test I will try and make the fat more random so it looks more realistic.
SUCCESS!!!!!!!
I haven’t yet decided the best way to serve it or even cook it. So far we have tested Tataki, Carpaccio, Steak, low temperature Confit, etc. But at the end of the day the result was achieved, when heated the fat melts but the structure keeps it held together perfectly. In the proportions which I have used has allowed both products to shine without either one dominating which was the risk when using such a strong flavour such as the fermented fat from Jamón.
This is a very interesting and immense topic which I am not sure if I can do justice in only 1 story, but I will at least open the topic which I am sure I will continue at a later date.
One of the strongest points of Progressive Cuisine is that it is very precise, this allows us to understand exactly what happens and When. Being a Head Chef it also gives you the advantage of being able to consistently maintain your standards. When passing over a new dish to your more junior Chefs it is important that you leave nothing unmeasured and nothing for them to make there own mind up about. When you are dealing with Humans you will always have errors as each one of us will interpret the same request in a different way, this is why we put in place measures. In Cuisine these days everything is measured and correct to the Second, Millimetre, 0.01 of a Gram and 0.1 of a Degree.
This may sound a little absurd but take into consideration that it is a Chefs task these days to really understand food and it’s limitations in order to get the best result. Take the picture above as an example (sorry it is so bad), this is 2 terrines of what I call “Choco-Gras Aero” which is a mix of Chocolate and Foie Gras fat which I make into a Aerated Chocolate terrine which melts away to nothing in your mouth. This is a technique involving many techniques, and if just one of them is slightly wrong it will not work. Let me help you to really understand:
So I guess you can see the point! In the picture the terrine on the right was prepared by a colleague and it was only half a degree more which he did not seem to think was a problem, as you can see it was! The terrine rose then immediately fell as the air was escaping from the fragile bubbles. Just think that this is not the most complicated thing that we do. But always remember……….. “THERE IS A TECHNIQUE FOR EVERYTHING”, think about everything in life and you will find from brushing your teeth to washing your car there is a particular way that you must do the things.
So I wholeheartedly refute the claims from the Chefs who say that by cooking with precise measures and utilizing science you will loose the passion and feel for food. Taste is a personal thing which is confusing when you have a brigade of up to 20 Chefs, you do not want to be tasting 20 different interpretations on how each dish should be.
During this week we have Carlo Cracco Peck here from Milano to serve a special menu in Collaboration with Paco Roncero. Carlo is a 2 Star Michelin Chef from Ristorante Cracco (http://www.ristorantecracco.it/), he is here this week with his Head Chef. Today he showed me a very basic but very interesting technique using the peel of Parmesan (which we normally only use for making stock) and a microwave.
When you put the outer peel of the Parmesan in the microwave it puffs up like children’s puffed rice snacks. The flavour does not alter at all, but the texture becomes edible where normally it is not. Very interesting stuff!
C.F.P = Casino (De Madrid) Fried Pigeon.
By this stage some of you may of already stopped reading and the rest wondering “What was he thinking?”
I was taught a long time ago ”Nothing is as it seems”! This case is no different.
Ok, from the start……………… It is almost the season for wild quails here in Spain, so I took a box of wild pigeons from France to work out a new plate so when the quails arrived I would only need to make some minor taste balance adjustments so we can make the most of the 1 month season without wasting a day. In the process of searching for a new idea for the quail plate I ended up finding something amazing for the Pigeon! I started off wanting to do a play on the very famous Duck dish from France “Duck a l’Orange” but exchanging the duck for the quail and changing the Orange for an infused fanta (yes that’s right, the soft drink). First this was met with some pretty stiff apprehension from the Spanish as they relate this soft drink to a drink for small Children and not something you use in a Michelin star restaurant. Just on this point, this is a concept called “Supermarket cooking”, the person who taught me this was my friend Paul Pairet. He would very often include many things people associate with things you would find in the supermarket but using them in high Gastronomy, I utilize this theory a lot to show humor in an otherwise very serious meal.
Sorry now back to the topic, For the most tender result I decided to use an Asian method to poach the pigeons. This method is basically to thread a string through the necks of the birds and lower them into the boiling stock which in this case was the fanta with many aromats, herbs and Asian sauces. You dunk the string of birds into the boiling stock and leave them only a few seconds before taking them out, bring the stock back to the boil and repeat the process 3 or 4 times depending on the type of bird. The final time just leave the birds inside and remove from the heat. After 10 – 12 minutes remove the birds and Chill overnight.
So now I have the birds cooked, What’s next? I want a very crispy skin without overcooking the very tender Pigeon. Here’s where I found a little technique I am very surprised I didn’t find before. I basically took some dehydrated pork skin and blended it into 3mm crumbs. Then same like you would do to crumb something; lightly dust in flour then into an egg wash then I attached the pork skin like I would do with Crumbs. When fried the result is amazing! The skin puffs up and becomes white and the crunch is something you just don’t get with roasting birds normally.
To keep with the Asian theme, I put some fermented black garlic paste underneath the tenderloin before frying. This gives it many opposing reactions in your mouth, to highlight this I have also put some orange reduction on the top as well as some fresh spring onions.
I love the very figurative form and I would not put anything else on the plate, all the flavors are contained within the puffed pork shell.