Oysters and Pearls
When offered the opportunity to spend an evening eating oysters whilst learning a fancy 'cheffy' technique I jumped at the chance. Who wouldn't? Oysters.....mmmm, delicious, I can't understand why some people don't like them, I can eat them by the crate.
After a pleasant half hour learning about oysters whilst quaffing a glass of fizz (I told you this was good), I was given an oyster knife and a box of super fresh rock oysters to start prepping. I have done this before (with no training and a bottle opener, don't judge me) but it's a lot easier with a proper knife and a little know how. Oysters opened and elegantly displayed on a piles of sea salt mixed with a little egg white we moved on to make Bloody Mary 'pearls'. Now listen carefully, this is the science bit. We mixed some vodka with a solution of sodium alginate and then dropped this mix from a pipette into another solution of calcium lactate, creating little spheres of vodka which we then 'washed' in a Bloody Mary mix before serving with the oysters. More vodka tasting frogspawn than pearls but still pretty good and very fancy. I'm not sure I would try this at home, too much hassle to get the powders needed (OK, I supped too much free fizz to take proper notes) but really good fun and a whole load of oysters eaten in the process.
After a pleasant half hour learning about oysters whilst quaffing a glass of fizz (I told you this was good), I was given an oyster knife and a box of super fresh rock oysters to start prepping. I have done this before (with no training and a bottle opener, don't judge me) but it's a lot easier with a proper knife and a little know how. Oysters opened and elegantly displayed on a piles of sea salt mixed with a little egg white we moved on to make Bloody Mary 'pearls'. Now listen carefully, this is the science bit. We mixed some vodka with a solution of sodium alginate and then dropped this mix from a pipette into another solution of calcium lactate, creating little spheres of vodka which we then 'washed' in a Bloody Mary mix before serving with the oysters. More vodka tasting frogspawn than pearls but still pretty good and very fancy. I'm not sure I would try this at home, too much hassle to get the powders needed (OK, I supped too much free fizz to take proper notes) but really good fun and a whole load of oysters eaten in the process.
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