Sugary machinations – butane and Alinea and everything else

[ChrisTaylor]

I'm following a recipe from the Alinea cookbook. The pork belly w/ 'BBQ sugar' and assorted other elements. Anyway. On the sugar front, there's a smoked paprika tuille made with fondant, isomalt and glucose. Now, I can't get isomalt (or, rather, I can, but not by the time I need it). Anyway. The idea is that this tuille, you place it over the piece of pork and then hit it with a blast from the butane torch, melting the 'biscuit' over the pork, creating a sort of sugary wrapper.

Will this work without the isomalt? If I'm just using, say, regular caster sugar in addition to the fondant and glucose.

[KennethT]

It will work, but it will be sweeter than intended. Isomalt has about half the sweetness of sugar, but melts and forms the same way - so that's why it's a common component of savory "sugar glasses"... it is used all the time in the El Bulli series as well.

I still don't quite understand why the fondant is necessary - as I understand it, fondant is a super-saturated sugar/glucose solution that is worked during cooling to promote very small crystal size so that it has a creamy mouthfeel. But, if you're going to remelt it, why not just add the proper ratio of components in the beginning, rather than taking the extra (long and PITA) step of making the fondant?

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I still don't quite understand why the fondant is necessary - as I understand it, fondant is a super-saturated sugar/glucose solution that is worked during cooling to promote very small crystal size so that it has a creamy mouthfeel. But, if you're going to remelt it, why not just add the proper ratio of components in the beginning, rather than taking the extra (long and PITA) step of making the fondant?

If I understand the idea correctly, you're laying the equivalent of a sugar cloth over the meat before torching it. You won't get that if you use the proper ratio of components at the beginning - the fondant is the actual support that allows the sugar blankie to be wrapped evenly.

[KennethT]

Hmmm... I'm still confused - according to El Bulli's books, you combine 2:1:1 fondant:glucose:isomalt in pan and bring to hard crack/light caramel stage. Pour onto silpat to cool. Once cooled, add pieces to grinder and buzz to fine powder. Then, sift into desired shapes onto a clean silpat and put in hot oven just until it remelts and forms a cohesive shape. Let cool, then remove from silpat (at this point, they're very thin and brittle). Lay the the thin sheet over the item you want to encapsulate and lightly torch to resoften the sugar so it conforms to the item.

So, it's not like you're making a flexible sugar blanket to wrap around the item - you're making a very brittle sheet that is heated and conforms to the item. This is why I don't understand the purpose of the fondant, since you're actually remelting it (twice).

I've done experiments using the same ratios of sugar, glucose and iso both with making the fondant in advance and letting it ripen overnight, and also just putting the same ratio of ingredients all in the pot and melting - with little difference in results. Maybe the fondant one conformed a little better, maybe it was my imagination... I didn't do a true, double blind test or triangle test or anything to confirm it...