I just tried this cool technique for making what is essentially black garlic leather in the Eleven Madison Park cookbook. You take fermented black garlic cloves, pass them through a tamis or fine-meshed sieve, roll the puree between two pieces of greased parchment paper to about a 1/16-inch thickness, remove the top layer of paper and dry the mixture out in a very low oven or dehydrator. At 125°F for 5 hours, this batch was almost too dry, but will have its uses for sure. Next time I will try it slightly wetter, hopefully just dry enough to cut into shapes.

My first thought was how it would look cool draped over a piece of white fish and gently steamed, possibly with a delicate mousse between it and the fish. I put out the question on facebook to see what some chef friends might do with it and the best answer was from my friend Dave, sous chef at Hawksworth: “Bust that shit up, fine, but not too fine, roast russian garlic cloves, while they’re hot and still tacky, toss them through the shard powder (think about what that would look like). Two of those cloves on top of crispy skinned loup de mer (skin side up), bouillabaisse consommé, some gorg piece veg, (baby navet, salsify peelings, breakfast radish) at the bottom of the bowl, wilted young mustard greens, an grated botarga?” Sounds amazing.

It’s a fun little technique with a myriad of possible uses. The book is full of great recipes that really seem to work (I’ve tried 4 or 5 things out of it now), and is worth buying for the base recipe section alone, which includes purees, gels, vinaigrettes and a million other little things for all your fine-dining needs.

Cooking is fun……