Workbook

Gummy

It’s probably been at least a year and a half now since we started tinkering with our own version of gummy candies and starch molding. Of course, it was right about the time Sam was doing his various alcohol ‘bears’- including absinthe, sambuca, and amaro, and at least once, there was the infamous ‘whiskey dick’. We didn’t really want to tread on his territory, so apart from playing with starch molded fish and the like, we shelved the idea.

 

I sat in on a hydrocolloid demo at ICE a couple weeks ago, featuring George Mendes, Tim Koerner and Anthony Caratozzolo, as well as Mr. Mason, who blew through his repertoire of cold oil spherification, soft chocolate set with carrageenan, gellan films, and warm custards made possible with methylcellulose. The gummy bears just kind of came up in conversation, reminding me that I hadn’t thought about them in many months.

 

Our first test was with Pernod, a little softer and less chewy than the commercial candy we all know; we didn’t factor the blooming water into Sam’s formula (dosing gelatin at 25% of the total), nor is there the high enough sugar content to contribute much texture. And though we’ve taken a break from pearls and caviars and such, we still keep some cold oil in the walk-in, so I dropped the last few cc’s of Pernod gel into the oil to produce a nice transparent pearl.

 

 

From there, I wanted to see if they would float in water; they didn’t, but I’d love to try floating them in a slightly more viscous fluid. And then the general idea of suspension led to the thought of floating such pearls into a clear gummy. Below are basil and strawberry gummy pearls dropped into a clear gel, and strips inlaid with raspberry. We went for a firmer texture using 25% gelatin, and along with some sugar we also added a small amount of citric acid. The technique can certainly be refined, but it was a cool starting point.

 

 

 

 

Download: Pernod Gummy-Workbook 27.7.09

 

 

 

Duality

 

We stopped doing what I would call ‘traditional’ petit fours for a long stretch- pâte de fruit, nougat, macarons- opting for more inventive and complex bites. But time and distance does often make the heart grow fonder for such things. And certainly during the summer months, when our corner of the kitchen can hit 80 degrees and 80% humidity, we need to go with stable standbys that have some measure of plate time. Being able to make them by the hundreds also helps. We do, of course, continue to throw a curveball with these- macarons, for instance, become open-faced constructions, and the pâte de fruit appears as a duo of flavors.

 

The standard HM pectin jellies still hold interest, even as we explore other textures and the versatility possible through other hydrocolloids like LM pectin, agar agar, and gelatin. We’ve often combined two flavors into the same gel, but it was Hermé who sparked further play through the conventional method with such joined pairings, but also inclusions and infusions.

 

 

 

 

While I’m sure there exists some trick for better adhesion, we find that simply stacking the two framed pâtes, followed by a run through the guitar, does an adequate job. And using the thin white chocolate plaque as a vehicle allows us to skip the sugar dusting, reducing the sweetness somewhat, but also giving us a nice, translucent jewel to behold. Two most recent pairings include fig-apricot and lychee-peach.

 

Download Apricot Pate de Fruit- Workbook 26.7.09

 

Download Fig Pate de Fruit- Workbook 26.7.09

 

Download Lychee Pate de Fruit- Workbook 26.7.09

 

Download White Peach Pate de Fruit-Workbook 26.7.09

 

Blocked

 

One of our recent favorites pairs fresh cherries with pistachio. Like so many summer fruits, I find the more minimal the treatment, the better the results will be. Here, the cherries are merely halved and kissed with a pinch of sugar and a pass with the blowtorch.

The pistachio enters as a block of an airy parfait into which we've inserted a cylinder of our old friend, caramelized white chocolate. Rounding out the composition are cubes of pistachio pain de genes, lemon cream and confit, and chopped caramelized pistachio nuts.

 

As with almost all of our mousse preparations, this parfait begins with our low-sugar pate a bombe. We initially had problems adding this directly to our pistachio paste (we use the Fabri product, sweet enough on its own to flavor the parfait without additional sugar). The mixture would inevitably sieze or contain innumerable un-incorporated lumps. The solution was to first produce a more stable emulsion with cream; this is great on its own as well, either as a plating component or even as a bonbon filling.

It also seemed logical to dissolve our gelatin in the warm pate a bombe mixture before whipping, but the final volume was reduced, and in the event it whipped too long and too cool, it would also sieze in the folding process. We simply try to keep all the components at or just above room temperature- the pate a bombe, pistachio base, and whipped cream- to avoid those little nuggets of gelatin from forming while mixing into the base.

Download: Pistachio Cream-Workbook 25.7.09

Download: Pistachio Parfait-Workbook 25.7.09