in the kitchen x faux cheese course
This is not your typical cheese course. First of all, there is no cheese. Second, there's just no cheese. What is on the plate is a play on cheese. Plated is a poached seckel pear, milk skin, olive oil, maldon salt, cracked black pepper, and pea shoots. The seckel pears are poached in honey and cardamom. I love poaching pears in honey because it gives it a rich and buttery taste without compromising the actual fruit. Cardamom is a deliciously fragrant and warm spice that I love to infuse to cooked fruit. It gives a a sense of familiarity without overwhelming the senses. The milk skin is just that, milk skin. It's the skin that develops in heated milk. I love that it has a delicate mouthfeel and is reminiscent of mozzarella, especially when topped with good olive oil, salt, and pepper. The pea shoots add a vegetal freshness. When I first tasted all the components together, I was so excited. It tasted better than what I had envisioned. In the kitchen, trial and error is part of developing any dish, but when something comes out delicious on the first try, it's just icing on the cake.