Salute to Alinea, Part 2

Today's quest is from the Alinea cookbook: "Mango, Bonito, Soy, Sesame".  The recipe doesn't look too difficult, though there are tools that we may have to improvise.

First task is to cut up some mango, and blend it.  As I wandered through the grocery store to buy an mango, I realized I had never bought or cut a mango before.  Learning something new at my advanced age, go figure.

Mango Puree

Peeling the mango was pretty straightforward, but figuring out where the "pit" was stymied me for a bit, but eventually figured it out.

The next task was to add enough simple syrup to the mango puree so that it registers 20 Brix on a refractometer --what what what?

According to the Alineaphile blog (http://alineaphile.com/2008/11/mango-bonito-soy-sesame/), "refractometer is used to “determine the refractive index of a substance.”  (aka the sugar content of a mixture.)

Refractometer

Through the miracle that is EBay, I found one cheap.  They are pretty cool. 

There is a plastic 'cover" at the top of the device that covers a piece of glass. You put a drop liquid on the piece of glass, close the cover, and look through the eyepiece.  Based on how dense the liquid is, a "chart" of measurements is covered or uncovered, showing the Brix level.  Very mad-scientisty.

So, using my new favorite mad scientist device, added simple syrup to the mango puree to get it to the right level.  From there, put it in a squirt bottle, and set it aside for a bit.

Next step is to gelatinize some soy sauce (using our old friend agar-agar).  Standard methods apply:  mix the ingredients and bring them to a boil for a few minutes.  Then throw the hot mess of soy sauce in the refrigerator for a few hours.  Take the gelatinized soy sauce, and put it in a blender and pulverize it, and put that in a squirt bottle.

Cool, boiling hot soy sauce with agar agar

Soy Sauce Gelatin

The next step is to put medallions of the mango puree on an Anti-Griddle...oh wait, I don't have one of those.  (http://www.cuisinetechnology.com/the-anti-griddle.php)  An Anti-Griddle is a neat device that immediately freezes anything you put on it.    There is a "home version" of this device that folks have made using dry ice and a sheet pan (http://www.molecularrecipes.com/techniques/anti-griddle-home/).  

But I am too cheap for even that, so I try to use a sheet pan pre-frozen in my freezer.  So, I put the mango puree on that and freeze them up.

Mango Chillin'

This improvisational method of freezing the mango was only marginally successful, and would come back to haunt me later...I should have brought home some dry ice.

Now for the assembly of the dish.  First you put a drop of sesame oil on each of the "mango patties".  Freeze that for a little bit longer.  Then you put a drop of the soy sauce gelatin on top of the previous drop of sesame oil.

The next step is to shave some bonito flakes on top of each.  I walked around an Asian market for 30 minutes yesterday and couldn't find any bonito flakes.  I ran out of time, and couldn't find any helpful people to ask so decided to do without it.  From what I read, bonito flakes are kind of fishy / salty, so I decided that if I needed something salty on the dish, I would add parmesan cheese.  (Major violation of ingredient substitution rules here.)

Presentation-wise, this dish is a mess.   None of the drops of sesame oil or soy sauce gelatin went where I wanted.  Flavor-wise, even without the parmesan cheese, these were salty little dudes.  The texture of the frozen mango is lovely though.

Hopefully my next attempt will have more success.  Time to invest in some dry ice, and find some bonito.

Salute To Alinea

My Christmas present to myself this year was the "Alinea" cookbook, containing recipes from the Alinea restaurant in Chicago. http://www.amazon.com/Alinea-Grant-Achatz/dp/1580089283

Lots of ambitious recipes in this fine book, many of which are difficult to attempt with the tools of a home cook.  But one caught my eye, because it was relatively easy, and sounded fabulous: "Caramel Popcorn, Liquified"

This recipe has two components: a caramel foam that is used to top the other component, a buttered popcorn soup.  So, first I attempt the caramel.  It involves all the usual ingredients of making caramel, such as sugar and water.  First, you make the caramel liquid and let it come to room temperature.

Caramel, cooling.

Now, onto making the amazing popcorn soup.  First, you make popcorn the old fashioned way, using oil in a pot.  (No microwaves were harmed in making this dish.)  Then, you throw the popcorn in a pot with a gob of butter, salt, a lot of water and a passel of white sugar.  (Hmmm, all the ingredients of buttered, salted caramel popcorn.)

Buttered Caramel Popcorn Soup, Phase 1

If you look carefully, you can see that I burned a few kernels of popcorn, but shhhhh, don't point that out to anyone.

Now comes the part that involves multiple "filtration" steps, and lets you make a really big mess of your kitchen.

First, you strain out all the kernels using a chinois,  Then, you submit it to five minutes of blenderizing, (not a real word, but I like it), followed by straining it again.

You end up with a soup that looks like buttered milk, but tastes just like salty caramel popcorn.  Amazing.

Now, you go back to the caramel that you made originally, and add some soy lecithin.  Soy lecithin is a "foaming agent".  You get out your old hand blender, and blend it into a foamy froth.  That's the theory, but it didn't happen.  Very little foam, but more of big mess in the kitchen.   (A couple of bloggers who also made this recipe had the same problem, so I don't feel badly.) 

I have used soy lecithin previously in a recipe called "Frozen Chocolate Wind" (http://www.molecule-r.com/en/content/55-frozen-chocolate-wind)  That was also a big mess, but the chocolate actually foamed up, and the result was delicious.  The keys seem to be to put the liquid in a tall glass (reduces the mess) and to have a non-wimpy hand-blender (I think mine is moderately wimpy).

So, no caramel foam on my liquified popcorn, but it still tastes mighty fine.

Caramel Popcorn, Liquified

This recipe is fairly easy, and can be made ahead of time.  (Don't do the caramel foam, just do the popcorn soup.)  I will probably serve it in a small shot glass as a dessert component at a future get-together

Here is the recipe if you would like to give it a try: http://www.molecularrecipes.com/surprises/liquid-popcorn-caramel-froth/.