Since there was a rather underwhelming lack of response to my last post, I asked myself this question: what do I want to cook? After a brief exploration into some of my recipes, I decided to make lemon curd. Lemon curd is a jam-like spread that is usually used on pastries in place of jelly. It's often characterized by its sweet and tangy flavor profiles.
But of course a modernist chef doesn't want to make traditional lemon curd, but how can you make a delicious spread all science-y? Well the molecular gastronomy chef tells us that we should either put something new in, or take something essential out.
So I made lemon curd without lemons.
No zest, no juice, and no lemons were harmed in the making of this curd.
So how did I do it? Well, I used a relatively traditional recipe but used an ingredient that provides the same flavor as lemon. What is it you ask? Well this is molecular gastronomy, of course its a small white crystalline powder with a chemical name! In this case, I used Citric Acid.
Citric acid is the compound that gives all citrus its tangy flavor. Except this stuff is highly concentrated. I only used about 4 grams to go with more than 10x that amount of egg yolks. The citric acid is dissolved in a sugar syrup and combined with cooked egg yolks (sous vide of course) and butter. Whip it all together and refrigerate, and you have Not-Lemon Curd!
Comment if you want the recipe!
Can citric acid be used in place of lemon, lime, and orange zest/juice? If it can, can you tell a difference? There is a distinct difference in taste between Limeade and Lemonade, but maybe that disappears in the baking process. I will have to try to make lime squares instead of lemon squares to test it out.
ReplyDeleteThe key difference between lemons and limes is the amount of sugar they contain. Limes contain more sugar than lemons, and a bit less citric acid. When I don't have lemons around the house I just dissolve some citric acid and water and you basically have instant lemon juice! I have made both lime and lemon squares actually and there's a slight difference due to the flavor of the limes, but usually not a difference in acidity.
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