a tribute to the bad movies i've slept through

Of Olives

I recently learned of a curious new process for preparing foods called reverse spherification developed in France, practiced by culinary masterminds and adventurous home cooks around the world, and adopted by fancier catering companies. I saw this cutting edge technique, a feat of the collaboration between science and culinarism, performed with olives. They were pureed very finely to extract the juice, and the now juiceless hard matter was immediately discarded; then add specific calcium salts to the liquid and refrigerate the mixture for – I don’t know – 12 hours. At the same time, dissolve an extract from special algae in a large water bowl and let sit for a day or so as well, so that the mixture settles well. Add some xantan something in the process. Next, using a tiny elongated spoon designed particularly for spherification, take a little of the olive juice mixture and carefully drop it into the water solution. The algae react chemically with the calcium to form a surprisingly stable spherical shape and the result, normally served with a generous helping of sophistication, is a small dark oval ball that both in taste and appearance very closely resembles an olive.

posted by Dora @ 5:19 AM