Serves 6
This dish started when I wondered: What if you could build an oven that changed shape around the food whenever you wanted it to?
At Moto, we learned about aerogel, a polymer made from silica. NASA has been putting it in its satellites to collect comet dust, and it has an amazing ability to hold and retain heat on its surface without letting the heat spread through the interior. I realized that aerogel’s heat retaining properties could cook a piece of fish in front of a guest and keep the seafood hot while the outside stayed cool to the touch. I found some aerogel on eBay one day, and made a cooking box with it. The clear aerogel allows you to witness the cooking process at the table.
For this dish, I made a Japanese preparation of salted kombu stock to replicate ocean water. Then I made a flavorful broth with spices, aromatics, and garlic, which produces a Vietnamese-style fish broth. While straining the broth and filleting the fish, you thermally charge the aerogel box. Once it’s hot, the inner walls radiate heat from all sides to maintain the temperature, while the outside of the box stays at room temperature. We steam the fish inside the box at the table and the diners become engaged in the cooking process, witnessing the transformation of their food through the clear walls.
Of course, this is nearly impossible to replicate in a home kitchen. The best alternative would be to set up a small steamer on the table and cover the top with plastic wrap so you can watch the cooking process. It won’t be exactly the same as what you would experience at the restaurant, but your guests would still be able to witness the transformation of the fish—and to think about heat as a medium for the transformation of food, not just as the process of cooking—while savoring the aromas, and then enjoying a delicious dish.
900 grams water
75 grams salt
30 grams kombu
125 grams sugar
75 grams ginger, sliced
50 grams lemongrass, bulb and tough outer leaves removed, sliced
20 grams shallot, sliced
10 grams garlic
900 grams water, divided
10 grams salt
20 grams fresh lime juice
20 grams jalapeño, sliced
Six 4-inch-long sheets (120 grams) kombu
1000 grams water
Vietnamese-Style Broth
450 grams sea bass
Salt for seasoning
6 Sawagani crabs
Bamboo steamer
Butcher’s twine
Portable burner (optional)
Put the water, salt, and kombu in a medium pot and set over medium heat. Bring to a boil, remove from the heat, cover tightly with a lid or with plastic wrap, and let steep for 20 minutes. Strain, discarding the kombu, chill, and reserve the “Ocean Water” in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use, up to 24 hours.
Put the sugar in a medium pot and set over medium heat. Stir with a spoon just until the consistency resembles wet sand. Cook, occasionally swirling the pot to mix the sugar, until it turns a light amber color. Immediately add the ginger, lemongrass, shallot, garlic, and 200 grams of water. The caramel may seize around the aromatics and solidify a bit but it will melt out as you cook the mixture. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes to soften the aromatics and let them infuse into the sugar.
Add the remaining 700 grams of water, increase the heat to medium, and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat to hold a rapid simmer and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, 10 to 15 minutes. Strain and use immediately or chill and reserve the Vietnamese-Style Broth in the refrigerator until you are ready to braise the kombu, up to 24 hours.
About an hour before you want to make the Braised Kombu, put the kombu in a shallow container and place in cold water to soak for 1 hour. The kombu will soften and become pliable.
Preheat the oven to 300°F.
Transfer the kombu to a cutting board and pat dry with paper towels. Stack the 6 pieces on top of each other and roll them tightly into a log. Starting at one end and spacing each knot about 1 inch apart, use 4 pieces of butcher’s twine to tie the log together. Put the kombu in a small, deep pot and cover with Vietnamese-Style Broth. Set over medium-high heat, cover, and bring to a boil. Transfer to the oven and let the kombu braise for 2 hours, until the texture resembles al dente pasta.
Remove the pot from the oven and allow it to cool completely at room temperature, about an hour. Remove the Braised Kombu from the pot and reserve the broth. Use scissors to cut off the butcher’s twine and, keeping the kombu rolled in a log, slice it into ¼-inch pieces, leaving them rolled up, and use immediately. Alternatively, you can store them, still rolled up, lying on their cut sides in the broth in a covered container in the refrigerator until ready to use, up to 24 hours.
Thirty minutes before you plan to serve the dish, place the polymer box in a preheated 500°F oven to thermally charge.
To finish, put the Braised Kombu in a pot with its braising liquid, set over medium heat, and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and keep warm. Put the sea bass on a cutting board and divide it into 6 equal pieces. Season with salt and set aside on a plate.
Take the polymer box out of the oven and pour 200 grams of “Ocean Water” in the bottom. Fit a screen into the box over the water. Lay the sea bass and crabs on the screen and cover with the polymer box lid. Set a timer and steam for 10 minutes. The sea bass will turn translucent and the crabs will be perfectly cooked. After 7 minutes, put 2 or 3 pieces of kombu in the center of a shallow bowl, ladle 30 grams of the braising liquid into the bowl, repeat with the 5 remaining bowls, and then set 1 in front of each guest. When the timer goes off, lift the lid off the box and place 1 piece of bass and 1 crab on top of the kombu on each plate.
Alternatively, put the “Ocean Water” in the bottom of a steamer and set over medium heat. You can use a portable burner set in the middle of your table to bring the experience into your dining room. Bring the “Ocean Water” to a simmer and then reduce the heat to hold the liquid just below a simmer. It should produce a very gentle steam. Place the steaming rack over the “Ocean Water” and put the sea bass and crabs on the rack. Cover the top tightly with plastic wrap and use a cake tester or toothpick to poke several holes in the top to allow some steam to escape. Set a timer and steam for 10 minutes; the fish will turn opaque and firm up and the crabs will be perfectly cooked.
Remove the tray from the steamer and set on a cutting board. Put 30 grams of the braising liquid in the bottom of 6 shallow soup bowls. Put 2 or 3 pieces of Braised Kombu in the center of each bowl, creating a small platform. Put the steamed sea bass on top of the Braised Kombu and top with a Sawagani crab. Serve immediately.