On the note of Spain and gastronomy - while reading about the aforementioned event I won't be able to attend I stumbled across a great web-shop, la tienda del chef, loosely translated "The chef shop". This is a great playground for the hobby chef where you can find lot's of gadgets, hard to come by ingredients, chemicals and much more. The prices are a bit high, but where else can you buy a Pacojet, Ferran Adrias texturas, a gastrovac and ISI siphons in the same place?
My life tends to get in the way of my hobbies. I'd do almost anything to be at the Madrid Fusión next week, but there is no way I can put that before my family and job this year. Next year maybe....
Today I wanted to make cheese slices à la Heston Blumenthal that he used in his perfect hamburger recipe. Problem was that I had no sodium citrate laying around. What to do on a sunday morning when all shops are closed? Call your chemist buddy of course. After a few text messages and a quick call I was ready to make my own sodium citrate. Dead simple really:
- 19,2 g citric acid, dissolved in 200ml water at 25C
- 25,2 g sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), dissolved in 200ml water at 25C
Pour the sodium bicarbonate into the citric acid until the reaction stops (it fizzes like crazy)
Then you'll have 400ml sodium citrate solution. 16g solidified sodium citrate = 250 ml
