Constant Improvement

This dish may be similar to my previous chicken lollipop, but the texture changes of the dish radically change the experience. The earlier version of this treat featured a piece of sundried tomato and a basil leaf. The current recipe changed the garnishes. Now, we have a marinated sundried tomato paste, and basil puree. Also, instead of using chicken breast, I now used dark meat from the chicken thighs. The change in meat results in a piece thats much more juicy and flavourful.

I think this is a perfect example of how texture can really change one's perception of the dish. Let us forget about the meat for a moment and just focus on the garnish. The earlier garnishes were just basil and marinated sundried tomatoes in their natural state. The tomato's texture is chewy, and slightly tough. The basil is very aromatic, but its flavours require some chewing before they are fully released. The same can be said regarding the tomato's flavour. In this current one, the tomato has been turned into a paste, and the basil pureed. Now, flavours are much more concentrated as well as very, very detectable. The basil is instantly tasted. The tomato is no longer chewy and no longer takes away from the chicken's tender texture. In this version, there are only 2 major texture components, the crisp batter, and the tender chicken. The garnishes no longer impede in the experience of those 2 contrasts.

Cream, 3 ways

Cream mousse, Cream-filled French toast, Crispy caramelized cream
Heres the funny thing about this experiment, it's really just the same cream with the same flavour (vanilla), just treated differently. Also, it is all made with 10% cream, but the mousse has the mouthfeel of 35%.

(Note: the minimized picture looks absolutely pale and I can't do anything about it. Please click the image to see it with its real colour.)

The cream mousse is something else! It has such a rich and creamy mouthfeel, and most importantly, a CLEAN mouthfeel! Theres no cling, stickiness or pasty texture. It just happily dissolves.

The French toast was soaked in the same cream before it was gelled. Then coated with egg.

The crispy caramelized cream is also the same cream, dehydrated and made crispy.

Transparency

Apple noodle. Transparencies were my earliest experiments. This one is quite delicious actually. Maybe we could make an apple martini with this noodle.


Flavoured Wraps? Think transparent spring rolls. Hhmmm. Lemon and ginger would be a nice starting point.

Chocolate and Avocado

The initial idea. Pliable chocolate ganache,


with complimentary flavours.


With avocado.





Avocado Creme Brulee. Yes, not the best torching, but I only made one, unfortunately.

Trying Things Out!

Well, ever since I ate at Alinea I've been obsessed with putting bacon in dessert. So I had my own go at it. White chocolate and bacon bits - strawberry, almond brittle, maple syrup.


It's funny, the two people who tried it thought the white chocolate mousse was mash potato.

Size Does Matter!!!

Grain size that is. Working in an application lab/kitchen and with people that have a lot of technical information on food processing really does provide a lot of interesting facts. For example, mesh size a.k.a. the size of the powder particles. Well, depending on the size, the powder can have different colours, dispersion rates, gel products, textures/mouthfeel, and flavour release! Yup, size matters after all. Texture due to mesh size is a no-brainer, it's self-explanatory. It's the flavour release that is more interesting. Bigger granules require more chewing before the flavours are detected. With that said, the flavour can be gradual, BAM-in-your-face, or only comes out in the end, depending on the mesh size.

This is an image I took using my iphone, so pardon the lower-than-usual image quality. All these came from the same dehydrated yams, just grinded to different mesh sizes. Notice the colour difference?

Arranged from left to right, largest mesh size to smallest.

Chicken Tempura Lollipop

I grew up loving chicken lollipops. So it's about time I made some of my own, with some added variations of course. The tempura batter is taken from the Alinea cookbook, though I used plain water instead of carbonated. Inside the lollipop is the chicken breast, and a small piece of goat cheese.

Chicken breast tenderized with GPI carrageenan blend.
Goat cheese
Sundried tomato
Basil