Snacks: 1104 Mango and Black Olive Discs 2005

This snack introduces the Thermomix into the equipment rotation here at "elBulli At Home". It's also got some new techniques as well as new additives. And takes 3 days to make.

First I made the croquante base. This is the "wet/dehydrated" style recipe mentioned in the New Equipment: Thermomix post last week. In this case it's mango puree, finely ground sugar, Isomalt, and a little glucose. They all go into the Thermomix at 80° C for 5 minutes.

Finished Syrup

The resulting mango syrup goes into the refrigerator overnight.

I then processed black olives to a smooth paste and squeezed the paste through a 75 micron super bag. The resulting liquid went into the 'fridge with the mango syrup.

Day 2! I spread the mango croquante base over the smaller circle stencil and popped the Teflon sheets into the dehydrator for 48 hours. Yes, this recipe takes 3 days to make.

Fat on the left, water on the right

Then I made the olive goop. The Olive liquid separates into "fat", a sort of thick semi solid paste that floats to the top of the container and "water" - the stuff under the "fat". The recipe suggests you'll get 50 grams or more of each. I got about 30 grams of the "fat" so I adjusted the proportions accordingly. In retrospect I probably should have used a 100 micron super bag. That size is more "standard" and would have allowed more olive solids to pass.

Warming...

I warmed them both up and added monoglyceride to the "fat" and gelatine and sucrose esters to the "water". I whisked the mixtures together and popped 'em back in the 'fridge to set up.

Two days later...

Assembly is trivial:

Lay down a croquante

Add a dab of the olive goop

Top with another croquante

How it tastes: Real good. The sweet croquante and the salty olive goop work well together. In North America this has to be a winter snack. The croquantes will suck up any tiny bit of moisture in the air and become mango gummy discs.

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.

Thermomix
Dehydrator
Geo Corquanter Stencils
A scale that measures in grams

Isomalt
Glucose
Sucrose Esters