Tapas: 1739 Tomato Tartar with Honey Sweet 2010-11

This being tomato season "Tomato Tartar with Honey Sweet" was just begging to be made. As is often the case ingredients become an issue. elBulli used a peculiar Spanish tomato variety called Feo de Tudela or alternatively Raf, a modern hybrid that's easily available... in France and Spain. Both of those tomatoes are reputed to be particularly flavorful and sweet. And it's not too surprising that neither is readily available here in Philadelphia.

Fortunately, this year I have a huge quantity of Cuore di Bue flowing in from the garden that are very sweet and flavorful so those are standing in for the Spanish varieties. Although this recipe has a couple fiddly bits, it can easily be made in an hour or so. And like many elBulli dishes, this recipe took more than one form - sometimes it was served with the fiddly 'Honey Sweet' (scroll way down) and sometimes with a thin sheet of ice broken over it. So if you don't happen to have obulato squares and rosemary honey on hand just make a little ice sheet on a plate and away you go.

So let's get going! First up is texturized olive oil. Just a little olive oil warmed up the the microwave and a bit of Glice (aka "monoglyceride") stirred in.

Then you stir it over an ice bath until it begins to come together. That took me about 5 minutes.

And monoglyceride turns the olive oil into a sort of creamy olive goop. Out of frame to the right a couple egg yolks are warming up to 53° C in the sous vide bath.

Ooops. That's regular Tabasco. Didn't mean to turn it. Sorry.

The dressing for the tomato tartar is simple: mustard, Worcestershire, and Tabasco. But the mustard is special.  French Savora. This stuff makes hot dogs on cheap-ass buns into a gourmet delight.

Anyway, I diced the tomatoes, some shallot and a little basil and combined 'em with the the dressing and the texturized olive oil.

Ooops...

The first time I assembled it this happened. The ice sheet worked out OK, but the little tartar stack sort of flopped over. The messy ooze is mostly too much egg yolk and probably why the recipe says to plate this dish in a soup plate. Some people have reported that the ice sheet was lightly salted.

Now, the "honey sweet". This turns out to be trickier than I'd have imagined. Mannitol melts at 168° C. Without induction heating or a Thermomix to control temperatures it becomes very difficult to keep the temperature of the mannitol low enough so that the honey doesn't boil instantly. I completely farked this. Twice. I may try it again when I get a Thermomix.

Then I had a thought! Why not drop the messy liquid egg yolk and make...

Spherified Egg Yolk!

Why not? Regular tartar almost always has a yolk of some kind on top so why not Tomato Tartar?

As always the first step is making the alginate solution and setting it in the refrigerator overnight to de-gas. It's just the usual 0.5% solution in distilled water (5 grams per liter).

An elBulli recipe from 2006 (1278 - Bread soup with pepper dulse and and spherical-I mini-yolks) provides the basic yolk recipe: 2 grams calcium gluconolactate to 100 grams pasteurized yolk. Egg yolks contain a significant amount of calcium already so the additional amount of calcium is relatively small compared to other reverse spherification recipes.

I used a half teaspoon measure to make the spheres. They begin to jell instantly so you have to be quick to swirl them into spheres. 

How it tastes: Fantastic. This is number 2 right behind the 63° 50' Egg.  The tomato tartar is so good I made more the next day to accompany crab cakes.

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.

Obulato Squares, a sealer, & mannitol (if you're going to make the honey sweet version)
Monoglyceride
Savora Mustard