Cuisine Noire

[Brett GoldmanParticipant]

hey …love love love this site …admit I am more of a molecular voyeur than an active participant…right now I have no kitchen at all…( yes feel my pain) …but soon I shall

ok my question perhaps a little facile but I have always thought about a creating a menu which is entirely black….perhaps accented with colour
1) any ideas
2) squid ink risotto looks awful, like an oil slick
3) how would one combat the “appearance ” of everything being burnt ?

[Quantum ChefKeymaster]

Hi Brett, glad you like the site! You got me thinking here…

You can make some good stuff with squid ink, but you can’t use it for everything or your guests are going to hate it for the rest of their lives!

There are plenty of other ingredients you could use that are black such as black garlic, black quinoa, black lentils, black mushrooms, black wild rice, blackberries, black beans, licorice root, dark chocolate, vegetable ash, morcilla, black figs, nori, caviar, black truffles.

You can also use food grade edible charcoal powder to give the color to other foods. You can cover some foods with a black kappa carrageenan gel, such as the licorice poached salmon from Heston Blumenthal.

Adding some edible flowers that contrast with the black could help with the presentation.

I hope you get a kitchen soon!

Bests,
QC

[Javier RodriguezParticipant]

Hi Brett and QC:
A black menu sounds interesting. What about a black cocktail together with the appetizer?
For presentation I agree with QC, it would be interesting to add a brigth colour to contrast with the black. Doesn´t have to be visible prima facie, the colour could be hidden under something black to be discovered with the first bite.
It comes to my mind a black ravioli with a brigth orange pumkin filling; or a very green pistachio pudding hidden under a black bittersweet cocoa Soil for dessert.

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[Brett GoldmanParticipant]

you guys are amazing !!….
ok I found out about something called black sesame which can be used for icecreams and dessert things like cheesecakes and tuiles
I found a brilliant picture on this very sight of squid ink foam …
I also started researching wontons how to make my own cause then i could experiment with making them black …I have seen ravioli which look great Im not a big fan of ravioli I find the texture off putting it is sort of uniformly squishy if you know what I mean where as a wonton can be fried an made crispy on the outside with a bright filling like Javier suggested

I also thought …because I think some scientific techniques and presentations is what could elevate a monochromatic menu to a thing of beauty and not just a never ending series of black mush…e…the one thing in my head is maybe like a very clear broth saffron or something with a delicate colour …with clear gelatin olive oil ravioli ( can these be made crispy ? ) filled with say two kinds of caviar like a black olive jus caviar and balsamic vin caviare ??

these are squid ink bread sticks wrapped in smoked salmon

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[Brett GoldmanParticipant]

this is grey I know but …black sesame cheesecake…..it looks like stone which is nice

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[Javier RodriguezParticipant]

Nice!, why dont we try to think one idea, and each one of us make a interpretation of it?, would be awesome to see the different interpretations.

[Quantum ChefKeymaster]

Brett, just realized you can also make the black sesame sponge cake http://www.molecularrecipes.com/foams/black-sesame-sponge-cake-miso/

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[Quantum ChefKeymaster]

Just found this one. Says it is all edible but no details unfortunately.

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