Olive Oil Gel

It has been a while since I've written anything in this space.  It isn't that I've been completely inactive, just lazy about updating the blog.  There is some catching up to do.  Regular posting commences...now.

One of the things I'm committing to is work on creating new dishes.  To this end, I started a tastes diary of sorts where I write down ideas for things that I come across by accident (soy sauce/toasted walnut oil, granny smith apple/roasted garlic/white chocolate...etc.) and tastes I enjoy in dishes I've attempted.

As a further step in this development is learning to create new textures and flavor combinations with techniques I have learned.  That is what is below, as a test.  

I took some olive oil and made a gel out of it.  This isn't an invention of mine, but something I wanted to add to my repertoire. It is really quite easy, if you've made gelatin before.  I made a couple of shapes.  First were cubes, which I think mimic croutons.  Second, I made a thin sheet, which I then cut up into strips and rolled. 

The manipulation of ingredients into different textures and shapes often brings excitement to a plate.  I've experienced this.  I'm not sure why, but these sorts of things do have an effect on the taste.  At least a partial explanation might be that we (I, at least) pay more attention to the taste of the food when it is presented in an unusual way.  Whereas something like olive oil might pass nearly unnoticed, the fruity mouth coating deliciousness of a piece of this gel is quite prominent.  The gel helps, too, keeping the oil on the palate for a longer period of time. (As a side note, interesting research into this topic.)

I'm looking forward to refinement and learning how to make more components of dishes like this.  Time to let the creative juices flow.



water 100 ml
glucose 25g
sugar 80g
isomalt 100g
olive oil 200 ml
5 sheets gelatin (silver strength, so I think I used about 15 grams)

1. heat/dissolve sugar, glucose, isomalt in the water
2. At around 90C, add in bloomed gelatin
3. Add olive oil and blitz in blender/immersion blender/food processor
4. Pour & set

(Recipe adapted from khymos.org)

Braised Pork Belly, Coffee, Orange, Chocolate, Black Pepper

I have an old friend visiting for a few days, so posting has been light.   Tonight we collaborated on a dish and produced a nice outcome.

Here we have pork belly, which was brined overnight in whisky, maple syrup, and dijon mustard.  Then braised for 6 hours in orange juice.  The meat itself is finished with a saute.  I added half a cup of additional orange juice and a couple tablespoons of red wine vinegar to the braising liquid and reduced to just a sauce consistency.  The acid and syrupy-citrus sweetness really helped cut some of the richness. The dish is garnished with a coffee-chocolate fondant tuile made from isomalt and glucose, which is also dusted with fresh ground black pepper.

Every aspect of this dish supports the rich succulence of the pork belly, which has been infused with the flavor of oranges.  I really need to comment on the use of coffee and chocolate though.  Not only do these flavors pair well together, but the black pepper on the tuile is complementary as well.   The really great part is how the coffee melds with the meaty aspects of this dish without clashing with the sweet/acid/floral flavors brought by the use of oranges.  I think that while coffee is often associated with the sweet/cold side of things, it has a tremendous potential in savory/hot dishes as well.  Some ideas are to use coffee as a braising liquid, or to cook something like short ribs en sous vide with coffee grounds, letting the natural juices of the meat infuse the coffee into the flesh.  Another idea would be to use a pressure cooker so to preserve the coffee's flavor with a shortened cook time.  I think the chocolate needs to play a background role in all this, if it is used at all, but it is a really nice touch that served to highlight the coffee.  Also, like in some hot chocolate preparations, the pepper works nicely to add a spicy kick to the whole thing.

I'm sure I'll be playing with this dish in the future, trying to bring forth the flavors more clearly, and balancing out the flavors as well.   As it stands, I think this dish is a nice start.

Isomalt

I received a shipment of goodies today, among them Isomalt. Isomalt is an alcohol sugar made from beets. It is half as sweet as sucrose, table sugar. It also has some neat properties, one of which I played with tonight after dinner.

I took 1 cup and melted it in a sauce pan. I formed a ring with some metal wire I had laying around and decided to make some "glass".

This photo is of a bit of cranberry left over from making the cranberry stock for "Cranberry Frozen & Chewy" encapsulated in a thin membrane of melted isomalt. Like blowing bubbles with a ring, what I did was melt the isomalt to 240 F or so, and then dip the ring in the liquid sugar. I dropped some of the cranberry through the center of the ring. When the isomalt cools, it becomes brittle, like glass. You can pop it in your mouth and get a fun texture with the flavoring you use.

This is an extremely difficult technique. The fine cooks at El Bulli manage to do this perfectly. They have better equipment that keeps the isomalt at the perfect temperature, and with a better method of creating the shell.