• Escolar poached in Olive Oil until 120F inside. It turns out that's just a bit high, as it came out more firm than I'd have wanted (but still nice and juicy--high oil content in the fish), so next time I'll probably try it at around 110F, then go from there. Note that these were 3 ounce portions (which is important with this fish, for odd and scary reasons that I have never experienced).
• Meyer lemon juice squeezed liberally over the fish. This was the initial conception for the dish. I added the port for some sweetness to counteract the acidity of the lemon, and that became the star. But God I love Meyer lemon.
• Thyme, for an herbal component. I think next time I may heat the thyme a bit to release more of its aroma compounds.
• Graham's "Six Grapes" Porto made into "caviar." Done using a new technique that I had never encountered until a couple nights ago, but now I can't remember where I saw it when I saw it on Sous Survivor. Instead of spherifying with sodium alginate and calcium, which is always finicky, it involves spherifying by dissolving some agar agar into a liquid, heating it to a boil to fully incorporate and activate the agar, then dripping it into cold oil. The oil keeps the droplets separate because the liquid won't emulsify instantly (though I'd be concerned if I were using a liquid with, for instance, lecithin), and the cold of the oil gels the agar solution very quickly. I loved this technique, for a number of reasons. For one, it involves only one specialty ingredient (agar agar, available at any Asian grocery). It also is a lot less finicky; agar gels in a much wider pH range than alginate, so no more screwing around with citrate to adjust the pH. And the whole process is much quicker and doesn't force you to dirty a blender to shear the alginate in, since agar is soluble simply by heating. This was a great discovery, and means that caviar is a quick and simple addition to a dish, rather than an involved process that requires a complicated mise en place. However, there are limitations: I didn't try ravioli or noodles. And unlike reverse spherification, the spheres will gel all the way through. We'll see what else I can do with these.
• Maldon sea salt.

Posted by Barzelay on 2008/02/18 @ 13:12 | Comments (7) | Food Additives, Seafood

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