'Royal Jelly', Bees & Honey

Blanch & Shock were commissioned to create canapés for a fashion networking event at the amazing Castle Gibson in Stoke Newington. The food and drinks were centred on the theme of 'Bees and Honey', giving us a chance to experiment with a some new techniques and cooking with Honey, one of our favourite things...

The morning's offerings at Franklin's Farm Shop

Infusing Wildflower Honey with Alderwood Smoke with our Smoking Gun for a Pork Belly Glaze

Grated Frozen Bacon, about to be dehydrated to garnish Quail's Eggs

Mike with our epitomic soft-boiled egg. We tried three different Delia Smith recipes, all of which resulted in dry, overcooked yolks. Two minutes, forty-five seconds and an icy water bath proved perfect.

Soft-Boiled Quail's Egg with Dehydrated Bacon Powder, Maldon Salt, Black Pepper and Crumiel Freeze-Dried Honey.

Poaching Strawberries with Black Pepper and Wildflower Honey. We used the resulting juice to marinate hulled Dwarf Strawberries under vacuum.

For the 'Royal Jelly', we set Marinated Dwarf Strawberries into layers of Elderflower Jelly.

Marinated Strawberry, Elderflower Jelly, Bee Pollen

Due to the sudden proliferation of Elderflower in our garden, it made sense to use it to make the Jelly, which we did. Here are Elderflowers infusing in water with Lemon Peel, Sugar, Citric Acid and DH Perkins' West Dulwich Honey (see Foraging post)

Washing the Rhubarb before Juicing it for the cocktail.

After searching everywhere we could for a decent Brioche with no luck - apparently the freak hot weather makes brioche loaves go rancid too quickly, due to the butter. I can't see why they think eating an entire brioche is an insurmountable goal...After some brilliant last-minute help from Tim Franklin, who provided a Joël Robuchon recipe, 20 grams of fresh yeast, and some invaluable advice, we set about making our first loaves of bread,  eliminating one more shop-bought item from our minds...

Proving one tall and two wide Brioche Loaves

Fin

Mike showing Honey Glass, made by melting Crumiel and stretching it as it cools.

The Event

The first course, which was not photographed, was of Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce and Apple Balsamic Vinegar Reduction.

 Next was Woolesy Cheese, Damson Paste, Thyme and Onions Lyonnaise on Rough Oatcakes

Quail's Egg on Brioche Crouton with dehydrated Speck Ham (Dust of Speck) and Honey Glass.

Pork-Belly, cooked en sous-vide with Thyme and Garlic, then pan-fried with Smoked Honey and Butter, and topped with Radish Disks and Borage Flowers

Amy preparing to serve the 'Royal Jellies'

(Strawberry-Compressed) Strawberries in Elderflower Jelly with Bee Pollen

The drinks, of which we sadly failed to get pictures were:

+ Rhubarb Juice, West Dulwich Honey, Krupnik Honey Vodka, Lemon Juice, Edible Flowers

+ Juices of Bramley and Jonagold Apples and Mulberry with Fresh Mint Bubbles

Constructed Jelly Trifle

Blanch & Shock was commissioned to produce an edible sculpture for an event to mark the beginning of a new initiative of regeneration in the Fargosford area of Coventry. The scheme, created by Coventry City Council and Advantage West Midlands will offer subsidised warehouse and studio space for young creative businesses in the area, as well as access to community of media and arts based-companies.

We decided to serve a (de)constructed Trifle, based on the shape of the warehouse the event was held in, and broadly interpreting the stained glass of Coventry Cathedral in the form of 'bricks' of sponge cake and jelly.

The Perspex structure on which we built the trifle. The supporting boxes also housed clusters of LEDs which would shine through the multi-coloured jelly at the event

Beetroot Spheres in various distilled water baths (the calcium in tap water can affect the gel formation). Alongside the trifle, we served a cocktail composed of Bramley and Cox Apple Juices, with Cinnamon Bubbles and Beetroot Spheres ( some of which can be seen in the Drink post).

                                                                           

Needle used in sphere making

Mike with his Amontillado Sherry Jelly, for the roof of the structure

Mint Juice, showing some precipitating Chlorophyll

..and once set

Cinnamon Broth infusing for Bubbles

Ginger Jelly bricks cut and ready to be built with

Building the structure in the space

The Trifle

   ⁺ Victoria Sponge Cake

With jellies of:

   ⁺ Pomegranate
   ⁺ Fresh Mint
   ⁺ Root and Stem Ginger
   ⁺ Mandarin
   ⁺ Amontillado Sherry

Served with:

   ⁺Chantilly Cream
   ⁺Vanilla Custard

Jelly Layer Test...

...in which Blanch & Shock try to set an 18 Litre tub of coloured Jelly, in five layers. The aim - to serve an 'augered' core of each layer of Jelly, representing stages of the life of Arts + Media, who commissioned us to design a menu for their closing party.

Dues to lack of cavernous fridge space, we set the jelly on the balcony

Its escape from the mould was heralded by an amazing SCHLOOOOOOOP-y sound.

Some jelly had stayed put, somehow landscaped into contours shaped like a clam

Slicing Test

The intensity of the test got the better of the jelly, which, starting with an innocuous crack, suddenly split, releasing a 4 litre iceberg of sticky colourful squish.

The verdict - FAIL. The reasons -  as subsequently explained to us by Sam Bompas, the jelly was not tapered enough to be able to support itself, and without adding industrial amounts of gelatin (rendering it inedible) it was destined not to work. Back to the drawing board...

Staying

Testing Baked Beetroots

Drying Candied Chilli Pieces for Garnish

Some of the 125 variations

Tweezering the canapés and garnishes into the boxes

Mike standing guard over boxed bites until service

Detail of boxes showing edible printed excerpts from Staying text

Boxes showing bites. At this stage the contents of the boxes were beginning to suffer from the heat of the lights above. They stood strong until service began and throughout !

The audience were talked through the boxes and their contents at the table, some removing the food with their fingers, others braving the whole package.

The Menu

___________________________________

Any of:

  Pomegranate Jelly

  Bitter Chocolate Truffle

  Butter-poached Carrot

  Baked Beetroot

  Raw Pear

Garnished with any of:

  Candied Chilli

  Powdered Salt Caramel

  Dried Lavender Flowers

  Stem Ginger

  Orange Zest

Sitting on leaves of:

 Mint

 Coriander

 Flat-Leaf Parsley

 Rocket

 Basil