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