cklablog

Over at Avenue 5 in San Diego, Mike Yen is taking molecular gastronomy techniques handed down from Chicago’s Alinea and applying them to cocktails. The results are kind of fantastic.

Little Tomatoes: The finished bloody mary spheres are topped with a stem and greens made from a mix of juiced celery, salt, and gelatin (in custom-made silicone molds).

The chemical reaction between the sodium alginate and calcium lactate forms a thin shell of gelatin around the outside of the shot, making it look solid, but once your teeth make contact with it, the thin, gelatinous “skin” breaks, releasing a flood of spicy, boozy, heirloom tomato juice. It’s almost exactly like biting into a cherry tomato (with a tasty grilled shrimp inside.)

Quick! Now’s your chance to justify all that book-learning you did by reading the full article in order to find out more.

“Do not think to escape me, sir. I’m afraid I cannot permit it.”

“Baaaaa.”

“I have heard such a thing, yes. But you neglect a key detail.”

“Baaaa?”

“The present is clear; the future is known only to God.”

“Baaaaaaaaaa.”

“Then I shall send you to Him. On guard, sir.”

Almost three years ago, towards the beginning of my attempt to learn to cook, I had my first and only inedible culinary failure. I tried to make Spoon Lamb (Gigot De Sept Heures), a provinical French dish that was to render a leg of lamb so tender that you could eat it with a spoon.

Roasted for hours in root vegetables, wine and herbs, this lamb would be served in its own sauce over white beans.  What could be better?

Alas, I didn’t read carefully enough to realize that you absolutely had to cover the lamb in foil before you roasted it for six hours. Needless to say, I ended up with Shoe Lamb (Chaussure De Sept Heures).

This week I’ve been reading the Three Musketeers (in order to work up my courage, drunken insouciance and general sense of romantic adventure), and tomorrow, I will revisit my Own Private Waterloo, and this time I will conquer Spoon Lamb.  

I have you in my eye, sir.

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When adding mayonnaise, err on the side of caution.