Rolled skate, like "roller skate." Get it? These were whole filets of skate from Maine, rolled up into tight spirals, poached, then browned on the outsides, served with a Mexican Coke fluid gel, chorizo bits (like bacon bits), lime, crunchy Mexican Coke glass, and a jicama-jalapeno salad dressed with lime and olive oil.

The chorizo bits weren't added until the second night, but they added a good bit of depth to the dish.

The skate filets were brined for one hour in a 10% brine with various spices, then towel-dried and rolled up with plastic wrap into roulades using Activa RM. The roulades were vacuum-sealed and poached for one hour and 15 minutes at 55C. After poaching, the bags were chilled in ice water, then overnight in the fridge, allowing the ample gelatin from the skate to set. At service, the bags are circulated at 55C or less for thirty minutes or so before I intend to serve, then the bags are cut open, the plastic wrap removed, and each roulade dried off. They are then sauteed in very hot pans with ample olive oil, in order to get the outsides of the roulades golden brown. Finally, the filets are allowed to rest slightly, and the ends are sliced off to expose the rolled spiral and give a clean presentation. Because of all the gelatin in skate, you could actually do this without Activa, you'd just have to remove it from the bags and tie it with twine before sauteeing to brown and re-heat (rather than re-heating in the bath then browning).

For the Coke glass, you must use Mexican Coke, which is sweetened with real sugar, rather than American Coke, which is sweetened with corn syrup. Otherwise the glass won't stay as crispy as it ought to since the invert sugar of corn syrup is strongly hygroscopic and will therefore attract water and they'll lose their snap. To make these, simply cook Mexican Coke, allowing it to reduce until it has reached hard crack stage (310F), then pour it out onto a Silpat and wait for it to cool. Once cool, break it into shards, then grind all of it in a spice grinder, and store the resulting Coke caramel powder in an airtight container with desiccants. You can store it this way indefinitely. When you're ready to serve (same day is best) sift that powder onto a Silpat in a 1/8-inch layer, either using stencils or else moving the powder into shapes using a bench scraper (or just pour it all evenly and then break it into random shapes). The thicker of a layer you sift, the thicker the resulting glass will be. Use too much and they'll be quite hard to chew, instead of having a delicate crunch. Use too little, and you'll end up with more of a lacy glass with tons of holes, and it will be more difficult to make nice shapes with it. Bake the sifted powder at 350-400F for about six minutes, until it has melted together. Remove from the oven and let cool, then break apart if necessary, and store the resulting shapes in an airtight container with plenty of desiccants. The pieces may start to stick to each other after a while. To avoid this, store them in layers separated by parchment or wax paper.

The Mexican Coke fluid gel uses Mexican Coke, set with 1% agar, then pureed in a blender to form a smooth gel sauce. Everyone has trouble getting their fluid gels to blend in normal home blenders, but food processors simply can't get them smooth. My favorite method for getting the fluid gels to blend is to pick up the entire blender while it is running and shake it vigorously. Stop every fifteen seconds or so to scrape down the sides of the blender. Eventually you'll get it all to where it is blending in a nice vortex. Let it blend for at least a minute or two once it reaches that phase. Finally, push the resulting fluid gel through a chinois, then load it into a squeeze bottle (easiest to dump it into a funnel and push it through the funnel with a small ladle) and it's ready to go.

For the chorizo, mince the chorizo as finely as possible, then stir it in a pan over medium heat until it has released all of its liquids and most of its oils, and most sizzling stops. Remove the chorizo bits from the pan and drain on paper towels, saving the chorizo oil for another delicious use, then store the bits in a container in the refrigerator. Take them out of the fridge half an hour before you're going to use them to allow them to come up to room temperature.

The salad is simply julienned jicama and jalapeno, seasoned then tossed with a lime vinaigrette. I garnished with mizuna one night, and red ribbon sorrel the other night. Most of the plates looked great, but as always, I give the best ones to the guests, and save the ugliest for the photos.

Posted by Barzelay on 2010/04/10 @ 0:41 | Comments (4) | Drinks, Lazy Bear, Sauces, Condiments, Seafood, Veggies, Fruit, Grain, Cheese

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