BrainChef

Go play this. Now. And use this link, because that would be nifty.

http://www.brainchef.com/brains/NewZombieHunter.game?chef=207

"Meringue"

Vegans (ugh), this one is for you. Eggless orange meringue made with Versawhip 600k.

2g Versawhip 600k (available at www.le-sanctuaire.com)
10g sugar

201.8g orange juice
42.8g water
3.2g Methocel F50 (also available at le sanc, I think.)

Combine all ingredients, blitz with immersion blender until methocel is dispersed.
Whip on high speed in Kitchenaid until mixture reaches the texture of shaving cream.
Dehydrate. Pictures to come.

Verdict: Good orange flavor, little to no aftertaste. I dig it. And now, vegans can eat meringue cookies.

Poached eggs

Again, traditional flavors, and some of my favorites. Poached egg, hot hollandaise, asparagus, and caramelized crimini mushrooms, topped with crispy ground bacon.

Asparagus was cooked sous vide with butter, asparagus juice, salt and pepper. Mushrooms were sauteed in butter, salt and pepper. Bacon "bits" are just cooked bacon ground with N-Zorbit, dried further in the oven, the ground finer in the spice mill.

The hollandaise was meant to be sheeted, but I couldn't get that to work out. If anyone reads this and knows how, please drop me a line.

Hot hollandaise

This is not a new technique, at least not anymore. But this is the first time I've tried it, and it worked nicely. Now it's time to play, as I still have aboout a quart left, and some fun ideas...

Sous vide apples

For the first time ever, I tried cooking something sous vide. And, to an extent it worked.

I cut a plank out of a Granny Smith apple, dusted it with a tiny bit of 5 spice powder and put it in a FoodSaver bag with a sliver of butter. It sat in a 54*C water bath for 2 hours, and came out just warmed through and al dente. I would've liked a slightly warmer, and with a bit less of a crunch, so I think I'll try it again at 60*C for 2.5 hours. Could've used either a bit more 5 spice, or a better quality 5 spice (I used the one I picked up for free at the last food show I went to).

Anyways, Happy New Year to anyone who reads this.

Pomegranate/Vodka fluid gel

My 1st experiment with gellan gum went well :-)
I have in my hands (well, in a squeeze bottle) a Pomegranate/vodka fluid gel that will soon be paired with a white chocolate/liquorTBA fluid gel for a nifty cocktail.

Recipe:
1g low-acyl gellan gum
95g pomegranate juice
6g water
100g vodka (I used Stoli, cuz that's what I had. A pomegranate liqueur/vodka mix would be fantastic here.)

Heat pomegranate juice and water to 150*F. Add gellan, blitz w/ immersion blender. Continue mixing by hand until cool and partially set.
Add vodka, blitz w/ immersion blender.

Success / Failure(?)

I had 2 projects going on today. One was a toasted marshmallow ice cream, the other was salted caramel powder.

The caramel powder came together great. Salty, caramel-y, powdery. Everything I could ask for. And it should. It's 4 ingredients, and caramel's pretty easy to make.

Recipe (Proportions will vary based on how much you need to make. I used about 1/4c sugar and had caramel left over):

• Sugar
• Glucose
• Cream
• N-Zorbit TMD

Make caramel. Powder with Nzorbit.

On the other hand, the toasted marshmallow ice cream was a disaster. Well, not completely. I know where I went wrong. The scale somehow went haywire when I was scaling off the sugar (directly into the yolks, d'oh) and the IC ended up waaaaaaay too sweet. But here's the method.

Toast a crapload (~3/4#) of marshmallows on all sides. I used a torch. Dissolve the toasted outside part only in the milk/cream you're scalding. Discard/eat the rest. You'll end up with a thick, caramel-colored pan full of milk. Temper into yolks/sugar, blahblahblah Creme Anglaise, freeze according to manufacturer's directions.

So anyways, even if the scale was accurate and it was only 6oz of sugar, I'd still go down to no more than 4 oz sugar per 6 yolks. I'll grab another bag of marshmallows sometime this week and see if I can get this one nailed down.

Sources

Most of the things I'm playing with now can be had on the internet for free/cheap

Free samples:
N-Zorbit Tapioca maltodextrin: www.foodinnovation.com
Ultra Tex-3: www.foodinnovation.com
Xanthan gum: www.cpkelco.com
Gellan gum: www.cpkelco.com

other sources:
www.willpowder.net
http://www.lepicerie.com

Ultra Tex 3

Getting mine today :-)

Awesome modified starch. It gives liquids viscosity without adding flavor, and without the need to cook it. I've got some pomegranate seeds waiting...

Olive oil "pancake"

Playing around with the N-zorbit again, this time without actually powdering any fat. Well, sorta. I added N-zorbit to some extra-virgin olive oil, and molded it like a crab cake, then seared it over high heat to yield this.

The "pancake" had a molten texture inside with a crispy outside and tasted only of olive oil with a really long hang time, presumably from the slow release of the fat from the maltodextrin.

I think this would be good with last week's semi-failed bacon fat powder for a interesting riff on breakfast.