Desserts: 932 Saffron Rice Pudding 2003

With Lemon Juice Air

With Saffron Foam

A couple weeks ago I added the 2003-2003 catalog set to my elBulli collection. This is my first dish from those early days.


Phase 1: Lemon Juice Air

Nothing much to this, just water, simple syrup lemon juice and a bit of soy lecithin. Whiz 'em up in the blender and stash the liquid in the refrigerator.

Phase 2: Toasted Saffron Infusion

Also easy-peasy. Gently toast some saffron threads in a small pan then dump 'em in some warm water overnight.

The next day...

There are apparently two way this dish was made. One topped with the Lemon Juice Air (it's the one that is shown in the book's photo section and general catalog) and a second topped with saffron cream foam. I'm making it both ways...

Phase 3: Toasted Saffron Foam

Sugar, some saffron water from Phase 2, and cream go into the whip. Charge and pop it int the 'fridge.

Phase 4: Saffron Cream

Milk, cream, sugar, plain water, saffron water. We're making what amounts to risotto here so I brought the mixture to a simmer, then turned down the heat.

Phase 5: Saffron Rice Pudding (at last)

Briefly saute the rice in some butter.

Slowly stir in the Saffron Cream

When the rice became tender I added more cream and even more sugar

Phase 6: Orange Bits

I carefully peeled the orange and popped most of the the peel into the microwave to dehydrate. In my microwave this took less than 5 minutes on 40% power. Orange peels are full of sugar and will burn if you take your eyes of 'em.

The remaining peel I cut into the finest bits I could achieve.

The orange itself I cut into segments and trimmed 8 of them into little cubes which I rolled in the chopped peel.

Assembly!

Ring Mold	Add rice
Rice Disk	Orange Cubes and Coffee
Lemon Air and Crushed Orange Peel	Saffron Foam and Crushed Orange Peel

How it tastes: Delicious - it's got a ton of cream and sugar in it. It was really a toss up as to which was better. The Saffron Foam version had a more "dessert" feel but the flavors sort of worked better with the Lemon Air which was less sweet.

Overall this is a pretty easy dish and none of the ingredients are especially hard to get hold of. Like most  elBulli dishes everything can be prepared in advance and assembled before you serve it.

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.

Soy Lecithin
Saffron

ISI Whip
A scale that measures in grams