Adventures in Molecular Gastronomy: Foam Edition

I’ve been trying to find a way to work molecular gastronomy more organically (I guess that’s a good word for it) into my cooking. I don’t want to have to crowbar it in, so I’ve been thinking.. What would make an awesome foam? How could I apply it without making the entire dish about the foam??

The answer is simple, or complicated, depending on how much time you’d like to spend making dinner. I present tonight’s meal:

Miso Poached Salmon with an Orange Honey Emulsion. I paired it with some cous cous prepared in the remaining poaching liquid, along with some baby heirloom tomatoes, early peas and zucchini in a balsamic pear gastrique. It sounds fancier than it was. I promise.

Cook time from start to finish – 35 mins.

Aerial Shot – It brings a tear to my eye .. and my cats really really liked me for about 10 minutes.

 

I wanted to get a close up of the foam for those of you interested in my ongoing molecular gastronomy attempts..

Foam-tastic.

 

I combined about 3 heaping spoonfuls of white miso paste with 3 cups of water. I added 2 tbsp of honey, a splash of soy, and about 6 or 7 dried shitakes to a pan to simmer. Once thoroughly combined, I placed my salmon in and let it simmer for about 7 minutes (mine went for longer but I would say 7 is good if you don’t want it overdone) I poured the simmering liquid over some cous cous already waiting in a pan, and put a lid on it once it hit a boil, then turned it off.

While the cous cous was doing its thing, I chopped some veggies up all quick like, tossed them in a pan with some olive oil, a little bit of vegetable broth and my cranberry pear balsamic vinegar. As the veggies cooked down a bit, and the sauce reduced, I seasoned with salt and pepper.

I warmed about a cup and a half of OJ in a pan with a tablespoon or so of honey. Once it was warmed enough to dissolve the honey, I tossed in my packet of soy lecithin. Fast forward through about 2 minutes of immersion blending and I had the foamy goodness pictured above. I was worried it would lose its orangey ZING but it really held up.

Overall, dinner was a success. I am happy. I am tired. I am full. Good night!

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