Along with the Spherical-I Olives, Black Sesame Sponge Cake is probably one of the most widely known elBulli recipes. A quick Google will turn up several instances of the recipe, for example, this one at MolecularRecipes.com. (The recipe as shown there is actually half a batch and should be made in a 0.5 liter whip charged twice.)
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| Black Sesame Seeds |
I then used my spice grinder to turn the seeds int a light fluffy powder. This is an important step because the finer you grind them now, the easier they'll be to get into the ISI whip. My grinder is small and it took a few batches to grind them all.
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| Yolks, whites, sugar, flour, and sesame "praline" |
The batter has to pass through the iSi strainer. How easily it will pass depends on how good a job you
did grinding the sesame seeds.
After I got most of the batter into the iSi Whip I charged it twice and popped the whip into the 'fridge for a couple hours. The chilling step is not mentioned in the elBulli 2007 catalog but almost all other versions of the recipe call for it.
Meanwhile I set up the condiments. Black Sesame Salt and "white" miso:
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| Ready to "cook" |
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| Cut the cup |
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| Raw |
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| Cooked |
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| Out of the cup |
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| Break in half |
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| Sesame Salt and Miso |
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.
iSi Whip - I got mine from Amazon
Liquidiser, aka "blender"
Spice grinder or clean coffee grinder.
Paper Cups - the kind for hot drinks
A scale that measures in grams
Black Sesame Seeds - I got mine from www.nuts.com
Hi William, I was in cooking mode yesterday and tried out that recipe (as well as 1337 Vodka/peas/lime, 1342 Sweetcorn butter with cocoa Marie buscuits and 1414 Honey-flavoured aubergine). It worked out really well. I was just wondering, whether you used the whole amount of ingredients including 1/4kg black sesame seeds. Felt it was way too much for 4 people, but did not dare reducing the amount after I had failed with the iSi whip once before trying to make aerated chocolate (and that happened because I did not put as much chocolate in as the recipe told me to). What is your experience in that regard? Did you reduce the overall mass? Thanks for sharing your experiences so far. Makes me want to try out more of those recipes :-)
ReplyDeleteYou're right - the recipe in the book is for a "full batch". It would probably make the "standard 10 servings". Since I have a half liter whip I used the "half batch" recipe I linked to on the Molecular Recipes website.
DeleteI've been thinking about doing the Vodka/Peas/Lime. How was hit?
Good to know it also works with the half batch.
ReplyDeleteAbout the Vodka/Peas/Lime - the taste:
3 out of 4 people liked it a lot. Also, it went well with the taste of the buscuits which I served at the same time. The fourth one said: "Well it's peas with vodka, but it's okay". However, it's easy to make and still a nice experience, so you can for sure give it a shot.
About the making-of:
I do not have a superbag (just yet, it's on its way), so first I just strained it through a sieve and the pea water still had very tiny chunks in it. Hence I strained it through a kitchen towel and that improved it a lot. I lost a bit of material in the process, so I ended up having less pea water. I still decided to go for the full amount of lime and vodka, going for personal taste, because I enjoy the taste of lime (and 45ml of vodka is very little in the first place).
The recipe says: Store in the freezer. As there is not enough vodka in there, I would not recommend that, because you will get an ice clump. So, I stored it in the fridge and just 15min before serving I filled the shot glasses and put them into the freezer for that short period of time. The little left-over, which I had in the freezer for more than 30min was already clumpy and that did not serve the dish very well.