Cooking all over the World: IDEAS IN FOOD

Saturday, September 10, 2011

IDEAS IN FOOD - Carbo-NATION

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Carbo-NATION

I was first introduced to the Perlini carbonation system when I taught a class pairing cocktails with desserts at the World Pastry Forum in 2010 with Jim Romdall. Jim took care of the cocktails, I took care of the drinking and the desserts. Jim brought all his bar tools with him and this new prototype shaker system called a Perlini. It consisted of a 3 part shaker and a regulator and dispenser which attaches to a CO2 tank. The shaker lets you build the cocktail and then carbonate it to order so that each drink is full of bubbles. As Jim mixed, carbonated, and shook each drink and I tasted, tasted, and tasted, I became enamored with the system and knew that I needed to get one of my own. Unfortunately, his was only a prototype and the release date was at some unidentified point in the future.

Fast forward to Tales of the Cocktail this year where the Perlini System was finally released to the public. As soon as it was available we placed our order. We were order #14. We bought the commercial version which comes with 3 shakers, the regulator and dispensing set-up and seal replacements. As soon as it arrived we attached the regulator to our tank and started carbonating. (They do make a home version as well, with one shaker and a hand held carbonator)

Amaya is a huge fan of the Perlini system. One of her favorite drinks is "bubble juice" formerly made by mixing her favorite juices with seltzer. Now we simply mix up our own blends of juices, tempered with a splash of water and carbonate them to order. This spurred us on to the creation of more adult versions of carbonated fruit punch. A recent tasty conconcoction we made is a non-alcoholic rum punch. The backbone to the drink is a brown sugar syrup thickened with xanthan gum and gum arabic. To add some of the flavor notes of aged rum to the syrup we used the Sonicprep homogenizer and some charred wood chips. While not a replica of aged rum without the alcohol, it is a richly flavored syrup with notes of caramel and molasses and aromas of wood and char reminiscent of barrel aged dark rum. The rest of the ingredients are: passionfruit juice, pineapple juice, cherry juice and water. We poured the ingredients into the Perlini, screwed it tight and carbonated. The result was a delicious beverage with the flavors of a rum punch, effervescent with bubbles and thirst quenchingly refreshing. (pictured half consumed)

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