Morels, Truffles..

I ended up with some dried morels when I went shopping for mushrooms a few months back in a bid to try incorporating mushrooms in my desserts. Locally known as gucchi, these aesthetic mushrooms were the least easy to incorporate, as experience dictates... I had seen shimeji, shiitake and gorgeous truffles being turned into almost empyruematic, earthy desserts, some even introducing warmth to an otherwise fresh dish. But morels... incited a near aversion in me to them. Many new forms of expression out of disgust were discovered during the process. Overcoming an aversion seems to be more satisfying than gulping down gratifying creme caramels at 3 in the morning as you fight the urge to sleep. A semi helpful note- try eating a new food sans manipulation, even if that means burning a hole in your pocket.

I can hardly forget how something so amazing as morels cooked in some butter ended up tasting like burnt charcoal paper- a result of me trying to drying them post cooking. Regardless, I simply could not convince myself to surmount my disinclination towards its texture. Unsurprisingly, dried morels behaved significantly different than the fresh ones. The key to well cooked dried morels heavily relies on the hydration time before cooking. Then there's also the dirt to deal with, I wonder if they were picked from the beach. Occasional agitation during hydration does the needful.

Seemingly, pureeing was my last resort. Some cream, some meringue. Light, outspoken and great texture! However, a mousse wasn't going to suffice.

I seized the opportunity of using the white truffle oil I've had in my pantry. I've noticed while trying to incorporate unconventionals, usually salted caramel and/ or chocolate come to the rescue. Deciding to test my hypothesis, the truffle was added to an a la minute ganache (That happens to be my favorite stage of ganache crystallization)  and paired it with a salted caramel and clotted cream gelato. Did I mention I 'harvest' my own clotted cream? Goodbye UHT!

A little footnote about caramel- surely cooking sugar causes dehydration of sugar. The result is somewhat like concentrating carbon leading to a different and more difficult metabolization than sugar, making it unhealthier than table sugar. Not that I intend to be a nutritionist, I find composition and effects of food significant for the same reason most of us don't enjoy ice cream with a humongous amount of air. Kind of like biting into a choux without cream. Just some of the perks of studying science.

To underscore the flavors, I introduced nuances of tea and coffee in the texturals of the dessert.
The tea meringue in particular offers a felling similar to chewing tea leaves without the harsh bitterness. I achieved this by boiling down my tea infusion to almost obtain a concentrate so as to not compromise the desired texture of the meringue.

Acidity is another parameter to achieve equipoise in the dish. A blood lime did the job, juice sacks with its pectiny walls almost mimicking a sour, vibrant caviar. More on them in another post.

Morel Mousse, Salted Caramel and Clotted Cream Gelato, Black Tea Meringue, Baileys Pastry, A La Minute White Truffle Ganache, Pan cooked Morels and Blood Lime