Ferran Adria Jelly Caviar

[schneich]

i have recently seen a documentary on avantgard cooking in which ferran adrias

el bulli was featured. in on shot they show someone injecting some kind of liquid jelly

mixture out of a syringe into a bucket filled with (cold?) water. the next shot shows the

outcome, which were perfectly round fruit caviar´s....

i bought the big black el bulli book "1998-2002" but couldnt find a recipe there...

then i tried to make my own mixture which consisted of fruit juice and agaragar and gelatin in

different concentrations.... but when the drops were injected into the water they always dissolved rite away or were badly deformed into little rings :-) which were also cute but not quite what i wanted...

is there anyone who did those fruit caviars ???

i know there maybe other ways to do them but i really want to get them the "el bulli" way...

dammn...

cheers

torsten s.

cologne/germany

[Verbena]

Sorry I don't know, but I thought that I'd help keep the post alive and at the top....helps to get an answer quicker!!!!

[bourdain]

Good luck. When I watched him make the stuff, he was working with a chemist--who was constantly checking PH. And even then--it looked VERY tricky, with some batches not coming out. The rig they've got set up at the restaurant--unless you've got a whole load of clean syringes and a workshop--would be difficult to recreate. I think the product falls under the "Don't Try This At Home" category.

[Verbena]

Just had an idea...

They used to make shotgun pellets by dropping them through the air!!!! what about trying that?, or using a gum combined with agar..We use this chinese gum at work...I'll have to write the name down as my spellings rubbish. Anyway this gum increases the viscosity of any liquid including oils and juices.

Post the name here shortly.

[Jon Tseng]

Any connection with the little semolina balls used with bubble tea and various other sickening sweet southeast asian deserts?

They have a similar gelatinous texture, although I guess you start with a dough rather than a fruit juice

cheerio

J

[Oreganought]

How about using a minature lemon baller.

It sounds like a science experiment for sure.The first thing that comes to mind is a hot jelly solution and a very cold liquid,akin to hot wax and water.

But it sure sounds like a lot of work to have a pectin solution that resembles caviar.If the culinary world was a Circus this surely would be found in the

bigtop.

[Jon Tseng]

Dry dripping liquid from a pipette into a big tub of dry ice. It'll be set before it hits the ground!

J

[J Acord]

Dry dripping liquid from a pipette into a big tub of dry ice.  It'll be set before it hits the ground!

J

Alternatively you could try putting some vodka (or other high alcohol solution) into the freezer for a couple of hours and then dropping your warm jelly mixture into this, which should cause it to set up right away (obviously water can only go to 0 centigrade before becoming frozen, but alcohol can get lower than that and still remain in a liquid form).

[jackal10]

In this NY Time article (registration required it says

"The mysterious element in the first bath was calcium chloride, which reacts with alginate, a kelp extract, in the puree."

The product is then washed in a water bath,

[speidec]

This technique was discussed in the NYT magazine article 'Laboratory of Taste' I wish I could remember the solution, but the liquid in the syringe is injected into a chemical solution that causes instant solidification. You can purchase the article in the NYT archive.

[J Acord]

Oooh,

I'm going to have to give this a try now!

Still trying to figure out if the sodium alginate is present in high enough levels in the agar-agar for this to work...

(Mad scientist cackling fades.....)

[Jinmyo]

inventolux will know. PM him and have him answer here.

[inventolux]

You can follow these instructions to create edible polymer strands. The ingredients necessary to produce the "caviars" are more commonly known as sodium alginate (sold here) and calcium chloride (sold here). The alginate/calcium chloride reaction is fairly easy to execute. The formula has existed in the industrialized food processing/preservation world for nearly 40 years now and is commonly used for maintaining freshness in transporting foodstuffs that dont freeze well.

Edited August 27, 2003 by inventolux (log)

[schneich]

Good luck. When I watched him make the stuff, he was working with a chemist--who was constantly checking PH. And even then--it looked VERY tricky, with some batches not coming out. The rig they've got set up at the restaurant--unless you've got a whole load of clean syringes and a workshop--would be difficult to recreate. I think the  product falls under the "Don't Try This At Home" category.

have you been to his place ??

maybe you could tell us some more "newstuff" that he s working on...

cheers...

r u "the" bourdain or is this just ur handle ??

cheers

torsten s.

[Jinmyo]

Yes, that's Tony.

He was at El Bulli a little while ago for A Cook's Tour II.

[J Acord]

The fun part though, is that if you add an acid (like citric acid found in fruit or acetic acid from vinegar) then the gel will liquify again... wonder how you could incorporate that into the dish (or does it then change from being a dish to being performance art? )

[estufarian]

The fun part though, is that if you add an acid (like citric acid found in fruit or acetic acid from vinegar) then the gel will liquify again

But, at El Bulli he makes "caviar" FROM some fruits (melon, passionfruit).

And at Akelare in Donostia, Pedro Subijana (who also features "imitation caviar" along the same lines) has a Vinegar Caviar on the menu (although I haven't tried it).

The mystery deepens.

[schneich]

i got myself some calcium cloride & sodium alginate and did a few experiments...

it works great with every "watery" substance... like consomme, tea, even red bull

is no problem ;-)

but

once it gets to acidy the gel breaks up and is no more stable...

same happens if you use fat in any way... i tried cream and milk... both made only

very weak gels... the "skin" that form is very thin then....

i heard there are more than one alginate...

i heard of Propylene Glycol Alginate which should much more tolerable to acids...

but question is if it gels in a calcium cloride solution as sodium alginate does !!

what tony said about the PH measuring could be a way to avoid intolerable acidicity....

does anyone know what max PH sodium alginate can bear.. ???

cheers form the lab

schneich ;-)

[inventolux]

If you get a little crafty, you can create pouches of liquid suspended inside other pouches of liquid.

[Bicycle Lee]

Schneich:

Where did you get the calcium chloride?

Would the addition of carageenan to an acid or a fat help it's gelling?

[schneich]

i havent tried carageen... its maybe a way to "bind" acid and fat..

i have some decent results with liquid pesto ravioli bound with gelatine,

covered with alginate gel, solidified in calcium cloride...

when put into hot parmesancreamsoup the pesto gelatine melts

and when you bite on one you got a whole lot pesto going on ;-)

i use that stuf mainly to "pack" things into the alginate...

just play around with concentrations of either alginate and calcium cloride

you find out soon..

;-)

cheers

t.

[Claire]

Next time can you post some pics? I'd love to see how it turns out.

[Bicycle Lee]

do you mix the alginate into the pesto (or whatever you are trying to gel)? or is there two baths: the alginate one and then the calcium chloride one?

And when you say it's "bound with gelatin" do you mean you have added agar to the mixture?

[schneich]

i make the geltine pesto and let it set, cut in cubes put it in the alginate bath then the

calcium bath... voila...

once put i hot soup the gelatine melts...

t.

[schneich]

but i must say that iam having much more fun with tapioka these days...

you can cook your tapioka in any kind of fruitjuice, it takes on the taste pretty well

once ready it has a very nice texture not to chewy but some "resistance" for your

teeth..

i made strong green lime pearls swimmin in a spicy wasabi sabayon next to

some unbelieveable wild salmon teriyaki makis, sauteed to perfection and rolled in black

sesame....

life can be goood...

t.