Tapas: 1297 Teriyaki Quail Breast with Mentaiko 2006

This one's got everything. Game, weird ingredients, foam, spherification. And of course it takes a couple days to make. And it's by far the most complicated dish I've done so far.

First up: sodium alginate bath. Same as always: 5 grams alginate into a kilo of distilled water, then into the 'fridge to de-gas overnight.

Second: Black Sesame Seed Milk. Equal amounts by weight of black sesame seeds and water. Whiz it up with the immersion blender and into the 'fridge with the alginate.

Third: Soaked Black Sesame Seeds. Whole black sesame seeds in water. Into the fridge with 1 & 2.

Teriyaki Ingredients

Fourth: Planning ahead, I made the teriyaki spherical-I base so it would have time to de-gas and I would (hopefully) have fewer bubbles in my spheres.

Katsuobushi, Water & Soy base

Soy Sauce, water and katsuobushi infuse for 20 minutes.

I fried up the onion, ginger, galangal, lemongrass, and garlic in a combination of olive & sesame oil.

I then added honey diluted with some rice vinegar and allowed it to caramelize and deglazed with lime and orange juice  and a little soy sauce. After straining the teriyaki sauce I whizzed in xanthan and calcium gluconolactate to make the teriyaki spherical-I base.

And put it in the 'fridge.

And finally I made the "rice vinegar texlavazza" base: water, rice vinegar, sugar, xanthan and a little soy protein powder. It went into the 'fridge too.

The next day...

Black Sesame paste

Grey "milk" in a yellow bowl.

I whizzed the mushed up black sesame seeds in the blender into a smooth paste, then squeezed 'em through a super bag.

The real colors: grey and black

The soaked black sesame seeds went into a pressure cooker for an hour. When they'd cooled off  I assembled the black sesame "risotto" with the "milk", the pressure cooked seeds, and a little xanthan and tapioca flour to thicken it up.

Whole Mentaiko

Mentaiko comes as frozen, whole, salt cured roe in one pound boxes (at least it does here in Philadelphia). I carefully separated one and set it in the fridge to thaw. I now have a lifetime supply (for a suburban white guy) of mentaiko in the freezer.

Quail Breasts

Quail come frozen in packages of 6. So like the mentaiko, I pried two loose, vacuum packed the the others in pairs and popped them into the chest freeze for another day. Once thawed, I cut out the whole breasts and popped them back into the refrigerator.

Spheres "Cooking"

I made the teriyaki spherical-I spheres in the usual way and set them oil.

At this point everything that can be done in advance is done. So I started the oven warming and settled in to watch the Eagles game until Beth got home.

When the time came for assembly I popped 2 plates, the sesame seed "risotto" and the teriyaki spheres in the oven to warm up. Then I whipped the rice vinegar texlavazza to a surprisingly sturdy foam and poured it into a small pan.

I trimmed the quail breasts and fried them quickly in a little olive oil, then set them aside, covered, to rest. While they were resting I warmed the rice vinegar texlavazza and got out the first plate.

Mentaiko, quail, risotto, texlavazza

And a squashed teriyaki sphere

How it tastes: Good. This is one of those "whole is greater than the parts" dishes. As instructed you definitely have to combine ingredients in each bite.

Also, I learned that heat makes sauce spheres extremely delicate.

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.

Immersion blender
A scale that measures in grams
Stand mixer
Super bag

Quail -Your local butcher, Asian grocery, anyplace that sells D'Artagnan products.
Black Sesame Seeds
Mentaiko - cod (or more often pollack) roe cured in salt and chile pepper. Available at Japanese and Korean markets.
Katsuobushi
Sodium Alginate
Calcium Gluconolactate
Xanthan
Tapioca flour - your local grocery store will probably have it in the "Bob's Red Mill" display.