Tea and Milk

This is another work in progress. What we have made is a hot jelly base of sweet milk flavored with Lapsang Souchong tea. The goal is to mimic the texture of a chilled custard while serving it hot. The smoky notes of the tea are held in check by the rich sweet milk. An important concept in putting this base together was finding a balance between sweet and savory. While the milk jelly is sweet, it is certainly not milk jam. Similarly, it is not purely savory; there is definitely a hint of sweetness to balance out the flavors. Thus, this base can work in both worlds depending on its final application.

One avenue is to serve it in Meyer lemon consomme with leaves of claytonia and crab meat, while another avenue would present the jelly topped with avocado and served with tea tree scented scallops. Yet another would be serving it as a warm terrine with tart cherry-jalapeno crisps and ginger salt. As always, our concepts are varied, and it will be up to both of us to evolve and to execute these ideas.