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Sumatran Caviar, or Fun with Chemistry

Jan 19, 2008
3 comments

I've been dying to try some recipes being done by the leading
deconstructionist and molecular gastronomy chefs like Wylie
Dufresne. So, I ordered some goodies from WillPowder.
They arrived yesterday, and I immediately set out to try making coffee
caviar.

Step One - Prep by gathering ingredients; Sodium Alginate, Calcium Chloride, table sugar, and cup of fresh brewed Sumatran coffee. In this instance, I used hot coffee. I believe now that that is a mistake, in that I think it starts the reaction too soon.  I also used coffee at the strength one would normally drink it.  However, the taste is less than impressive that way.  I think the flavoring agent needs to be intensely concentrated into a simple syrup for it to be as vibrant a mouthfeel as I was shooting to get.
Step Two: Sift the sodium alginate and the table sugar into the coffee. (1 tsp SA, 1 Tbs sugar)
Step Three: Stick blend together until powders are completely incorporated.  I got a lot of foaming with the hot coffee, which seemed to start the gelling process a little sooner than it should have.
Step Four: Heat over high heat to about 205 degrees F, or 96 degrees C. Strain and chill.
Step Five: When the coffee alginate has cooled to at least room temp, prepare the calcium chloride bath by blending 1 tsp CC into 2 cups water.  Also prepare another bowl of fresh water with nothing added to it.
Step Six: using a dropper or food syringe, drop beads of the alginate into the CC blend, let sit for about 30 seconds, then move into the fresh water bath. (Sorry, couldn't get pics of the process while I was doing it.) This is the results of the first batch.  The alginate mix was so thick and gelled that it wouldn't easily come out of the dropper, and rather than forming spheres, it sortof created little tadpole looking shapes.  Neato, but not what I wanted. Also, the flavor was weird.
Step Seven: Improvise! I did what any chocoholic would do, I took the first batch and added chocolate and about a 1/4 cup of cold water and whisked it smooth.  The consistency was much more liquid.  I flowed easily through the dropper, and created perfect little spheres when dropped into the CC bath.  And the taste was better, but still not what I'm hoping to get.  Next time I think I'll start with coffee syrup, coffee liquor, and maybe even a little godiva liquor.