Recipe: Dominique Crenn's Oyster and Rosé

Chef Dominique Crenn, the owner of San Francisco's three-Michelin star-winning Atelier Crenn, presents a pairing of oyster with a reduction of rosé wine.

Oyster and Rosé

Grassy Bar Oysters (2 bellies pp)

Shuck oysters into a bowl over ice. Reserve well shaped shells to be used for the cloud; remove leftover abductor muscle and store in the freezer. Strain the oysters keeping the liquor. Rinse the oysters in the liquor as many times as needed until they are clean with no shell pieces. Once clean, strain again reserving the liquor for the cloud recipe. Using scissors, cut right along the belly of the oyster to remove the skirt and abductor muscle. Reserve the finished bellies in a yumkumi pan for service.

Rosé Reduction

750 ml Michel Sarasin Cremant y Rosé
50 g Shallot, peeled and sliced

Place rosé in a sauce pot on the stove on medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook out the alcohol for approximately 15 minutes. Cool over ice, combine with shallot and compress in a vacuum bag at maximum (99.9%). Strain and reserve 250g for oyster cloud and 75g for restriction cloud.

Rosé and Oyster Cloud (Yields 70-80ea)

250 g Oyster Liquor
250 g Rose Reduction
15 g Meyer Lemon Juice
5 g Mendocino Salt
1 % Methocel F50
0.2 % Xanthan Gum

Combine the oyster liquor, rose, lemon juice, and salt. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Scale the mixture and calculate the weights of the hydrocolloids (liquid weight in grams x percentage). Weight out each hydrocolloid using a micro scale. Using the immersion blender, shear in the hydrocolloids and blend on high for 1 min, or until fully hydrated. Transfer to an iSi and charge with 2 charges.

Set up a liquid nitrogen bath with both sides full and one side topped with the anti griddle that is prepped with a pass tray lined with parchment. Submerge three of the reserved shells in the nitrogen and wait until it has stopped bubbling. Remove the shells with a small spider and arrange them on the spider in a way that keeps them flat and all one layer. In a spare container, dispense a small amount of the foam from the iSi (the first 1-2 seconds of foam will be loose and not freeze smoothly). Starting with the narrow end, pipe the foam into the oyster shell and repeat for all the shells. Lower the shells halfway into the nitrogen and let freeze until you see the sides beginning to freeze about 5mm thick. Remove from the nitrogen and use a spoon to scoop out the remaining unfrozen foam (you want this to be a hollow shell). Make sure to reserve the remaining foam as backup. Invert the shells onto the anti griddle (they should come out with one tap). Repeat the process making sure to dispense 1-2 seconds of foam into the spare container before starting the shells. Reserve in the freezer.

Pickled Geranium Petal Gelee (10g pp)

2400 g Rice Vinegar
1600 g Water
400 g Sugar
104 g Salt
330 g Geranium Flowers
24 g Fish Gelatin

Temper the Geranium to room temperature. Combine the first four ingredients in a pot over medium heat whisking until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, and cool to 55 C, then pour over Geranium. Cover with a napkin so all petals are fully submerged. Cool to room temperature, compress at maximum vacuum, and chill overnight. The following day, strain the liquid.

Daily, set aside 200 g of pickling liquid, season with sea salt as needed. Combine the gelatin and half the pickling liquid in a small pot and place over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the gelatin is melted. Combine with the remaining pickling liquid and transfer to a yukimi to set.

Brunoise Meyer Lemon (1 pp)

1 ea Meyer Lemon, segmented (no pith) and brunoise, reserve for service

Strawberry Cloud (Restriction)

40 g Strawberry Ferment Liquid
75 g Rose Reduction
10 g Meyer Lemon Juice
3 g Mendocino Salt
1 % Methocel F50
0.2 % Xanthan Gum

Combine the strawberry liquid, rose, lemon juice, and salt. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Scale the mixture and calculate the weights of the hydrocolloids (liquid weight in grams x percentage). Weight out each hydrocolloid using a micro scale. Using the immersion blender, shear in the hydrocolloids and blend on high for 1 min, or until fully hydrated. Transfer to an iSi and charge with 2 charges.

Set up a liquid nitrogen bath with both sides full and one side topped with the anti griddle. Wait until the anti griddle is completely frozen or the foam will stick to the plate. In a spare container, dispense a small amount of the foam from the iSi (the first 1-2 seconds of foam will be loose and not freeze smoothly). Pipe the foam onto the griddle in 2 in circles (try to keep them as smooth and flat as possible). Let stand for about 1-2 min, or until half way frozen. Use an offset spatula to flip the disks and fully freeze on the second side, about 1 min. Transfer to a frozen pass tray lined with parchment paper and reserve in the freezer.

Fermented Strawberry (Restriction)

1 clm Fraise de Bois
2 % Kosher Salt Brine (make with filtered water)

Destem the strawberries and cover with brine. Let stand in the walk-in until the brine changes in color, about 1 week. Strain reserving the brine for the clouds and the berries for the plate.

      
For more info:

• "Rebel Chef: In Search of What Matters" by Dominique Crenn, with Emma Brockes (Penguin), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon
  
• Follow Dominique Crenn on Instagram
• Atelier Crenn, San Francisco