Momofuku Milk Bar
Page 19
pumpkin ganache
MAKES ABOUT 340 G (1¼ CUPS)
This mother recipe is a breeze as long as you follow the steps and understand when ingredients are added and why. Melted together, the white chocolate and butter create a basic bond. The addition of glucose, needed for the texture it imparts, then breaks that bond. Cold heavy cream comes to the rescue, emulsifying the broken bond and forming a new, stronger bond. The pumpkin puree and seasonings are added last for flavor and additional body. Note that you must use a hand blender in this recipe, and for the other ganaches in this chapter.
150 g white chocolate
[5¼ ounces]
25 g butter
[2 tablespoons]
50 g glucose
[2 tablespoons]
55 g cold heavy cream
[¼ cup]
75 g Libby’s pumpkin puree
[⅓ cup]
4 g kosher salt
[1 teaspoon]
1 g ground cinnamon
[½ teaspoon]
In a pinch, substitute 18 g (1 tablespoon) corn syrup for the glucose.
1. Combine the white chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe dish and gently melt them in the microwave in 15-second bursts, stirring between blasts. The result should be barely warm to the touch and totally homogenous.
2. Transfer the chocolate mixture to a container that can accommodate an immersion blender—something tall and narrow, like a 1-quart plastic deli container. Warm the glucose in the microwave for 15 seconds, then immediately add to the chocolate mixture and buzz with the hand blender. After a minute, stream in the heavy cream, with the hand blender running—the mixture will come together into something silky, shiny, and smooth.
3. Blend in the pumpkin puree, salt, and cinnamon. Put the ganache in the fridge to firm up before using, at least 4 hours, or, ideally, overnight. Stored in an airtight container, pumpkin ganache will keep fresh in the fridge for 1 week. Serve cold.
celery root ganache
MAKES ABOUT 375 G (1½ CUPS)
Believe me, I had never even had celery root, let alone become infatuated with it, before we started experimenting with root vegetable ganaches. But, in case you haven’t got the point by now, you can trust me on all sweet things that are delicious. I’m not trying to throw a nasty curve ball your way.
1 medium celery root, peeled and cut into chunks
10 g grapeseed oil
[1 tablespoon]
1 g kosher salt
[¼ teaspoon]
1 g freshly ground black pepper
[¼ teaspoon]
milk if needed
150 g white chocolate
[5¼ ounces]
40 g butter
[3 tablespoons]
50 g glucose
[2 tablespoons]
55 g cold heavy cream
[¼ cup]
4 g kosher salt
[1 teaspoon]
In a pinch, substitute 35 g (2 tablespoons) corn syrup for the glucose.
1. Heat the oven to 325°F.
2. Put the celery root chunks on a big sheet of aluminum foil. Add the oil, salt, and pepper and toss to coat the celery root. Fold up the foil to enclose the celery root, put the foil packet on a sheet pan for easy handling, and roast for 30 to 60 minutes. The celery root should be slightly caramelized and mushy-tender at that point; if not, give it additional 15-minute intervals in the oven.
3. Transfer the celery root to a blender and puree it. (If your blender is giving you trouble, add up to 2 tablespoons milk to help get it going.) Pass the puree through a fine-mesh strainer—it should have the texture of Libby’s pumpkin puree (or baby food). Measure out 125 g (½ cup) celery root puree. Let cool.
4. Combine the white chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe dish and gently melt them in the microwave in 15-second bursts, stirring between blasts. The result should be barely warm to the touch and totally homogenous.
5. Transfer the chocolate mixture to a container that can accommodate an immersion blender—something tall and narrow, like a 1-quart plastic deli container. Warm the glucose in the microwave for 15 seconds, then immediately add to the chocolate mixture and buzz with the hand blender. After a minute, stream in the heavy cream, with the hand blender running—the mixture will come together into something silky, shiny, and smooth.
6. Blend in the celery root puree and salt; taste and add more salt if needed (due to the fresh, seasonal nature of celery root). Put the ganache in the fridge to firm up before using, at least 4 hours, or, ideally, overnight. Stored in an airtight container, it will keep in the fridge for 1 week. Serve cold.
beet-lime ganache
MAKES ABOUT 330 G (1½ CUPS)
This one is for the beet lovers out there. It’s also for the not beet lovers out there. I am not a beet lover, but this ganache is delightful.
2 medium beets, peeled and cut into chunks (use gloves;)
1 lime
milk if needed
120 g white chocolate
[4¼ ounces]
25 g butter
[2 tablespoons]
100 g glucose
[¼ cup]
55 g cold heavy cream
[¼ cup]
3 g kosher salt
[¾ teaspoon]
In a pinch, substitute 35 g (2 tablespoons) corn syrup for the glucose.
1. Heat the oven to 325°F.
2. Wrap the beet chunks up in a big sheet of aluminum foil and put on a sheet pan for easy handling. Roast for 1 to 2 hours, or until the beets are on the mushy side of tender; give them additional 30-minute intervals in the oven if they aren’t.
3. Meanwhile, grate the zest from the lime; reserve. Squeeze 8 g (2 teaspoons) juice from the lime and reserve.
4. Transfer the beets to a blender and puree them. (If your blender is giving you trouble, add up to 1 tablespoon milk to help get it going.) Pass the puree through a fine-mesh strainer—it should have the texture of Libby’s pumpkin puree (or baby food). Measure out 120 g (⅓ cup) beet puree. Let cool.
5. Combine the white chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe dish and gently melt them in the microwave in 15-second bursts, stirring between blasts. The result should be barely warm to the touch and totally homogenous.
6. Transfer the chocolate mixture to a container that can accommodate an immersion blender—something tall and narrow, like a 1-quart plastic deli container. Warm the glucose in the microwave for 15 seconds, then immediately add to the chocolate mixture and buzz with the hand blender. After a minute, stream in the heavy cream, with the hand blender running—the mixture will come together into something silky, shiny, and smooth.
7. Blend in the beet puree, lime zest, and salt. Put the ganache in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.
8. Use a spatula to fold the lime juice into the ganache (do not do this until the ganache is set, or you will break the ganache). Put the ganache back in the fridge for at least 3 hours, or, ideally, overnight. Stored in an airtight container, it will keep in the fridge for 1 week. Serve cold.
pear sorbet stilton, cornflake crunch, pumpkin ganache
SERVES 4
This is our take on a somewhat composed cheese dessert for Ssäm Bar.
½ recipe Pumpkin Ganache
¼ recipe Cornflake Crunch
[90 g (1 cup)]
200 g Stilton cheese, crumbled
[7 ounces (1 cup)]
1 recipe Pear Sorbet
Schmear the ganache across 4 small dessert plates or up the sides of bowls. Create a small pile of the crunch just off the center of each dish. Top with the Stilton. Carefully perch generous scoops or quenelles of pear sorbet on top of the cheese. Serve at once.
pear sorbet
MAKES ABOUT 480 G (1 PINT)
1 gelatin sheet
400 g pear puree
[2⅓ cups]
50 g glucose
[2 tablespoons]
30 g elderflower cordial
[1 tablespoon]
0.5 g kosher salt
/> [⅛ teaspoon]
0.5 g citric acid
[⅛ teaspoon]
We use Poire William puree and elderflower cordial in this recipe; both are easily found at amazon.com.
With all things fresh and seasonal, it’s always important to taste, taste, taste. Make the sorbet base to your liking with more glucose, salt, or citric acid.
Powdered gelatin can be substituted for the sheet gelatin: use ½ teaspoon. In a pinch, substitute 18 g (1 tablespoon) corn syrup for the glucose.
1. Bloom the gelatin.
2. Warm a little bit of the pear puree and whisk in the gelatin to dissolve. Whisk in the remaining pear puree, the glucose, elderflower cordial, salt, and citric acid until everything is fully dissolved and incorporated.
3. Pour the mixture into your ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The sorbet is best spun just before serving or using, but it will keep in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
tristar strawberry sorbet
macerated strawberries, lovage, ritz crunch, celery root ganache
SERVES 4
The tristar strawberry, pear sorbet, and goat froyo desserts are variations on a theme. Every pastry chef and department has a successful formula to piece flavors and textures together into desserts. This is ours: ganache + sorbet + textural element = plated dessert. These types of desserts highlight the way that Milk Bar components, which might seem kind of jokey (like Ritz crunch) or weird (like pumpkin ganache), can be brought together in unexpected ways as thoughtful, delicious, grown-up desserts.
The composition of these dishes can be looked at as guides for ways to put together fancy-looking plates at home. If you are baking out of this book a bunch—making liquid cheesecake or crunches or cakes and ending up with leftovers—you will see that plates like these are actually quite easy to assemble just from your scraps.
Think of these recipes as your Milk Bar final exam for all things sweet yet savory. Bonus points if you use chilled plates to serve the desserts.
1 recipe Celery Root Ganache
½ recipe Ritz Crunch
1 recipe Macerated Strawberries with Lovage (recipe follows)
1 recipe Tristar Strawberry Sorbet (recipe follows)
Tristar strawberries are little gems from heaven. They are our favorite breed of strawberry, the hot commodity, if you will, for any pastry chef strolling through the Union Square farmers’ market in search of seasonal revelation. Known for their unbelievably deep flavor and color, the tristars we hoard all summer long are from Rick Bishop at Mountain Sweet Berry Farm in Roscoe, New York.
Schmear the ganache across 4 small dessert plates or up the sides of bowls. Scatter the crunch about the ganache. Arrange 8 to 10 strawberries around and on the schmear, leaving room in the middle for a generous scoop or quenelle of strawberry sorbet on each plate. Serve at once.
macerated strawberries with lovage
MAKES ABOUT 160 G (1½ CUPS)
Lovage looks like a young celery branch with leaves, and in fact tastes like a slightly spicy celery. Most farmers’ markets have it in the spring and summer. Substitute a celery branch for the lovage stem in a pinch.
150 g Tristar strawberries, hulled
[1 pint]
½ branch lovage stem, chopped
12 g sugar
[1 tablespoon]
0.5 g kosher salt
[⅛ teaspoon]
1 g sherry vinegar
[¼ teaspoon]
Combine the strawberries, lovage, sugar, salt, and vinegar in a small bowl. Gently toss with a spoon until the strawberries are evenly coated. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days, before serving.
tristar strawberry sorbet
MAKES ABOUT 400 G (1 PINT)
300 g Tristar strawberries, hulled
[2 pints]
1 gelatin sheet
50 g glucose
[2 tablespoons]
25 g sugar
[2 tablespoons]
0.5 g kosher salt
[⅛ teaspoon]
0.5 g citric acid
[⅛ teaspoon]
Powdered gelatin can be substituted for the sheet gelatin: use ½ teaspoon. In a pinch, substitute 18 g (1 tablespoon) corn syrup for the glucose.
1. Puree the strawberries in a blender. Strain the puree through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl to strain out the pips.
2. Bloom the gelatin.
3. Warm a little bit of the strawberry puree and whisk in the gelatin to dissolve. Whisk in the remaining strawberry puree, the glucose, sugar, salt, and citric acid until everything is fully dissolved and incorporated.
4. Pour the mixture into your ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The sorbet is best spun just before serving or using, but it will keep in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
chèvre frozen yogurt
pistachio crunch, beet-lime ganache
SERVES 4
1 recipe Beet-Lime Ganache
½ recipe Pistachio Crunch
1 recipe Chèvre Frozen Yogurt (recipe follows)
Schmear the ganache across 4 small dessert plates or up the sides of bowls. Scatter the crunch about the ganache. Scoop or quenelle the frozen yogurt and anchor it on the crunch. Serve at once.
chèvre frozen yogurt
MAKES ABOUT 400 G (1 PINT)
2 gelatin sheets
55 g milk
[¼ cup]
60 g fresh chèvre
[¼ cup]
55 g buttermilk
[¼ cup]
50 g yogurt
[2 tablespoons]
100 g glucose
[¼ cup]
50 g sugar
[¼ cup]
2 g kosher salt
[½ teaspoon]
0.5 g citric acid
[⅛ teaspoon]
Powdered gelatin can be substituted for the sheet gelatin: use 1 teaspoon. In a pinch, substitute 35 g (2 tablespoons) corn syrup for the glucose.
1. Bloom the gelatin.
2. Warm a little bit of the milk and whisk in the gelatin to dissolve. Transfer to a blender and add the remaining milk, the chèvre, buttermilk, yogurt, glucose, sugar, salt, and citric acid. Puree until smooth.
3. Pour the base through a fine-mesh strainer into your ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The frozen yogurt is best spun just before serving or using, but it will keep in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.
When we first opened Milk Bar, we were more than just Milk Bar: we called ourselves Momofuku Milk Bar & Bakery. We wanted to be both an early morning stop for fresh, crunchy, artisan bread made right and the modern-day Milk Bar with a point of view on sweets. With James Mark, an aspiring master bread baker, at the helm, we made the executive decision that what we really needed to do was to fill our tiny space with huge deck ovens, the kind pro bread bakers use.
Those deck ovens took up all of our precious real estate. We had to wiggle by each other. And they were only ever on and in use for an hour or two a day. We probably made $100 a day off the breads that came out of them, while the little countertop-fridge-turned-pork-bun-station next to it, which took up one-tenth of the space, churned and burned like a true moneymaker all day and all night.
We needed to make a change, both to our space and to our loosely based ideas on what we wanted to be and the food we wanted to serve.
Every busy night, we had blue cheese polenta bread loaves left over, but we stayed late making the steamed bun dough for pork buns. We had to start thinking about our bread program in the same way we thought about our sweet baked goods.
How far could we take that steamed dough recipe? From a classic approach to bread baking, a basic dough can be shaped, proofed, and baked in a number of different ways. In a French kitchen, a baguette and a pain d’épi both come from the same rustic dough. So, why not a steamed bun, a loaf of brioche, and a crois
sant made from the same dough in the kitchen at Milk Bar?
So we began experimenting. The bun dough was wet but firm, easy to mix and shape—in a word, reliable. We brainstormed our family favorite breads: focaccia, bagels, croissants, cinnamon buns. Then we made them with the steamed bun dough as the starting point. Some of the recipes converged with classic Momofuku flavors, like miso, pork, or kimchi. Others we stuffed with our favorite cream cheese spread or deli meats.
Our bread program finally took off. The deck ovens, however, are long gone. We used the space for more refrigeration for those damn cookies and an additional area to roll out bread or assemble cakes or layer cinnamon bun pies, depending on our production needs at any given time of day. Now that we’ve moved to our Brooklyn kingdom, that old space houses extra soft-serve base and a larger pork-bun-and-pickle station for Ssäm Bar. One day, those few square feet may even turn into a plain old hard bar. But for us, those few square feet of real estate will always be the homeland of the mother dough.