Testing and Tasting
By the TuttoToscana Communications Team
Photo By Isabela Elizondo
Technique is very important in our kitchen; being a team of hospitality specialists and chefs we have been learning, teaching, and exchanging ideas. The different elements brought to the table by the team have helped to improve the recipes for the JBF events thanks to the team members’ different points of view. Trying out these recipes has opened our perspective and perfected our abilities to execute and explain our dishes to our guests.
We played with textures: Gnudi is a dumpling made from ricotta and spinach. This sounds pretty easy right? But a little bit of molecular technique is applied to the elaboration of the sauces! The dumplings or gnudi are stuffed with either an arrabiata sauce or a sage-infused butter, and in order to achieve this they must be gellified. This gellification process requires two important elements which are agar and gelatin. Both of these ingredients are used to gellify, but both must be used because the gnudi is a hot dish. Agar has a higher temperature tolerance than gelatin and the combination of the two gives us a creamy sauce when heated instead of watery or firm.
We created a smoky act: Another recipe we are preparing at the JBF is a reinterpretation of a traditional sea bass recipe. Instead of a traditional preparation, we are restyling aqua pazza, which literally means “crazy water.” What this means is that the fish will be wrapped in a clear parchment paper with all of its ingredients, including white wine, olive oil, garlic, parsley, tomatoes, capers, olives, and a dash of salt. The parchment paper is tied up and then baked in the oven. By preparing it this way, the flavors and steam are trapped inside, moistening the fish. Steam and smoke are a fundamental catalyst in the cooking process of this dish.
Aromas, what a tease! The journey of this dish is illustrated in two ways; through technical execution and traditional preserving methods. This is done with clever plating and modern cooking elements to enhance the natural beauty of tuna, which is highlighted in a seemingly raw state. Using an infused oil with citrus and herb combinations, we bring the oil and tuna from a resting temperature to create a “pasteurization effect” that allows the tuna maintain a raw-like nature. This is due to the absence of air on the meat and bringing the dish to a even temperature throughout the meat and oil. We literally “tease” the flavors out of the tuna with exposing the meat to extreme temperatures.
By testing these recipes, we have discovered new plating methods, and begun to really analyze traditional techniques as well. Each time we experiment, we learn innovative ways to enhance the true flavors of the dish and enhance its overall substance.