Snack: 1114 - Beet Root Meringue with Kefir and Fisherman's Friend 2005

I decided to give this recipe a shot because a) we like beets and b) it looked easy. Turns out, it is easy and you can make similar meringues with pretty much any kind of juice. Anyway, the beet root and other savory meringues went through several iterations at  El Bulli including a freeze dried version dusted with yoghurt powder. Other chefs have developed both sweet and savory versions using different thickening agents. For example Jose Andres made a version using Methylcellulose and xanthan gum.

Blender, Beet Juice, Egg White Powder

The first step is preparing the beet juice. I added 7% by weight egg white powder to the juice and dissolved it using my immersion blender. Important safety note: use a deep container to prevent painting yourself and your walls with tiny red dots. Then it's into the 'fridge overnight to fully hydrate the egg white.

Off to the 'fridge...

The next day I heated up the oven to 210F and got out the cold beet juice. Now comes the slightly tricky part. I used the immersion blender to whiz the surface of the juice, producing thick foam.  It takes a light hand to get the maximum amount of foam.

This is the reason for the box...

 You  want to work with a) a deep bowl  and b) in a cardboard box in order to prevent your kitchen from being covered in beet colored polka-dots.

Then I scooped out tablespoon sized blobs and spaced 'em out on a Silpat. You have to work fast or the foam will begin to leak beet juice.

Work fast

Into the oven to dry. If you like beets the aroma will drive you nuts.

Ooops....

Unfortunately, they don't always come out perfectly.

For the ones that do, I used a skewer to poke a small hole in each one and wiggled it around a little to make a hollow space. The I squirted in some kefir and covered the hole with a little basil sprig.

Fill with kefir

And a basil sprig

Grate on some Fisherman's Friend (or other menthol based cough drop) and they're ready!

How does it taste? Like a delicate beet puff. Both of agree that we don't particularly care for kefir and the menthol dust was sort of odd.

Lessons Learned: This recipe creates a rather unstable meringue that requires careful handling in the whipping stage and quick work when transferring it to the Silpat. I'll probably try again using one of the Methylcellulose based recipes. If I had a juicer it would be fun to make both red and yellow beet meringues with different fillings. Fruit meringues might be pretty cool also.

I expect that once I get the hang of making them they'll start to show up whenever we have company.

Equipment and Ingredients

The Books: El Bulli 2005-2011 - Yes, freakin' expensive. Check with your local library - they may well be "in the system" and available to be reserved.

Beet Juice - the recipe calls for juicing some beets. I just bought bottled beet juice. You can probably find this in "health food" stores.
Egg White Powder - in the baking section of your grocery store.
Kefir - a fermented dairy drink - I found it in Whole Foods. Yoghurt or even sour cream would work too.
Basil - from the garden of course
Fisherman's Friend - a menthol flavored cough drop. I

Immersion Blender
Silpat or other non-stick baking mat - Note the various sizes.
A scale that measures in grams

Note: The images in this post are from two tries at this recipe.