We recently revisited our gellan encapsulation during a three-day workshop. Details on the technique are in the book, but in short, we use low acyl gellan to encapsulate ingredients with a delicate skin. Gellan has better flavor release and clarity than sodium alginate, and the ease of use is incredible. These balsamic bites were designed to be paired with a tomato salad but have a wide versatility in our kitchen, from floating in various dishes to sitting on top of beef carpaccio with first pickings from this season’s garden.
**Encapsulated Balsamic Vinegar:**
– 1500 grams water
– 7.5 grams low acyl gellan
– 0.75 grams sodium hexametaphosphate
– 130 grams balsamic vinegar
– 30 grams maple vinegar
– 70 grams maple syrup
– 6 grams soy sauce
– 100 grams water
– 1.7 grams salt
– 3.4 grams calcium gluconate
– 0.7 grams xanthan gum
– 250 grams olive oil
– 1 gram of lemon oil
Put the water in a blender and turn it on low. Increase the speed until a vortex forms in the water and sprinkle in the gellan and sodium hexametaphosphate. Increase the speed to medium-high and shear the mixture for 1 minute. Turn the blender off and pour the gellan thickened water into a 9×5 inch baking pan. Let the gellan bath set for 30 minutes to allow the air bubbles to dissipate, or put the loaf pan into a chamber vacuum machine and draw a vacuum on the mixture to extract the air bubbles.
Put the balsamic vinegar, maple vinegar, maple syrup, soy sauce, water, salt, and calcium gluconate into a blender and turn it on low. Increase the speed until a vortex forms in the liquid. Sprinkle the xanthan gum into the vinegar mixture and increase the speed to high to disperse and shear the xanthan gum into the vinegar. Blend the mixture for 30 seconds and then turn the blender off. Pour the vinegar mixture into a 9×5 inch loaf pan and cover it with plastic wrap. Put the loaf pan into a chamber vacuum machine and draw a vacuum on the mixture to extract the air bubbles. Pour the balsamic vinegar into hemisphere molds and freeze them.
Remove the half spheres from the molds and put 1/3 of them into the gellan bath and let them sit for 2 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the encapsulated balsamic from the gellan bath and put them into a bowl with clean water to rinse them off. Put the olive oil and lemon oil into a storage container. Remove the encapsulated balsamic from the rinsing bath and pat them dry, and put them into the olive oil. Repeat with the remaining frozen balsamic hemispheres.
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