I would highly recommend WHITE MISO SAUTERNES BRAISED COD. It’s not that often once can get a recipe from a chef with 2 Michelin stars, jury member of Canadian Master-Chef show and an owner of the extremely popular Bo Innovations in Hong-Kong.
The appearance of the dish is deceiving, making you believe it’s a dessert. It will definitely touch your feelings. And will dramatically change your perception of food for sure. Believe me.
Method
- Soak the gelatine leaves in a bowl of iced water for 5 minutes (if using powder, sprinkle it over 2 tbsp cold water instead).
- Pour 100 ml of the sake into a small saucepan and simmer it for about 5 minutes, until reduced by half.
- Take the pan off the heat and add the remaining 100 ml of sake and the mirin.
- Squeeze the water out of the gelatine leaves (or tip in the soaked powder) and stir it into the warm liquid until completely dissolved.
- Pour the mixture into the lined dish; it should be about 1.5 cm deep.
- Refrigerate the jelly for at least 3 hours, until firm.
- For the sauce, simmer the wine in the second saucepan for 3–4 minutes, until reduced by a third.
- Take the pan off the heat, add the saffron and whisk in the miso until smooth.
- Let the sauce cool to room temperature.
- Pat the cod portions dry and put them in zip-lock bags in a single layer, one or two portions per bag.
- Spoon 2 tablespoons of the sauce over each portion and keep the rest for serving.
- Lower each open bag into a bowl of water so the pressure pushes the air out, then seal it.
- Fill the large pot with water and heat it to 60°C (140°F), checking with the thermometer.
- Put the bags into the pot and clip them to the side so they stay under water; the water will drop to about 58°C (136°F).
- Cook for 18–20 minutes, keeping the water between 57 and 59°C (135–138°F) by adjusting the heat or adding a splash of cold water.
- Check a portion through the bag: the cod is ready when it is opaque all the way through and separates into flakes under light pressure.
- While the cod cooks, lift the jelly out of the dish by the cling film and cut it into 1.5 cm cubes.
- Warm the remaining sauce over low heat without letting it boil.
- Place each portion of cod in a shallow bowl, spoon over the warm sauce and set a few cubes of sake jelly around it.
- Miso sauternes:
- Reduce white wine by ⅓.
- Whisk in miso and saffron.
- Sake jelly:
- Reduce 500ml sake by ½ and burn off the alcohol.
- Add in the rest of the sake and mirin.
- Soak gelatine in ice water for 5 minutes.
- Mix gelatin in while mirin and sake still warm.
- Pour into siphon.
- Charge with 1 soda charge and chill.
- Spary onto tray. Leave to set. Then cut into cubes.
- Cod:
- Divide into four even portions.
- Sous vide with the saffron miso sauce at 58 degrees Celsius for 18 minutes.
What we changed for home
- Siphon-aerated sake jelly replaced with a jelly set in a shallow dish Without a siphon and gas chargers the same sake and mirin mixture sets in the fridge and is cut into cubes. It is denser than the sprayed version but has the same flavour.
- Gelatine raised to about 2% of the liquid (the original is about 1.6%) Jelly that is not aerated needs a little more set to hold clean cubes.
- Sous vide at 58°C (136°F) replaced with zip-lock bags in a pot of water at 57–59°C (135–138°F) The cod only needs 18–20 minutes, short enough to hold the temperature on the stove with a thermometer, a low flame and a splash of cold water.
- Flambéing the sake ('burn off the alcohol') replaced with a 5-minute simmer Simmering drives off most of the alcohol without an open flame in a home kitchen.
- Batches scaled down: 250 ml of jelly instead of about 1.5 litres, half the miso sauce The original quantities are far more than four portions use.
- Sauternes can be any sweet late-harvest white wine (Muscat, late-harvest Riesling) Sauternes is expensive and the sauce needs only 125 ml; any honeyed dessert wine gives the same note.
The dish in the photograph was cooked by the restaurant for this story. Photo: Oleksandr Slyadnyev.
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