Making Ferran Adria's Mango caviar with Texturas from El Bulli Taller - The equipment

The world at large probably first heard the name Ferran Adria in 2003 because of Anthony Bourdain's TV show called "Decoding Ferran Adria" which was the first primetime look into Adria'a world of molecular gastronomy. On the show he made a green pea “ravioli" that was made from seemingly nothing but pea purée and at the time they kept the process and ingredients a secret. Since then they have realized that the demand for the knowledge and ingredients was high enough that could


Albert Y Ferran Adria DVD
If you are thinking about getting into molecular gastronomy or ordering any of the Texturas chemicals I really recommend you start by getting the Albert Y Ferran Adria DVD. It is extremely valuable because it quickly and clearly illustrates 84 recipes and techniques that can by applied with their Texturas, LyoSabores and Ingenios lines from El Bulli Taller. The problem is that the DVD is really hard to find. The only place I was able to find it in the U.S. was through a company Koerner that is in New Orleans and sells it for about $32 plus shipping. I have done a lot of research and this is far and away the easiest ad cheapest place you are going to find it.

By getting the DVD first you can explore all the possibilities of all of the chemicals quickly so you can decide which ones you want to order. I liked taking this approach because it is much cheaper for you than buying something like their Spherification Kit which is even harder to find and can cost as much as $400.

There is one potential problem you should be aware of that is the DVD was produced in the standard for European television called PAL which is different from the standard most U.S. DVD will play. So you will need a DVD player that can play PAL disks or most laptops with the right freeware can play these DVD's but make sure you have a way to play it before you order it.


The overall quality of the DVD is honestly much better than I was expecting. The menus are easy to navigate, very well designed and you can quickly find what you want. All 84 recipes are just video of the preparation with graphical overlays that outline the ingredients, preparation, equipment, timing, etc. The video are a few minutes long, with a good amount of detail and end with suggested serving options which is a nice touch. The only real problem I found was that some of the videos show the preparation of something like a simple sugar syrup but they don't tell you the amount of sugar or water they are using to make the syrup. That can be overcome the the DVD also has has a 105 page PDF that details all of the products and recipes found on the DVD.

Texturas chemicals and equipment
The Texturas chemical are broken down into SFERIFICACIÓN, GELIFICACIÓN, EMULSIFICACIÓN, ESPESANTES and SURPRISES. For this everything you need falls into the Sferificación category. I ordered Algin, Calcic, Citras and the Eines tools from Koerner. You get a good amount of each chemical as the containers are larger than I thought they would be. The Eines tools really aren't worth the money because all you get are a set of measuring spoons, two plastic syringes and two of their special straining spoons. The quality of all the materials aren't great and you are paying for the name on the container since you could buy all the parts individually and unlabeled much cheaper.

With all of the materials in hand the next installment will be seeing how it all works.

Tempura white fish and green beans with Dijon, soy and honey dipping sauce

I first started working on this recipe after we had dinner at The Red Cat here in NYC and had their tempura green beans side dish which was fantastic. I went out and bought The Red Cat Cookbook that had the recipe, went home and made it and like I always do I started reworking it because I found that the batter recipe in the cookbook didn't come out like what I had in the restaurant.

Dijon, soy and honey dipping sauce
This part of the recipe is exactly from The Red Cat and is a simple and easy sauce that works with a lot of different foods because of it's sweet and tangy taste with a bit of heat.

1 1/4 cups Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon hot sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3/4 cup honey

Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan over low heat and stir occasionally until ready to serve. You can tweak the amount of heat by adding more or less hot sauce to suite your taste.

Tempura batter
Find a good tempura batter is actually really hard because if you look it up you will find ones that use egg yolks or egg whites, white or rice flour, tap or seltzer water and on and on. I have tried around 20 different recipes and this one is the one that I think is the best, most consistent and easiest.

When I fry anything I only use grapeseed oil. It is about double the cost of vegetable oil and can be hard to find I think it is worth it because the food had a much cleaner taste and isn't nearly as oily when it is done. The rice or tempura flour that I use can be found at any good grocery store, asian market or Whole Foods.

2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups chilled club soda or seltzer
2 cups rice or tempura flour.

1 - Beat egg yolks in large bowl
2 - Whisk in the oil slowly until it is blended in with the eggs
3 - Pour in the seltzer.
4 - Add tempura flour and combine with whisk or chop sticks. Do this quick and very briefly. It is fine if there are lumps and it is better to under mix it than over mix it.

The consistency of the batter is important and you will probably have to do a little tweaking to be sure it is right. After I make the batter I will dip a large flat spatula into the batter and then hold it vertically above the bowl. Draw a line horizontally with your finger through the batter on the spatula. If the batter runs through that line right away then it is probably too thin and you need to add a little more flour. If the batter doesn't move at all then it is probably too thick and you need to add a little seltzer. I do this because if it is too thick then it can become gluey and if it is too thin then it won't stick to the food when it is fried.

Frying white fish and green beans
When I cook this I usually cook the fish first since it is larger and will hold on to the heat better than the green beans. I also will pre-heat my oven to about 170 degrees and as the fish is finished I will put it on a baking sheet and put it in the oven to stay warm.

For the fish I use cod, pollack or haddock because you want a large, flaky white fish that can stand up to being fried without drying out. Get french or smaller sized green beans instead of larger ones which will take on too much oil to cook completely because of their size.

1-2lbs Cod, pollack or haddock fish cut into 1-2" chunks
1lb french or small green beans cleaned and ends removed

1 - Take a large, flat bottom pan and fill it up 1/2 to 2/3 of the way with oil.
2 - Heat the oil to 375 degrees
3 - Dip fish in batter and shake off excess.
4 - Drop fish in oil in 3-5 piece batches depending on the size of the fish.
5 - Fry for 2-4 minutes until golden brown
6 - Remove fish to baling sheet and salt. Put in warm oven.
7 - Allow temperature to return to 375 between each batch
8 - Drop half of the green beans into the remaining batter and add them quickly one by one to the batter.
9 - Allow oil to reheat and repeat previous step