jello shots

Last week one of my culinary instructors asked if I would like to do a cooking demo for my class. He said I could put it in my portfolio, and that he thought it would be a good experience for me. We've been doing these exercises in class where we take an old Escoffier recipe , or just any traditional recipe, and rework it for today's table. I suppose some people (Anthony Bourdain springs to mind) would like a plate garnished with coxcombs, but not many people these days would be thrilled with random animal parts served as a garnish on a plate, a la Escoffier. So we revamp them, and try to be creative.

The latest recipe we were given was a caeser salad. Somehow I came up with a hot oyster jello shot. It would be served in a shot glass. The first layer is a hot gelee made from juiced romaine and agar agar (which stays gelatinous when hot, unlike gelatin). Then a cream made with a little anchovy, parmesan, and garlic. Then more hot romaine jello (really, you can't have too much hot lettuce jello). Then a foam made from dijon, cream, a little more agar, and foamed in a whipped cream canister with nitrous. Then a fried oyster to top it all. I also added a balsamic "rose" which consists of making a balsamic reduction, then taking the cut off end of the romaine head, dipping it in it, and stamping it onto the plate. If you've never noticed, if you cut off the end of a romaine head, it's shaped like a rose. I've actually seen it used in craft magazines as a rose stamp for fabric. I thought, why not a food stamp for a plate?

This all really began as a joke, because those of us in my corner of the classroom were joking about molecular gastronomy, foam, and the like. I sort of thought of the most ridiculous thing possible, but my teacher saw it and actually liked it. We'll see how it goes. I do have to say that it's similar to something I saw and really liked at my internship this summer. Forgive me if I mentioned it before - it was a seminal food moment for me. Chef Fleer made a shot with juiced iceberg lettuce, set up with gelatin, a layer of peach puree, and then whipped whey on the top, and titled it simply "iceberg, peaches, cottage cheese." It blew my mind. In a good way.