Encapsulated Olive Oil
A modernist, molecular gastronomy style technique, originally created by Chef José Andrés, these little bon bons are made by trapping olive oil inside a thin layer or isomalt candy. Difficult and finicky to make but with stunning results. These are hard to keep for service and can't really be stored for long so it is best to make right before serving. If you can keep your isomalt held at 140 C then you can make them on the spot.
Ingredients
- isomalt
- water
- olive oil
Instructions
- Using the technique that comes originally from Chef Jose Andres, Today I’m showing you how to make encapsulated olive oil. to start off, you’ll need some isomalt. Isomalt is a sugar substitute that resists crystallization really well and its also not as affected by moisture as regular sugar. Because of this it’s what’s typically used in sugar sculpture and sugar blowing so that’s what we’ll be using today.
- Get your isomalt into a pot and you can heat it just as is but I like to add just a tiny touch of water until it looks like damp sand just to help it heat through evenly.
- Make sure you have a thermometer handy and cook this on medium low until it reaches 330 F or 165 c then remove from the heat and set aside to cool until it reaches
- While that is cooling, I’m going to place some olive oil into a squeeze bottle and lay out a silicone mat or silpat.
- Once the isomalt has come down to 285 °F or 140 °C, grab a round metal cutter, dip it into the pot and gently pull up so that there is a clear, thin layer of the isomalt across the base. Then immediately take your squeeze bottle and pour some olive oil into the mold. The isomalt will encapsulate the olive oil and drop onto your silicone mat. To get the long tail effect, let the isomalt drag down and slowly pull your hand up giving it time to cool in place.
- If you want you candies to be perfectly round you can drop them into a bowl of cold olive oil but I don’t mind mine having a flat base.