Immortal Technique

Peruvian chef Maria Jose Jordan, the only woman among the 20 finalists of the S.Pellegrino Young Chef 2015 award, got to the top final with a dessert called Immortal technique (Citrus, Rosemary, Gin), named after a Peruvian rapper and activist now a naturalized US citizen: «I identify myself with him – says the chef – I also had a strong desire to run away and go abroad and learn, understand». This dessert is a lime cake with grapefruit and yogurt ice cream and a gin foam: «For my dessert I made sure to pick the best and my favorite ingredients I could source here or elsewhere. Like Maras Salt, a pink variety of salt from salt mines in Cuzco, Arbequina Olive Oil from the south of Peru (Ica), Chulucanas Limes (peruvian limes) and Limas, easily available in any peruvian market, Citron Vinegar from Huilerie Beaujolaise in France, Ungava Premium Dry Gin (Quebec) or Hendrick’s gin (Scotland)».

Immortal Technique - Citrus, Rosemary, Gin

Recipe for 4 people 

INGREDIENTS   
For the Lime Grilled Cake
2 egg
2 yolk
200 g sugar
1 ½ tsp. salt
250 g extra virgin olive oil
Zest of 8 limes
50 g lime juice
200 g all-purpose flour
5 g rosemary (chopped)
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tbsp. chia
Olive oil for grilling

For the Rosemary Oil
90 g extra virgin olive oil
90 g rosemary (only the leaves)

For the Rosemary Oil Jam
1 egg yolk
20 g invert sugar
20 g glucose
3,6 g salt
90 g Rosemary Oil

For the White Grapefruit Frozen Yogurt
312 g Greek yogurt
26 g cream
120 g grapefruit Juice
5 g grapefruit zest
20,5 g milk powder
87,5 g dextrose
34 g sugar
0,6 g xanthan gum

For the Gin Foam
80 g water
0,4 g xanthan gum
1,2 g versa whip
20 g gin
30 g sugar

For the Lightly Pickled Lima (Citrus Limetta)
100 g water
70 g sugar
25 g white wine vinegar
12 g citron vinegar
200 g Lima
*Any other citrus should work as well, if you cannot find Lima (Lemon, Grapefruit, Kumquat, etc.)

For the Salt Wire
200 g water
25 g sugar
25 g glucose powder
5 g Salt
2 g low acyl gellan gum
Cooking spray

METHOD
For the Lime Grilled Cake
Preheat oven at 160°C. Mix flour and baking powder, sift to make sure you don’t get any lumps. Incorporate the chia to the dry mix and reserve. Whip the eggs and egg yolks with the sugar, salt, finely chopped rosemary and lime zest until the sugar dissolves completely or Ribbon stage is reached. Slowly add the the oil while still whipping so you allow the batter to emulsify. Add the Lime Juice, keep whipping. Incorporate the dry to the liquid all at once (Dump Method). Mix on low speed until is well combined. Do not over mix, or gluten might develop and you’re final result will be a tough cake. Pour the mix over a 9x13” cake pan. Bake for 45 minutes. Take out of the oven, allow to cool down, unmold.
Cut 2 cm thick slices. Then cut slices into 2cm x 7cm “sticks”. Use a cast iron pan to grill the cake portions: heat the pan up, brush with some olive oil, and grill one side of the cake until you get nice marks. Reserve. *Do not grill the other side of the cake, otherwise the charred flavor will be to overwhelming and it will interfere with the rest of the flavors of the dessert.

For the Rosemary Oil
Blend the rosemary and the oil for three minutes on high speed or until you get a paste. Put the paste in a sous vide bag. Cook with an immersion circulator: 70°C for 1 hour. Take out of the circulator after an hour and put in an ice bath to cool down fast. Pass through a chinois with a cheesecloth. Put in the freezer so the remaning water gets hard and separates from the oil. Once the water is frozen, pass again through a chinois with a cheesecloth, keeping just the oil. Reserve.

For the Rosemary Oil Jam
Put the egg yolk in a blender. Reserve. Mix sugars together in a pot. Boil for a minute. Start blending the yolk, slowly stream in sugar and the salt. Then stream in the oil, very slowly again, to create an emulsion. Cool down over an ice bath.

For the Frozen Yogurt
Make mixture with all the dry ingredients: milk powder, dextrose, sugar and xanthan gum. Reserve. Mix the yogurt, cream and zest in a blender. Stream in the lemon juice. Shear in the dry mix. Keep blending for at least 2 minutes until the xanthan gum fully hydrates. Strain through chinois to make sure you get a lump free mix. Churn and keep in the freezer.

For the Gin Foam
Pour water in a blender, start it to create a vortex. Shear in xanthan gum, let it blend for at least 2 minutes to make sure it is fully hydrated. Shear in versa whip, let it blend for a minute. Add sugar and gin. Keep blending until the sugar is dissolved. Pour on a mixing bowl and start whipping on high speed (approximately 5 minutes) until you reach a sort of Soft Peak consistency like you would with egg whites. Put inside a container and reserve in the fridge.

For the Lightly Pickled Lima
Peel Limas using a knife and cut into wedges. Reserve in a sterilized airtight container. Mix the liquid ingredients with the sugar in a pot. Heat the mixture up and let it boil for a minute. Pour the pickling liquid over the wedges, allow to cool down, close the container. Keep the pickled wedges in the fridge. Until ready to use. *Let pickle for at least two hours before serving.

For the Salt Wire
Use an x-acto knife or scissors to cut a piece of acetate that fits over a dehydrator tray. Lightly coat the acetate with cooking spray and remove the excess grease with paper towel. Tape the acetate sheet to the tray.
Mix 50 g of the water with the Salt. Put the rest of the water in a pot and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling pour in a blender and start the blender to create a vortex. Shear in the gellan gum and let it blend for 2 minutes. Shear in the sugars, keep blending for another minute or until they dissolve. Pour the remaining water mixed with the salt in the blender, let it mix for a few seconds and quickly transfer to an ice bath. *The sodium of the salt with instantly react with the gellan gum, causing the mix to set right away. This step must be done very fast. Allow to cool down and gel completely. Once it is gelled break into small pieces and put back in the blender. Blend until it turns into a fluid gel. Strain through a chinois into a half hotel pan and “Cryobag” enough times to get rid of any air bubbles. Once the gel is done, put inside a piping bag. Cut the tip of the piping bag big (1 mm diameter). Pipe continuous irregular lines resembling a wire. You should be able to get 9 “wires” (portions) on every tray. Put in the dehydrator at 60° C until they are dry (at least an hour and a half). When they are dry, take out of the dehydrator and cut the acetate so you get 9 different pieces, one for each wire. Preheat oven at 180°C. Once the oven is hot, place a piece of acetate with a wire on top and put inside of the oven for 1 or 2 minutes (do not let it get any color). The wire will become soft and you will be able to shape in any desire way by lifting them up from the acetate with your fingers or using a small offset spatula or tweezers. As you shape it, the wire will start cooling down and becoming hard again. Repeat with the 8 remaining wires. Reserve in an airtight container with silica gel.

PRESENTATION   
Paint the plate in any desire way with the Rosemary oil jam. You can do irregular lines letting it drip with a spoon, using a paint brush, etc. Place the cake on top of the Rosemary oil Jam. Using your fingers cut to irregular pieces of pickled Lima and place them next to the cake. Place a sorrel leave on top of each Lima. Put the Frozen Yogurt inside a piping bag with a star tip, pipe over an edge of the cake. Place the wire over the Frozen Yogurt, decorate with Fennel fronds and flowers (Rosemary, Basil and Oxalis). Finish with the gin foam next to the pickled Lima and some fennel flowers and tiny basil leaves.