CORN CAKE
Serves 6
This preparation celebrates the flavor of corn. First, freeze-dried corn is baked into a bite-sized cake. Then gooey corn caramel is piped into the center. Crisp on the outside and moist on the inside, the cake is topped with a feather-light lemongrass foam, prepared using a technique for making flavored air pioneered by Ferran Adrià. The dish is rounded out with a drizzle of blackberry puree and garnished with blackberry drupelets.
Drupelets are the individual vesicles in the fruit that hold the seed. They are like a natural fruit caviar, and their bitterness is a wonderful complement to the sweet corn cake. To separate the drupelets, blackberries are frozen in liquid nitrogen and then shaken. This technique-driven dish is a wonderful way to bring together the summer ingredients of blackberries and corn.
CORN CARAMEL:
175 grams sugar
175 grams light corn syrup
140 grams unsalted butter, melted
30 grams freeze-dried corn kernels (see Sources, here)
2.5 grams salt
125 grams whole milk
225 grams heavy cream
CORN CAKE:
175 grams (about 4 large) egg whites
175 grams confectioners’ sugar
175 grams unsalted butter
90 grams all-purpose flour
30 grams freeze-dried corn kernels (see Sources, here)
20 grams wheat starch (see Sources, here)
3 grams salt
BLACKBERRY PUREE:
400 grams blackberries
100 grams water
50 grams sugar
20 grams fresh lemon juice
1 gram xanthan gum (see Sources, here)
LEMONGRASS AIR:
250 grams water
1½ lemongrass stalks, bulb and tough outer leaves removed, finely chopped
10 grams sugar
0.5 gram salt
0.3 gram saffron
0.27 gram xanthan gum (see Sources, here)
0.8 gram Versawhip (see Sources, here)
BLACKBERRY DRUPELETS:
100 grams blackberries
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT:
Six 2-inch ring molds
Liquid nitrogen (see Sources, here)
Insulated container or dewar
CORN CARAMEL:
Put the sugar, corn syrup, melted butter, freeze-dried corn, and salt in a blender. Puree the mixture for 30 seconds, until smooth. Put the milk in a medium saucepot and add the sugar mixture. Stir to blend, set over medium-low heat, and cook, undisturbed, until the mixture reaches 240°F. Remove from the heat and add the cream. Return to medium heat and bring the mixture back up to 240°F.
Pour the caramel into a heatproof container to cool, and, when cool, transfer the caramel to a squeeze bottle.
CORN CAKE:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Cut six 2-inch circles out of parchment paper. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Spray the insides of the ring molds with cooking spray and set them on the prepared sheet pan. Put 1 parchment circle in the bottom of each ring mold. Reserve.
Whip the egg whites and the confectioners’ sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk on high speed until the mixture just forms stiff peaks. Melt the butter in a small saucepot set over low heat. Put the flour, freeze-dried corn, wheat starch, and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Add the melted butter to the bowl and whisk to make a paste. Use a rubber spatula to fold the whipped egg whites into the flour paste in 3 stages, just until the batter is mixed together. Spoon the batter into the ring molds, filling them just over halfway with the batter. Any extra batter can be baked off in a small, greased baking pan and eaten. Bake the individual cakes for 5 minutes. Use the squeeze bottle to fill the center of each cake with about 1 tablespoon of Corn Caramel. Rotate the tray and bake another 5 to 7 minutes, until the cakes are cooked through and feel firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature. Once cool, remove the cakes from the ring molds and pull the parchment paper off the bottoms of the cakes. Reserve at room temperature until ready to plate.
BLACKBERRY PUREE:
Put the blackberries, water, sugar, lemon juice, and xanthan gum in a blender and puree for 1 minute, until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve and transfer to a squeeze bottle.
Reserve in the refrigerator until ready to plate.
LEMONGRASS AIR:
Put the water, lemongrass, sugar, salt, and saffron in a blender and puree for 1 minute, until smooth. Leave covered and let the mixture macerate at room temperature for 1 hour.
Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve and reserve the liquid. Put the liquid back in the blender and add the xanthan gum and Versawhip. Blend on high speed for 1 minute to incorporate. Transfer the lemongrass mixture to a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip until it forms stiff peaks. Reserve until ready to plate.
BLACKBERRY DRUPELETS:
Fill an insulated container or dewar with liquid nitrogen. Add
the blackberries to the nitrogen and keep submerged until they stop bubbling. Remove the blackberries from the nitrogen and put them in a bowl. Cover the bowl with another bowl of the same size, and shake the bowls together to break apart the drupelets. Reserve the drupelets in a covered container in the freezer until ready to serve.
TO FINISH:
Squeeze 15 grams of Blackberry Puree in several dots across each plate. Put 2 grams of Blackberry Drupelets on top of each dot. Put a Corn Cake in the center of each plate. Top each cake with 5 grams of Lemongrass Air. Serve immediately.
