Molecular Gastronomy – Carrageenan Kappa and Iota

I’m back with some awesome molecular gastronomy adventures. Today I want to take you into the world of the Carrageenan. What are carrageenans? They are composed of a linear polysaccharide made up of galactose units with sulfur side groups. The origin of carrageenans are red seaweeds. There are several types of carrageenans such as, kappa, iota, and lambda. I’m going to focus on Kappa and Iota carrageenan for this post and share an awesome molecular gastronomy recipe.

A short introduction to Carrageenans:

Natural Carrageenans occur in a mixture of kappa, iota, and lambda types. Note that manufactures desperately try to separate the various types as best as they could, nevertheless; total separation is impossible. Carrageenans also vary from mixture to mixture, therefore; they are standardized for a particular application. Note: when specifying for a carrageenan make sure to tell the manufacture whether you will be using it for water based system or milk based system. Carrageenans are most often used in milk based applications due to the fact that are effective at very low concentrations. For example, gels can form at .3% in milk.

The Kappa and iota carrageenan can be mixed to obtain intermediate textures. Kappa carrageenan shows a great combination with the thickener locust bean gum. By combining these two together you get a stronger, less brittle, more cohesive, and less prone to break. I’ve found that the strongest and best ration is 6 parts kappa carrageenan to 4 parts LBG. Kappa-LBG mixes are often used to substitute for gelatin and make for a great vegan friendly dish.

You use Kappa carrageenan by dispersing it in water or milkl under shear and heat until completely dissolved (usually above 60C). Kappa-LBG mixes need to be brought almost to boil to become fully functional, but will set and re-melt at lower temperatures. Solutions up to 3% can be made using cold water dispersion. Solutions up to 8% can be made if the carregeenan is dissolved directly into very hot water under high shear.

Typical usage is .75% to 1% in water, and .35% to .5% in milk.

Kappa Carrageenan is used mostly to gel mixtures – it is the most like agar in behavior. The gel type is thermo-reversible with a texture that is firm, strong, and brittle. Gel temperature increases with ion concentration, with values ranging from 40C – 70C. The setting factor is very fast with a PH tolerance down to pH 3.6 if boiled, lower is not over heated. Moreover, the kappa carrageenan is not freezer stable and has an ion sensitivity when potassium salts are not present. Kappa also forms gels at very low concentrations with milk and the flavor release is good.

Iota Carrageenan is used mostly to gel mixtures – it is more rubbery in texture. The gel type is thermo-reversible with an elastic and cohesive texture. The gel temperature increases with ion concentration, with values ranging from 40C – 70C, and has a fast setting time. Iota is freezer stable and has an ion sensitivity in the presence of calcium or potassium. Once you shear Iota a gel will form and be loaded with a flavorful release. Moreover, iota forms gels at very low concentrations with milk.

Carregeenan Recipe

Vegetarian Marshmallow

27.5 g Cornsyrup

275g Fine Sugar

2.5g Lactose (milk sugar)

12.95g Water

.5g Versawhip

28g Hi Fructose Corn Syrup

1g Genutine x-9303 Carrageenan

Combine in mixer with mixing attachment and mix until you get fluff. Next pour into marshmallow molds (or ice molds) and allow to set. Once set, powder in confectioners sugar and serve.

 

Enjoy your explorations with the Carrageenan and look for more molecular gastronomy recipe posts coming soon.

Molecular Gastronomy – Xanthan Gum

Welcome back to my Molecular gastronomy blog. I’m glad to say that I’m back with some great content for the molecular gastronome out there. Today, I’m going to write about the hydrocollid xanthan gum and introduce a recipe for your enjoyment.

Xanthan Gum:a brief description

Xanthan gum is a linear polysaccharide made of a cellulose backbone units with trisaccharide side chains. It is produced by fermentation of glucose or sucrose by the Xanthomonas campestris bacterium. It is used as a thickener.

Xanthan gum is amazing because it’s very user friendly: Xanthan gum works on any temperature and can be added to sauces without weighing.  Pay attention to what amount works best for you.

How to use xanthan gum in your moelcular gastronomical kitchen is by simply dispersing it into hot or cold liquid under a shear. Typically you only want to use between .2% – 1%.

The solution type is shear  thinning, a pseudoplastic, that exhibits an effect where viscosity decreases with increasing rate of shear stress. In high levels, xanthan gum can give food a very thick, almost mucus-like, consistency. PH tolerance: high. Also, xanthan gum is highly stable when frozen and thawing. The best part is xanthan gum works well with other hydrocollids (Lotus bean gum, Kappa Carrageenan) and even versawhip!!!

Note: Combining xanthan gum with other hydrocollids creates a synergistic chemical reaction that will take your molecular gastro cuisine to a higher level.

RECIPE: Cupuacu Foam with Tonka Bean

Ingredients:

Almond milk 100g

Cupuacu powder .7g

Sugar: 40g

Tonka Bean: .3g

Versawhip: 2g

Xantan Gum: .5g of Texturas Brand

Procedure:

Combine all ingredients except for the xanthan gum into the vita-mix. Mix on high until you get a nice funnel in the middle of the vita-mix. Slowly pour in xanthan gum into the funnel until mixture starts to thicken.

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for when I break down the Carrageenans Kappa and Iota.

Molecular Gastronomy – Agar agar

Molecular gastronomy is back and ready to dish out more advanced and novice molecular based gourmet recipes. I want to start with a primer of sorts: something to introduce the topic of discourse before we start to deconstruct. For this post we will be focusing on the hydrocolloid: Agar.

Agar: a brief description

A linear polysaccharide made of glaactose units. Agar is a red seaweed and its function is for Gelling (but I will show you a recipe for “cold-oil spherification.”

Agar is very similar to carrageenan but lacks the sulfate groups found in carrageenans. Agar is very adaptable to high heat and is often served hot and allowed to gel while cooling. To use agar in “cold-oil spherification” drop liquid agar at a temperature of roughly 45-50C into a bath of cold oil.

How to use: Disperse in a cold liquid and heat while stirring until completely dissolved. The target temperature for this to occur is about 90C or above.

You will expect to use about .5% to 1% in your recipes

To make a fluid gel: Make an agar gel in the range of .6%-1.2% and shred in blender until a smooth consistency is reached. You could thin out the gel by adding more liquid or you could thicken the mixture by adding some xantham gum. Could be served hot (but never to boiling).

Gel type: thermo-reversible: Thermo reversible gels melt when heated to a high enough temperature. Texture: firm, strong, and brittle. Gel Temperature: Approx 35C. Setting: Very Fast. PH tolerance: very good except for the fact that keeping acidic solutions heated for a long time will cause the agar to break down. Freezer stable: No. Flavor Release:Good.

Note: you could solve the issue of keeping acidic solutions hot, and thereby causing your agar to weep, by adding some more ascorbic acid to your solution to balance things out.

RECIPE

Blackcurrant and ginger fluid gel sauce

INGREDIENTS:

100g Simple Syrup

500g Blackcurrant puree (I use The Perfect Puree from Napa Valley)

30g ginger juice

pinch of salt

6.3g of Texturas brand Agar(.8%)

EQUIPMENT

Blender, Scale

PROCEDURE

1: Add simple syrup to the blackberry puree until you reach a desired sweetness

2: Add ginger juice

3: Add salt

4: Weight blackcurrant mixture and place in a pan with .8% by weight agar. So if total is 780g, use .8% of 680g which will give you approx 6.34g

5: Bring mix to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for 2min. Lower heat and stir to dissolve the agar.

6: When agar is fully dissolved, pour into plate to chill.

7: Take the chilled gel and place it in the blender. Blend until smooth.

That’s it for now. Feel free to ask me questions. Stay tuned for more molecular gastronomy!!!

Molecular Gastronomy – Goji caviar tiny spheres

So today I decided to make goji caviar. I really wanted to just make a sphere out of a regular dried up goji berry. So, what I needed for this recipe/experiment was 1.8 g sodium alginate, 1.3 calcium citrate, and 6.5 calcium chloride. The first step was to prepare the goji mixture. For this, all I did was simply blend 500 g of goji berries in my vita-mix. The end result was 250 g of goji pulp (after passing the mixture through a chinos).

Next, I blended the calcium citrate with 250 g of water and added the sodium alginate until blended well. i placed this mixture in a saucepan and heated it up until boil constantly stirring. I allowed the mixture to cool at room temperature and once cold I added the goji puree and mixed.

For the Calcium chloride bath I mixed 1000g of water with 6.5 g of calcium chloride. I placed the mixture aside and kept it ready for the goji mixture.

Molecular Gastronomy – Coconut milk ice gelatin

By Chef Tali Clavijo

Today I started a quest to make a liquid I really love into a gelatin that is frozen cold. How could I do this? Is it even possible to have a frozen gelatin? Can I do this without using any animal products, and make it vegan friendly? I really enjoy one liquid more than anything in the world…Coconut milk!

I just love raw coconut milk. I love making it and love tasting it in various forms and textures. So, after I made some of my world famous coconut milk (e-mail me for the recipe at molecularfood@gmail.com) I started to get ready for the coconut gelatin ice experiment.

For this recipe all I used was 500 g coconut milk, 250 g water, 36 g powdered coconut (dehydrated and graded), 200 g of sugar, 9 g sodium alginate, 2.4 g of calcium gluconolactate, and other 50 g of water.

Raw coconut milk

After I made my 500 g of fresh raw coconut milk I put it in a saucepan along with the powdered coconut and 250 g of water to a heat of 70 ºC.

Coconut milk, water, and powdered coconut to 70 ºC

Once the mixture reached 70 ºC I added the sugar and the sodium alginate and stirred, then added the calcium gluconolactate.

Mixing the sugar, sodium alginate, and calcium gluconolactate

After I added all of the ingredient, I took the mixture off of the heat and added the remaining 50 g of water.

Adding water to the mixture

The final mixture cooling

After I took off the heat I stuck it in the fridge and allowed to rest for 3 hours.

Mixture resting in the fridge for 3 hours

After 3 hours I took out the mixture and placed in my vita-mix

Getting ready to blend mixture in vita-mix

I blended for about 2 min until the mixture was smooth

Smooth blended mixture

I transferred the mixture to a mold and placed it in the freezer for about 12 hours

Transferring mixture to mold

Coconut mixture in mold getting ready to freeze

After 12 hours, or overnight, I took out the mold and got ready to place the final coconut gelatin serving

Flipping my coconut gelatin frozen mold

The final result

Coconut milk ice gelatin

Serving suggestion:

Coconut milk ice gelatin with wlanut dust biscuit

Molecular Gastronomy – Transformation walnut dust biscuits

By Chef Tali Clavijo

so today I felt like making something sweet and powdery. I’m just fascinated by fine powders and what better powder than tapioca maltodextrin? The ability for ‘malto’ to transform oils into powders is like a super power that only heroes are granted access too. Maybe someday I too will be able to turn fat into a fine powder…until then I will be making food that is amazing.

So, for this recipe I needed about 60 g of ‘Malto’ (tapioca maltodextrin), 145 g of walnut oil, 2.3 g of salt, and about 40 g of walnuts (I smoked mine in sugar, but you could use raw walnuts for this too).

I started by pan steaming my walnuts with some sugar for about 10 min on medium. Then I placed them aside.

Pan steaming my walnuts with some sugar

Next, I measured out 60 g of ‘malto’ and added the walnut oil to the mix. I then added the salt to this mix and used a spatula to mix until the mass was even

Adding walnut oil to the 'malto'

Mixing the malto, walnut oil, and salt

Next, I combined the pan steamed walnuts (I did crush the walnuts to make them powdery) to the malto walnut oil and salt mixture.

Chopped walnuts with the malto mixture

I mixed until the mixture was even. Next, I spread the mixture to a thickness of 1 cm.

Spreading mixture to a thickness of 1 cm

this process requires you to get two even leveled surfaces (about 1cm in height). Next, I covered the mixture with parchment paper and used my rolling pin to smooth out the surface of the walnut dust biscuit.

using my rolling pin to even out mixture

Once I rolled it enough I got a beautiful walnut dust biscuit.

Walnut dust biscuit

Next, I cut with a circular pasta cutter

Circular walnut dust biscuit

You could also just use a knife to cut shapes on the biscuit.

Final presentation :

Walnut dust biscuit

Enjoy, and feel free to send me any questions, pictures, or other goodies to molecularfood@gmail.com

Thanks again,

Chef Tali Clavijo

Molecular Gastronomy – Emulsions Shriek hemp butter

By Chef Tali Clavijo

So today I decided I wanted to experiment with converting liquid oils into solids. How was I going to preform this experiment? Well, I decided to use the monoglyceride flakes from the ‘Texturas” line called Glice. These flakes are obtained from glycerin and fatty acids. Similar to oil, it must be broken down with a fatty element and then allowed to emulsify.

Hemp oil and glice - click to learn more or buy

The monoglyceride flakes look like this

Monoglyceride flakes - click to learn more

For this recipe I simply measured about 100ml of hemp oil and 6g of Glice

Hemp oil in lquid form - get it here

After I measure out my ingredients I simply combined them in a saucepan

Glice flakes into hemp oil - learn more buy clicking on pic

and warmed up the oil until the monoglyceride flakes completely dissolved into the oil. This happens at around 65ºC. Your new mixture should look like this

New hemp oil mixture

Next, I transferred my mixture to a different container and placed it in a bath with ice stirring constantly until the oil begins to take body.

Placing the new mixture into an ice bath

Once the oil began to take form, I stuck it in the fridge for about 12hours, or until it acquires a texture that can be worked with the spatula.

The final hemp butter could be used as a spread and tastes amazing!

hemp butter

look at how it spreads…totally transformational!

I cannot believe it's hemp butter

Feel free to ask me any questions at molecularfood@gmail.com

Your friend,

Chef Tali Clavijo

Molecular Gastronomy – Suprises crispy honey

By Chef Tali Clavijo

So I decided to make crispy honey today. This was achieved by simply combining maltodextrin, sodium alginate, and some natural honey (60%). Note: for the recipe please e-mail me at molecularfood@gmail.com.

After I got the honey mixture together it looks something like this:

Honey Crisp mixture - Learn more by clicking on pic

At this point the honey crisp mixture is just like sand so you will have to shape a layer with your hand. I placed my mix on the parchment paper and then I stuck it in the oven (275 F) for approximately 10 min.

Honey crisp mix in the oven - click pic to order now

After 10 min I took the honey crisp out of the oven and allowed it to cool for another 10 min. The difference in the mixture, another molecular gastronomy masterpiece.

Crispy honey - click to buy online

Once you allow the honey crisp to cool down and harden. You could easily just start to rip pieces out of the parchment paper and start getting creative.

Honey crisp in hand - click to learn more

Final presentation.

Honey crisp panna cotta house

Honey crisp panna cotta house - click to buy now

Molecular Gastronomy – Spherical mango yolk

By Chef Tali Clavijo

Hey there, I’m happy to let you know that this post is the first of three back to back basic spherification posts. These recipes and experiments are designed to help you learn and deconstruct the concept of spherification for yourself while having fun in your kitchen.

So, yesterday I decided to open up my sodium alginate and thus open the gateway for spherification and more advanced molecular gastronomy. Sodium alginate is derived from different types of brown algae which grow in cold water regions all over the planet! It gels in the presence of Calcium and is soluble in cold and warm liquids.

Sodium Alginate and sodium citrate - click to buy

What I set out to test for this experiment was to see if using the sodium alginate would in fact gel in presence of calcium ion. I also wanted to test to see if that gel would be strong enough to hold firm when combined with the mango puree.

For this experiment/recipe I needed a spherical mango base that consisted of sodium alginate (1.8g), sodium citrate (1.3g), water (250g), and mango pure (250g).

What I did first was to mix the sodium citrate in water in my vita-mix blender.

Blending the sodium citrate - click to buy sodium citrate

I added the sodium alginate and blended again.

Blending the sodium alginate and sodium citrate

Once the two ingredients where blended I transferred the solution to a saucepan until boiling stirring constantly.

Mixing the solution to a boil

After I reached a boil I allowed the mixture to cool down. Once the mixture cools down enough you could add the mango puree.

But first, let’s do the mango puree.

How I pureed my mangoes was quite easy. All I did was peel three mangoes and cut them into chunks.

Cutting up mangoes

After I cut up the mangoes I transferred them to the vita-mix for blending. I put the magoes in the blender until a puree formed (about level 6 for 2min).

mango puree

Next, I combined the mango pure with the sodium alginate and sodium citrate solution.

Mixing mango puree with solution

After I combine these ingredients I keep them in a hermetically sealed container and stick it in my refrigerator.

Mango puree and mix

Once I had the mango base ready I had to prepare the calcium bath. In this experiment I used the texturas line ‘Calcic’ molecular powder. This powder is composed of granulated calcium chloride, and has a high water solubility.

I prepared this bath by combining Calcic (6.5g) with water (1000g) and mixing it with my immersion blender.

Calcic a calcium chloride product - get it here

mixing with my immersion blender until completely dissolved. I also made sure to place the mixture in a container that allowed for a height of about 5 cm (2.5in).

Mixing the water with the Calcic

Once the water was mixed I prepared for the spherification process. For this procedure all I had to do was take my mango mixture and drop it in the Calci bath. How I did this was to simply use a hemispherical spoon.

Mango mixture and Calcic bath

Mango mixture on hemisphereical spoon

Dunking the mango mixture in the Calcic

Once the mango mixture is the Calcic bath you could gently use your finger to guide the mango sphere into the Calcic bath. Leave the spherical mango for 2 min in the bath.

poking my mango sphere into the Calcic

Leave the spherical mango ravioli for 2 min in the bath. Take out the mango sphere and clean them in cold water by dunking the sphere in a pool of clean cold water. Strain the water from the mango sphere and dry them on absorbent paper, trying not to break them.

Cleaning the mango sphere in cold water

mango sphere

The mango spheres have a tough enough texture on the outside yet a liquid explosive interior.

Knife test with mango ravioli

Liquid burst inside

Mango spheres

Spherical mangoes communicating

Mango sphere with lavender

The results were clear, the sodium alginate did in fact gel in the presence of calcium ions. The reaction happened instantly and it held throughout the experiment. The inside of the mango sphere was liquid and the outside was gelled tough but delicate texture. The taste was amazing and the process was exhilarating.

As you can see in the pictures above the mango spheres held their texture when exposed to the outside world. This leaves an endless amount of possibilities for further experimentation and recipes.

until next time.

Happy spherification

your friend,

Chef Tali Clavijo

Texturas field trip

By Chef Tali Clavijo

So today was my second time back to the meat market district in Chicago’s Fulton Market. I love this place because of all of the great restaurants and industrial vibe. Moreover, this is the place where I get my ‘texturas’ powders and other fine meats, cheeses, and everything else from Espana.

Meat market/fulton market district - Chicago, IL

So, I arrive at May St and Lake under the el tracks and I see the place where I will eventually get all of my texturas powders, and other cool molecular gastronomy essentials.

May and Lake, the molecular wharehouse

As I prepare to go inside this tiny hole in the wall warehouse called JDY Meats, I notice a freight elevator and a walk in fridge that houses some of the rarest meats outside of Spain. I could not believe how many pounds of really exotic meats, such as ‘la pata negra, and jamon serrano, I saw in this tiny place.

JDY Meat, click above to visit site

I could not believe the amount of molecular gastronomy powders and other gadgets in this wharehouse, but they where all there. In fact, this is the only place in Chicago to carry the entire line of ‘Texturas’ products that are used by the best chefs in the world!!!

After I got on the freight elevator I was helped by Efren, an expert on fine artisan Spanish products. He showed me the molecular section and I was floored by all the powders right in front of me.

molecular gastronomy section - click to learn more

And there was more, much more. I couldn’t help but to resist getting a picture of myself in here.

Chef Tali Clavijo with Texturas Products

It was at this moment that I decided to just get everything they had to offer me. I just love this type of happy ending.

For more info, please visit the http://www.jdymeat.com website to inquire more about obtaining your own texturas products. This place offers competitive prices and will ship anywhere.
Also, feel free to write to me with any questions at kombucha@me.com