compressed watermelon

We have on many occasions made 'confits' of fruits and melons by placing them with simple syrup under high sous-vide pressure, but have never taken it in other directions.  This time, I borrowed an old flavor pairing idea from Chef Charles Bartell (who is now sailing the 7 seas... or at least the Gulf Coast area).  The pairing is fish sauce and watermelon... strange, maybe... but tasty.

I cut simple blocks of watermelon and drizzled them with some nuoc cham (sugar, garlic, lime, sambal, nuoc mam, steep in hot water).  I then placed them into sous-vide bags and turned up the vacuum pressure a little from 18 (our usual setting) to 25.  That's our Berkel cryovac in the background above.

The blocks sat for a short time under refrigeration.  Although unnecessary for the transmorgrification (to borrow a common Cantu/Roche favorite word), the refrigeration acts only to chill the melon.

The textural change can easily be seen in the above block when removed from the bag.  Unlike natural melon which is more brittle to slice, the compressed watermelon takes on more of a 'meaty' quality.  It literally slices like raw tuna (and looks amazingly similar).  The sous-vide process with the Vietnamese sauce infuses the entire mass of melon with the salty/sweet, lime-fruity, hint of fish umami flavor (coupled with the suggestive punch of garlic and chile) to create a crisp refreshing flavor.

Here is an application of the watermelon that I sent out to a VIP table.  I was going to call it 'fish pea water' but that was probably too much whimsy in an unappetizing direction.  It is simply shredded skate wing, compressed Vietnamese watermelon, with crushed wasabi peas (our favorite bar snack).  I garnished it with some micro chives that the Tropical Delights ladies in Homestead, FL gave us.  Micro cilantro would be beautiful on this dish, but as I am told, it is one of the most difficult 'micro greens' to grow here.  Apparently the intense heat in South Florida does not do well for the tiny cilantro sprouts... you cannot twist nature all of the time.  Anyway, I love these chives.

Fortunately and coincidentally, the dish married perfectly to the Pouilly-fuse that the table brought with them... I told them I planned it that way, although I had no idea what they were drinking... psychic chef!

Comments

[Jim]

I'm unfamiliar with vacuum machines. 18...25... is that atmospheres (the unit of measure)? Do you know if non multi-thousand dollar units can effectively compress foods (e.g. the FoodSaver)?

[Orges]

Hi,

This process is called “vacuum impregnation”, and basically consists in extract the air and some of the extracelular water of the food (melon in this case) due to the action of vacuum. Thereafter, in the moment the atmospheric pressure is restores, the piece “sucks” whatever liquid is around. It can be performed in plastic bags, but is more effective in a bowl or any other container, and using vacuum pulses. The higher the vacuum, the more intense the impregnation is. You can find tables with porosity indexes (very porous foods can be more effectively impregnated than non-porous ones) in ICC, in the gastrovac technical notes.

[chadzilla]

I am really not sure if the numbers set on the vacuum are universal units or just the machines settings. The reason I said 18 was the setting that we use for most food storage applications was to give some reference for what a setting of 25 meant. I guess it doesn't mean much if someone has never used sous-vide. Fortunately for myself, I have been exposed to cry-o-vac units since 1995 and even before I knew the cooking value of the technique I would literally portion and seal all of my station mise en place. The ability to store and hold food that way just fascinated me. I have never, however, used the smaller 'foodsaver' type units... only expensive monstrous machines that apply massive amounts of pressure to your food. I have no idea how much, if any, vacuum pressure is used with them.

[Chicken Fried Gourmet]

so once you vacuum the food do you actually cook it or just put it in the fridge ?

[chadzilla]

It is not cooked at all, and the refrigeration is only to chill it. This is strictly vacuum pressure.

[allison]

so how long do you leave it under vacuum?

[allison]

so how long do you leave it under vacuum?

[allison]

so how long do you leave it under vacuum?

[chadzilla]

... only a few minutes if that much... or as long as you want to hold it before opening.