Methylcellulose

A very effective thickening agent which displays unique gelling properties in that it gels on heating and melts on cooling, in the opposite way to gelatine. In addition, methylcellulose can act as an emulsifier and be used to form foams, mousses and edible films.
What is it?
Methylcellulose is synthetically produced by heating cellulose – derived from [...]

Sodium Alginate

A thickening and gelling agent that forms heat stable gels in the presence of calcium. This property allows cooks to make small gelled spheres, in a technique known as spherification. Sodium alginate has been used in the food industry for many years for the production of gel-like foods – for example, the pimento stuffing in [...]

Agar

Agar is a vegetarian gelling agent derived from dried seaweed. Although some agar is wild harvested, it is more commonly farmed commercially.

Like gelatine, agar is thermo-reversible but at much higher temperatures, and it has around 5 times the setting properties – so much less is needed. Unlike gelatine, agar sets at room temperature but will hold its shape when hot.

Carrot, coriander and parmesan

Heat the carrot juice and add the gellan, bring to the boil, whisking to incorporate the gellan. Pour into a mould and leave to set.

Melt the Parmesan cheese in a hot non-stick frying pan, remove and cut into strips. Leave to cool until they are crispy.

Pickled mackerel with beetroot jelly, rosemary and lemon

Salt the mackerel fillets, leave for 10 minutes then rinse and dry.

Heat the white wine vinegar, add the spices and sugar, bring to the boil then leave to cool. Strain and pour into a plastic container. Add the mackerel fillets and leave to pickle for 20 minutes.

Goat’s cheese, watercress and Beetroot jelly salad

Bring the beetroot juice to the boil, season with salt then add the gellan. Pour into moulds and leave to set.

Serve with thinly sliced goat’s cheese and watercress.

Rhubarb with vanilla emulsion

Cut the rhubarb into 3-4cm lengths and heat the butter and sugar together in a saucepan until it begins to foam. Add the rhubarb and cook for 2 minutes, turning halfway through. Add the orange juice and allow the rhubarb to cook until just tender. Remove from the pan and reduce the remaining liquid to a glaze.

Vanilla Custard

Add the vanilla bean and seeds to the milk, bring to a gentle boil and allow to infuse for ten minutes. Meanwhile in a heatproof bowl whisk the egg yolk with the sugar until it begins to turn a pale colour.

Pea Caviar

Blend the peas with the boiling water and sugar until very smooth. Check for seasoning. Add the sodium alginate and blend for another 30 seconds then pass through a fine meshed sieve into a container.

Basic milk gel

A simple flavoured milk gel can be made quickly and easily. Simply infuse the milk with the desired ingredient (sweet or savoury), add 1-1.5g iota Carrageenan per 100g of milk, bring to a gentle simmer, strain and cool.