fluid gel...or the new puree
















i first saw this technique in the Michel Bras Essential Cuisine book, but it was easily overlooked as there were so many other revelations to behold. now with the Alinea and Fat Duck books it seems to be commonplace among kitchens that are broadening their technique repertoire. so when does something new become something so casual.





our cheese plate consists of four selections each with a garnish. nothing too shocking...our blue needed some honey, but pouring honey on the plate just makes a runny mess. what about honey puree? it has body, great flavor, creamy texture without starches. i now seem to use this technique quite a lot. it works for so much. a traditional coulis or starch-thickened sauce seems laughable, even reductions change the initial flavors.





boil, set, dice, blend, remove air, strain,...beautiful puree.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Which hydrocolloid(s) are you using for your fluid gels? Agar? Gellan?

I've never been happy with agar gels because agar imparts such a prevalent sea algae type flavor. If I didn't know where agar comes from, I couldn't identify it as a sea algae flavor, but I would still taste something off and unpleasant.

I've had much better results with gellan.


ron. said...

i have been going back and forth between agar and gellan. i know what you mean by the seaweed flavor. for the honey i used gellan as it was only water and honey. when the flavors are more robust such as passion fruit and grapefruit i have been using agar.


Anonymous said...

wait, so the puree is just honey, water, gellan, boiled, set, chopped, blended, compressed?

nice ron!


roopa said...

How do you get it to be a perfect hemisphere as shown in the photos?


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