Valentines Day, the one that got away.

For a while back I had been working on the Valentines Day Dessert Menu (and this post as you can see by the date) we were having at the Club on the Friday before the 14th but sadly no one booked in and we had to pull the plug on the Special 'Aphrodisiac' based menu.

I had done a bit of back ground and ‘in the field’ ;-) research on aphrodisiac foods and herbs before the cancellation had happened.

It really is quite interesting all the little things that surround us day to day and the from far off distant lands witch doctor remedies which all have special properties that have interesting effects on our bodys. One that caught my attention was Maca Root from up in the Andes in Peru. It is meant to have quite stimulating qualities from libido, balancing hormones and a tasting quite good on my morning porridge! 

It tasted quite ‘malty’ and pleasant-ish, so I mixed it up with some Bananas and made a Banana and Maca Root ice-cream to go with liquid chocolate and nutmeg sponge. Quite happy with the result.

I also come across Horny Goat Weed, supposedly a poor mans Viagra. Now that’s what I was looking for in an aphrodisiac based menu! Hmmm…Something that actually kind of did something. So off to Holland and Barrett and picked some up. Well one small taste and I couldn’t get this leafy burnt ash flavour out of my mouth. I don’t think anything could make it taste nice. Gonna have to use that one at home….

After going off into unfamiliar territory I thought I better come back to some not so customer scary ingredients.  I planed to incorporate every day Aphrodisiac foods Sweet Basil, Nutmeg, Coffee, Chocolate, Almond, Banana, Passion Fruit, Champagne and Maca Root into the different desserts I had planned.

For one of the special desserts the challenge of pulling off the liquid chocolate from the almighty Alinea cook book was put in front of me and thought it would be fun to do.

After banging out the mix word for word from the book at the end of the day so it would be good to go for the morning the next day.

The morning after....

I was quite excited to pull out a square to defrost and see the chocolate ooze out and cover the plate. 1 1/2 hrs later I gently probed the centre of the block of chocolate to see if it had defrosted completely. 3c, it was ready. I carefully broke off the corner and..... 

a soft solid block of chocolate was waiting for me.

Not exactly what I was expecting but should’ve seen it coming, seemed all too easy. Previously I have had quite a bit of success with the recipes from the Alinea cook book with only minor adjustments to correct slight changes between different ingredients and my personal taste.

The recipe does have a few issues you could say, which will show up in the final result.

First up the recipe calls for “bittersweet chocolate, 75 percent cacao, chopped” and the same for the milk chocolate but 33%.

Just from the top of my head I can think of several different brands of chocolate that have the same percent chocolates in their range. The thing is not all chocolate is the same even though the percentage may be. Some have a higher sugar content or higher cacao butter content, for example Valhrona tend to have a higher percentage of cacao butter content which gives them a lower viscosity or thinner consistency than most other brands which helps with enrobing, dipping and of course taste.  Most decent chocolate companies have different couvertures (32-39% cacao butter) for different purposes and tastes, all featuring their own individual characteristics to that company’s specifications, which gives a few variables which could impact on the finial result.

Well with the result from the first test I had, I went about making the recipe 'wetter' with more honey, milk and cream so it would be liquid upon defrosting.

Six test batches later and numerous cleanings of the chocolate spray gun (which is the worst part of the job and takes two times longer to clean than the time your actually using it) all for 1 or 2 little squares at a time….  I finally got want we wanted all along. A good flow and stability with out the sides giving away under there own weight during transit from the fridge to the plate to the table.

Still even after the relief to getting it right, I also had another potential problem which I noticed around test 3 or 4 that the defrost time also played an important part in the finial result.

The longer it was left in the fridge in its defrosted state the firmer it would get eventually seizing up the flow and becoming just goo. Seems like the chocolate was doing its best to crystallize and annoy me again.

This could have been solved by looking at the bookings and pulling out portions in intervals through out the night and guessing how well it would’ve sold to get the best result…..

Then I had the idea how to completely solve all my dilemmas. Which sadly I didn’t get to put to use.

The easy way -

Make up a tasty chocolate liquor / sauce with a very thin consistency and freeze in gastro tray.

Cut to desired size, place back in freezer. Place a couple of needles into block.

When making up chocolate spray mix, set aside some and then take the frozen block and dip up to the top of the sides evenly along the edges. Place back in freezer.

Set up chocolate spray gun. Spray blocks well and evenly on all sides. Refreeze.

Defrost and you should have a very liquid and manageable liquid block of chocolate.

Technically cheating but allows quite a few more possibilities to be achieved with a bit less trial and error.

Have fun with it!

Basil tapioca, tomato jelly and rock oyster

Been skimming through Johnny Iuzzuni's dessert fourplay book this week, visually stunning however sad to say whilst the ideas and inspiration come thick and fast in this book, the ability to try a recipe and it work are impossible. I have tried a few this week and it has taken all my cooking savvy to stop horrific errors due to incorrect quantities, sorry but this book is off my birthday list.

however, there is one lovely looking 1/4 on a strawberry page, had to see where this could go in the savoury world

Tomato fluid gel, rock oyster, basil tapioca

Got it!! the Anything molten cake

In my last post I showed a celeriac fondant, made primarliy from the vegetable only. from this continued the technique through carrot, fennel and a most excellent banoffee fondant, thought I would show the last one though as it is probably the most visually contrasting one from the original, Beetroot.

am happy with the technique now, and am pretty happy that with minor alterations to the ratios on each can produce a molten cake out of absolutely anything!

and the moment of truth...again

this one is cast from a different mould to above, but my poor phone camera had a real moment and lost a number of snaps from today

Classic Fondant well nearly.........

I love it when a thought becomes something lovely at the first attempt

especially when that is so rare

CELERIAC FONDANT

and the proof of the pudding is..........

as Hannibal would say, I love it when a plan comes together. now just the beet jus and the beef elements left to go

Roast quail, puy lentil and parsnip consomme

Woke up a couple of days ago with a need to cook parnsip

humble vegetable adaptable for so many different methods, boiled, roasted, puree, even cereal at a certain favourite restaurant.

sat on the end of the bed thinking if it would consomme, so went downstairs and googled it, found a couple of references where a puree is added to the egg white to create flavour from the 'pack'

recently I have abandoned egg white clarification in favour of agar filtering, firstly with accurate scales it is so much easier, no more stove watching and that small possibility of fried egg running through your stock. secondly I feel the flavour is purer with not so much taste and flavour lost to the clarification, but with picture perfect clarity every time.

during preparation was not sure of the parsnip as the starch contained could affect the final dish, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, I started by roasting.

this was to draw out the flavours, I de-glazed the pan with some simple chicken stock and blast chilled.

Then moved on to vac-packing the parsnips and stock and finished cooking in a pan of boiling water until quite tender, didn't want to stew the parsnips, but was using the veg as a puree.

For the puree, I took all the washed parsnip trim (peelings, tops&tails) and cooked in a bag with full fat milk.

Once tender, passed the stock off and chilled, pureed the veg with a bit of the parsnip milk

Once the liquid had cooled, weighed it and whizzed in 0.2% of agar for the clarification, heated up to >90C and chilled to set in the chiller once more. once chilled cut into rough chunks and froze overnight.

following day, laid the frozen stock cubes to defrost on a holy gastro tray, with a solid one underneath, left to drip through, this took most of the day to get the maximum yield.

Once this was complete, season to taste and heat for each order, We are serving with roast quail breasts, confit quail leg, puy lentils and vegetables bound in a little parsnip puree, thus:-

Great flavour, nice dish but a bit brown. need to sort some colour.....next time!