Piment Caviar

A pretty standard accompanyment to any meal here is Piment. Firey hot Scotch Bonnet style peppers diced up with a bit of oil. You can do this technique with most liquids. Ive done it with Dashi, balsamic vinegar and soy sauce but the list is endless. Start with a light stock syrup and blend the chillis into it. Ive also put a couple of peppers in as well for the colour. Pass through a muslin bag or fine chinois and put into a pan. We use a setting agent called Agar Agar. Derived from algae it very hard and holds until a high temperature. Its best use is for caviar and very thin sheets as its very strong and on mass its like eating rubber! Rule of thumb is 100mls of liquid to 1G of agar. Best to use drug scales for this as you need to be accurate. Place the hot liquid in a squeezy bottle or piping bag and squirt over frozen oil( or at least oil from the freezer) As the liquid cools in the oil it sets in small round drops. Once cold rinse off and its ready to use.

Gabonese Gastronomy Poulet fume Nkoumo+Odika+ Oseille+ Aloko

This last week Jacky and I have been working on new alternatives to popular favourites here. Traditional Gabonese food is really tasty, however can be pretty heavy as they use alot of oil, salt and maggi. For this main course I wanted to combine Poulet Odika (local chocolate) and Poulet fume Nkoumo with their tradional garnishes done in a more contemporary way.

So to start for the Poulet Odika I have used Coquelete and in fact only the supremes. I kept the wings and carcass to make a white chicken stock from for the sauce.
I marinated the breasts in Odika, the local chocolate, grapeseed oil and a bit of piedment for 6hrs.





 To make the odika sauce sweat off shallots piedment and odika until the it odika starts to split out and turn a dark brown. To this ive added fresh white chicken stock and a bit of lemon juice to finish.

Then I have seasoned with lime zest and juice and rolled in clingfilm to set. Once set firm roll in brik pastry and Ive used a japanese turning mandolin to make spaghetti like potato to wrap around the outside.

Best tip with this is to start with large potatoes that fry well. Each season is different so for this ive used Bintje. Wash the startch out of them and then blanch and drain. then wrap arround the outside of the brik pastry ready to deep fry.

This gives it the same taste as Aloko but a really crisp texture and presents really well.


Igname is a local root much like cassava or tarro. Here the Gabonese tend to eat it boiled or steamed. Ive done this dish before using celeriac so I thought it would work well . Here ive peeled it down to 8cm x 3cm barrels and rolled in the ash collected from the bottom of our smoker.

To protect the Igname whilst it cooks and to add some flavour I made  a hsalted shortcrust pastry with rosemary and thyme. The pastry wont be served but it allows the Igname to draw the flavours of the herbs.

For a bit of green ive used Oseille pureed with a base of white onion and butter. Luckily I have a vita mix but i put it through a drum sieve afterwards honest!!!


Finally the croquette on top of the igname is Poulet fume Nkoumou. Its a great local dish with smoked chicken and peanut sauce. Jacky (of Cassoulete fame) has made this thicker than normal and taken all the meat off the bones. Rolled and set and the pané in breadcrumbs and peanuts. Deep fried and hot its becomes liquid inside. 

So Clockwise from the top Banane Aloko, Coquelete odika, Puree de l'Oseille, ash baked Igname, Poulet fume nkoumou and ive hidden a bit of villis manioc.

My chefs have all been pretty intrigued with the elements of these dishes and certainly Gabon has some great produce and it should be celebrated. Jacky has been working on beetroot cured capitaine and I have an idea for a modern interpretation of Crab farci.

Until next time

  

Croissants

I have eaten loads of croissants in my time. The recipe and the method have always been a bit of a mystery. For those of us who have always worked with pastry chefs and bakers, generally your skills with sweet food stagnate after bread and butter pudding. Definitely I am in that category , I'm crap at desserts and have never  made a croissant in my life.Its been a bit of a journey with these and its certainly far from over. Because I work with lots of french people, croissants are very close to their hearts. Everyone here is an expert on eating them, but I've had a hard job to find anyone that's good at making them.

 So first we start with the mixture, You need T45 flour and one of a good quality. Fresh yeast, white refined sugar, inverted sugar (Trimoline) milk, cold water and salt. I wont give out the exact recipe as it belongs to a certain pastry chef who is needless to say a nice guy but protective of his work. I think that describes most pastry chefs!!! Activate your yeast with the milk and sugar and mix all the ingredients together. We leave the mix running in this particular machine for 7 minutes.

Its really important to get the right butter. Margarine wont incorporate well enough and you end up with an oily croissant.

 Cut the dough into 5 equal pieces and then using a dough break or a rolling pin and a really keen eye, roll flat and turn twice to start adding layers to the dough.

 At this point the dough returns to the fridge for 5 hours for the butter to incorporate. Once incorporated return to the dough break or marble slab and roll again

 Its at this point you add the last lot of butter, ever wondered why they tasted so good!!! 500g per 1.8kg of dough. Roll again to incorporate the last lot of butter and then cut into triangles to roll the croissants. As with most doughs and particularly ones with fresh yeast its important to keep them cold as possible whilst your working with them.

 Roll the croissants up and either stock them or allow them to prove. We have a fridge set at 14c and a prover set at 55 so they can slowly rise over night and then get a final blast before baking.

Eggwash goes on just before the oven.

Cook at 180c for about 10-12 mins your looking for a golden colour and cooked all the way through, or they'll sink again.

Im pretty happy with my first attempt, nice and crusty and a good flavour. Croissants from scratch Done!!!

Working with local produce

 Its a fishermans dream here. In fact most of the guys I know here go off at the weekend and land enormous fish, personally I can catch them with my hands. The Tuna I'm holding is around the 35kg mark and the season for this and local Lobster has just started. They are quite like a large crayfish in taste, no claws and the lack of any purification makes them quite earthy. They call this a red tuna (despite the yellow fins) The flesh is really light pink, some of the best tuna I've ever had.

Believe it or not this is local Asparagus! Bear in mind that the brat pan behind it is about 6ft wide!!! Bears little resemblance to any asparagus Ive eaten before. More like a palm heart really. Bastard to prep as there is loads of sharp shards to stick in your hands.

Below is Manioc, its made from manioc tuburcle, Ive yet to see how its made from scratch but comes in warm and I believe its fermented and then baked in its own leaves. It really is void of any taste but fills you up. If youve never tried manioc its like a sour taste with a rubbery texture.Each area of Gabon has a different manioc this is the Bateke Manioc of the Presidents region. I will do a separate blog on manioc as its such an integral part of the diet here. There also must be some other ways to eat it but the preference here is cold and sliced.

Sweet potato is great. Its the white variety rather than the bright orange one the Aussies put with everything. Local Avocados are the size of your fist and again really nice although they insist on bagging them in 15kg sacks which does nothing for the flesh.

Koumou is a local herb, it comes really finely shaved and usually served with a smoked chicken and peanut sauce. One of my favorite local dishes.

Deep fried Bananas or Aloko, is more of a treat here. The younger green bananas are steamed or boiled.

Lastly Piedmont  super hot chillies much like a scotch bonnet. I couldn't understand how anyone could eat something as hot as this but after drinking Vin de palme you need something to take the taste away.
I've had a few ideas on how some of these flavours could work in a modern way, Nitro banane vapeur may be a bit of a way off but more to come..