pisco sour pop 'ems

when you dont have it, you really want it. while at america's we had liquid nitrogen readily available, but i didnt have any use for it. now i have an idea that requires liquid nitrogen, but i dont have it.

i believe alex and rick first played around with foams and liquid nitrogen. they would fill balloons with a siphon charged with no2 cartridges. then they would spin the balloons in liquid nitrogen to quickly freeze the foam. [if you recall, homaro cantu used this technique on his iron chef battle]. the result is a hollow orb.

idea.

what would happen if i filled a balloon with my siphon pisco sour and spinned it in liquid nitrogen? a hollow orb?

i predict the result would be a hollow orb. what then when i let it rest and thaw in the freezer? the alcohol would thaw, but the eggwhite and the syrup would remain frozen. where would the alcohol go? will it fill the hollow orb? will the end result be a crispy orb with a liquid center? how would it taste? my idea is to make pisco sour pop 'ems. a frozen orb of crispy "meringue" filled with pisco.

will it work?
dammit! where is the liquid nitrogen when i need it!

bacon ice cream

the first time i read/heard about this was from the fat duck where they featured a smoked bacon and egg ice cream.

the second time i heard and finally tasted bacon ice cream was at beaver's.

and now its featured at textile.

bacon ice cream

12 oz applewood smoked bacon
3 cups sugar
3 cups milk
4 cups cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp xanthan gum

chop bacon into small pieces.
cook in large pot until bacon is crispy.
add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
run in blender on high for 5 minutes. (you'll have to do it in batches)
pass through seive.
run on ice cream machine.

enjoy!

answer: yes there is!

pisco sour
Originally uploaded by fuzzzycatt

pisco sour made in a siphon charged with 2 no2 cartridges.

sour mix:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
4 ea limes, juice only
3 ea lemons, juice only

pisco sour
3 cups sour mix
4 oz pisco
3 ea egg white
1 ea whole nutmeg, zest only

pour the pisco sour into the siphon. close tightly and shake to integrate the ingredients. charge with 2 no2 cartridges. chill for at least an hour.

enjoy!

question: when your alc'is order 7 pisco sours at the same time, is there a quick way to make them?

so two nights ago, i was at beavers with friends; seven of us. we walk up to the bar and order 7 pisco sours. granted, the bar was busy at the time, but the whole process in making the pisco sours takes time. its mainly the shaking of the drink until the egg white creates a nice foam.

3 minutes into the shaking, i turn to randy and tell him they could probably make the pisco super quick in a siphon. so randy starts teasing them by telling them he's got siphons in his car.

so with that idea, last night i experimented with making pisco sour in a siphon charged with no2 cartridges.

when you think about it, it makes perfect sense! siphons (with no2 cartridges) turn heavy cream into whipped cream in seconds. could it do the same for the pisco sour?

textile dessert menu - revision

i've been saying it since i put it on there, and its finally off. the season has been done, it was time to go [aside from many other reasons]. the liquid pumpkin pie is no more. if you loved it and need to get your fix, go to Gravitas.

so here are the revisions:

a la carte

coffee and milk/ pain perdu, milk jam, ice milk, bacon streusel, coffee foam

pb/ peanut butter fudge, orange jam, candied bread, spiced peanuts

apple/ vanilla pound cake, apple confiture, blue cheese ice cream, butterscotch

chocolate/ manjari “torchon”, liquid cranberries, cocoa nib brittle

fried/ sweet potato beignets, cinnamon pudding, honey, bacon ice cream


5 course

dessert – sweet potato beignets, cinnamon pudding, honey, bacon ice cream
- or –
cheese – artisinal cheeses


7 course

intermezzo – cucumber, orange, yogurt

pre-dessert – quince, honey, milk

dessert – banana, caramel, corn fritter, mustard pudding

color menu no.1 - yellow

i have been wanting to do desserts based on color for some time now. i think this idea started after seeing will goldfarbs desserts (based on color) on art culinaire.

this week at textile i am featuring one of seven color desserts, yellow.

banana, caramel, corn fritter, mustard pudding.
[picture to come soon]

v-day at textile

i've been so inundated with work at gravitas that i completely forgot about a v-day menu at textile. so here its kiddos.

gravita's valentine's day desserts:
lavender creme brulee, citrus madeleines
or
white chocolate bavarian, strawberry sorbet, almond twists

textile's menu is a bit different. since its the day for love, i tried to cater to aphrodisiacs. chocolate obvious. and i remember a few years back reading or hearing about sweet potato/pumpkins and men. it turns out that is a scent women find arousing in men. soon after that i was first in line at bath and body works with my pumpkin body soap and shampoo and conditioner.

textile's valentine's day desserts:
for him: sweet potato beignets, cinnamon pudding, honey, bacon ice cream
for her: bittersweet chocolate terrine, lavender anglaise, compressed strawberries, almonds

happy valentine's day!

intermezzo

quince intermezzo
Originally uploaded by fuzzzycatt

quince juice (encapsulated in bittersweet chocolate), honey and milk.

apples and potatoes

apples and potatoes
Originally uploaded by fuzzzycatt

one night (after reading ideas in food blog about potato and apple terrine) i decided to try what apples and potatoes taste like together. we had mashed potatoes available and i had apple jam. mixed them together and then took a small bite.

inspired by the complex, yet simple, flavors, a new dessert is available as part of the seven course tasting menu at textile.

apple bavarois, apple jam, apple chips, apple sorbet, potato puree, potato chips, caramel.

this week is over and the dessert has gotten great response. though, i dont think the potato flavor is very apparent. theres alot of apple elements and not enough potato.

a few changes i will make the following week. change the apple bavarois to a potato bavarois. use less sugar in the potato puree. change the potato chips to crispy potato skins. garnish with fleur de sel and fresh cracked black peppercorn. change nasturtium leaves to micro cilantro. add a few drops of lime juice.