Help with creating savory jellies (tomato, mozzarella, basil)

[stuartlikesstrudel]

Hi all,

I want to create little savoury jellies to take to a party, and I would like to make a layered one based around the classic salad combination of tomato, basil, mozzarella and perhaps olive oil or vinegar.

What I'm not sure about is how to get the flavours into liquids that I can then gel, and also would love any advice from the communal wisdom pot about how to get a good gelling texture.

I don't have any specialised equipment (i.e vacuum sealer or iSi whipper, which I read can both be good for infusing).

The tomato should be easy, I think... my plan is to blend the tomatoes then hang them in some cloth so the tomato water drips through, which I have read about before. Should be a very pure, clean taste.

Not so sure about the basil and particularly the mozzarella... the whey or liquid it comes in should be a good start i think.

To create the jelly, I would prefer to not use gelatin if possible so it is vegetarian, but if needed I can use it. I have agar agar, but I haven't played with it enough to know if the texture will be good. I read it gets a bit "crunchy" almost when used by itself?

I also have some xanthan gum and soy lecithin, but i don't know if they're any help.

All i really want from the texture is something than holds its shape well (i want to layer the flavours, then cut into little cubes for people to pick up and eat, maybe I would skewer them for easy eating). I have a bit of time to play around with it but not heaps, so I probably won't have time to test things like different setting amounts for the different layers, which would be cool if I did have time to refine it.

Thanks heaps for any tips

[lesliec]

Hi SLS. Sounds like fun!

Have you seen Jason Atherton's BLT (Maze in London and/or Great British Menu)?

Although you seem to have the tomato bit sorted (and you say you don't want to use gelatine, which Jason's recipe does), it's an entertaining concept.

[stuartlikesstrudel]

Ahhh, that's great Would be a fun dish to eat.

I have just realised that I did an internet-naughty and didn't do enough research of my own before asking. It seems there is quite a bit out there for the different elements I need, so I may be able to piece it together myself. Particularly with the help of the hydrocolloid recipe book, which is very extensive, and I should have checked earlier.

But tips are still welcome if people want to contribute.

2 questions I do have are : does oil work with agar? I feel like all the fat might interfere, or make a gross texture.

And i see locust bean gum popping up quite a bit in use with agar. I guess they synergise somehow... I don't really want to buy more specialised things that I won't use but is it something that would help out a lot?

Edited September 2, 2010 by stuartlikesstrudel (log)

[TeakettleSlim]

You might try Pomona pectin for the tomato or the basil infusion. Don't think it would work for oil, though.

[mkayahara]

2 questions I do have are : does oil work with agar? I feel like all the fat might interfere, or make a gross texture.

No, agar will not gel oil; gelling oil is a whole different set of problems.

And i see locust bean gum popping up quite a bit in use with agar. I guess they synergise somehow... I don't really want to buy more specialised things that I won't use but is it something that would help out a lot?

My understanding is that locust bean gum keeps the agar gels from being too brittle. There's nothing wrong with an agar gel on its own; it just doesn't have the same texture as a gelatin gel. Keep in mind, though, that agar requires boiling to work properly, so you may end up with a tomato gel that tastes more like cooked tomato than raw.

As for the mozzarella, I'd probably try pureeing it in a blender with some milk or cream to thin it out, then gelling the result.

[KennethT]

You can get around the "cooked tomato" flavor with the agar by boiling only a small amount (say 1/4) of the total liquid iwth the total amount of agar - let it boil for a few minutes, then while stirring, stream in the rest of the liquid making sure it doesn't go below 35C (where it'll pregel)... stir to combine then mold and set to cool

[Kouign Aman]

If you are using mozzerella, why are you concerned about using gelatin because its not vegetarian?

Neither is the cheese.

Gelatin seems the easy choice -

works for all the layers, easily binds to itself, is inexpensive, readily available, and easy to work with.

Tomato 'water' or juice (I like the color of the latter, for your layers)

Infuse basil leaves or puree them and add to the hot water for the gelatin (puree to squeeze juice perhaps, again going for the color)

As suggested above, smoosh the mozzerella and then glue all the little bits back together with a tiny bit of gelatin

Perhaps add finely chopped olives in a very small amount, since the olive oill component is problematic

Probably its important to keep the balsamic vinegar layer of gelatin very thin.

[stuartlikesstrudel]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

Last night I did a quick test for the herb layer, using parsley because it's what we have in the garden. I just blended it with some water and got a "juice" that was decently flavoured, then added a bit of lemon juice and salt because I thought it needed something, and have gelled it with some agar agar. Didn't have time to try it this morning but the overall process seemed promising.

I used the trick which Kenneth suggested where I only cooked a small amount of the liquid to try and preserve freshness... probably most important for the tomato layer.

As for the mozzarella, I have found a lot of vegetarians will still eat cheese made with traditional animal rennet, but it is a good point to raise, thanks Kouign. I'm not sure if people just don't realise it's not vegetarian or they just don't mind.

For the oil and vinegar, i'm thinking I might just blend them with a little lecithin or xantham gum to thicken them slightly (not much) and then put a few drops on top of each serving, which should be ok to get a hint of the flavor.

Again, thanks for the help

I'm looking forward to when I have time for a full test run.