Macarons (Macaroons)

French Meringue Method

140g egg whites
180g caster sugar
160g ground almonds
160g icing sugar

Whisk the egg whites just until no liquid remains. Add half of the granulated sugar and whisk on high until peaks form. Whisk in the remaining sugar until the sugar is dissolved and the meringue is thick and glossy.

Sieve the ground almonds and icing sugar together into a bowl. Fold in the French meringue until the mixture is smooth and oozing.

Pipe into rounds about 1-2 inches diameter onto a non-stick mat (such as a silpat) placed on a quality baking tray. At this point, set your oven to 140 - 160 degrees Celcius (conventional, not fan).

 

Italian Meringue Method

This is probably the more traditional way to make meringues. However, I did run into a few problems when it came to baking them...

The following recipe is taken from Loraine Pascal. She has her oven set to 170 degrees Celcius, leaving the oven door slightly ajar. Personally, I think this is too hot for the macarons. The outside would surely be burnt before the inside is cooked through. I set my oven somewhere between 140 - 160 degrees Celcius (closer to 150)

125g ground almonds
125g icing sugar
90g egg whites
110g caster sugar
2tbsp water
food colouring if desired

                                             

                       

                                

Mother Sauces and Their Derivatives

ESCOFFIERS 5 MOTHER SAUCES

Bechamel = blond roux + milk
Veloute = blond roux + white stock
Espagnole = brown roux + brown stock (typically veal/beef)
Hollandaise = egg yolk + butter
Tomato = reduced tomatoes

Bechamel - Cream, Mornay, Soubis, Mustard, Nantua
Veloute - Allemande, Supreme, Normande, Vin blanc, Bercy
Espagnole - Demi-glace, Bordelaise, Chasseur, Medeira, Perigueux, Robert, Lyonnaise, Bercy
Hollandaise - Bernaise, Noisette, Mousseline, Paloise, Maltaise
Tomato - Meat, Creole, Portuguese, Spanish

26th Birthday Meal: Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles!!!

This was the best Christmas/Birthday present ever!

I went for the Degustation menu (tasting menu) with matched wine. My girlfriend, who is not overly keen on fish, went for the vegetarian tasting menu.

Nibbles were a spoonful of diced salmon and apple with a hint of curry if I remember correctly...as well as Comte gougeres ans truffle filled potatoes (yum yum).

Our amuse bouche was a which bean espuma with a dollop of truffle paste, sprinkled with pistachio (this was Laura's highlight of the meal!). I get Japanese rice crackers every Christmas from my Japanese friend. They are an acquired taste, but I got a similar after taste from the amuse bouche which was a very comforting and familiar surprise).

Now for the menu......

 DEGUSTATION

Crab and Salmon Mi-Cuit

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Ballotine of Foie Gras

Confit Apple and Toasted Brioche

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Roast Hand Dived Scallops

Squid Cracker

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 Cep and Truffle Gratin

Wild Mushrooms and Truffle Coulis

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Home Smoked Scottish Lobster

Warm Lime and Herb Butter

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Loin and Slow Cooked Shoulder of Lamb

Squash Puree

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Grand Jura Suisse, Mushroom Puree and Macademias

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Milk Chocolate Cremeux

Quince Sorbet

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Coffee and Chocolates

The Mi-Cuit was cured with salt, adding a slightly firmer texture to the outside compared to the comparatively raw, soft centre. The crab meat was very fresh and tasted of the sea. Excellent. This was accompanied by what I think was a cucumber gel which is always a winner with seafood. I think it was this course that had the oyster leaf on it. This was my first taste of oyster leaf and what would you know....that damn thing tasted of oysters. I've seen this being used before on TV and in recipes and always wanted to taste it for myself. Mission accomplished!

The Foie Gras was dense and buttery, matched perfectly with small pieces of caramelised apple and a refreshing puree. Classically paired with toasted brioche. An added bonus was a small deep fried morsel which had a pure liquid centre of Foie Gras (I have since found out that this was a "Cromesquis". I was advised to eat it in a oner or else I would have Foie Gras all down my shirt!

The scallop was barely cooked, just on point, bang on. The squid cracker has a very Asian flavour with a lovely nutty taste of sesame.

The next course was one of my favourites.....the Cep and truffle Gratin. This was basically macaroni stuffed with truffle, served with mushrooms and Jerusalem artichoke puree. WHAT A TRUFFLE HIT!!! Amazingly intense and satisfying.

Possibly Andrew's most famous signature dish....the smoked lobster with lime and herb butter. In this dish, it is only the shell that is smoked so that it doesn't over-whelm the subtle taste of the lobster. The shells are cold smoked for about 5 or 6 hours in Scottish whisky barrel shavings. This dish was very subtle in flavour but great in texture and it was a simple display of lobster at its best with no fuss!

Another favourite of mine was next. The main meat course was loin of lamb cooked sous vide at 48degC (a lot lower than I expected, but the guy knows what he is doing!). This was served with braised shoulder bound in caul fat and flavoured with lemongrass and ginger according to the waitress.....but I'm sure there may have been something else delicious hiding in there, maybe not. STUNNING!

A small cheese course consisted of shavings of Grand Jura Suisse on top of a course mushroom puree. This was topped of with microplaned shavings of macadamia nuts.

Pre-desert was unbelievable. Tropical fruit sorbet with a very delicate puff pastry garnish sprinkled with sugar. All the tastes I love in one refreshing burst...I could have eaten it straight out the paco-jet!

BIRTHDAY DESSERT! Milk chocolate cremeux with a liquid quince centre, served with poached quince and quince sorbet. Laura had obviously told the waiter when I left to go to the toilet that it was my birthday as my plate had Happy Birthday written in chocolate, with a little blue candle on top of my cremeux! The two of us sang a very quite rendition of happy birthday and I made a wish and blew out the candle.

Whisky time...Adelphi Single Cask distilled in the year of my birth, so I didn't really have much choice in which whisky to choose! This was served with a salted square of fudge.

Time for coffee and Tea. More whisky for me as I opted for an Irish coffee (the best I have ever tasted). Our petit fours consisted of a chocolate and elderflower ganache, a pineapple macaroon (macaron) and a chocolate truffle. I didn't think the elderflower would have worked with the chocolate, but it did!

After the meal we asked for the bill and I asked if I could get a signed copy of the book they were selling in the restaurant "36 Inspirational Chefs". I also asked if I could pop my nose into the kitchen for a wee look. We were escorted by the waiter into the kitchen where we were greeted my the man himself. We chatted away for a good while (I was pretty full on drink, so I think I made a bit of a tit of myself). What a nice guy, very down to earth! Best of all, I managed to negotiate a 2 day stage at some point in the coming months! SCORE!!! I can't wait! What a privilege.

Mackerel Pate/Rilettes

Smoked Mackerel
2tbsp Creme Fraiche
1-2tsp Wasabi
squeeze of lime juice
salt and pepper

spring onions
Baby Gem Lettuce

Ice Cream

Basic Vanilla
Green Tea
Pooh Bear (Honeycomb)
Dulce De Leche
Blackcurrent

Tetleys Ice Cream? pannacotta?
Earl Grey Ice Cream? pannacotta? marcus wareing does this in his book (more like a set custard)

Banoffee Baked Alaska

A classic dessert from the 1970's, the baked alaska has somewhat lost it's original identity. Delmonicos in New York is the birth place of the Baked Alaska, created in 1867 and originally called Alaska Florida.

Baked Alaska is constructed with a sponge base, topped with fruit and ice cream, all of which is encased by swiss meringue and glazed. The original recipe used banana ice cream, but nowadays you usually find a vanilla ice cream centre.

My thought is to combine the original banana component with one of my favourite British desserts ..... BANOFFEE PIE! I could have a banana ice cream, a caramel ice cream or even a vanilla ice cream in order to to replicate the banoffee flavour profile. For my fruit layer, I only really have one choice......banana. This kicks the banana ice cream out of the picture. One of my favourite elements of banoffee, is the 'offee. In other words, that caramel you are left with after boiling a can of condensed milk! I love the texture of the caramel, but I would lose it if I used a toffee flavoured ice cream .........or would I?

Luckily for me, Haagen-Dazs do an unbelievable ice cream called Dolce de Leche. It is a toffee ice cream with blobs of that lovely caramel laced all the way through it. PERFECT! Two birds with one stone.

So, I have the fruit and Ice cream sorted, now for the base and the meringue. I feel that the classic sponge base in Baked Alaska doesn't do anything for textural contrast. So, I'm thinking a biscuity base similar to that found in a Banoffee Pie. Perhaps the addition of some almonds would also work nicely. I like almonds as their flavour isn't overly intrusive, compared to hazelnuts of peanuts for example.

Finally, I rekon a vanilla flavoured Italian meringue will finish off the flavour profile nicely!!!

Recipe and pictures to follow when I get round to trying this out!

Chocolate

Chocolate Making Process: Pod to Bar

1. Cocoa pod picked 
2. Pod  "shelled" to reveal cocoa bean 
3. Beans fermented (2 - 8 days) to develop sugars and prevent too much bitterness
4. Beans dried
5. Beans roasted to develop the chocolate flavour 
6. Beans shelled to reveal cocoa nibs 
7. Nibs ground to a fjne paste or liquid ("cocoa liquor") 
8. Cocoa liquor can either be sold in solid blocks or it can be heated to separate the cocoa butter from the cocoa solids (essentially cocoa powder)
9. Cocoa liquor, cocoa solids, cocoa butter, sugar, dairy, fat and flavourings etc can be combined in various combinations to make many chocolate products.

1. Cocoa pod picked

2. Pod  "shelled" to reveal cocoa bean
3. Beans fermented
4. Beans dried

5. Beans roasted

6. Beans shelled to reveal cocoa nibs
7. Nibs ground to make "cocoa liquor"

Cocoa Powder

Cocoa Butter

Chocolate

Tempering Chocolate

 This was my primary reason for writing this section of the blog as I have only now got a proper understanding of the science behind tempering. I knew the principals before, but never really knew WHY we heat and cool chocolate to precise temperatures in order to temper it!..........Here's how you do it and why;

When you buy a good quality bar of chocolate from the shops, it is already in a state of temper. That is, shiny, crisp and capable of withstanding standing temperatures up to 34 degrees C before it melts. If we were to heat and melt this bar of chocolate above 36 degrees C, then let it cool to  below 17 degrees C, we would end up with chocolate that is crumbly, dull in appearance and it would simply melt with ease in your hands.

So, how do you get chocolate into a state of temper? This is where temperature manipulation of the fat crystals in the cocoa butter comes in. Cocoas butter is comprised of 6 different types of fat crystals, all with different characteristics. These crystals and their characteristics are outlined below.

Crystal     Melting Temp    Characteristcs

    I           17°C (63°F)     Soft, crumbly, melts too easily.

   II           21°C (70°F)     Soft, crumbly, melts too easily.

   III         26°C (78°F)     Firm, poor snap, melts too easily.

   IV         28°C (82°F)     Firm, good snap, melts too easily.

   V          34°C (94°F)     Glossy, firm, best snap, melts near body temperature (37°C).

   VI         36°C (97°F)     Hard, takes weeks to form.

Of these 6 fat crystals, only 1 is desirable for tempered chocolate. This is crystal V, the "beta" crystal.

Proper tempering is all about forming the type V crystals. This provides the best appearance, mouthfeel and creates the most stable crystals so the texture and appearance will not degrade over time. To accomplish this, the temperature is carefully manipulated during the crystallization.

The chocolate is first heated to melt all six forms of crystals (heat dark chocolate to 45 - 50 degrees C, milk chocolate to 40 - 45 degrees C, and white chocolate to 40 degrees C). Then the chocolate is cooled to allow crystal types IV and V to form (VI takes too long to form) (cool dark chocolate to 28 - 29 degrees C, milk chocolate to 27 - 28 degrees C, and white chocolate to 24 - 25degrees C). At this temperature, the chocolate is agitated to create many small crystal "seeds" which will serve as the nuclei to create small crystals in the chocolate. The chocolate is then heated to eliminate any type IV crystals, leaving just the type V (heat dark chocolate to 31 - 32 degrees C, milk chocolate to 30 - 31 degrees C, and white chocolate to 27 - 28 degrees C). After this point, any excessive heating of the chocolate will destroy the temper and this process will have to be repeated.

Two classic ways of tempering chocolate are:

Working the melted chocolate on a heat-absorbing surface, such as a stone slab, until thickening indicates the presence of sufficient crystal "seeds". The chocolate is then gently warmed to working temperature.

Stirring solid chocolate into melted chocolate to "inoculate" the liquid chocolate with crystals (this method uses the already formed crystal of the solid chocolate to "seed" the melted chocolate).

It IS possible to melt tempered chocolate whilst still keeping it in temper. You have to melt the chocolate carefully to the tempering range (31 - 32 degrees C for dark chocolate etc) in order to maintain as many V crystals as possible. However, if the chocolate is heated above this range, the V crystals will be destroyed and you will have to re-temper the chocolate the hard way!