Watch and learn as Rudakova breaks down the simple steps, showing how easy it is to make a cube of wonders at home. To see more videos and fine dining creations from Natalia Rudakova, visit her Youtube channel and follow her on Instagram.
Transparent Cheese & Tomato Cube - The Secrets of Fine Dining by Natalia Rudakova
18 Oct 2021
Ingredients
Water: 500 ml
Parmesan cheese: 200g Parmesan rinds
White peppercorns: 10
Bay: 1 leaf
Agar agar: 2.5 gr
White wine: 20g Dry white wine
Vegetable oil: 500g
Thyme: 5 sprigs
Garlic: 5 cloves
Cherry tomatoes: 200 g
Calcium lactate: 6g
Water: 1 litre
Sodium alginate: 5g
Salt: 1/8 tsp
Learn how to make a transparent 'Cube of Wonders' packed with the flavours of Parmigiano and tomato, with chef Natalia Rudakova.
Natalia Rudakova is the host of The Secrets of Fine Dining series by Fine Dining Lovers, bringing you incredible tips and tricks, straight from the chef’s kitchen, to level up your fine-dining cooking techniques and plating skills.
If you enjoyed the fine-dining trend for transparent food, you'll love this transparent cube of cheese broth complete with a tangy tomato sphere suspended in the centre, which can be eaten either cold or hot. Prepare to be amazed as she highlights some incredible, yet simple, molecular gastronomy and fine-dining techniques, which you can re-create at home.
Method
01.
To make the cheese broth:
Add water, Parmesan rinds, peppercorns and bay leaves to a pot. Bring the mix to simmer and cook for about 20-30 min, in order to properly infuse the water with the cheese and other aromatics.
02.
Pour in the wine and simmer for an additional 2 min.
03.
The cheese broth is ready. Strain it through a cheesecloth and transfer the broth to a clean pot.
04.
Whisk agar agar powder into the cheese broth and bring to a simmer for about 1-3 min, while continuously whisking.
Let the mix cool down a little bit.
05.
To make the tomato sphere:
Confit the tomatoes by submerging them in the oil and aromatics (thyme, garlic, salt, etc.), and cooking at 100°C for about 20-30 mins.
06.
Cool down the mix and fish out the tomatoes. Transfer the remaining flavoured oil to a glass jar or an airtight container (once properly cooled down) and keep in the fridge for your future culinary endeavours.
07.
Juice the tomatoes.
08.
Blend the confit tomato juice with calcium lactate, and transfer to a squeeze bottle.
09.
Meanwhile, blend water with sodium alginate.
10.
Prepare 3 baths: 1 with sodium alginate mix; and 2 more with clean room-temp. water.
11.
Pour the tomato mix into a tsp. And drop into the sodium alginate bath. The tomato juice will start to spherify, forming a thin coating on the outside. This process is called reverse spherification and is widely used in fine-dining.
12.
Once the tomato sphere is formed, transfer it to a water bath to clean off some of the sodium alginate, and then to a second water bath for keeping purposes.
13.
Place the tomato spheres on parchment paper and freeze.
14.
To assemble the Cube of Wonders:
Pour the cheese broth mix into the cubical moulds, about 3/4 full.
15.
Dip the frozen tomato sphere into the cube filled with warm broth.
16.
Once in contact with the frozen sphere, the broth will start to slowly solidify, while as the tomato juice inside the frozen sphere will melt.
17.
Serve these 'Cubes of Wonder' at a temp. no higher than 85°C, i.e. you can serve them either cooled down (fridge temp.) or warm.
