Daring Cooks' Skate, The Traditional Flavors Powdered

Just came back from my holiday to catch up with the Daring Cooks Skate, The Traditional Flavors Powdered. 2 exciting weeks have gone by and I have with me so many new ingredients, spices, ideas and props from both Jakarta and Singapore to put together for many new posts to come.

Yeah, it is time to get back into the kitchen and get face to face with Molecular Cuisine. I am totally new to it. In fact, frankly speaking I had my fear to get involved with the hassles of dehydration and powdering process. But reading through other DCs’ experiments in DC Forum I built my confidence to at least give it a shot. Having one go at it, I could say I am convinced this is a knowledge every DC should have once in a very long time! And seems like I have the itch to quickly get hold of Alinea Cookbook!



Upps, couldn’t find Skates or Cod or Founder in the local supermarket. How about White Sea Bass? Well, it poached just fine within 2 minutes as instructed. Do I still get to keep the name “Skate, The Traditional Flavors Powdered” or now more like “White Sea Bass, The Traditional Flavors Powdered”?

About the powder, I should agree with most of MCs’ comments: the red onion powder tastes superb and brings the best out of the dish!

Thanks to Sketchy of Sketchy’s Kitchen for hosting Daring Cooks’ July Challenge and introduced us to the mysterious charm of Molecular Cuisine. The dish is from Grant Achatz found in the Alinea Cookbook page 230. Have followed quite closely the given recipe and only made minor adjustments for my own convenience. For original recipe, click here.



SKATE, TRADITIONAL FLAVORS POWDERED
Serves 4 persons

1. Parsley Powder
Makes 5 grams

Ingredients:
- Parsley – tear leaves apart from stalks, discard stalks > 50 grams

Method:
- Blanch parsley in boiling salted water for a second or two. Plonk it in an ice bath. Drain.
- Gently dry it in paper towel before finally laying it out on plate lined with paper towel.
- Place in microwave, power 3 for 8 minutes. Change paper towel or flip leaves over whenever necessary. Final result would be very dried leaves, but not burnt.
- Pulse in coffee grinder, pass through chinois and reserve.



2. Citrus Powder
Makes 17 grams

Ingredients:
- Big lemon – peel zest, remove pith > 2
- Granulated sugar > 50 grams
- Water > 200 ml
- Citric Acid/vitamin C > 1 gram

Method:
- Melt sugar in water and bring to boil.
- Fold in lemon zest. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove from fire.
- Dry zest with tissue paper before arranging them on plate lined with paper towel.
- Place in microwave, power 3 for 11 minutes. Change paper towel or flip zest over whenever necessary. Final result would be very dried zest, but not burnt.
­- Pulse in coffee grinder, pass through chinois. Mix with Citrid Acid and reserve.



3. Red Onion Powder
Makes 13 grams

Ingredients:
- Big red onion – peel, cut into thin and small chunks > 1 or approx. 200 grams

Method:
- Arrange onion on plate lined with paper towel.
- Place in microwave, power 2 for 1 hour and 12 minutes. Change paper towel or onion chunks over whenever necessary. Final result would be very dried chunks, but not burnt.
- Pulse in coffee grinder, pass through chinois and reserve.



4. Brown Butter Powder

Ingredients:
- Milk powder /coconut powder > 20 grams
- Dried banana chips > 20 grams

Method:
- Place milk powder/coconut powder in microwave, power 3 for 20 minutes.
- Leave aside to cool.
- Grind dried banana chips in coffee grinder, pass through chinois.
- Mix with milk powder. Reserve.



5. Poached Green Beans

Ingredients:
- Green beans – slice into thin rounds (2mm) > 100 grams
- Butter > 35 grams
- Water > 35 grams
- Salt > a pinch

Method:
- Bring water, butter, and green bean rounds to a boil over high heat.
- Cook for about 3 minutes until water is almost dry. Do not overcook.
- Remove from heat and season with salt.



6. Poached Fish

Ingredients:
- White Sea Bass – cut into 4 v-shaped pieces of 50 grams each > 200 grams
- Water > 200 grams
- Butter > 200 grams
- Sea salt > a pinch

Method:
- Bring water and butter to simmer over medium heat.
- Add fish and simmer for 2 minutes.
- Remove pan from heat. Flip fish over and let rest in pan for 2 more minutes.
- Transfer to tray and season with fine sea salt.



7. Assembly

Ingredients:
- Banana – slice thin (3mm) > 1

Method:
- Sift parsley powder, citrus powder, and red onion powder to form a circle on one side of the serving plate. Make sure the powder is not too thick.
- Use the tip of a small spoon handle to make a swirl starting from the center of the circle outwards, or any other desired pattern.
- Arrange 3 slices of banana on the other side of the plate.
- Place green bean rounds on top of banana slices.
- And finally place fish on top of green bean rounds.
- Sprinkle with brown butter powder.
- Serve.