Haute cuisine is full of technique and the trio that dominates Enjoy, Eduard Xatruch, Oriol Castro and Mateu Casañas, whose two Michelin stars have been surprising from a purist cuisine to the city of Barcelona.
They appeared in Madrid Fusión where they have shown that there is a life beyond the world’s most exclusive media. Neither vacuum cooking, nor sous vide, nor Rational, Josper, nor subway grills…
However, an instrument as domestic and reviled as the microwave can have a place in a high performance kitchen. In addition, away from the myth, Oriol Castro and Eduard Xatruch —part of this trio— have tried.
For Xatruch, the ways to create concepts go through “using technique, product or utensils”. For this reason, the Catalan chef bets on “take a normal microwave, even some more modern than you have at home. With one that has power and time is enough.”
Breaking a spear through the microwave, the Catalan duo presented at Madrid Fusión 2022 the advantages of making certain snacks with the microwave, which can also be done at home. “In El Bulli, a dessert was already made 16 years ago, which was sponge cake, putting the dough in the microwave and cooking it for 50 seconds,” he warned from the podium.
It’s not new, but yes it is refreshing. “Since then the microwave has not been talked about in haute cuisine as something useful,” he says.
Different cheese crisps
“It’s as simple as putting different pieces of cheese in a silicone mold and give them 30 seconds of maximum power in the micro, let them boil”, he comments.
“The other way is to do it with grated cheeses, each one with its favorite, to get a different texture. We grate the Parmesan, well granulated, and flatten in the mold to take the shape. Any cheese is fine, and a minute and a half at maximum power is enough, for us to see it boil and evaporate, leaving only the solid part of the cheese,” he indicated.
We extract that fatty part and we will have a kind of tartlet that we can use at will for different formats, depending on our mold. In addition, he remarked that it could be “dehydrated or placed on absorbent paper to remove excess fat.”
The only secret is “not to cook it too much, otherwise it will become bitter”. In addition to that, they have made a cheese foam with various common ingredients in haute cuisine,** but replicable at the domestic level such as xanthan gum, soy lecithin, parmesan cheese whey, wheat fiber, egg white and wheat flour.
“The xanthan thickens and the lecithin emulsifies, and the wheat fiber gives structure so that everything can hold us. Mix the solids, add the cheese whey and blend it with a blender. Then we add egg white,” she explains.
From there let stand 24 hours for rehydration of the solids and then put into a foam siphon. “We put it back in a mold and cook it in the microwave. First 90 seconds at maximum so that the dough dehydrates and then another thirty seconds, at less power, so that it is crispy.” Xatruch adds.
“We will have a very light texture, nothing greasy and all the flavor of the cheese,” he concluded. “It can be used as a snack, as a dish, because the texture is very light, and it works for everything”, he indicated.
Crunchy bubble of quicos, corn and curry
The last option is to play with starches because “they give different elastic structures”. In this case, tapioca and kuzu, as well as water, curry and corn powder. Then everything is integrated and cooked with a rod and tongue until it becomes rubbery, in addition, they explain that “you can add curry or the flavor you want, or instead of water, use an infusion.”
Well worked hot, it is about gaining elasticity in a dense mass. From there a pastry bag is filled and molded. “90 seconds of micro at maximum power and then 60 at lower power for that suffers and retains the bubble“, they comment. The crunchy bite allows an empty shape that can be filled at will.
Images | Madrid Fusion
Direct to the Palate | Kol, the trendy restaurant in London, is Mexican, but everything is made with English ingredients
Direct to the Palate | Rodrigo de la Calle in Madrid Fusión: “I recommend that you forget the vegetables in the fridge”