mozzarella BALL

The mozzarella balloons will definitely surprise your diners. When they first see them, they have no idea of what a white balloon is doing on their plate. After a few minutes of staring at them, they will finally decide to puncture one of the mozzarella balloons with a fork or knife and they’ll get surprised one more time by a puff of roasted garlic air.
I believe the creator of the mozzarella balloon is Thomas Keller from the French Laundry. The best thing is that they are very easy to make as long as you have an ISI Whip or other N2O cream whipper.
                                                                               Ingredients for Mozzarella Balloons

- 200 g Fresh Mozzarella (4 servings)- 10 roasted garlic cloves
- balsamic vinegar reduction
- 12 peeled pearl tomatoes
- thinly sliced basil
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- olive oil powder




PreparationIf the garlic cloves are not already roasted, wrapped them in aluminum foil with a few drops of olive oil and place them in the oven for 25 min at 200 ˚C (400 ˚F). Smash them and place them in the ISI Whip featured with the straight nozzle and charge it.
If the pearl tomatoes are not peeled yet, remove the stem and carefully make a couple of cuts to the skin originating from the end where you removed the stem. Place them in boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds and transfer them to a recipient with ice cold water. Wait for a couple of minutes and then you should be able to peel the skin very easily.
Boil 3 or 4 cups of water and set it aside in a container in which you can immerse the mozzarella pieces for each balloon without touching each other.  Cut the mozzarella in pieces of 50 g (usually about half a mozzarella ball). Place them in the hot water to get them really soft and pliable. It may take about 5 to 10 minutes.
You are now ready to make the mozzarella balloons. Remove one piece of hot mozzarella from the hot water; it should be hot and pliable, like bubble gum. Knead it for 30 seconds to cool it down a little and then put it over the ISI Whip straight nozzle. Make sure the cheese is in one solid piece and does not have fold lines that are not completely fused together.  Hold it tightly around the tip of the nose with your thumb and index fingers around it. Slowly start inflating it until desired size. Tight the bottom by squeezing the mozzarella with your two fingers as you slide the balloon out of the nozzle. Make sure the balloons don’t touch each other or they will stick.
Look carefully while inflating and stop if one section of the balloon is getting too translucent. If it breaks, don’t worry; just compact the mozzarella and place it in hot water again.
Place three peeled pearl tomatoes on each plate. Season with olive oil, fresh pepper, salt and top with finely sliced basil. Set one mozzarella balloon next to the tomatoes, add salt and drizzle with balsamic vinegar reduction.

Finally, add a spoon of olive oil powder. The olive oil powder is a perfect complement to this dish. Don't skip this step!

I came across this video, same technique different recipe.. but useful video 

Liquid popcorn with caramel froth..

The liquid popcorn with caramel froth is a surprising drinkable dessert created by Grant Achatz of Alinea. It is quite sweet and it is best served warm in a shot glass.

Liquid Popcorn Ingredients

- 35 g (1.2 oz) canola oil
- 150 g (5.3 oz) popcorn kernels
- 7 g (0.25 oz) kosher salt
- 90 g (3.2 oz) butter
- 75 g (2.6 oz) sugar- 750 g (1lb 10.5 oz) water

Caramel Froth Ingredients

- 250 g (8.8 oz) sugar
- 200 g (7.1 oz) water
- 75 g (2.6 oz) simple syrup
- 5 g (0.18 oz) soy lecithin powder

Preparation

Liquid Popcorn

1- In large pot heat oil until lightly smoking.
2- Add popcorn kernels and cover pot.
3- Shake pot constantly while kernels pop.
4- Remove pot from heat when kernels stop popping.
5- In second large pot, combine 125 g (4.4 oz) popped corn, salt, butter, sugar and water.
6- Bring to simmer over medium heat and simmer for 5 min.
7- Strain through china cap strainer, pushing liquid through with back of ladle until only popcorn kernels remain in basket. Discard kernels.
8- Transfer liquid to blender and blend on high speed for 3 min or until smooth.
9- Strain through chinois. Keep warm.

Caramel Froth

1- In small saucepan, heat sugar and 75 g (2.6 oz) of water over medium heat to 171 °C (340 °F).
2- Remove from heat.
3- Immediately add remaining 125 g (4.4 oz) water and simple syrup. TAKE CARE as mixture will bubble and splatter.
4- Whisk until dissolved.
5- Pour into tall, narrow container and let cool to warm.
6- Add lecithin and blend with immersion blender incorporating air until frothy.
Assemble and serve

KUZU ROOTS

Organic Kuzu Root Starch is a versatile thickener that dissolves quickly in any cold liquid and has no perceptible taste. It is very low in calories, contains no fat and is an easily digestible source of complex carbohydrates—only 8 grams per serving. Kuzu binds more strongly than arrowroot. Kuzu is handcrafted, natural, and uniquely nourishing.Organically certified, wild roots are hand harvested from December to March when the sap gathers in the root, carried down from the mountains on backpacks and cleaned. Each root is hand-cut into chunks that are crushed into fibers, soaked and rinsed, creating a thick paste. The paste is repeatedly washed and filtered in cold mountain spring water until it becomes a pure white starch. The kuzu starch is then allowed to dry naturally for 90 days, crushed into small chunks and packed.



The kuzu (Pueraia lobata) plant is a prolific, tough, fibrous vine with heart-shaped leaves that was used as a food in China for more than 2,000 years, and praised in Japanese poetry and legend as a bracing health food and ideal thickener for over one thousand years. Its roots are among the largest in the world, ranging in length from three to seven feet and weighing between 200 to over 400 pounds. Traditionally the leaves, seeds, flowers and roots were used in making vegetable dishes, noodles, dumplings, beverages, desserts and pickles. The vines were used to weave baskets and in making clothing, fishing line, and paper.Organic Kuzu Root Starch can be used to thicken soups and stews, sauces and gravies. Use it to prepare delicious vegetable dishes such as Lo Mein, Chow Mein, sweet and sour vegetables, and glazed vegetables. Great for puddings, pie fillings, custards, and many desserts.



Chef Adria of el bulli has this interesting recipe of crispy oil chips, where he uses this kuzu starch to make almond oil chips, this starch has no taste at all and spreading any oil on chips gives oil an extra surface area which helps oils to release more flavour and aroma..

RECIPE crunchy kuzu chips
Ingredients 
- 250 g (8.8 oz) water- 25 g (0.88 oz) sugar- 20 g Kuzu- 20 g olive oil or your favorite oil (white truffle oil or almond oil are great too)- 25 g salt

Preparation

• In a small pot, heat the water, sugar and kuzu over medium heat stirring constantly until it starts boiling. Let it boil for 30 seconds and remove from heat.
• Pass the mix through a fine sieve and pour it into a decorating bag.
• Wait for 2 minutes to let it cool down.
•  Place stencil over Teflon or silicone mat. It is helpful to stick it with scotch tape to the countertop to keep it in place.
• Pour some mix on the mat and spread it with an offset spatula creating a thin layer of about 0.3 cm.
• Remove the stencil and place the mat in the dehydrator for 6 hours at 50 °C (122 °F).
•  Carefully remove the chips from the mat and flip them. Dehydrate for 18 hours at 50 °C (122 °F). The chip edges tend to bend upwards but to prevent this you can cover them with another silicone mat. The mat weight will keep them flat.
•  Once the olive oil chips are dry and crunchy, store them in a sealed container in a dry and cool place.
• With a small brush, coat the crunchy kuzu chips with your favourate oil of choice.

NATURA by chef Albert adria

hi, i came across this amazing book called as 'NATURA' by chef albert adria, creative head a elbulli. I simply loved the way he plates this art work (its way beyond to be clasified as dishes).. simply amazing work..

Here is a video that shows creations of chefs from around the world, creations inspired by nature featuring plantation, icebergs, mud etc..

This video demonstrates how to make a liquid that turns to ice at the touch of a finger. Must be one of the strangest reactions I’ve ever seen.It looks like the only real ingredient needed other than water is Sodium acetate.

It’s the same principle that is used to create rock candy- the sodium acetate has a much lower melting point than you’d expect (around 60 C), so when it is heated in the water, the solid you see turns to a liquid that ‘blends’ into the water.

On top of this, at a high temperature water can hold much more solute than at lower temperatures, but when you lower the temperature, that solute doesn’t just precipitate out right away, you get a supersaturated solution.

I was wondering on where to use this technique, Suggestions are welcomed readers