Cooking is science and tradition

Cooking is all about science. In this blog our chef Peter Coucquyt will give you insights in the chemistry going on in the kitchen...

dinsdag 17 mei 2011

Foodpairing workshop

Last week, we had a workshop on the new foodpairing website. Following dishes were made:
(ingredients in bold in the tree, were used in the dish)

Foodpairing with tomato

Tomato - Philadelphia cheese ice powder - Darjeeling

Tomato salad with different kinds of fresh tomatoes and preparations thereof (raw, pickled, seeds, ...). Tomato bouillon infused with Darjeeling tea. For the tomato bouillon we used ginger and bay leaf. Ice powder of Philadelphia cheese, milk and a pinch of salt.

Foodpairing with asparagus

Asparagus gnocchi and  broth - smoked salmon
orange fluid gel - coffee

A combination of 2 classic dishes, asparagus with orange (asparagus 'Maltaise') and aspargus with smoked salmon, finished with some fresh ground coffee, orange fluid gel and grated orange peel.
The gnocchis were made with kuzu. The broth was made in a pressure cooker (skin of the asparagus, kombu and salt, finished with some butter)

Foodpairing with chicken

Chicken breast in hay - leek - clams
white chocolat crème - black olives

Chicken breast cooked sous vide with hay at 62°C, afterwards smoked on hay and briefly coloured in butter. The clams were prepared in a microwave oven. White chocolate ganache with yoghurt. Dried black olives and braised leek.

Foodpairing with carrot

Yoghurt espuma - carrot - grapefruit
basil - saffron

Yoghurt espuma sweetened with honey. Different textures of carrot: pickled, sponge cake and puree. Fresh grapefruit and meringue of grapefruit. A broth made of fresh grapefruit, tomato and saffron. The ingredients for the broth were put sous vide with soma water and sugar and cooked for 1 hour at 70°C. The result is a clear jus with all the flavours of the ingredients.

Foodpairing with strawberry


Strawberry - bellpepper - almond crème - elderflower beignet

For the gel we cooked some strawberries with water and sugar in the microwave. Afterwards we made a gel of it. The gel is garnished with a cream of strawberry and bell pepper (bell pepper cooked in a light sugar syrup), fresh strawberry, strawberry croquant (obulata with freeze dried strawberry and palatinose), elderflower beignet and cream of almonds (almonds cooked in water, afterwards frozen with milk in a pacojet vessel)

Obulata: tiny papers of potato starch, can be used as a base of croquants
Palatinose: sugar with low sweetness (0,4) made of saccharose. Out of this sugar they make isomalt