Chef T

I ate there about a year ago. I had some similar dishes. Spent a day working in the kitchen. For me I had one of the best meals in my entire life there. There was nothing gimmicky about my meal. Not everyone is going to agree on liking something but I would definitely not say that this meal was a let down or even close. I to this day still think about the meal I had there. It was truly inspiring. I also really admire his approach to cooking. Dani is from Marbella and he is reinterpreting Andalusian cuisine his own way. This place definitely deserves a Michelin star.

I've had this "bon bon" - can anyone tell me actual Andres name for this course? ← Olive oil Bon Bon. This is a vinegrette.

When you say that the tortilla is to eggy, can you be more specific because this tortilla is a egg and potato tortilla. Maybe it could be too eggy because it was cooked too long or the temperaturewas too high?

Brilliant, thanks - those figures seem broadly in line with the standard (non-reversed) Texturas recipes. Does that mean for that mojito around 2-3g of calcic per 500g would be about right, or is it possible to use less when doing the reverse sferification? ← Each sfer recipe is different you are just going to have to experiment. The numbers for the mojito are close.

ChefT - thanks for all the info on the mojitos. I guess the amount of Citras required depends on the acidity of each mix, but can I just ask what typical range of Calcic and Algin you're using for this and other reverse sferifications? Are they radically different from the amounts used in standard calcic bath recipes? Also, am I right in understanding that you're adding the Citras to the algin bath, rather than to the mojito liquid itself? ← We use a set alginate bath recipe for all of the sfers. Which is best because you need a constant. The amount of calcic and xanthan changes from each recipe. You blend in the citras first and then blend in the algin. Now the citras is not always neccesary. As in the yogurt recipe. We add it because we are doing a couple of diff sfers. and it helps cover all bases. Our algin base recipe is the same as the yogurt algin base. For 500 g of water we use 1 g of citras 2.5 grams of algin. It is important to make a new algin bath every so often as the calcium build up in the algin bath with start to effect the process. This is something you can see yourself because all of a sudden the sfers wont set the same and start to break. I make the sfers in small batches and constantly skim the liquid with a very very fine mesh strainer like a tea stainer. One other thing I want to bring to everybodys attention Not all digital scales are the same. Not long ago we bought a digital scale at a head shop for $50 and where excited by its cheap price but when we went to use use it it was off by 0.5-1 gram every time even after calibrating it. We have been using a Tanita Pro digital scale for the past 3 years and it has been very accurate. So be carefull when buying a low priced digital gram scale they are not all equal.

Things that naturally contain calcium, acid, or alcohol do not work when you add alginate to them. Yes there can be a slight after taste but with the mojito, olives and apple-red wine sfer you dont taste the chemicals at all because the flavorings themselves are so strong. The purpose of the xanthan is to keep the liquid from just running everywhere because the alginate bath is some what viscous. Like with the olives you pour just above the liquid and then tap the top of the olive liquid with the bottom of the spoon and they drop. The mojito you slightly submerge the spoon and then pour and with the redwine apple one we use a speed pourer submerged in the alginate water. For example when you make a sfer with a flavored liquid and alginate and pour it into calcium the sfer sets from the outside in it will continue to set even after you wash it off in water. That is why you make that method to order. When you make a sfer with calcium and a flavored liquid into alginate the membrane forms on the outside and sets out, so when you wash the sfer off in water it no longer developes anymore of a membrane. These can be made ahead of time and stored in a flavored medium and sit all day. It needs to be a flavoured medium becasue if left to sit in water, I think its osmosis, the flavor will leache out into the storing liquid. You can take yogurt and suck it up into a syringe with no chemicals added and make like little knots into a alginate bath and they will set upon there own. The natural calcium in the yougurt will work on its own without the addition of more calcium. here is the recipe for Sferical yougurt knots. Alginate mixture: 1000 g Water 5 g alginate Mix 1/3 of the liquid with the alginate and blend until no more lumps pour in remaing 2/3 water and stir. let sit in the rfridgerator for 1 hour to loose some of the bubbles For the yogut: 2 goats yogurts 200 g/u 1. pour the alginate mixture in a container that allows for a height of 4 cm 2. Beat the yogurt to obtain a smooth cream keeping out the air. 3. Fill a syring with a noozle 0.2 cm exterior diameter with the yogurt. 4. Put the syringe into the algin mixture & form knots 2 cm in diameter. 3 knots per person 5. Leave in the algin for 2 min. 6. take the knots out with a slotted spoon and plunge into clean water. 7. Drain the knots with a slotted spoon being careful not to break them and keep in a container on sulphurised paper so they can drain properly. and cover top. 8. keep in refridgerator until ready to serve. This is using the products from texturas.

Thanks for your offer to help. It's not necessary to freeze a finished "sfer" but it can be more efficient as a step in the process - for example, for a large quantity or for much larger "spheres". This of course depends on your base product - if it contains alcohol - your means of freezing - standard freezer, liquid nitrogen, etc. - a number of factors. I've done numerous experiments over the last two years with various flavors and products, as well as factors such as sizes, textures, temperatures, layers, viscosities, carbonation, etc. I think it's important to be open to novel ideas and to explore them. ← In my experience, when making sferifications I found if done properly ie correct ratios they come out perfectly round. Thus, I don't believe that freezing is neccesary to create a perfectly round sferifications.

First off it is NOT NECESSARY to freeze a sfer. It is novel idea but one that I feel is just too time consuming. Secondly what flavor are you trying to make? I would like to help you. You mentioned that anything above caviar size is very difficult to work with. If you could tell me which liquids have the alginate or calcium i am sure that I could help you.

Maybe try cooking the egg at 63 c for 1 hour. The yolk looks a little over. The yolk is part of the sauce you are not going to get the rich flavor with the way the egg was cooked( at to high of a temperature) . And you can may be add a couple of grapefruit slivers. And you didn't add any herbs. Sliced chives and a little maldon salt would be a nice finishing touch.

Sorry i havent been able to answer any questions latly but I have been out of the counrty. Regarding the freezing or what ever of sferifications doesn't make any sense. I have been doing this technique fro 2 years and have never needed to freeze any step of the process. As for the carbonated mojito: Mojito + alcohol+ xanthan gum + calcium chloride into a sodium alginate bath with a small amount of sodium citrate. All of the sferifications at the minibar are made this way right now and you can make these ahead of time and they will not gel any more once you take them out of the alginate bath which they are in for only 2 minutes. To carbonate the sfers we put them very gently into a isi bottle and a small amount of mojito into the bottle to just cover the sfers. Charge for three hours with one charge of CO2 and right before we serve them we release the gas and quickly put them on a spoon with a garnish of lime zest and a mint leaf. This needs to be done right away. Now this realy has no practical application for a restaurant because the carbonation goes away so fast. It works at a place like the minibar because we are doing 6 people at a time and can control when we serve them. And we have said this before if any chefs would like to come into the restaurant and spend a couple of days working with us we would be able to teach them about making sferifications or any of the other countless techniques that we do at Cafe Atlantico/minibar.

Each brand of apple juice is going to give you a different result. The ph is going to be different, the amount of pectin is going to be differnt the thickness is going to be differnt. Usely its best to juice the apples your self or if you prefer to pick a brand with a flavor that you like and then go from there. We don't use a ph meter at the minibar but I am sure using it cant hurt. We get our syringes from CVS. The smooth extraction is actually ideal for makeing caviar in a stand. You are never going to get a consistent size of caviar if you are doing it by hand. It is hard to apply a constant pressure. I know that a syringe stand is not a common thing in kitchens but it is ideal in the making of caviar but not neccesary. Here is something you can do you can also make caviar the size of a pearl. Making a faux pearl for an oyster. Experiment with different sized spoons or syringes. You can make a stand out of wood, 3 peices of wood as a base and some wholes so that the syringes can fit in and a extra peice of wood to put on top to shake the syringes. If you are commited to finding these products as a lot of you are and want to do it right why not make a stand. Go to home depote and have them make you a stand out of cheap wood. They will probly even drill the wholes for you just give them the diameter of the syringes. Sorry if I dont make this any easier but this isnt your typical home cooking kind of thing. good luck. also to add regarding the spagetti parm. Which pasta version are talking about there is one that is a long single strand that you extrude through a tube that you fill with a syringe and then push out with no2 through an iSi bottle that you slurp up and is a little bit more involved requiring extra equipment and then there is the pasta that you pour onto a sheet tray let it set up and cut with a pasta cutter. I can explain both. The second one is alot more easier to do and is more practical.

To make caviar you use a 50 cc syringe. You can do it by hand but it is easier to make it with a caviar stand. You have a board on top of the syringes and you gently shake the board. It holds like 12 syringes. To change the size of the caviare you just cut the tip higher and higher. You want the caviar to be big enough to pop in your mouth. If you have a small spoon with wholes in it that is all you need to remove sferification from the bath. I will post some pictures soon of the steps. To make sferification ravioli you can use a metal measuring spoon. The reason your caviar might have a tail is because the mixture is too thick or the liquid you are dropping it into is to shallow. The best thing to do is obtain the products from texturas and you will the proper results. Too much alginate.

I would like to help clear up some questions on the subject of making sferifications. To start off you neeed Sodium alginate, calcium chloride, sodium citrate, a digital scale measuring at least a tenth of a gram, a regular digital scale, and a hand blender. At the minibar we use the Texturas product line by Albert and Ferran Adria. We find the quality to be exceptional. One thing i noticed in this thread is that many differnt brands of chemicals are being used to try to replicate elbulli recipes. When using another company you are going to have to change the proportions. This gets confusing after a while and you are not going to get the results you are looking for. One problem I see is some people trying to do too much at once. Instead of learning how to make melon caviar or pea sferifications something easy they are trying to make butter sfer. or maple syrup caviar or some other flavor. Baby steps. Start off easy then gradually get get more advanced. This seems to be problem with all of these new techniques. Everybody wants to do the crazy stuff at first with out learning and doing the basics. write down all of your ideas and keep detailed notes. And when measuring out a product you need to be very precise alittle bit of this and alittle bit of that wont cut it, there is no room for error here. too much or too little and the end product wont turn out. The best way to learn how to make a sferification is to go and work/stage at restaurant that does this technique. It is not something you are going to get by just reading the instructions. You can make a sferification out of any sort of liquid. You want to have as thin of a membrane as possible yet the bubble to be perfectly round. You dont want to feel the membrane in your mouth, you want it to almost dissolve in your mouth. You DO NOT WANT IT TO BE RUBBERY. The bath times sould be like 30 seconds for caviar and 1-2 min for the ravioli. There are 2 techniques to doing this 1. Flavored liquid + Calcium chloride + (a thickener) : water + Alginate + sodium citrate 2. Flavored liquid + Algin + (Sodium citate sometimes) : Water + calcium chloride Alcohol is no problem you just have to play with your proportions of calcium and algin. We did a dirty martini a year ago with a pimenton in the center. Now we are doing a carbonated mojito. I really enjoyed reading this whole thread. I find it exciting people interested in this and playing around with the technique and I hope that I can help with any questions anybody may have. You can also go to www.texturaselbulli.com. It really gives a clear explination on the use of the products.