blackberry rose cashew

blackberry rose sorbet

Blackberries and roses belong to the plant family Rosaceae along with strawberries and raspberries. As the flavor of roses is largely dictated by their aroma, choose highly fragrant varieties such as rugosa or floribunda. Pick the petals in the morning, when they are the most fragrant , and remove the white heels, which tend to be bitter.
250 g (1 1/4 cups) sugar
100 g (4 oz) rose petals
230 g ( 1 cup) water
180 g ( 1/2 cup) agave nectar
350 g ( 1 1/2 cups) blackberry puree
�25 g (2 Tblsps) rosewater
Place sugar and rose petals in a food processor and process until petals are finely ground. Transfer mixture to a saucepan and add the water and agave syrup. Heat gently, just until sugar is melted. Cool to room temperature and stir in the blackberry puree and rosewater. Strain and chill in the refrigerator until cold. Transfer to an ice cream machine and freeze according to manufacturers directions.

blackberry yogurt ravioli

Low methoxyl pectin requires the presence of calcium ions to form gels that are firm and flexible with a bite similar to al dente pasta. Fresh blackberries contain 29 g of calcium per 100 g of fruit, which is sufficient to allow amidated, LM pectin to gel without added calcium. For a gel with jewel-like clarity, the blackberry puree should be strained several times. Freezing/thawing also helps separate the solids.

Greek yogurt

150 g clear blackberry juice
35 g sugar
3 g amidated, LM pectin
Pack yogurt into small, silicone hemisphere molds and freeze just until firm.
Combine the sugar with the pectin in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Place juice in a pan and bring to boil. Add sugar-pectin and stir vigorously 1-2 minutes while cooking to dissolve. Return to boil and remove from heat. Keep a pan of simmering water on the stove to keep the pectin warm and fluid.Drop Tablespoonfuls of hot pectin solution onto a ceramic or glass plate, forming discs, and allow to gel. Set pan in simmering water while proceeding. When discs are firm, unmold yogurt hemispheres and place one on each of the discs. Pour the remaining warm pectin evenly over the yogurt to completely encase. When gelled, cut away the excess gel with a round cutter that is slightly larger than the hemisphere. Chill.

instant cashew cake

Cashew butter can be found in health food stores
or can easily be made from
roasted cashews with a high-speed blender. The plumpest, butteriest cashews are from Brazil.
For the recipe and step-by-step illustrations, see the post on instant chocolate cake, replacing the melted chocolate with an equal amount of cashew butter.

passion foam

TAZO's Passion Herbal Infusion is a blend of hibiscus, lemongrass, rose hips, mango and passion fruit.

200 g boiling water

1 TAZO Passion tea bag
12 g sugar
2.5 g gelatin
Make an infusion by pouring the boiling water over the tea bag. Allow to infuse for 2 minutes, then remove tea bag. Stir in sugar, then sprinkle gelatin over top and whisk in until dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature. Pour mixture into a deep, wide container. Whip with an immersion blender until a thick layer of foam forms on the surface. To use, skim off the foam with a spoon.

methocel rose

For the recipe and step-by-step illustrations, see the post on roses. Alternately, the methocel film can be cut or formed into shapes when flexible, then baked for a crisp, melting texture.

blackberry cells

Another technique from Ferran Adria. At Madrid Fusion 08, he dropped black raspberries (amoras) into Liquid Nitrogen. The frozen berries easily broke apart into individual cells when struck with a mallet. Although LN is more efficient, this method also works with a conventional freezer. Blackberries are a little trickier to break apart because they still contain the core.

roses

Ah, the rose…

Is there any other flower that has stirred the passion of poets, writers, artists…

…and yes, even cooks?

rose petals fried in almond oil–sweet, crisp, irresistible

a delicate, crisp rose made from Methocel film

Methocel Rose

Place 200 g. water and 90 g. sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. When cool, stir in 30 g. strained raspberry juice and 1/4 tsp. rosewater. Sprinkle 5 g. of Methocel E15 and 10 g. Ultratex 8 over top of syrup and blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight to hydrate.
On a smooth sheet of silicone, form two 5″ long strips of solution and 10 petals, approximately 1/2″ in diameter. With the back of a spoon, spread out the strips to an even thickness and spread the petals to about an inch in diameter. Place in a dehydrator to dry for 4 hours or until a flexible film has formed that can be peeled off of the silicone.

To form the center of the rose, peel off one of the long strips and secure one end by wrapping it around the tip of a toothpick. Peel off a petal and ruffle the base by pinching it between thumb and forefinger. Wrap the base of petal around the base of the rose center on the toothpick, pressing lightly to adhere. Repeat with the next petal, slightly overlapping the first. Continue forming and adding petals in concentric circles, pressing each one to the base, until all of the petals are used. When rose is complete, stick the end of the toothpick into a potato to hold rose upright. Place rose and potato into a 250 F. oven for 8-10 minutes or until petals have hardened and turned crisp. When rose has cooled, remove toothpick by gently twisting it while holding the base of the rose with the other hand. Keep in a tightly sealed, dry container until ready to use.

instant chocolate cake

At Madrid Fusion 2008, Ferran Adria demonstrated a black sesame cake
baked in a plastic cup in the microwave. It took 40 seconds.

As a card carrying member of the National Society of Cake Whores, the technique tickled my C-spot. Recreating it in chocolate is…well…let’s just say it’s good. Toe-curling, basking-in-the-afterglow good.

OK, now that I’ve regained my composure, let me tell you why this cake has me purring. If you’ve ever made a sponge cake, souffle, or any hot egg foam, you have witnessed first-hand the unfolding and bonding of egg protein molecules. If your attempts have been successful–Congratulations! (maybe you would like to join the NSCW?). If you have failed, it may be because you didn’t follow one of the many rules: overbeating, under beating, introducing fat, sugar, salt, acid at the inappropriate time, folding, not stirring, cooking too slow or too fast.

Reason #1 why I love this cake: Forget all the rules. This is egg foam anarchy.

Reason #2: Taste & Texture. Don’t let the pale color fool you…it’s because of the aeration. While it’s true that eggs mask flavor, the taste of chocolate does come through and lingers. And just look at the structure. Have you ever seen air pockets that large in a cake? I haven’t, and I’ve been making them since I’ve possessed the motor skills required to put a spoon in a bowl and stir. The only thing that can expand a batter like that is yeast. Or Nitrous Oxide and a microwave.

Reason #3: Ease & Speed. This cake goes from pantry to tummy in less than 10 minutes. The lengthiest part is melting the chocolate. If you use the microwave for that step, it’s even faster. How can instant gratification be bad when it’s this good?

Instant Chocolate Cake
makes 12-15 individual cakes

Put 8 whole large eggs (400 g.) plus 1 yolk (17 g.) into a bowl with 160 g. sugar. and 3 g. salt. Whip with a whisk or electric mixer for 1 minute.

Add 42 g. flour, followed by 210 g. melted, semisweet chocolate. Mix just until blended.

Pour mixture through a fine mesh sieve.

Pour into a whipped cream charger. Fill only halfway. You will have enough batter left to make another batch. Charge with 2- N2O cartridges. Shake firmly 2-3 times. Dispense foam into a 9-oz. plastic cup, stopping when it is 1/3 filled.

Place cup in microwave. Set to bake at 900watts (for standard 1000w microwaves, set at 90% power or power9). Set timer to cook for 40 seconds. Watch it rise before your eyes.

Unmold and dig in.

Yum

strawberry soup

I've been on a fruit soup kick lately. My juicer has been working OT. I promised him a break after this one.

The other night, I made a cold cherry soup infused with star anise and swirled with yogurt. I've never been to Morocco, but that soup took me there. Landed me in a souk in Marrakesh. With each spoonful, the saturated colors of silk and pottery intensified, the sounds of vendors haggling with buyers grew louder, the scent of leather and sweet spices grew stronger. By the time that I had finished, I half-expected to find my feet covered in dust and my house redecorated with exotic carpets and textiles, all purchased at the lowest possible price.

This strawberry soup, perfumed with Riesling and sweet woodruff sorbet, transports me to the Bavarian Alps, on the first day of May.

Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum) is a woodland herb
that grows prolifically in Northern Europe. In Germany, it is known as Waldmeister (master of the woods) and is steeped in white wine with strawberries to produce May Wine, traditionally served for May Day celebrations. It's primary aroma compound is coumarin, which lends it's characteristic sweet hay and vanilla flavor. Coumarin is also found in high concentrations in tonka beans; it's moderate toxicity is the reason why they are banned in the US. Fresh leaves of sweet woodruff have only a faint odor–they need to be wilted or dried to release the essential oils. In haste, a quick blast in the microwave does the trick.

Sour cream pearls couldn't be any easier when applying reverse spherification. Dairy products already contain sufficient amounts of calcium to react with a sodium alginate solution (1 liter water + 5 g. sodium alginate). This technique produces stable spheres that remain liquid in the center and can be served hot or cold.

Download recipe: Strawberry soup

blueberry pie

It’s been awhile since I’ve watched a movie. Aside from lack of time, finding one that my husband and I both agree on begins to feel like an enterprise. He likes the kind that entertain with fast cars, impending doom, guns and blood. I like the kind that dig in and stick. Our common ground is the ones that make us laugh.

That’s what I thought I was getting when he dropped a DVD into my hands with a grin on his face. I was nonplussed that he had handed me a romantic film by Wong Kar-wai, a Chinese director known for visually stylized films. Looking over the cast, a name jumped out at me and it all made sense…if there’s one thing that he likes more than cars and guns, it’s Nora Jones.

The movie, My Blueberry Nights, was almost forgettable despite the stunning melancholic atmosphere created by Wong through roving shallow lenses and lush chiaroscuro. The minor key mood was a good fit for Nora, but Jude Law never convinced me as a marathon runner wannabe who settles for running a diner where he makes blueberry pies that no one ever eats. It was the pie, and the way that Wong committed it to celluloid that I will remember: tight macro shots of ice cream salaciously melting into mounds of lurid blueberries. It was so deliciously lascivious that I wanted to avert my eyes.

In the end, it was blueberry pie that brought the characters together and endeared Wong to me as a film maker and food pornographer. And it inspired this dish.

Blueberry Pie

blueberry cheese

When I put raw blueberries through a juicer, something unexpected happened: the juice began to thicken and clot as it poured out of the spout. As it began to turn brown, I heated it to set the color and noticed that the soft clots had broken down into small, firm curds that reminded me of ricotta. I decided to treated it as cheese and let it drain overnight in a cheesecloth-lined sieve. The next day, I had a firm mass that could be sliced or molded and retain it’s shape. After some research, I’m still not clear what caused the blueberry juice to behave this way. I initially attributed it to pectin, but 73 g. of fresh blueberries only contain 0.3 g. of pectin, making them a low-pectin fruit. However, blueberries do contain a significant amount of fiber, which in combination with the pectin, may have caused the juice to clot and form curds

blueberry sauce

Use the juice reserved from draining the blueberry cheese. Ultratex 8 is a modified food starch derived from tapioca that thickens liquids without applying heat.
150 g. reserved blueberry juice
8 g. agave nectar
2.5 g. ulratex 8
Place all ingredients in a bowl and blend with whisk or immersion blender until starch swells and juice has thickened.

sous vide blueberries

Cooking blueberries at a low temperature leaves them firm and intact, yet taste cooked.
1 pint raw blueberries
60 g. reserved blueberry juice
30 g. unsalted butter
10 g. agave nectar
Place blueberries in a vacuum bag and seal. Cook in a water bath at 63C (150F) for 1 hour. Make a glaze by heating the blueberry juice and agave nectar over low heat. Whisk in butter until melted. Remove bag from water bath and toss berries in glaze. Serve warm or at room temperature.

roasted flour nuggets

Roasting flour is a technique introduced by Pierre Gagnaire and Herve This in their collaboration, Art et Science. Cooking flour in this way brings out the toasty aroma and flavor of wheat but it alters its starch and gluten molecules, causing it to lose much of it’s elasticity. While roasted flour may not be suitable for baking bread, it’s perfect for baked goods with sandy textures such as sables.
40 g. all purpose flour
8 g. confectioners sugar
.5 g. salt
13 g. tapioca maltodextrin
30 g. unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 325F (160C). Spread flour in an even layer on a baking sheet and roast in oven for about 45 minutes, stirring often until fragrant and golden. Cool completely. Toasted flour can be made ahead and kept in a sealed container.
Preheat oven to 350F (180C) Place the flour, sugar, salt and TM in a bowl and toss to combine. Slowly drizzle in melted butter while tossing with a fork. Remove rounded nuggets as they form and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes and allow to cool completely before handling.

lemon balm frozen yogurt

Greek yogurt makes a sublime frozen product that rivals the best frozen yogurt boutiques. If it’s not available in your area, plain yogurt can be drained overnight in a cheesecloth-lined sieve with similar results. I’ve found that the best way to infuse ice cream (or any sweetened cream base) with herbs is not in the cream, but by processing them with the sugar. The hygroscopic property of sugar draws out the essential oils in the herbs, making them more available.
30 g. fresh lemon balm leaves
100 g. sugar
50 g. heavy cream
300 g. greek yogurt, well chilled
Place lemon balm and sugar in a food processor and process with 10 pulses or until lemon balm is finely chopped. Working quickly, as lemon balm begins to oxidize and turn brown, empty contents of food processor into a saucepan and add heavy cream. Set over medium heat and cook gently, just until sugar melts. Remove from heat and pass mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. Chill until cold, then fold in yogurt. Freeze in an ice cream machine according to manufacturers instructions.

corn pudding

Ever since Michael Pollen's book The Omnivore's Dilemma and the indie film King Corn have exposed the prevalence of the corn products in our diets, the once-humble grain has been viewed through a lens of suspicion. While there is no denying that this versatile and ancient vegetable/grain has been grossly exploited by industrial agriculture and food producers, let us not throw out the baby with the bathwater. One of the great pleasures of summer is biting into a freshly-picked ear of sweet corn, and indulging in a creamy corn pudding.

A few summers ago, I made corn pudding for a client…
Lois (not her real name) owns several homes across the country, including her sprawling estate in the gentrified countryside of Connecticut, where she would take up residence for the warm months. Her reputation proceeded her, not from the success she has attained as a top player in her industry, but from her notoriety as a difficult and exacting client who allows no margin for error. I knew a number of chefs who never made it past the initial gig; some were dismissed, the rest just refused to return. They warned me that I was on her ever-shrinking list of chefs to audition. In my profession, dealing with difficult clients is part and parcel of the job and I was up for the challenge.
Lois did, indeed, contact me, through her personal assistant, with dates and times for the formal dinner parties that she intended to hold through the remainder of the season. Included, was a list of food preferences as well as those that should be avoided. The latter was blessedly short and reflected no strict dietary restrictions or adherence to quirky fad diets. The list of preferences included organic produce and proteins from local farms, as well as specialty items that could be brought up from weekly trips to NYC. Based solely on what she ate, I already liked Lois.
By request, the first menu was to be comprised of refined, but simple country fare in three courses: a salad, a main course, and a dessert. The salad was a breeze– arugula selvatica from my garden, heirloom tomatoes from Waldingfield Farm, fresh chevre from Beltane Farm, and croutons made from Bantam Bread Company's kalamata and rosemary loaf. For the main course, I had decided on organic chicken breasts stuffed with truffled sweetbreads, to be served with roasted corn and wild mushrooms, all locally sourced. Dessert was peach shortcake, inspired by March Farm's fragrant peaches, and the cinnamon basil in my garden, which I used to infuse the whipped cream.
I shopped, prepped and arrived at the estate, ready for my benchmark test. I was met at the door by the housekeeper, Nora, an Eastern-European immigrant with a thick accent and stern countenance, which I instantly resolved to soften. Nora showed me around the kitchen and though she offered her assistance, she kept her distance, watching my every move. I invited her to help me shuck corn, hoping that sharing a task would break the ice and provide a gateway for conversation. As we worked, Nora asked me what the "hairs" on the corn were called. I told her that they were called corn silk, though the dried-up darker parts did resemble short, curly hair, to which she made an off-color reference and laughed. I laughed with her, delighted to have found her soft, raunchy spot. Lois walked into this scene, brusquely introduced herself, and told Nora that she was needed in another part of the house.
Left alone in the kitchen, I finished shucking the corn. As I picked up tufts of silk off of the counter top to throw in the bin, my "waste" radar went off and I took a second look at the soft, pale strands. Tasting the silk, I was surprised to find that it was pleasingly crunchy with a mild, bright corn flavor, and amazed that I had never seen it utilized before. I separated the young, tender strands and set them aside to use as a bed for the chicken.

When Nora returned, I was cutting the kernels of corn from the cobs and I inquired about Lois's food preferences. She revealed that Lois had a weakness for cheese and dairy products, particularly cream cheese, which she honored with the status of being "the only food that I cannot live without". I made a mental note and wondered where I could incorporate it into the menu. Looking at the corn, I linked the two together into a corn pudding, knowing that the cream cheese could successfully replace most of the heavy cream in the recipe that I had committed to memory. Changing the menu at this point was risky, but I understood then that the true test was not in securing a job, but in feeling secure in my abilities as a chef.
The risk paid off…the puddings turned out flawless…the sweetness of the corn balanced by the tang of the cream cheese. Confirmation came in the form of empty plates returning to the kitchen, save for a few strands of corn silk. The server reported that the corn silk had stopped the conversation at the dinner table when someone asked if it was safe to eat. Lois, in true hostess form, had taken the first bite and pronounced it delicious.
At the end of the evening, after the guests were gone, the kitchen restored, and my car packed, Nora notified me that Lois had requested my presence in her boudoir. Upon entering the room, Lois looked up at me from her notes and very slowly and deliberately removed her glasses, folded them, and set them down.
I braced myself.
In an even voice, void of expression, she said, "Don't think that I didn't notice the corn pudding."
I held my breath.
"I am absolutely married to it and want you to prepare it in the exact same way for the remainder of the season."
I nodded.
"And the corn silk?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.
I opened my mouth to explain.
She stopped me and in the same tone, replied "…brilliant"
I nodded again and exhaled.
She leaned back in her chair, softened her expression into what I interpreted as a smile, and continued, "I see that you have hit it off with Nora. She has been with me for over 20 years and I consider her my family. She can be very possessive of her kitchen and does not take kindly to intruders. But she reports that you are very competent and a hard worker. We both appreciate that."
She put her money where her mouth was by handing me a check for over double of the amount on my invoice, a practice which was gratefully repeated for the remainder of the summer.
The following spring, I received an email from Lois informing me that she would be summering in Europe that year and possibly for subsequent years, but would contact me if her plans changed. She also expressed a deep regret over her separation from my corn pudding. I replied, thanking her for her generosity, and sent the recipe. I like to think that Nora is now making it for her.

I've revisited the main course from that first dinner and applied some new ingredients and techniques. In the original version, the chicken was stuffed by cutting a pocket in the breast and fastening it with a skewer. Using Activa allows me to cut out the chicken altogether and use the skin to wrap the sweetbread in a tidy shape. Methocel allows me to omit the eggs in the corn pudding, leaving it extraordinarily smooth and creamy.
I can't help but wonder what Lois would think of this new version.

corn pudding
400 g. corn juice, extracted with a juicer
160 g. cream cheese
20 g. cheddar powder
8.5 g. Methocel SGA150 (1.5%)
salt, to taste

Place 1/2 of the corn juice and the cream cheese in a saucepan and heat over medium heat until cream cheese is melted. Remove from heat and add the remaining juice, the cheddar powder and Methocel. Blend well with an immersion blender, cover and chill for at least 4 hours to hydrate. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 250 degrees F. and stir in the salt. Fill molds and bake for 10-20 minutes, depending on the capacity of molds. Unmold and serve immediately or hold in a 200 degree oven for up to 20 minutes.

whipped gelatin

                                 whipped pernod tomato
                                 fennel poached in parmesan water

One of the biggest challenges about catering is getting the quantities right. Running out of food is unforgivable, but throwing out excessive food is painful. Over the years, I have come to terms with this aspect, but it still disturbs me every time. When I recently rescued a batch of tomato aspic from it's fate with the bin, it wasn't because of my conscience. I just wanted to play.

I had made the aspic from plum tomatoes that were slowly roasted in the oven to concentrate their flavor and amplify their sweetness. Relieved of their skins, they were simmered in tomato consomme with Pernod until soft and melting. This intensely flavored mixture was then pureed, passed through a chinois several times, and set with 3% gelatin. The finely diced aspic was served as part of a first course with roasted fennel, eggplant, dried olives and smoked chevre. As I was dicing the aspic, I began to wonder about gelatin's shear-thinning capabilities and for once, I was glad to see leftovers.

Back home, I learned a few things about shearing gelatin:

it does not form a fluid gel…a soft gel? yes…fluid? no.

whipping it from it's gelled state in a Kitchenaid is a lot of fun to watch, but the product is no more useful than the unfluid gel.

whipping it from it's ungelled state over a bowl of ice water allows air to be whipped in and trapped as it chills and sets. The result is a light, creamy textured gel that holds it shape, yet is soft and melting on the palate…mind blowing? hardly…useful? definitely.

salmon passion fruit hollandaise

My play with Transglutaminase continues after an intensive week of catering. Here I’ve made a salmon ravioli filled with passion fruit hollandaise. When I used to work the line, the hollandaise was made before service and kept in a warm bath. This didn’t make sense to me and I insisted on making it to order, which pissed everyone off. They backed down when I proved that a perfect sauce could be made in the time that it took them to get their pans hot.

My entry into the world of cooking was through the sweet side. The skills that I have learned from baking have eased my transition to the savory side of the kitchen. I look for the moments when the two worlds collide and the transition feels seamless.

One day, while making a lemon curd, it occurred to me that I was essentially making a sweetened hollandaise. Although the cooking methods and proportions varies slightly between the two, the chemistry is the same in forming these egg-emulsified sauces. They share the same trio of key ingredients: egg yolks, fat in the form of butter, and acid in the form of lemon juice. When isolating these ingredients and considering possible alternatives, it becomes easy to imagine flavor variations on the classic hollandaise. Egg yolks are unique in their protein coagulation, but acid can be introduced in the form of any fruit juice that has a PH of 3.0 or lower so as not to over-dilute the egg yolk. Candidates that fall in this range are: grapefruit, lime, cranberries, gooseberries, wild grapes, verjus, raspberries, rhubarb, pomegranates, tamarind, and passion fruit. These are all flavors that I’ve used to make fruit curds, so why not hollandaise? To bring it back to the savory realm, even the butter can be replaced with solidifying fats such as: foie, bacon, duck fat, serrano fat. Can you see where I’m going? Does this excite you as much as it does me?

For this ravioli, the hollandaise posed a challenge because it needed to solidify in order to glue the thin sheets of salmon around it, then to revert to it’s fluid sauce state when reheated. A traditional hollandaise was not stable enough to endure the freezing and cooking process without curdling. I fiddled with a few additives and techniques before hitting on the simple addition of a small amount of gelatin. This allowed the hollandaise to firm up sufficiently without the need to be frozen, which I suspect had destabilized the emulsification, and to remelt in the sous vide bath.

sous vide salmon ravioli filled with passion fruit hollandaise
crispy salmon skin
asparagus ramp puree
spiced rum beads

powder, dust, soil, and sand

What draws me to hydrocolloids is their ability to effectively alter texture while maintaining flavor. The textures that they can produce range from thickened liquids and gels to dry crisps and meringues. Within this spectrum, there lies a texture that is dry on the plate, yet soft and melting on the palate; it is a powder.
Tapioca Maltodextrin(TM) is a modified food starch derived from the starchy roots of cassava. It can gel in cold solution, but is most noted for its ability to stabilize fatty compounds, a relationship which can be exploited to produce powders. When combined with an approximate 2:1 ratio by weight of TM to fat, the TM will absorb the fat and lock in its flavor. When the powder that is formed comes in contact with the warm, moist environment of the tongue, it will melt and release the flavor.
If this sounds too good to be true, it’s perhaps because it can be–at least in some instances. I’ve found that with some fats, the TM leaves a stickiness that clings to the teeth and interrupts the experience, while others melt away cleaner. I’m not certain if this variation is due to excess moisture in the fat, ratios, or if it is an inherent quality of TM, but it warrants further exploration.
The variety of fats that can be used to flavor powders are only limited by the imagination. Flavored oils, butters (including peanut butter and nutella), chocolate, and rendered animal fats are all fair game. High-fat dairy products can also be used, providing that they don’t possess a high moisture content.
The blending of the two ingredients is almost effortless. For small quantities, it can be as simple as tossing the TM and fat in a bowl with a fork, or pulsing in a food processor for larger amounts. Both methods benefit from a final pass through a sieve to lighten the mixture and break up clumps.
For a crisper, sandy texture, a more balanced ratio of TM to fat is used to produce a paste that can be spread on silpat, dried in a low oven or dehydrator, then grated. A similar product can be made from whipped, dried methylcellulose, although in this case, the flavor comes from a non-fat base.
The melting factor of powders produced from TM and fat may be unique, but there are other, low-tech ways to achieve textural components such as dust, soil, and sand:
Dusts are very fine versions of powders and are traditionally used as ingredients or flavoring agents, but
when treated as a separate component, they can act as a dry sauce. Virtually anything that can be successfully dried and pulverized can serve as dust: vegetables, herbs, citrus zest, dairy products, meat, seafood, nuts, sauces…the list goes on. In some cases, you can find these products, already processed, on store shelves: dried milk, dried buttermilk, dried yogurt, ground shrimp, coconut powder, chili powder, etc. The real fun comes in blending these flavors to create more complex, flavored dusts. Wylie Dufresne uses this concept to produce "pizza pebbles" with dusts of tomato, garlic, parmesan, and bread, then binds them together with olive oil.
Soil and sand share the same consistency, but differ in texture; soil being softer and moister than sand. These can be made from many of the already mentioned ingredients with the addition of baked goods such as: flavored breads, cakes, cookies, pastry and crackers.

fluid gel

beet fluid gel
Cara Cara orange powder

A fluid gel lies somewhere between a gel, a puree, and a sauce. In fact, it is all three of these things.
It is made by combining a flavored base with a shear-thinning (the ability to break down to a fluid state by vigorous agitation, as in a blender, and remain fluid) hydrocolloid such as agar agar or gellan, and allowing it to solidify. The solid gel is then sheared in a blender into a creamy, fluid state, and remains that way. Using agar also allows it to be reheated up to 185F/ 85C before it remelts.
A good example of a fluid gel and shear-thinning is ketchup. Ever wonder how a few good shakes will loosen it up and allow it to flow from the bottle? Well, now you know. You’re welcome.
The greatest advantage of this technique is that it allows us to take a thin, highly flavored liquid such as beet juice, and lend it body and viscosity without the use of flavor-diluting starches.
In the end, isn’t it really about the flavor?

fluid gel
1 cup (185 g) liquid flavor base
1/2 tsp (2 g) agar
1/8 tsp (.35 g) xanthan
Blend agar and xanthan into base. Place in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Allow to cool until solidified. Place solid gel in a blender and blend until creamy.