I’ve never thought of myself as egotistical. I don’t usually brag, unless it’s about my niece and nephews, or when Mario Batali triumphs on Iron Chef America… and most definitely when my favorite movie of the year (“Slumdog Millionaire”) wins a Golden Globe or four.
This past Sunday, I was catching up on “My Life As A Foodie” Podcasts by Phil Nigash. My husband and I were listening while I cooked dinner and we were surprised (thrilled!) to hear the host talking about MyLastBite.com.
Phil and I had been emailing for the past couple of weeks… sharing an obsession for food and molecular cooking… but I was still shocked to hear him discussing my website on his Podcast. Hearing someone talk about my passion for food, is just so different from reading about it. To me it just feels more alive.
I was drinking a glass of wine when I was listening to the podcast, and I swear… Phil sounds like Anthony Bourdain to me. Not just his voice, but also his self-deprecating demeanor. So by the time I finished listening to it for a third time (with more wine), it was even more of a thrill!
Anyway, I’m a little embarrassed to say that it really did stroke my ego, but more importantly it shows true generosity of spirit from Phil. His kind words not only gave me a humongous smile, but they also gave me that one thing I think every writer in the blogosphere desires… a great big scoop of validation. I’m out there every day, writing and blogging, following my passion with all my heart, and it’s being acknowledged.
Thank you Phil.
I’m posting the excerpt here (it’s just under 6 minutes) to share with my readers, friends and family.
Please know that it comes with a large pot of gratefulness, and just the tiniest pinch of ego… which I’m sure will be safely tucked away in the pantry before long.
(press the “play” button above)
Please check out Phil’s blog (including his beautiful molecular cooking photos!)
Last week I received the elBulli Texturas MiniKit that I ordered from the UK. Not only did it include the groovy Texturas ingredients, but also the tools and guidebook that I needed to really jump into this brave new world.
The tools that came with the elBulli Texturas kit included a collecting (straining) spoon, measuring spoons and a syringe. I have to say, there is something sort of thrilling about using tools with “Albert Y Ferran Adrià” ENGRAVED on them. It’s silly, but it makes the experience a little more special.
The phrase “Molecular Gastronomy ” (or molecular cooking) used to scare me. It sounded like brainy “science fiction” gibberish, especially when I started reading about techniques called “spherification” and “emulsification”.
My current obsession with it began after I attended a “Molecular Gastronomy” class in November. The next day I started ordering the special ingredients and tools, then created a “molecular cooking” corner in my funky, vintage kitchen. During that first class, our instructor (the awesome Chef Michael Young) demonstrated how to make Ferran Adria’s fruit caviar, but I didn’t actually get to try the caviar recipe that day.
A couple of years ago, I remember being dumbfounded while watching Ferran and Albert Adrià working at their elBulliTaller (laboratory) in Barcelona, Spain. It was on Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” episode titled “Decoding Ferran Adrià“. The brothers Adrià were showing Bourdain how to make mango “caviar” and I thought, “I wish I could do THAT in my kitchen!”.
Well I’m very proud to say that yesterday… I did it. I spent all afternoon making various sizes of elBulli “caviar”. It was AWESOME.
What I’ve discovered thus far is that “molecular cooking” requires three SIMPLE things:
1. Special ingredients such as Sodium Alginate and Calcium Chloride…
2. Toolsincluding a digital scale, squeeze bottle and straining spoon…
3. And most of all… ENTHUSIASM!
Recipe for Ruby Red Grapefruit “Caviar” (I picked Ruby Red Grapefruit for the color… such a pretty pale pink!)
9 oz. Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice
18 oz. Cold Water
1 g Sodium Alginate (or Algin)
3 g Calcium Chloride (or Calcic)
Digital scale
1 large bowl
2 medium bowls
Immersion blender
Fine mesh strainer
1. In one of the medium bowls, fill with cold water until the bottom is covered up to about four inches. Set this water bath aside. It will be used as the final step in making the fruit caviar.
2. In the large bowl, mix the sodium alginate with 1/2 the fruit juice and blend till completely dissolved.
3. Mix in the remaining fruit juice
4. Strain into empty medium bowl and allow to sit to remove any air bubbles.
5. In a medium bowl, dissolve the calcium chloride in the 18 oz. of cold water. I used a small whisk and it took about a minute to be completely dissolved.
6. Fill syringe or squeeze bottle with the juice mixture. It will be a little thick and “goopy”.
7. Gently discharge the mixture into the calcium chloride bath drop by drop.
8. After a minute, gently remove the “caviar” using a straining spoon and add to the cold water bath.
9. Wait a couple of minutes then remove the “caviar” from the fresh water into a serving bowl or serving spoon.
Note: I had a kitchen towel folded next to the water bath. Right after removing a spoonful of caviar (with the straining or collecting spoon), I gently tapped the bottom of the spoon onto the towel and it removed the excess water.
10. Serve and enjoy!
My Trio of Sizes.
I see Ferran Adrià’s “Liquid Olives” in the very near future!!!
First of all, the packaging itself is simply beautiful, with cutout photographs of Ferran and Albert Adria on the outer sleeve. When I slipped off the cover I found five cans of elBulli Texturas: Algin, Gluco, Xantana, Agar and Lecite. Also included were five measuring spoons with “Texturas Albert Y Ferran Adria” engraved on each, a syringe (for pumping out liquid “caviar”), and one “collecting” (straining) spoon which is something I had been searching for, even before I found the kit. Ferran Adria used this collecting spoon to serve his famous “liquid olives” at elBulli.
Kit description: “This Mini Kit gives you a fantastic selection of elBulli Texturas products with a host of applications possible. Reverse Sferificación (Gluco, Algin, Xantana 100g), a set of Eines (tools), Lecite 70g for your Airs & Foams and Agar 100g perfect for Hot Jellies, Spaghetti etc. There is a multi language booklet with ideas and recipes and offers hours of experimentation in the kitchen. Dinner Parties will never be the same again.”
I’m looking at the goodie box now… gathering up the courage to break out the tools and texturas… because from here on out, it’s going to be a whole new extraordinary adventure in my humble kitchen. HELLO 2009!
Until very recently, Alginate and Spherification were two words that were never spoken in my kitchen. That was of course until I attended a mind-altering, WTF, OMG I-need-more-kitchen-counter-space “Molecular Gastronomy” class.
After posting an article about the experience, I received an email from Hervé This, the French scientist and FATHER of Molecular Gastronomy. He kindly corrected me on the use of the words “molecular gastronomy”, and wanted me to understand that what I was doing was actually “molecular COOKING”, not molecular gastronomy.
Well…whatever it is I’m supposed to call it… “It” has taken over my thoughts, my bank account, and now my very crowded kitchen counter.
Before I continue, here are a few descriptions:
Sodium Alginate : Extracted from brown seaweed, sodium alginate is a stabilizer for ice cream, yogurt, cream, and cheese. It is a thickener and emulsifier for salad, pudding, jam, tomato juice, and canned products. In the presence of calcium and acid mediums, it forms resilient gels. It is a cold gelling agent that needs no heat to gel. It is most commonly used with calcium chloride in the spherification process.
Calcium Chloride : Food grade pellets used in post-harvest treatments of fruits and vegetables. Calcium chloride is also used in food and beverage processing, high fructose corn syrup production, and dairy foods processing.
Spherification consists of the controlled gelification of a liquid which, submerged in a bath, forms spheres. There are two kinds: Basic Spherification (which consists of submerging a liquid with Alginate in a bath of Calcium Chloride) and Reverse Spherification (submerging a liquid with Gluco in a bath of Alginate). These techniques can obtain spheres of different sizes: caviar, eggs, gnocchi, ravioli… In both techniques, the spheres produced can be manipulated, since they are slightly flexible.
Reverse/Inverse Spherification.By inserting a product that already contains calcium into an Alginate bath, you can make spherical preparations with dairy products, olives and other foodstuffs. Instead of adding Calcium Chloride to the preparations you would use gluconolactate in proportion to the product’s natural calcium content, then conclude the technique by bathing the result in Alginate. Furthermore, inverse spherification allows the item to hold its jellification, which you would be unable to control in basic spherification. As the Alginate fails to penetrate the sphere in this method, jellification only occurs on the surface. Read more about the History of Spherification.
I thought it would be EASY to find and purchase these ingredients online, but it wasn’t. The first “molecular cooking” ingredient I tried to buy was calcium chloride, which we used in class to make fruit caviar and pea ravioli. I searched Google and Amazon and ended up buying calcium chloride for aquarium use. What I needed was “food grade” calcium chloride, not a fish tank additive!
Next I tried to purchase “Sodium Alginate” and came up empty, so I emailed my chef instructor and he sent me to the Le Sanctuaire website. Thankfully he noted that I should be searching for the word “algin” as well as “alginate”. For calcium chloride, I should also search for “calcic”. Jackpot! I ordered both and impatiently waited for their arrival by watching Ferran Adria and José Andrés video clips I had saved on DVD.
On “Jose – Made in Spain”, chef Andrés did a spherification of yogurt. He explained that since yogurt had a high calcium count, it would be easy to do a reverse (or inverse) spherification using the Algin.
Anticipating the arrival of the Le Sanctuaire package, I had a large container of plain yogurt stashed in the fridge. I didn’t have an actual recipe to make the yogurt spherification, but I did have the “Made in Spain” video clip…. which I obsessively watched in slow motion to get the right measurements.
Ingredients for a “Reverse” Yogurt Spherification:
1 cup of plain yogurt
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon aliginate
24 oz water
Fresh fruit of your liking
Honey
Instructions:
In a large bowl blend the water and alginate with a hand blender until completely dissolved.
Strain the alginate water into another bowl and let rest for 30 minutes.
In a medium bowl, gently mix the yogurt and sugar together.
Next to the alginate bath, prepare another bath of plain water.
With a round spoon, scoop out a ball of yogurt and submerge into alginate water.
Gently shake the spoon so you see a ball or dollop of yogurt drop beneath the surface.
Wait a few minutes then scoop out the spherified yogurt balls into the fresh water, to remove the alginate.
IT WORKED! Except for the fact that I made the balls too big at first, I was thrilled with the texture and mouth-feel of the yogurt. I could easily “pop” the skin with my tongue (after playing with it in my mouth first!).
I served the yogurt balls with fruit and drizzled the top with honey. Terrific little dish for breakfast or dessert.
What’s next?? Well I recently ordered the elBulli Texturas Mini Starter Kit, and can’t wait for my next molecular cooking adventure! In the coming year I’m certain my kitchen will be filled with lots of tasty balls and scrumptious spheres…
Infusions LTD sells an elBulli “mini starter kit”. If the website states that they are out of stock (due to popular demand), just email them and they will contact you when they have more available.
I first titled this post “Molecular Gastronomy Class”, and began adding a few photos and information links to molecular gastronomy cookbooks, chef info, “where to buy” ingredients and video clips. I figured I would wake up this morning and finish writing about my “molecular gastronomy class” and then add recipes and photos from the fun day.
Then I noticed there was a comment pending and was shocked to see it was from Hervé This, the French scientist recognized as THE FATHER of “molecular gastronomy”. Woa.
He wrote:
My reply to his email:
Dear Mr. This,
First of all, I am very honored that you took the time to write me, and I thank you for your forthright comment. “Molecular Cooking” (as I will now call it) is an exciting new world to me and I appreciate you taking the time to correct me.
I have added a video link to the “Gourmet’s Diary of Foodie” episode featuring your discussion on molecular gastronomy, and have also renamed my original post, “Adventures in Molecular Cooking”.
With much respect and sincerity,
Jo
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Hervé This Discusses Molecular Gastronomy
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About the Class: Name: Molecular Gastronomy
Format: Hands On
Price: $89
Date: Sunday, November 30, 2008 Instructor: Chef Michael Young
Location: Sur la Table, Los Angeles
From the class outline: “Herve This, and Ferran Adria are at the forefront of the move in the culinary world towards food manipulation. Come join a talented Chef in learning how to make pastaless Raviolis, and many other foods based on the theories and principals of Molecular Gastronomy. Or come to learn the different food chemicals, and how to use these items to blow your mind. You will participate in the making of all items.”
The class began with Chef Michael Young explaining the basics of Molecular Gastronomy, and asked if any of the sixteen students present were familiar with Chef Ferran Adria and his el Bulli restaurant. As we all shook our heads “yes”, Chef Young pointed us to the monitors above the kitchen. The dvd playing was one of my favorite Anthony Bourdain segments, called “Decoding Ferran Adria”. It’s a detailed behind the scenes look at the el Bulli taller (labratory) and el Bulli restaurant. I’ve watched my own copy of dvd at least twenty times over the years.
As Chef Young continued talking about molecular gastronomy, he noted that Hervé This (whom Chef Young had met before) was first and foremost a scientist, NOT a chef, and that the experiments we were using in the class were first made famous by This, and adopted by Ferran Adria for use at el Bulli.
One of the recipes featured on the dvd was called the “Pea Ravioli”, also known as the “Spherical Ravioli”. Ferran & Albert Adria chose the name “because the sensation in the mouth was precisely that of a liquid ravioli”. I’d been dreaming of this one-bite dollop for years and was so excited it we’d be making it today.
The class menu:
Ferran Adria’s Pea “Ravioli” with Black Truffle Oil.
Olive Oil Poached Halibut with Porcini Mushroom Foam.
Beef and Jicama Sashimi with Tarragon Emulsion.
Haricot Vert with Seared Duck Breast and Pineapple Caviar
My nephew Cody and I wanted to make the Pea Ravioli, and Peter (my husband) chose the Candied Apples. “Team Ravioli” included myself, Cody and a very nice mother and son duo from Alabama. Peter joined another couple in making up “Team Apple”.
Note: We (Cody, myself and Peter) didn’t work on any of the other recipes (duck, halibut or beef) so I will only discuss the two we focused on during the class (the pea ravioli and candied apples).
Before we started working on the individual recipes our instructor, Chef Michael, invited us up to the main prep counter to watch him make “Pineapple Caviar”
Ingredients:
9 oz. Pineapple Juice
1g Sodium Alginate
18 oz. Water
3g Calicum Chloride
1. Mix the sodium alginate with 1/2 of the pineapple juice and blend till completely dissolved.
2. Mix in remaining juice, straining and allow to sit to remove any air bubbles.
3. Dissolve the calcium chloride in the water.
4. Fill syringe or a squeeze bottle with the juice mixture.
5. Softly expel mixture into calcium chloride bath drop by drop.
6. After a minute, remove gently with a tea strainer and rinse gently in cold water.
They were delicious little balls of pineapple fruit “caviar” and it was fun to see how easy this molecular cooking was going to be… or so I thought.
Recipe for “Pea Ravioli”
For the “pea soup”:
10 oz. frozen peas
10 oz. water
2 springs chive
For the “ravioli”:
5 grams food grade Sodium Alginate
For the calcium bath:
50 oz. cold water
.4 oz. calcium chloride
Truffle oil & Sea Salt (to top at end)
Instructions:
1. In a shallow baking dish, combine water and calcium chloride. Whisk until calcium chloride is dissolved, then store in the fridge to chill.
2. Blanch frozen peas in salted, boiling water, then shock immediately in ice water for several minutes. Drain.
3. Using an immersion blender, rain the sodium alginate into the cold water, until fully dissolved. The water will thicken considerably. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
4. When cooled, blend with peas, add chives and mix until the mixture is smooth.
5. Remove chilled calcium chloride mixture from the fridge. Scoop pea mixture into a tablespoon measure in the shape of a half-sphere. Set the bottom of the tablespoon measure against the surface of the calcium chloride mixture, then pour the mixture in the calcium bath. Leave ravioli in the calcium chloride mixture for two minutes.
6. Gently remove the ravioli from the calcium chloride bath using fingers or a slotted spoon. Place in a shallow bowl filled with cool water, to rinse calcium off the ravioli sphere.
7. Top with a few drops of truffle oil and sea salt. Serve immediately.
After reading the “Pea Ravioli” recipe, my nephew Cody and I took charge and started working. First weighing the calcium chloride on a digital scale (which took us a few minutes to figure out!), then on to blanching the peas. The kitchen was VERY crowded with sixteen students plus a staff of three all trying to maneuver equipment and burner space, but it was FUN.
After we mixed and chilled the calcium and shocked the peas, Cody grabbed an immersion blender and went to work on the sodium alginate. He brought it to a boil over high heat and then allowed it to cool.
The next step was blending the sodium alginate with the peas, and at that point we realized that the other members of “team ravioli” had only been watching. Unlike myself and Cody, the sweet “Alabama” mom and son duo were sort of unsure and afraid to jump in and get dirty.
So we motioned them to come over and they blended the pea mixture with the sodium alginate. And that’s where things sort of took a wrong turn. It wasn’t mixed enough. The pea mixture was supposed to be SMOOTH… silky smooth. Cody and I both knew that because we had watched the el Bulli video. But OUR pea ravioli mixture was well… a little lumpy! Alabama insisted that it was mixed enough and since it was a “team” recipe effort (and I didn’t want to get into an argument), we moved on to the next step.
We transferred the chilled calcium chloride from the fridge to our work table and scooped out tablespoon size balls from the bowl of peas & alginate.
It really was too thick… but as we maneuvered the pea mix into the calcium bath, they instantly firmed up and turned into “balls”. Thick, lumpy balls (most with little tadpole-like tails) but they held together!
We all took turns making the pea ravioli…. each trying to get the spoon out WITHOUT creating a tail on the ball. Students from other groups came over and gave it a try.
Next we drained each ball in fresh water, then Cody and I got busy plating them up on a square platter. We drizzled a few drops of truffle olive oil on each, then topped with crunchy sea salt.
How did they taste? They were delightful! Firm on the outside, sweet and creamy on the inside, and of course the truffle oil and sea salt added extra flavor and texture.
Our Pea Ravioli spheres were definitely NOT perfect, and honestly it was PERFECTLY fine with me. How else would we learn if our recipes came out flawless the first time?
Recipe for “Pomme d’Amour” (Michel Richard’s Candied Apples):
1 pound sugar
2 teaspoons citric acid
4 oz. glucose
1 teaspoon red food coloring
3 granny smith apples, peeled and cut into 9 1-inch balls
Crushed corn nuts for garnish
1. For the candied apples: In a medium saucepan bring sugar, citric acid, glucose and food coloring to 310 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Remove from heat. Insert toothpics into apples and immediately dip into candy. Place apples on bed of crushed corn nuts.
My husband Peter said he had a great time making the Candied Apples, especially because we are big fans of Michel Richard. They were bite-size, sweet and crunchy from the corn nuts.
The three of us throughly enjoyed the afternoon class, although I wished we had a few more hours to play! Chef Young was super friendly, helpful and I’ll be the first to sign up when he teaches another “Molecular Gastronomy/Cooking” class!
“One of the delights of life is eating with friends, second to that is talking about eating. And, for an unsurpassed double whammy, there is talking about eating while you are eating with friends.”
Author Laurie Colwin
my last bite... 