“I once had a neck hernia. I hoped to have come up with many dishes while being ill, but the opposite was true. I had a complete block. Terrible. Just before I was fully healed I thought of a dish with oyster and foie gras. The final result looked horrendous, but the flavours were fantastic. The guests agreed. I decided to keep the recipe.
I had already invented a dish called ‘On The Rocks’ with pebbles of goats cheese and foie gras. While experimenting I replaced the goats cheese with the oyster, but that did not help, because not in every bite was an oyster. We could hardly fit 10 oysters on the plate. Then I poured the foie gras in an oyster mold. Foie gras in the shape of an oyster.
The recipe is an old-fashioned goose terrine, along with the oysters. The flavour combination of Gillardeau oyster and foie gras truly is perfect. The classic combination is with sherry, that’s why the foie gras oyster is placed on top of a crème of Olorosa. The sand is popped rice. We cook white and black rice and let it dry until it is rock hard. We fry the rice shortly and grind it to sand in a coffee grinder. We made the foam flakes from oyster liquid. That’s it.
For a little effect, the oyster is sprayed silver. The flowers are oyster flowers which actually taste like oyster. They are also called oyster leaves or Ankums Blauw.
The eyes are important for this dish. Our vision determines the taste. In my first version, the dish looked terrible but tasted good. Now the dish looks, if I may say so myself, pretty impressive and tasted likewise.”
Ingredients
Foie Gras
250ggoose expurgated
15 g Mac Vin
5 grams of cognac
2 grams of coloured salt
2 grams of salt
Sand
½ bag riso nero
½ bag of risotto
Ginger powder
Vinegar Powder
Salt
Cream of Olorosso
1 bottle sherry Olorosso
Oysters
Gillardeau oysters No. 2
Oyster Foam
Collect the oyster liquid and mix it with the remaining parts of the oyster (see above).
Pickled Sushi Ginger
20gpickled sushi ginger
Salicornia cress
1 cup samphire cress
Herbs
Ankums blue
Oyster leaves
Borage
Method
Foie Gras
Mix the foie gras, Vin Mac, cognac, salt and coloured salt together and draw vacuum. Place the foie gras in the roner at 52 degrees for 25 minutes. Hang the foie gras in a chinois until all the grease is gone and deposit it in a container to cool down. Insert the contents in a piping bag and knead so that the oyster shells can be filled. Place the molds in the chiller so that the shells harden for placement on the platter.
Then spray them silver with silver spray.
Sand
Boil the rice until fully cooked. Drain the rice and rinse well. Distribute the rice over several platforms and let it dry in the pass. When they are dry, the rice can be popped in oil at 200 degrees. Remove them from the oil almost immediately so that they are barely pupped. Chop the rice in a blender and create the ‘sand’. Flavour with vinegar powder, ginger powder and salt.
Cream of Olorosso
Reduce the Olorosso sherry to 1/4. Separate half of the reduced sherry. Add mascarpone and season with salt, lemon zest and juice.
Oysters
Put the oysters open and collect the moisture. Strain this liquid. Open the oysters and collect their moisture. Strain the liquid. Marinate the oyster with the Olorosso sherry. Remove the oyster, the remnants will be used for the foam. Cut the oysters in half.
Oyster Foam
Use the blender to make the mixture smooth. Add lecithine and salt water.
Pickled Sushi Ginger
Cut the ginger thin julienne
Beets
Boil the beets with salt, peppercorns, bay leaves and cooked beet juice. Peel the beets and draw the beetroots with sweet-and-sour vacuum for 1 day. Beat them into ‘rocks’ through the use of nitrogen.
Salicornia cress
Place 3 or 4 twigs on each plate.
Find out more about Chef Boer atrelaischateaux.com.