Sunday, November 21, 2010

Molecular Mixology

Lately I've been really into molecular gastronomy - science and food, what could be better? The only things I've seen actually made (in front of me) before are apple pillows, apple caviar, and apple foam - the foam didn't turn out that great, the lecithin was off. 

I decided it would be really cool to get into this new molecular mixology thing bars have been doing and make my own molecular cocktail. I wanted to go simple, so I thought Blue Curacao would be a pretty caviar, but the store didn't have that so I had to go with Midori. 


After we made the Midori caviar we added it to sparkling wine (we wanted to do Cassis caviar but that's pretty commonplace), and the drink was bright, bubbly, and delicious!
"Bubble" Tea
yields: about 250 caviars...they're very small
now playing: Django Reinhardt - Jazz in Paris Nuages
now drinking: Verdi Supmante
the creation is my own

Ingredients:
To make spheres:
1 liter of water
6 grams Calcium Chloride (chemicals can be easily found on Amazon)

For the base:
1.5 grams of Sodium Citrate
2.6 grams of Sodium Alginate
30 grams of sugar
100 ml water
12.5 ounces Midori (or any other bright liqueur) 

1. Whisk calcium chloride with water until fully dissolved and let sit for a while. 
2. Add sugar to Sodium Citrate and then add water. Use a stick blender to emulsify. Use a tall and narrow vessel so you have better blending of chemicals. 
3. Add the Sodium Alginate, and blend until slightly thickened and dissolved. It may not dissolve easily but keep at it. 
4. Boil the mixture in a small pan and whisk as it boils. After about 45 seconds you should get a gel-like consistency that looks like paste. 
5. Strain the mixture into another vessel to remove any stray bits of undissolved chemical. Let cool to room temperature (don't rush it). 
6. Add the Midori (or whatever alcohol) and mix well with the mixture. Leave this for a while to settle. 
7. Add mixture to a syringe or squeeze bottle. Make droplets into the Calcium Chloride solution. Do this in small batches, about 20-30 seconds at a time (otherwise the caviars will get gummy and stick together). Let them settle for about 5-10 seconds and then strain into strainer. Take the caviars in the strainer and add to just a bowl of water to rinse off the chemicals. You can leave the caviars in the water for a little bit. Reuse the Calcium Chloride solution and start the process again!
thanks Dave and Lindsay for showing us the ropes. 
Eat on a spoon, or add to champagne glass with sparkling wine, and viola! Molecular Mixology!


6 comments:

  1. i love it! love love love it!
    this is amazing. can't wait to try it!

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  2. Hi SabJay,
    I like your blog. Hope to eat your food some day.
    -Karim.

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  3. this is incredibly awesome! always have wanted to try the molecular method :)

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  4. How pretty. Thinking how nice these would be so serve over Christmas, my guests are going to be in awe. Thanks!

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  5. Ooh, pretty cool. I love the bright green.

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  6. Definitely a pretty tea to serve at Christmas. Lovely!

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