This time last week Glynn Purnell did a dish on Saturday Kitchen which involved a fennel cloud, and jokingly said that lots of chefs would now be doing it. The truth is, as I tweeted about edible clouds:
No, some of us won’t be doing clouds. As we were doing them years ago #ElBulli #SaturdayKitchen
In fact I first encountered them in Ferran Adria’s book El Bulli 1998-2002, which is a record of the dishes & recipes used at the famed restaurant. As a book it is beautiful, and expensive, but the accompanying CD rom of 372 recipes is the real source of joy. Not only does it give you the insight into the thinking & the techniques used, but also opens the doors for you to go & explore for yourself.
After reading the recipe on how to make coffee clouds from Adria’s book, it inspired me to research my own recipe, which then formed part of a broken tiramisu (essentially all the component parts of the famed Italian dessert re-worked, but retaining the essence & flavours of the original dish).
As you can see from the header image of the panna cotta with textures of strawberries, a similar technique can be used for other flavours as well.
Coffee Cloud
- 10g Instant coffee
- 20g Caster sugar
- Boiling water
- 3 Leaves of bronze gelatine
You will need a stand mixer for this recipe.
Place the mixing bowl in the freezer for an hour before making the cloud.
Bloom the gelatine in cold water. For full instructions on how to use gelatine see this page: Gelatine
In a measuring jug, add the coffee & sugar then top up to 450ml with boiling water.
Add the gelatine, and stir until all the ingredients are full dissolved. Allow the mix to cool down to room temperature.
Divide the mix in two, place one half in the mixing bowl in the freezer for 20minutes.
Recipe ~ Coffee clouds: Chilling some of the mix
Place the bowl on the mixing machine with the whisk attachment, and mix on ¾ of full speed. After a couple of minutes you will see the mix start to volumise.
Next, slowly drizzle in the remaining coffee solution whilst still whisking. Continue to whisk until the mix reaches the top of the bowl.
Recipe ~Coffee clouds: whisking to volumise the cloud.
Use as required.