After lunch, we all headed up to Culinary Communion to see if there was anything left of their equipment sale - a sad result of them going out of business. Everything was pretty picked over, but I found a slightly worse for wear metric measuring cup for $1. It was melted about half way up, but I only really needed the 100ml mark - so I grabbed it.
While Dan went for a post-lunch run, I decided to play around with agar again, and see what else I could learn. The Tang Caviar experiment was fun, but I was concerned the odd after-taste was from the agar, and wanted to test it out again with water. I also wanted to see if the caviar would re-melt, even partially, if submerged in soup-hot water for an idea I have for the current round of TGRWT. And finally, I wanted to see if I could tweak the ratio of water to agar to get less firm, more truly fish egg like caviar.
I found that the aftertaste was indeed from the Tang - so I'm in good shape there. But I also found that the agar spheres don't remelt if put back in hot water - which I tested by putting food coloring in the agar mix, then dropping the completed caviar into hot water. None of the food coloring spread out into the water, as I'd hoped. Finally, I reduced the amount of agar, but found the balls still ended up very firm.
I have more to test, but was glad to sneak in a little bit of experimenting today.
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3 comments:
Hey! I'm glad I inspired you! In fact, agar is not like animal gelatin, it doesn’t melt after solidifying. I think that can be an advantage, because agar can be used in hot dishes without losing its shape!
As I read in another blog (unfortunately it’s in Portuguese, not in English), the amount of agar you need to get solid gelatin is about 1 to 1,5%.
I’m making some experiments in sweet dishes! I can tell you something as soon as I found out anything else!
Regards from Portugal,
Ana
Thanks, Ana! Your photos and the description of your dish last round were so beautiful - I couldn't resist trying to make some 'caviar' myself. My Bachelor's Degree is in Zoology, with a Chemistry minor, so I love it when I get to combine that knowledge and experience with my love of food.
Thanks for the info on the agar vs. animal gelatin. I can stop trying to remelt caviar now, I guess :)
Looking forward to hearing about your sweet experiments!
Hello!
I also like chemistry, although I’m not an expert on the subject...
Basically, when I see something interesting I just have to try and discover how it is made! And maybe the reasons why you found the dish so beautiful lie on my studies as an architect (I'm finishing my master) and the fact I like photography very much! :P
Take a look at the puddings I just posted on my blog! It was hard to find the exact amount of agar but I guess I nailed it.
Ana
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