Alinea - Mosaic: Replying To Chocolate, menthol, coconut - Alinea - Mosaic

When I was there, it was a just cream and chocolate melted in a vacuum bag then poured into an isi whipper and charged with four chargers. On the pick-up, the mousse is foamed into a nine pan full of liquid nitrogen until it "cooks." Really, really tasty, and there wasn't any linger of hydrocolloids on the palate.

keatoncrowley, on 14 April 2010 - 07:46 AM, said:

james, on 10 April 2010 - 09:33 PM, said:

I have been wondering the same thing and I have found it works best when you make the chocolate mousse part of the mousse chip recipe and put it in an iSi siphon charged with nitrous oxide and "foam" it into a styrofoam box full of liquid nitrogen but I'm not sure if that's how they make it or any substitute for a siphon.

i also would like to know the make up of the frozen mousse. i have tried all methods of whipped natural emulsification methods and some non traditional thickeners. it seems to me that it must be very simple to break and melt so easily after nitrogen freezing. like whipped cream with chocolate ? or egg based mousse whipped and frozen in a loaf pan?

The frozen coconut mousse really amazed me. I thought it would melt on the silicone sheet but it was still cool almost 10 minutes after it was plated. That was really cool.

are the glass sleeves sprayed with a non-stick spray on the inside?

Also, how is the aerated chocolate made?

Lastly, has Chef Achatz really fired someone for not making the aerated chocolate correctly so that when plated, it wouldn't break so cleanly?

ChristianSeel, on 13 January 2010 - 04:35 PM, said:

What temperature to you bring it to before pouring it into the pitcher to be served? And is the hot chocolate cream based, or milk based?

donna naron, on 08 January 2010 - 04:17 PM, said:

We use only iota carrageenan at .3% to set the chocolate. The hot chocolate is the first component to be plated. Lastly the sleeve is removed. The ratio and timing are such that the custard only sets enough to barely hold the shape when its presented to the diner. The result is closer to a pudding than a custard.

What percentage of carrageenan do you use for the custard? We use lc-5 carrageenan for a dairy less chocolate ganache.It's a blend of iota and kappa carrageenans.Do you just use iota??

Ken Naron

Hope everyone had a good holiday!

Does the carrageenan custard set up on the plate and stay warm? The whole dish sounds awesome.

In the few minutes before the afternoon breakdown, Chef de Cuisine Dave Beran plated a sample of an upcoming dessert for general manager Joe Catterson, so he could select an appropriate wine pairing. This dish will be introduced tomorrow into the regular menu and replace the current, bacon, crabapple, chocolate dessert.



When I asked Chef Beran how he came to pair these three ingredients, he explained the thoughtful process that led to this dessert. That the chemical cooling sensation of menthol reminded him of winter and snow. That it was contrasted nicely with the warmth and sweetness of chocolate. And that coconut made a nice bridge between the two because it is fatty and rich like the chocolate but also clean on the palate. He then added that he always really liked york peppermint patties- a more straightforward response one would expect from a man whose daily responsibilities include 300 dish components, two sous chefs, 25 cooks and a handful of service, maintenance and other miscellaneous issues.



Having developed a number of chocolate dishes in the past, Chef Beran knew exactly what he was looking for in a chocolate, and rejected a number of varieties before making his selection. In the center of the plate is a warm chocolate custard that we set with carrageenan. We hold the mixture hot to keep it from setting. To plate, we pour a small amount into the glass sleeve, that can be pulled away by the time the rest of the dish is plated. This leaves a small puck of chocolate that is still warm and liquid in the center. For this we selected a 68% chocolate from valrhona. We place around it, small pieces of mousse frozen in liquid nitrogen. For this preparation we went with a lower fat, 64% chocolate. Both were selected for their clean dark-chocolate flavors. We sought to exclude any citrus, floral or red wine notes. The third chocolate preparation is the rock made with cocoa powder, butter, sugar and egg whites.



The coconut mousse is made by freezing the juice of the coconut meat in liquid nitrogen. A combination of the fat and rapid freezing creates a product stable at room temperature. It holds a shape like the original meat, but is soft like a mousse. We make a chewy coconut rock by partially dehydrating spray-dried coconut milk mixed with egg whites and powdered sugar. The coconut pudding is the water from the young coconut, thickened with spray-dried coconut milk and sweetened.



Menthol is used more sparingly because it has such an intense effect. We grind the pure crystals with sugar in a mortar and pestle. Some of it we melt into cream and whip to medium peaks. The rest is mixed with egg whites and spread over silicone paper where its dried into chips. We mix a small amount of ground menthol chips in the chocolate rock bits to make a crumb mixture. We garnish with anise hyssop.