Sunday, March 08, 2009

Experimenting With Spheres









I decided to see if I could recreate and even just experiment with making some flavorful spheres using molecular gastronomy. I used one of the recipes by Andi Phillips for Green Onion, Ginger, Sake Caviar as a base to make my rendition of Green Onion, Ginger, Jalapeno Caviar.

My substitutions were water instead of sake because all I had was some very good sake and I didn't want to waste it in case this didn't come out like I hoped. I also added a whole sliced jalapeno and some fresh cilantro leaves to the veggies. The salt was also adjusted at the end for a total of 1 tsp.

I successfully created some spheres with a bit of heat and some flavor. I made some caviar size and others an olive size. The sake probably would have added a another layer of taste missing in my adaptation. I didn't have a fancy way to serve them so my hubby and I just added the 'caviar' to our salads. It made for great conversation and didn't take anything away from the salad.

I will be making more spheres in the future. It was fun.

Green Onion, Ginger, Sake “Caviar”

1 T calcium chloride
5 cups water

6 ounces green onion, green part only
2 ounces peeled ginger, thinly sliced
(added 1 jalapeno thinly sliced)
(added a few sprigs of cilantro)
2 1/2 cups sake (substituted 2 1/2 cups water)
1 ½ t sodium alginate
½ t salt (added additional 1/2 tsp salt)

In a medium bowl, dissolve the calcium chloride in the 5 cups of water. Set aside for later use.

In a 2 qt saucepan combine ginger, onions, & sake. Bring to a rolling boil. Simmer on low for 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Run mixture through the food processor until the vegetables are liquefied. This may need to be done in 2 batches if using a home style food processor. Strain solid matter out of liquid and discard. Measure 3 ¼ cups of the liquid and return it to the 2 quart saucepan. Bring it back up to a simmer. Dump in the sodium alginate all at once. Turn heat to low and whisk vigorously over low heat for one minute. Run the mixture through a sieve. Stir in salt. Transfer mixture to a squeeze bottle. Drop about 200 pearl sized drops into the calcium chloride bath at a time. Allow the pearls to sit in the bath for 1 minute. In order to strain pearls while retaining bath solution for further use, have another medium bowl at hand. Pour bath & pearls into a strainer positioned over the 2nd bowl. Rinse the pearls under cold running water. Transfer pearls to a sieve positioned over a 3rd bowl to drain for later use. Repeat jelling process until all of the alginate mixture is used. Discard bath water when jelling process is complete.




5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very Brave! I'm kinda scared of the whole molecular gastronomy thing...

sylvie1950 said...

Until i went to the demonstration class, I too was kinda scared of this. It's not something you do routinely but for a special occassion or presentation, yes. The chemicals (for lack of a better term) are quite expensive and some not routinely available outside the internet.

Anonymous said...

Sounds interesting; I may have to try this if I can get my hands on the proper chemicals. Where can I find them?

sylvie1950 said...

Anonymous, don't know where you are located but if in the Los angeles area, check out Surfas-
http://www.surfasonline.com/recipes/detail.cfm?recipeid=130

Otherwise, I suggest you google it or look at a Whole Foods store.

ctoshio said...

hello sylvie
your postings seems to be more relaxed and more creative since you retired alot has change since you retired some nurse did not understand when i said we are in transition. take care and keep up the great cooking

curt