Snacks: 1578 Whisky-Flavoured Sweetcorn Leaf 2009

The first step for this recipe is preparing the plain "caramel". That involves fondant, something you can buy, but also something that is very easy to make. There are a large number of fondant recipes on the internet but the one we want is simple, plain, unflavored fondant:

Fondant

Recipe by William Colsher

Ingredients

• 445 grams Granulated Sugar
• 335 grams Water
• 0.5 grams Cream of Tartar

Cooking Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring, until the sugar and Cream of Tartar is dissolved.
2. Without stirring, continue boiling until the temperature of the mixture reaches 115° C.
3. Pour the mixture into a clean tray and allow to cool until it begins to firm up.
4. Using a dough scraper bring the edges of the mixture toward the center, turning the tray on each stroke.
5. Continue turning and scraping until the mixture comes together into a slightly grainy white mass.
6. Moisten your hands and knead the fondant until it is very smooth and has the consistency of soft modeling clay.
7. Wrap the fondant tightly in plastic wrap and store it in an airtight container at room temperature for 12 hours or several days in the refrigerator.

Plain Caramel

Recipe by Adapted by William Colsher

This little formula is the basis for a number of elBulli snacks.

Ingredients

• 2 parts by weight Fondant
• 1 part by weight Glucose
• 1 part by weight Isomalt

Cooking Directions

1. Combine the fondant and glucose in a small pan over medium heat
2. When it is melted add the Isomalt and bring the mixture to 160° C.
3. Pour the mixture over a Silpat and allow it to cool slightly
4. Score the caramel into 5 cm. pieces and store it in an airtight container

Making the Sweetcorn Leaves

Plain Caramel & Freeze Dried Corn

The first step is to grind the plain caramel and freeze dried sweetcorn together. That takes about 10 seconds in the Thermomix on Turbo. This is one of those times when you really must use a Thermomix. A food processor can't pulverize the caramel.

Then sift it over an oval stencil on a Silpat. The recipe makes far more corn-caramel than needed. Fortunately this exact powder is also used in another recipe (coming soon).

Into the oven for a few seconds and the wafers are ready. If I had the elBulli Leaf Silimol I'd have used it to press the wafers into leaf shapes.

A little plain sweetcorn powder is mixed with water and "buttered" onto each wafer.

A few drops of Islay Scotch and there you have it

How it tastes: Pretty good. They're not nearly as sweet as you'd think. The sweetcorn "butter" is where most of the corn flavor comes from.

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.

Croquanter stencil

Freeze Dried Sweetcorn

A scale that measures in grams

Thermomix - They're coming to the USA at last and they have a Facebook page!

Induction Cooker