Archive for August, 2008
Strawberry-Infused Cointreau and Sodium Alginate
Xavier Herit stands before his customers holding a syringe mid-air. But he is not a doctor and it doesn’t contain any medication. The syringe is filled with strawberry-infused Cointreau and sodium alginate and is part of an arsenal of tools that are pushing Herit’s cocktails to drinking’s cutting edge.
The head bartender at New York City’s Daniel restaurant is one of many mixologists who are reinventing drinks by infusing non-traditional flavors into alcohol or altering the physical properties of drinks to form gels, foams and mists. “The bar is like a theater,” Herit said in an interview. After delicately pushing drops of his strawberry-liqueur mix from the syringe into a calcium bath, minutes later they emerge as tiny pink caviar-like beads.
At Tailor, another New York restaurant, bartender Eben Freeman tosses rice crispies in Kahlua, dehydrates them and repeats the process. He adds them to a vodka milk mix for a White Russian breakfast cereal.
Molecular mixology is a movement inspired by molecular gastronomy, a science-meets-cooking trend popularized by chefs including Ferran Adria of El Bulli restaurant in Spain and Heston Blumenthal of the Fat Duck restaurant in the English town of Bray. Molecular mixology blurs the line between food, drink and chemistry. The drinks are not cheap and can cost up to $29. But the hours of experimentation, meticulous preparation and elaborate presentation offer curious cocktail lovers and gastronomes a completely new experience. “It resets your palette and has you taste things in a whole new way,” said Freeman. One of his earliest molecular incarnations was a gin and tonic on a lime chip.
—Reuters
Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Say-cheers-with-molecular-mixology/343517/
Macaroons – Made With Grand Marnier
Molecular mixology, or the creative construction of cocktails through texture and viscosity changes, has been highlighted before but Grand Marnier’s Cocktail Macaroons are the most edible of these inventions to greet our palates yet. Inside a carefully crafted macaroon will be one of four cocktail gelées mimicking either a Grand Marnier mojito, margarita, cosmo, or orange crush depending on the flavor you choose. Created in part by François Payard, of Payard Pâtisserie & Bistro in NYC, these little gems will be exclusively available in the city and online come mid-September. Spend $18 and you will receive a custom package with four macaroon treasures inside — one of each flavor. It will be like a dessert and beverage tasting all in one!
Source: http://www.luxist.com/2008/08/07/grand-marnier-macaroons/
Bars are serving up cocktails with a twist using molecular gastronomy
HE picks up a spoon that looks like one of those you see in a science laboratory.
The New Paper New Face contestants Claire Chua (left) with the lemon meringue martini and Foong Wen Jia with the rum & chocolate gelee. Then he takes a pinch of bicarbonate of soda and sprinkles it gently on a small slab of jelly on a ceramic spoon.
This is not some weird science experiment. This is what the bar industry calls molecular mixology.
Mr Colin Chia’s slab of jelly is a gin and tonic gelee – one of the many cocktails that are being served up at the Cock’s Feather, a bar at Far East Square, using molecular mixology.
Molecular mixology uses avant garde cooking techniques called molecular gastronomy to develop and mix cocktails behind the bar.
The molecular cocktail trend started in Paris about three years ago when the luxurious Hotel Plaza Athenee’s bar introduced apple martini lollipops and bubble gum pina coladas.
Besides the Cock’s Feather (the name is a reference to the origin of the word cocktail), not many bars in Singapore offer such avant garde mixes, other than The Four Seasons Hotel and The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore.
On Tuesday night, The New Paper took two New Face contestants, Claire Chua, 20 and Foong Wen Jia, 21, to sample the Cock’s Feather’s range of cocktails.
The two women, who club frequently, had never heard of molecular mixology and looked perplexed when the gin and tonic gelee was presented to them.
But after gamely slurping up the jellied concoction, Wen Jia said: ‘It’s like jelly for adults. I wouldn’t mind having another one.’
Also on the Cock’s Feather menu is Illusion – a vodka, Cointreau, Midori and pineapple juice concoction, usually served in a highball glass (a glass tumbler) in its original form. It was turned into a bright green jelly on a spoon.
The most complicated cocktail on the menu is the Peartini – a pear martini – where pears are slow-cooked with saffron until they become a thick liquid. The cooled liquid is then pureed and strained.
The girls’ verdict on the Peartini? Claire said: ‘I felt like I was drinking dessert.’
Mr Chia, 29, who has been in the food and beverage line for over 13 years, paired up with local mixologist Mervin Han to introduce the molecular cocktails when the bar opened a month ago.
Said Mr Chia: ‘We felt that the cocktail scene in Singapore needed a boost, something that would put us on the international map.’
He also believes that Singaporeans are well-travelled and adventurous enough to give his cocktails a go.
The Four Seasons Hotel and The Ritz-Carlton Millennia Singapore also offer customers their version of weird science drinks at the bar.
The Four Seasons has cocktail popsicles – strawberry, lychee and passionfruit martini ice cream on a stick.
It also has a range of six jelly cocktail flavours like Strawberry Martini, Snowball (Advocaat and Sprite), Lychee Martini, Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur), Bailey’s Irish Cream and Mango Daiquiri at The Bar and Alfresco.
According to the hotel’s spokesman, the jelly cocktails are made from liqueur-infused agar-agar (jelly strips) and fruit puree.
The popsicles are made from frozen fruit puree served in a shot glass with the martini poured over and allowed to soak through when served.
For The Ritz-Carlton, its specialty cocktails are part of its August promotion called Foam and Caviar Cocktails at The Chihuly Lounge.
The hotel’s in-house mixologist, Mr Indra Kumar, told The New Paper that he used an equipment called the iSi whipper and to make the foam ‘light and fluffy’.
The caviar part of the promotion is the Vodka Apple Caviar with Light Cream cocktail served in a champagne flute.
The vodka and apple juice caviar was made using the spherical technique. This is a technique developed by Spanish chef Ferran Adria, where the liquified ingredient – or in case of cocktails, the liquor-containing algin, a carbohydrate made from brown seaweed – is plunged into a calcium bath.
The chemical reaction turns the liquid into gellified spheres of various sizes.
While molecular mixology blurs the lines between science, food and drinks, these pretty cocktails don’t come cheap.
Cock’s Feather’s molecular cocktails start at $20 for the gin and tonic gelee, while the Peartini costs $24 per glass.
The Four Season’s martini popsicles are $18 a pop and the jelly cocktails are $12 for six pieces.
The Ritz-Carlton’s foam and caviar cocktails are at $14 a glass.
But are these molecular cocktails a mere novelty?
After all Singapore’s first molecular gastronomy restaurant, Aurum, didn’t exactly take off like a rocket. It closed down in May this year.
Mr Paul Joseph, 34, an executive in a multi-national company, felt that such cocktails might be a passing fad.
Nadine Soh, 23, who works as a part-time bartender, however, felt that molecular mixology will be there for the long haul.
‘I think people would go back and have it more than once. It’s something that is very different from the usual cocktails.’
2 parts VODKA, 1 part SCIENCE
Bars are serving up cocktails with a twist using molecular gastronomy
By Sheela Narayanan
August 09, 2008
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/show/story/0,4136,172751