elBulli Apple Mojito Sandwich

I am infatuated with the Apple Mojito sandwich from elBulli's 2011 season. It is a delicious methylcellulose foam that has been dehydrated to look like a baguette. According to the elBulli catalog,the meringue used to make the foam is made up of clarified apple juice, a methylcellulose slurry, wheat fiber, xanthan gum and powdered egg white. I have all the ingredients except wheat fiber... when I google for wheat fiber I get so many conflicting products that I am unsure what I should be using. Is this a grain? A "health" product powder? Is it ground up metamucil? Powdered wheatgrass? HELP?

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grandpa.yum

At first I thought flour but I think it's the fiber from wheat hulls and typically serves as a stabilizer. Dunno where to get it though and I think it comes in various grades?

also, do they specify what methycellulose they use? I remember several occasions when I first started experimenting with it where my results were not great because I was using F50 for everything

grandpa.yum

http://www.bobsredmill.com/wheat-bran.html perhaps this? the bran is the hull

tshewman

I looked for this recipe just the other day, but could not locate (?)

ttpoker

@Todd Shewman - the recipe is in book 6 of elBulli 2005-11 from Phaidon Publishing, it is "cocktail" #1671 http://www.phaidon.com/store/food-cook/elbulli-2005-2011-9780714865485/

@Jon_laur I was thinking the same thing, but I am not positive... the bran appears to be milled to large for the delicate nature of meringue that is required for this dish.

They use their own Albert y Ferran Adria Texturas brand of Methylcellulose of course which I believe is F50.

tshewman

@Inthecards - thanks. It's on my list. :-) The Texturas product is called Metil and is desribed as having a low viscosity as is F50 and Methylcellulose LV. Though specifics are not known (or rather I do not know the specific differences). How are they using the wheat fiber? That may help in determining the appropriate product.

ttpoker

Todd Shewman this is a shortened version of the instructions. I left out unnecessary details and focussed just on the meringue.

Create a methylcell slurry base
Clarify apple juice
Create a meringue base by combining 40g methylcell slurry, 300g clarified apple juice, 10g wheat fiber, .8g Xantha (xanthan gum), and 20g powdered egg white. Process, then refrigerate for 4 hours. Mix 250g of the base at low speed for 10 mins. When it begins to form stiff peaks, increase the speed for another 10 mins. Turn up the speed one more time for 10 extra mins. Add the remaining 50g of the base, and whip for 5 more mins.
Pipe, dehydrate at 40c for 24 hours

The instructions say to dissolve the wheat fiber in the apple juice, this means the Bob's Red Mill wheat bran is off the table, that can't be dissolved. I'm beginning to think metamucil might be what they used ;-)

PS: powdered egg white is quickly becoming my most favorite "powder", its so versatile!

tshewman

I Would presume it's close to http://www.watson-inc.com/stabilizers_white_wheat_fiber.php as the water solubility actually seems lower than other fibers (e.g. bran) but small enough to be soluble and work in such a recipe. That said, I suspect (given the author and work), it might be http://www.modernistpantry.com/texturas-trisol.html as it is fiber derived specifically from wheat. JMHO.

ttpoker

@Todd Shewman I don't think it is Trisol, typically the book uses the Catalan language / Texturas names for products they sell. I would expect them to list Trisol instead of Wheat Fiber, much as the authors listed Xantana instead of Xanthan Gum and Metil instead of Methylcelulose.

With that said, the description of Trisol says that it is a "a cost effective substitute for fiber supplements such as Benefiber." That may be a hint that Trisol or Benefiber will work?

PS: I found out that Metil is actually Low Viscocity Methylcelulose E461. I don't know if this is easily interchangeable with F50. F50 has a viscocity of 50cps, Methylcelulose LV has a viscosity of 450 cps.

tshewman

@Inthe cards - that would make sense (gee now I really have to get the book(s)..). Thanks for the info on the Metil. What's interesting is I've used it to make a beet juice meringue, but it did call for beating MUCH longer than anticipated. If I recall, listening to one of Ferran's chef's they said the same thing happened for the apple mojito (one of the harvard lectures) so I didn't think of it at the time. But your explanation of the F50 makes sense from a didactic perspective. I will probably order some F50 and test. Thanks!! Please keep us informed of the progress.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

I had a version of this at L2O in Chicago and it was amazing. A quick question for someone with the cookbooks: what's in the filling? My guess was that it was set with agar, but it'd be great to know what's really in it.

ttpoker

@Brandon Byrd The filling is cored apples juiced after sitting in water with ascorbic acid, 40% white rum, mint leaves and xanthan gum poached in liquid nitrogen. No agar setting needed, it is a semi-frozen filling.

ttpoker

Slightly off topic, but I thought I would share that my experience making Methylcelulose dehydrated meringues has so far been mostly filled with failures. Until today. I made a few modifications to the basic procedures that I typically use after exploring this Apple Mojito recipe.

1) Whip in multiple stages, for MUCH longer than I would have done in the past. I whipped for 40 mins total, slowly increasing the speed of the mixer

2) Withhold a small amount of the Methylcelulose base until the last 10 mins of whipping, this helps to assure the structure of the foam is strong and slightly "tacky"

3) Dehydrate for lower temperatures than you would have assumed. Methylcelulose F-50 gels around 145F, so I tried temps in the range of 135-155 with nothing but failure. Today I switched to 110F for a 24 hour period, the dehydration is not done yet but everything is looking good so far, none of the foams collapsed, a skin formed on the outside of each meringue before the center started to dry, and the structure is fundamentally the same as when I shaped the foam.

4) My dehydrator comes with fruit leather plastic trays, I tried to use these originally but they encourage the foam to turn mack to its liquid state before dehydrating. I am currently testing a mix of paraflex sheets and parchment paper, both with and without PAM non-stick spray coating to see if that helps the dehydrated meringue separate from the sheet better once completed. I've had so much failure, its nice to see a possible sucess within reach! I am not out of the woods yet, but I can finally see the clearing in the distance.

tshewman

@inthecards, VERY nice work!! FWIW the extended time of Whipping is what I experienced and waht was expressed in the videos I watched (unfortunate you had to go through it via experience but very valuable). I use the dehydrators trays that came with the L'equip (waffled) and didn't use any other and meringue held up fairly well (66C). I ponder if going slightly higher (??) would also have worked for you. I'm really not sure, but I was lucky on my first attempt (which makes me worry about my next). Thanks so much for sharing the details!

ttpoker

I have a L'equip as well. Love the control it offers, HATE the lack of silpats that are designed to fit. I'm going to look into making custom silicone mats, crossing my fingers that will work.

Bill_Colsher_84333

Very late to the party here, but the Wheat Fiber used in this recipe (and other el Bulli recipes) is what they call Trisol and is actually wheat dextrin. In the USA unflavored Benefiber is 100% wheat dextrin. You can get a kilo of Trisol from Amazon for about $25 - significantly cheaper than buying Benefiber at the drug store.