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.

Dinosaur BBQ

So if I am going to talk about restaurants I have to start with the one I have been in love with for over 16 years - Dinosaur BBQ. It is as close as I get to religion and I frequent this temple of BBQ located two blocks north of the world famous Cotton Club in West Harlem.

The Dinosaur Bar-B-Q was started in 1983 by three bikers, bound together by the love of good food, a 55 gallon drum cut in half and for five years traveled motorcycle shows, fairs, and festivals up and down the east coast selling BBQ. In 1988, burnt out from the road, they settled into downtown Syracuse and opened up as a take out BBQ joint. By 1990 they doubled their space added a bar and the Dinosaur I love was born. I landed at college in Syracuse in 1991 and over the next four years Dinosaur was the backdrop for a lot of my best college memories. Give me amazing BBQ, a jukebox full of great blues and good friends and I am in heaven.

For the outpost in NYC parking can be a little tricky. I would try and find a spot on the street if you can, but if that fails there is a small but nice indoor parking lot half way down the block on 131st Street which only charges $10 no matter how long you stay. Do not park across the street at the Fariway grocery store parking lot which will be tempting because they will have your car booted or towed in a heartbeat - they don't play around.

You need to have reservations no matter what time of day you want to go because there is always a wait even though it is a large restaurant. Friday and Saturday nights are the worst when you will wait 20-30 minutes with reservations and 2-3+ hours without them. I find the best time to be lunch on Saturday or Sunday when the crowds are thinner.

The food is a mix of classic BBQ and southern fare usually done with enough of a twist to make it unique. I recommend starting with either the fried green tomatoes or the chili on the half shell. Their AK Chili (ass kicking) is probably the best I have ever had and really hits the spot on a cold New York day. For dinner I would go with either the ribs or the hamburger. The ribs are large pork ribs done with a dry rub and smoked to perfection. Strange it sounds, their hamburger is probably the best I have ever had and get it with their thick cut smoked bacon. Pair either of those with a Saranac root beer on draft and you will be all set.

Once you have had the food you should grab two things on your way out the door. Some of their sauce and a copy of "Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: An American Roadhouse" which has over 100 of their recipes and techniques. It has all the flavor and humor you find in the restaurant and has been the cornerstone of cookbook collection since it came out. So run don't walk to Dinosaur ASAP!

Roasted Garlic Hummus

I am one of those people who can't stand store bought Hummus because i always think it tastes like wallpaper paste. I love this recipe because it is quick and easy so you can have Hummus any time you want. You can substitute store bought roasted garlic if you grocery store carries it in the herb department but you will need to use more of it than if you make it yourself. I personal love to serve this with fresh roasted Naan as I like the warmth of the fresh bread over something like Pita or chips.

INGREDIENTS
2 oz roast garlic
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil , plus extra for drizzling
2 thinly sliced garlic cloves
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup water
6 tablespoons tahini , stirred well (see note)
1 (14-ounce) can chickpeas , drained and rinsed (see note)
1/2 teaspoon table salt
Pinch cayenne
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat olive oil and 2 thinly sliced garlic cloves in small skillet over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer garlic slices to paper towel-lined plate and set aside; reserve oil. Cut the tops off of the garlic and roast at 350 for 30-45 minutes. Once roasted garlic is cool, squeeze cloves from their skins (you should have about 1/4 cup).

2. Combine lemon juice and water in small bowl or measuring cup. Whisk together tahini and garlic cooking oil in second small bowl or measuring cup.

3. Process chickpeas, roasted garlic puree, salt, and cayenne in food processor until almost fully ground, about 15 seconds. Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. With machine running, add lemon juice-water mixture in steady stream through feed tube. Scrape down bowl and continue to process for 1 minute. With machine running, add oil-tahini mixture in steady stream through feed tube; continue to process until hummus is smooth and creamy, about 15 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed.

4. Transfer hummus to serving bowl, sprinkle toasted garlic slices and parsley over surface, cover with plastic wrap, and let stand until flavors meld, at least 30 minutes. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.

Asian Braised Beef Short Ribs

This recipe probably gets the most raves from my friends every time I cook it and it couldn't be any easier to make. It scales up perfectly so it is great for a dinner for 2 or a party of 150 (I really cooked it for that many people).

INGREDIENTS
8-10 Beef Short Ribs
1 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Mirin
1/4 cup Rice wine vinegar
10 cloves Garlic - peeled and smashed
10 tbsp Ginger - peeled and minced
1/2 cup Light brown sugar
1 quart Water
1/2 cup Green onion - Sliced, bottoms, white part for braising liquid
1/2 cup Green onion - Sliced, tops, green part only for topping the finished dish
1/4 cup Fresh orange juice
1/4 cup Hoisin sauce

INSTRUCTIONS
1 - Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2 - In a wide stockpot or Dutch oven, combine the short ribs, soy sauce, mirin, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, water, green onion bottoms and 2 tablespoons of the orange juice. If you don't have a pot with a lid you can use aluminum foil but make sure it is sealed up tight. Make the short ribs are submerged in the liquid and ad more water if needed to cover them.
3 - Bake the short ribs, covered, for about 3-4 hours, or until the meat is tender and falling off the bones. Remove the short ribs from the braising liquid and cover to keep warm. Increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees F.
4 - Drain the fat off of the cooking liquid and discard. Place the remaining braising juices in a medium saucepan with 1/4 cup of the hoisin sauce and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the liquid until only about 1 1/4 cups remain. Strain through a fine-meshed strainer, discarding the solids. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of orange juice.
5 - If you are serving immediately then return the short ribs and the reduced sauce to the stockpot, coating the short ribs well with the sauce and cook for 10 minutes until the short ribs are heated through and slightly glazed. Serve over green onion mashed potatoes or in bibb lettece cups. Season each portion with the a small amount of orange zest and garnish with the green onions.

If serving at a later time then keep the short ribs and braising liquid separate until before you want to serve them and then follow the steps above to heat and combine. This prevents the meats from soaking up the soy sauce and becoming too salty.

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