Making Ferran Adria's Mango caviar with Texturas from El Bulli Taller - Part 2

The first thing I did was make the mango liquid by combining three fresh mangoes that had been peeled and chopped. To that I added some store bought mango juice, the juice of one fresh orange and the zest of that same orange so the total weight is around 500 grams. I found after making this a few times you really need to have this liquid have an intense taste especially when the final preparation is going to be as caviar since you are going to use it in such small quantities.

To strain it I tried to use a chinois (china cap) but found that too much of the mango pulp was able to make it through the mesh and it made the final products too pulpy. So I got a 1.3 liter / 400 microns Superbag. The Superbag is a very fine but very strong mesh bag that lets you grab a hold of it and press out nothing but the mango juice and leave 100% of the pulp behind in the bag. As soon as I changed to this the final product got much much better as it was pure liquid.

Once you have the liquid you have to create a mixture of citric acid and sodium alginate which will serve as the thickener and you heat it and then add to the mango liquid. Let it stand at room temperature for 2 hours. Once it is ready you have to quickly make a calcium salt bath that you will drop the mango liquid into.


I first loaded the liquid into one of the syringe's and started to drop it into the water. I quickly learned the first trick which is to submerge a wire strainer in the calcium salt water and drop the mango liquid into the strainer. You do this so the caviar doesn't scatter everywhere making it impossible to get it all out of the water.


Once I learned that trick I concentrated on how long the caviar started in the calcium salt water because it is too short the spheres won't hold up when you take them out and if it too long then the caviar will solidify and you will lose the liquid center. I ended up doing one syringe at a time and letting it soak for 90 seconds got the consistency I wanted. Once they are done remove them from the calcium salt water and then rinse them in clean water to get the salts off the exterior and to stop the chemical process. They only need to be in there for a few seconds and then transfer them to a paper towel to get the excess water off.


Feeling confident from my success with the caviar I moved on to making the larger more ravioli sized spheres. These were even easier since you are dealing with fewer spheres and you can create more of them at a time. The process, steps and timing are exactly the same. I actually liked these better than the caviar because of the amount of liquid in the pastaless ravioli creates a mouth sensation unlike anything else I have ever eaten.


I ended up serving the caviar over a vanilla panna cotta and everyone loved it since you would eat a little caviar with every bite. I served the pastaless ravioli by themselves with a little dried peaches and red Hawaiian sea salt.


Making this could not have been easier and the Mr. Wizard reaction when you make it in front of your guests is great. As soon as I was done with this I launched into the rest of their recipes and then expanding out to my own variations. So if you have every been drawn to avant guard cooking or Ferran's work this is the perfect entrance into that world.

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.