Shitake Mushroom, Butterbean and Pea Korokke. With - Pickled Ginger. Shaved Cucumber. Apple Beetroot and Wasabi Gellee. Crispy fried Kombu.

The centerpiece of this dish is my take on Japanese ‘Korokke’. Usually these would be potato-based patties that are bread crumbed and deep-fried. Here I’m using butterbeans to replace the potato and adding shitake mushrooms, peas and spices to the mix. They’re then shaped into little balls, coated with breadcrumbs and black sesame seeds and deep-fried.

My version of Korokke is served with sharp, hot pickled ginger, cooling cucumber shavings and an Apple, Beetroot and Wasabi Gelee, which has a beautiful flavour and sweetness but also adds another layer of texture contrast to the dish.

The finishing touch is the, addictively tasty, crispy fried Kombu. It’s is a type of kelp that’s used a lot in Japanese cooking. It’s a great source of Umami, the fifth taste -…link… and its used to make Dashi, a Japanese stock. In this dish the Kombu is shredded and deep fried which works great with all the other flavours and textures, that is as long as you can manage to resist snacking on it long enough that it actually makes it onto the plate.

Korokke -

50g Dried Shitake Mushrooms
230g Drained Rinsed Butter Beams
50g Frozen petit pois
One bunch Fresh Coriander
One carrot – finely diced
1 Thumb Sized Piece of Ginger – finely chopped
1 Green Chilli – finely Diced
2 Cloves of Garlic - chopped
2 Shallots – finely diced
Toasted Sesame oil for frying
Soy sauce
2 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar
Fine white Bread Crumbs
Black Sesame Seeds
Egg wash for bread crumbing
Plain Flour for bread crumbing
Oil for deep-frying

First off, in a bowl, pour 1lt of boiling water over the dried shitake mushrooms and leave them to soak for one hour.

Then drain the mushrooms and gently squeeze out any excess liquid (its worth keeping the soaking liquid from the mushrooms as you can use it to make a great Umami rich Dashi at a later point – look here for more info)

Thinly slice the shitake. Now heat 4 tablespoons of toasted sesame oil in a wok. Toss the shitake into the wok and stir-fry until they absorb all the oil. Now add six tablespoons of soy sauce and two tablespoons of rice wine vinegar and continue to stir-fry until the mushrooms have absorbed all the liquid. Now you can set them aside to cool.

Now stir-fry the Chilli, Ginger, Shallots, Garlic and diced carrot in a little sesame oil for around two minutes. Add this to the bowl with the cooked mushrooms and set to one side.

In another bowl crush the drained butterbeans well with the back of a fork then mix in the frozen peas. The mixture should be pretty solid and hold its shape. Now mix in the cooled cooked mushrooms and stir fried spices. Roughly chop a handful of fresh coriander and add this to the mixture.

Season the mix to taste then form it into small balls and place these on a tray.

Now mix together breadcrumbs and black sesame seeds in a ratio of about 4 parts breadcrumbs to one-part sesame seeds in a bowl.

Beat three eggs in another bowl and in a third bowl place a handful or two of plain flour.

To Breadcrumb the Shitake and butterbean Korokke roll each one first in the flour, then in the egg wash and finally in the breadcrumb and sesame mixture, making sure they are completely coated. These can now be reserved on a tray in the fridge until you’re ready to cook them.

To cook them, heat a deep fat fryer to 190C and cook a couple of the balls at a time – frying them for 2-3 minutes until golden brown and hot through to the centre. Drain off any excess oil on a little kitchen towel. These can be briefly kept warm in the oven while setting up the plates.


Beetroot, Apple and Wasabi Gellee –

300g Beetroot juice
300g Apple juice
One teaspoon Wasabi Paste
Pinch Salt
2g Agar Agar Powder - Available from www.Modernist-Chef.com

Whisk the juices and wasabi together with a pinch of salt and place in a pan, Bring the liquid to a simmer and gently reduce the liquid by half, intermittently skimming off any froth that forms on the top of the juice. You should end up with 300g of total liquid.

Allow the reduced Beetroot Apple and Wasabi liquid to cool down to room temperature.

Whisk the Agar into the cooled juice mixture and place it back on the heat. Bring to a simmer whilst stirring.

Pour out the juice mixture into a wide plastic container so the Gelee is about 1cm deep and leave to cool and set.

Once set cut out a small circle of the Gelee for each Korokke (just bigger than the Korokke that will sit on them). Also cut a small amount of 1mm dice of the gelee to be used as garnish.

(You can see more on Agar and its uses in a post I did here)


Crispy Fried Kombu –

Place four or five strips of dried kombu in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak for around an hour then drain (as with soaking the shitake mushrooms you can hold onto the soaking liquid and use it in the future to make an Umami rich Dashi).

Finely slice the Kombu into thin strips about 10cm long and deep-fry at 190C for about a minute until the oil stops bubbling rapidly and the strips are crispy.

Drain on a little kitchen towel and lightly season with a pinch of salt.

Finishing Touches –

Using a peeler take thin strips of cucumber. Tear some pickled sushi ginger down into thin strips. This is powerful stuff so you won’t need too much of it to get a real flavour impact.

Prepare some spring onion curls as a garnish by slicing spring onion extremely thin lengthways and placing these thin strips into ice cold water for around an hour to curl up. They can then be drained and used as garnish.

Plating up

Place a Circle of the Beetroot Gelee on the plate and sit one of the Korokke on top. Put a little of the crispy fired kombu around the plate. Place slightly crumpled strips of cucumber and pickled ginger around the kombu. Finally garnish the Korokke with a little of the spring onion curls and finish by carefully placing a few pieces of very finely diced Beetroot Apple and Wasabi gelee over the spring onion.

Agar Agar
An Introduction and four techniques

Agar is such a fantastic and versatile ingredient with so many applications that I might in future do further separate posts expanding on the ways you can use it and the effects it can help you achieve. For the moment here though I’ll give you a quick overview of the ingredient and focus on demonstrating four of the ways it can be used to great effect.

• Simple Gelling (Gelee)
• Agar Clarification (transparent clarifications of juices or stocks without loss of flavour)
• Cold Oil Spherification (‘Caviar’)
• Fluid Gels

• For gelling Agar needs to be hydrated in a liquid and heated up around 90C in order for it to set as it cools.
• When cooling Agar will set rapidly at around 35C
• Once an Agar gel is been formed it won’t melt again until it reaches 80 -90C
• Agar is typically used in concentrations from 0.2% to 2% (for most applications)

Agar Clarification –


(Clarified Orange Juice on the left, the original Juice on the right)

Agar is Available from -

www.Modernist-Chef.com

I think this is one of the most exciting things you can do using agar. Really quick, really effective, yet simple clarification of liquids. All you need to clarify juices or stocks is some Agar powder, a whisk, some cheesecloth and that’s about it (I’ll assume if your reading this you own a sauce-pan). Dave Arnold developed this technique and you can see his detailed blog on the technique here.

One of the huge advantages of this is not only the clarity achieved and the fact that its vegetarian but also that its really quick, it can be done start to finish in less than an hour which is super quick compared to gelatin filtration which can take a couple of days!

So here I’m going go through the process of how to clarify orange juice as an example. This principle can be applied to other juices and stocks. One of the brilliant things about this technique is there is almost no loss of flavour. Blind Tasting the clarified juice next to the original juice its not easy to pick them apart.

Clarified Orange Juice.

750g Orange Juice
2g Agar (roughly 0.25% of the total weight – This is a tiny bit higher that Dave Arnold suggested using but it worked best for me – this might just be down to using different brands of Agar)

Pour 250g of the Orange Juice into a pan and whisk in the Agar. Bring this to a simmer whilst stirring.

Remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour the other 500g of room temperature Orange Juice into the hot Orange and Agar mix whilst stirring.

Then quickly pour this mixture into a bowl over an ice bath to set to a gel.

Once completely set gently break up the gelled Orange Juice with a whisk into ‘curds’ of gel.

Place the broken gel into a double layer of cheesecloth (or a tea towel). Lift this up over a coffee filter above a bowl where the clarified juice can collect and gently squeeze the cheesecloth. You should get a steady thin stream of clarified juice coming from the cheesecloth bundle.

And there you go, it’s that easy – you’ve now got clarified Orange Juice (or what ever you have decided to clarify).

Pretty Cool!

Back to Agar Overview

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Cold Oil Spherification with Agar -



Agar is Available from -

www.Modernist-Chef.com

Beetroot and Apple Caviar

Two liters vegetable oil chilled in the freezer
300g Beetroot juice
300g Apple juice
Pinch Salt
Note - the juices will be reduced to get 300g total liquid – they are only reduced to intensify their flavour so you could skip this step and just start with 300g total liquids.
3g Agar (1% of total liquids weight)

The start of this preparation is the same as for making a gel –

First reduce the juices to intensify their flavour. - Mix the juices together with a pinch of salt and place in a pan to bring the liquid to a simmer. Gently reduce the liquid by half, intermittently skimming any froth that forms on the top of the juice. You should end up with 300g of total liquid.

Allow the reduced Beetroot and apple liquid to cool down to room temperature.

Whisk the 3g Agar into the 300g of cooled juice mixture and place it back on the heat. Bring to a simmer whilst stirring.

Now – Pour the hot liquid into a squeeze bottle (or you can use a pipette, syringe or ‘Caviar box’ to form your spheres– if so pour the liquid into a bowl ready to use). Let the Liquid cool a little (but not enough that it begins to gel, - don’t let it get bellow 45C)

Pour the cold oil that’s been chilling in the freezer into a tall container; now drip the agar mix into the cold oil from a small height.

The droplets will gel as they are cooled by the oil and form into small ‘caviar’ spheres which sink to the bottom of the container.

Sieve out the set spheres and rinse under hot water. The ‘Caviar’ is now ready to serve.

Note – These spheres are set all the way through, for spheres, orbs and caviar with a liquid centre look and my post on Sodium Alginate and Reverse Spherification

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Sodium Alginate is available from -

www.Modernist-Chef.com

Introduction to Sodium Alginate and basic ‘Reverse Spherification’

In this post I’m going to focus on using sodium alginate in a process know as ‘Reverse Spherification’ to create orbs about the size of an egg yolk, which hold their shape but burst into liquid in the mouth. This fantastic technique can be both really enjoyable to experiment with and give you some delicious results with a novel texture/eating experience. And when creatively and intelligently applied Spherification, and the principles behind it, can open up a world of new culinary possibilities and help us create extraordinary dishes.

So I’m going to try and give you a little bit of basic information and advice on how to use this ingredient and technique and then provide a simple recipe that’s easy to try at home that uses this technique. That way wish any luck you can get comfortable enough with the basics that you can go on to do more complex preparations and be creative in your own way.

First off it’s worth briefly making a quick distinction between the two basic forms of spherification, ‘Regular’ and ‘Reverse’.

‘Regular’ spherification involves adding sodium alginate to a liquid, for example a fruit juice, and then ‘dropping’ this liquid (via a pipette, syringe, squeezy bottle, ‘dropping spoon’ etc etc) into a calcium bath.

Generally, for best effect, Regular Spherification into a calcium bath needs to be done too service, just before the spheres are to be consumed as the orbs very quickly solidify all the way through, (this isn’t the case with ‘Reverse’ Spherification, but I’ll go into the science of why this is in more detail elsewhere).
I’ll create separate posts soon on ‘Regular’ spherification (using a calcium bath) and also on making smaller ‘caviars’. However, as I mentioned, for the moment here I want to focus on ‘Reverse’ spherification.

(Above - Spheres of flavoured yoghurt) made with reverse spherification)

So in ‘Reverse Spherification’ flavourful calcium rich liquid (either naturally calcium rich or spiked with something like calcium lactate) is dropped into a sodium alginate solution (thus the ‘reverse’ of dropping a mixture containing sodium alginate into a calcium bath). The calcium rich liquid reacts with the sodium alginate and a thin film is formed around it, giving you ‘Spheres’ or orbs that are liquid on the inside.
So first off I’ll give you a bit of basic information on Sodium Alginate which is the vital ingredient you will need for this technique, and in the UK you can buy from www.Modernist-Chef.com (Note it the El Bulli ‘texturas’ range its called‘Algin’).

Ok, so basically Sodium Alginate is derived from brown seaweed, its not some scary chemical concocted in a lab so don’t let that be a n excuse to not have a go using ingredients of this type.

It’s a hydrocolloid, which means it can form a gel or act as a thickener when hydrated. But particular to sodium alginate is that it rapidly forms a gel when it comes into contact with calcium. These gels are heat stable (they won’t melt) to above 150C. This allows us to heat up orbs made using spherification, so they can be served hot, as I did in a recipe you can see here.


(Above - Mushroom and Nutmeg Fillo Wrap. With hot Lemon Dill Spheres and Blueberry Puree)

It was largely Ferran Adrià who made the use of sodium alginate popular amongst chefs through pioneering the spherification technique for haute cuisine at his famous restaurant ‘El Bulli’.
Now, for simplicity in this first post I’m just going to focus on making spheres from naturally calcium rich liquids. This means you don’t have to add calcium to the liquid you want to make orbs from. But once you master this basic technique you’ll find it’s really easy to add calcium to almost anything from fruit juices and sauces to … well pretty much any liquid you want to make orbs from (by blending calcium lactate into it for example), and just following the same basic steps.

Preparing a sodium alginate bath.

So first you’ll need to prepare a sodium alginate solution by blending 5g of sodium alginate into one litre of cold water. My preferred way of doing this is with an immersion blender (hand blender) in a plastic rectangular tub where the liquid will sit about 10cm deep (but you could blend in a food processor or similar).

Sprinkle the sodium alginate into the water and moving the blender around blend for about 2 minuits until you have a nice smooth solution. Let this solution settle in the fridge for at least 30 minuits to allow air to escape from the solution (it will appear clearer when settled).

Dropping Technique

Here I’m focusing on the preparation of larger spheres, but I will deal with making smaller ‘caviar’ balls in another post.

So there are two ways that I’ll talk about here of making your orbs, dropping using a spoon and freezing as a hemisphere prior to dropping.

A lot of the time my preference is to use the ‘Dropping Spoon’ technique, but for this to work best the liquid you want to make spheres from needs to have a certain viscosity, about the thickness of yogurt, this can of course be achieved my thickening the liquid prior to dropping (i.e. with xanthan gum) if its too thin.

Recipe -
Spheres of Yoghurt, Honey, Black Pepper and Poppy Seeds. With Crushed Walnut and Strawberry Puree

So first prepare a sodium alginate solution as above by blending 5g of sodium alginate into one litre of cold water. Leave this to settle in the fridge for thirty minutes before using.

For the Yoghurt mixture - in a bowl mix together 200g natural Greek yoghurt, 60g Honey, One Teaspoon cracked black pepper and three teaspoons of poppy seeds and stir well.
Now carefully drop spoonfuls (as described above) of the yoghurt mix into the Sodium Alginate solution and leave the small orbs that form for 30 seconds to a minute to react. Refresh the spheres in cold water and remove them with a slotted spoon when ready to serve.

Serve with crushed walnuts and a simple strawberry puree made by blending fresh strawberries with a little icing sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice to taste. I sometimes thicken purees like this with xanthan gum (which I will right a post on soon) to get the consistency however I want it, but for a first go at this technique a very simple puree will do, or even just some chopped fresh strawberry.

To see more advanced recipes where I have used a version on this technique follow the links bellow.


Mushroom and Nutmeg Fillo Wrap. With hot Lemon Dill Spheres and Blueberry Puree


Amuse Bouche

I hope this is useful

Enjoy yourselves xx

Visit www.Modernist-Chef.com for more hydrocolloids and starter kits

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Smoked Griddled Aubergine wrapped Lemon and Black Pepper Goats Cheese with Crouton, Balsamic Reduction and Orange Sauce.

This delicious starter is really pretty simple to make but it’s beautifully flavourful and moreish. The sharp goats cheese cuts the robust flavour of the smoked griddled aubergine, while the sticky, sweet balsamic reduction and aromatic orange sauce bring this dish together and gives it an elegant finish. It makes a great start to a meal with its balanced yet bold flavours, and demands attention as something a little different but utterly delicious.

The quick smoking of the aubergine is done with the polyscience smoking gun which is a great bit of kit.


The smoking gun is available here


www.Modernist-Chef.com

Its a brilliant and versatile piece of kitchen tech that I’d recommend to anyone really into their cooking.

The Recipe makes 10 servings as a starter or canapé.

Goats Cheese –
125g Goats cheese
Zest of two lemons
1 teaspoon of cracked black pepper

Simply mix the goats cheese, lemon zest and black pepper together in a bowl
Then roll the goats cheese mix into about 10 small sausage shapes and reserve in the fridge until ready to use.

Smoked Griddled Aubergene –
Two Aubergines
One Finely chopped red chilli
Chopped Fresh Parsley
Polyscience Smoking Gun
Oak Smoking chips
Seasoning

Slice down the length of the Aubergines to get strips about ½ a cm thick.
Place these in a colander and toss with two of tables spoons of salt and leave them to sit like this for an hour, the salt will draw out some of the bitterness from auberegenes. After an hour thoroughly rinse the salt off the slices.
Now place them in a bowl and toss with a splash of olive oil, one finely chopped red chilli, a sprinkling of chopped fresh parsley and a little salt and pepper.
Pop the Aubergine strips on a hot griddle pan for one to two minutes on each side until they’re is just cooked through.
Now place the hot Aubergine into a large bowl and cover with clingfilm.
Use the Polyscience Smoking Gun, loaded with oak smoking chips, to fill the covered bowl with smoke. Sit covered for one minute to give the aubergenes a smokey flavour.

Finally your ready to place one of the pieces of the rolled goats cheese at the bottom of each of the, still warm, smoked Aubergine strips and then roll them up and pin in place with cocktail sticks. Now simply pop them in a hot oven for one minute to make sure they are hot when you serve them.

Croutons –
Cut 6cm wide circles of good quality bread – about 1cm thick – using a pastry cutter.
Fry these in olive oil, in a pan on a medium heat, for around a minute on each side until golden brown. Sit the cooked croutons on kitchen roll to allow some of the excess oil to drain off.

Orange sauce
150ml cointreau
50ml Dry White wine
600ml Orange Juice
Pinch Salt
Thumb sized piece of ginger cut into thin strips
2g Xanthan gum

Bring the cointreau and white wine to a simmer and reduce for two to three minutes. Now add the orange juice, ginger and pinch of salt. Continue to simmer the sauce until it has reduced by half. Stain through a fine sieve and allow to cool, then blend in 2g of xanthan gum and transfer the sauce to a squeezy bottle. This can either be served cold up heated up when plating the dish.

Balsamic reduction
200ml Good quality Balsamic Vinegar

Bring the Balsamic up to a boil in a saucepan then drop the temperature to a simmer and allow it to reduce by about three quarters. It’s ready when it reaches a syrupy consistency. Let it cool and place in a squeezy bottle.

To serve –
Sit each of the hot rolled up smoked Aubergine and goats cheese parcels on top of a crouton in the centre of the plate and alternately dot the orange sauce and balsamic reduction around the plate.

I hope you’ll give it a go (even if you don’t have a smoking gun), its well worth it.

Eddie x


www.Modernist-Chef.com