Workbook: September 2009

As in 'soft'. Soft caramel, or caramel mou.

I love this stuff. It's the soft texture, and the complexity of flavor from the resulting Maillard reaction- the sugar and milk proteins reducing together- that elevates this confection beyond that of mere caramelized sugar. Add some sea salt and it's a real party.

When you nail that perfect consistency, however, the caramel is difficult to handle, and thus, is often found wrapped in cellophane. That works out alright in most circumstances, but as a petit four in a fine dining setting, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of litter on the table. Something edible would be great.

I've had a passing interest in edible films, probably since a first encounter with one of those breath strips that hit the market a decade ago. This isn't a new idea of course; thin wrappers that you can eat have been around forever. But I bet it was the pharmecutical industry that discovered and then pushed the film-forming possiblities of our friendly hydrocolloids. The gelcap was just the beginning.

In the culinary realm, there has certianly been a lot of work in this area. The first few that come to mind: the Fat Duck's own flavored films, Aduriz's faux fish skin made of cod-derived gelatin, and Alinea's crispy Pure-Cote packages. I've never been smart enough to come up with such inventive applications myself, so I never really pursued the idea with much vigor. But this sudden challenge of finding a refined wrapper for my caramel renewed my interest.

And though I spent several hours pouring through patent applications- there are indeed many ways (and many ingredients available) to achieve edible films- one answer jumped out at me from our daily mise en place. Whether dispensed from a squeeze bottle, or spooned out of a container, the random drips and drops of our pectin-based sauces often dry out, turning 'crusty' even at room temperature- frustratingly so- but are easily peeled away. Perhaps a solution? Sure enough, our standard passion fruit coulis, spread on some acetate and given a quick run in the dehydrator, yielded a transparent, pliable wrapper. It was a little sticky the first few times, so I simply reduced the sugar. Primitive, for sure, but it works.

Most of the recent patents I researched concern themselves more with the application of flavors or medicines to an array of films. But it was within those various 'recipes' that I discovered a new (to me) gum, pullulan, derived from starch, which seems to tailor-made for this kind of thing.

Fun stuff.