We have a product that’s increasingly in vogue, very strange and innovative: maltodextrin.
Maltodextrin is a completely natural product. Specifically, a sweet carbohydrate obtained from cornstarch (also from wheat or barley) and usually found in the form of a creamy white powder.
It is digested more slowly than glucose and is therefore used as a sports supplement to attain more power when performing extended exercises. Many foods for children contain maltodextrin.
It has one small drawback that should always be made clear. Despite its low sweetening power, it is not suitable for diabetics or people intolerant of malt, nor for people with coeliac disease, as maltodextrin derived from wheat or barley may contain traces of gluten.
It is used as a bulking agent (increasing volume), but can also absorb oil. In the food industry it is used in the preparation of beverages, dairy products, soups, candies...
We began to use it in a culinary way to make a kind of white powder flavoured with oil. We mixed maltodextrin with virgin olive oil at room temperature to make a preparation that serves as the bed to a lobster. Visually it is very pretty and it is completely edible, of course, and tastes very good because, like pasta or rice, it has a great ability to absorb everything it touches.
The dish is brought to the table as a white blanket beneath the lobster and, when placed before the diner, an aromatic broth is poured over the white background, making a pleasant sauce. The white powder goes transparent and instantly becomes a delicate sauce.
As I say, it is very beautiful and rich. This is the first recipe that we created using maltodextrin as an ingredient, but we continued researching to find other formulas that worked with it, such as the texture of the crab puffs or some figures in the form of dolmens that accompany a bird as glorious as the turtle-dove.
