Molecular: Peanut Butter powder & jelly noodles

Jun 12th, 2010 by ++Mira++ | 10 Comments

 Before I go into my latest molecular gastronomy shinanigans I want to take a moment to explain some of the properties of Tapioca Maltodextrin and Agar Agar, the 2 main components I worked with for this recipe.

Tapioca Maltodextrin:

1. makes powders
2. hates water (becomes gooey with any trace)
3. only works with fatty products, low water content
4. must never be left uncovered
5. must be 40% of final prouct. Meaning if you use 200g for eg of peanut butter, you must use 40% of 200g, which is 80g maltodextrin
6. works by absorbing fat and holding it in the powder, to be released on water contact ie. your tongue

Agar Agar:

1. red algae extract
2. forms gels
3. sugar is a promoter
4. sets 35-45 degrees celcius
5. melts 80- 90 degrees celcius
6. dries out if left uncovered. can rehydrate if left in water
7. must make up at least 0.2% of final product, depending on how firm you want it to be

You can find out alot more (where i got most of this info) via this great primer of hydrocolloids on Khymos.org.

So, on to my fooling around

I wanted to have a play on the traditional peanut butter and jelly, by making it taste exactly like that but look completely different. I figured a noodle inspired dish was the way to go, so strawberry noodles with peanut butter ‘parmesan’ powder on top. It also plays with the noodles being red like they had marinara in them or something. Maybe i’m stretching.

Here we go!

Started off with 6 tablespoons strawberry spread, and 200 ml water. 

Let the strawberry jelly melt in the simmering water, then strain. 

 

 

Measure out around 1.5 g Agar and bring the mixture back up to a boil.

 

I used a squeezy bottle to inject the strawberry jelly liquid into a tube. Make sure to do all this while the liquid is warm/hot so it doesnt start setting on you. 

 

Place the tube in some icewater and let it cool for a few minutes till it all sets. 

 

Grab a food processor, add 20 g peanut butter, and 8 g tapioca maltodextrin, and let it rip, scraping off any peanut butter on the sides. 

 

 

You should be left with a powder. If its still not as powdery as you like you can add a little more maltodextrin.

 I used a syringe to push out the noodles from the tube.  

Loosely plated them with the peanut butter sprinkled on top. 

 

Decided to try out some bread with it. 

So, i just added some to the plate. Now in this first preperation, my noodles didn’t come out as chewy as i wanted so it was easy to mop them up with the bread spheres.  

This is what a mini bread with the jelly and peanut butter powder looked like. It tasted absolutely like a PBJ sandwich! 

Next, I added a bit more agar, so it was maybe like 2g total, and the strawberry jelled harder and was more noodle like. I think next time I would add a bit less so its a bit softer to maybe loop around in the middle of a bowl to make it really look like noodles. 

 

Decided against the random display and wanted a cleaner look. So, I lined them up. 

Sprinkled some peanut butter crack on top! 

Was very happy with the final product. This is a really straightforward recipe for a beginner. I think the agar amount still needs a little tweaking, but the powder was spot on! Please rate this so I get an idea if people like it

Shrimp curry molecular gastronomy

Feb 21st, 2010 by ++Mira++ | 12 Comments

I recently ordered some chemicals from l’epicerie. I wanted to play around and decided to do a deconstructed pineapple shrimp curry. Now this dish is still in its early phases (hence why it is under “experimental”), but i wanted to share and maybe get some thoughts on improvement. Some parts were a success and some were duds.

Anyways, I started off by making ginger pineapple sheets.

I took some fresh ginger, and grated it. Measured out  60grams.

Added it to around a cup of water and let it steep in hot water.

After, i strained it.

Then, I mixed:

• 100g ginger liquid
• 100g pineapple liquid
• 0.6g agar agar

I brought the mixture to a boil, while stirring.

Pour the agar ginger-pineapple liquid into a pan or whatever, in the thickness you want the film to be.

After, I measured out

• 500g water (purified/bottled)
• 2g sodium alginate
• 2.5g calcium chloride
• 250 g curry mix (curry powder and paste with some coconut milk)

i added the sodium alginate to the curry mix and found it just clumped up! which i hadn’t read anywhere.

So i tested it on some water alone first, and found that even when it clumps up, if you keep on whisking (whisk or immersion blender), it will blend through. Below is what it looks like when it clumps up. Also, sodium alginate is a natural gelling agent, and the liquid became viscous. I think i should also use less sodium alg next time.

So, this is what the curry mix looked after some extensive whisking

Next, i added the calcium chloride to the water, and it dissolved with some whisking much easier than the sodium alginate. I also put some more purified water in another bowl, to rinse off the spheres when created. I didn’t want to go fishing for my spheres so i just put a big strainer in the bowl so that i can lift them out directly after, and dip them in the water for washing.

I put my curry mix in a squirt bottle. I didn’t have a syringe on hand. This worked good, just wish i had one with bigger nozzle width for bigger spheres.

Started squirting the curry mix into the calcium chloride bath.

Then washed them with the pure water bath, and patted the bottom of the sieve with a towel to dry the spheres off.

I loved how the specks of the red curry paste showed in the yellow curry powder.

Since i was playing around, i made a big sphere with a spoon. I grabbed it.

put it in my palm…

pushed and prodded…

pushed harder…

and kaboom! it gushed out

Back to the plate, this is the translucent agar agar after i pulled it out from the fridge.

I already had my white rice ready.

I wanted to create a “horizon” with the shrimp jumping like dolphins. Hilarious i know, but you can be the judge if i succeeded or not:) I took a bit of curry powder, put it on a kitchen napkin and wet it a bit and streaked it across the plate.

I cut out strips of the agar mix.

And started plating with the rice and agar.

My little dolphin shrimp were next.

Then came the curry caviar.

Oh, i had also put some agar liquid to set in these mini bowls i have.

I flipped it over to create the “sun” in my “horizon” plating.lol. (btw there are many layers of dysfunctional in me)

It needed some acid so i used a pomegranate molasses which is thick, sweet and sour at the same time. I love it in salads usually. And you only need a little because its quite strong.

A close up of the perfect bite: Shrimp, curry caviar, rice, and ginger-pineapple agar gel.

This is what the final dish looked like:

• Taste: I still felt like it was missing something. Not sure what. It obviously needed some greens, but i didn’t have any on hand. Also, the caviar needed to have a stronger taste.I really liked the flavor of the ginger-pineapple flim: sweet with sharp aftertaste.
• Texture: I wasn’t in love with the liquid of the curry caviar. It was too thick.  I may have used to much sodium alginate. Iwould make the agar film thinner next time. Also, the rice needed to be different, maybe crispy rice chips?
• Plating:  It did kinda look like dolphins jumping in the ocean with the sun setting, lol, right? or am i stretching?
• Fail: In the beginning I tried to make coconut powder with maltodextrin, but there was too much water in the coconut butter, so it clumped up on me, so I scratched that.
• Success: It would have to be the taste of the ginger pineapple film. That was on point.

Let me know what you think, positives, critiques etc… Also, please rate this post/concept with the star system below.Thanks a bundle!

++MIRA++