Advanced Techniques - Cocktail Pods (Reverse Spherification)
Summary
TLDRThe video script details an innovative culinary experiment involving the creation of cocktail pods, inspired by the Tide Pod Challenge and a whiskey brand's marketing campaign. The process uses reverse spherification, which requires sodium alginate and calcium lactate gluconate to form a gel-like membrane around a frozen cocktail. The host demonstrates making rye old fashioned and boulevardier pods, emphasizing the importance of precise measurements and the use of a digital scale. The resulting pods are described as an explosion of flavor, with a fun and visually appealing presentation. The script also includes a promotional mention of wireless earbuds, highlighting their affordability and quality. The video concludes with the host's enthusiasm for the project and an invitation to support further content on Patreon.
Takeaways
- 🍸 The internet has seen a resurgence in consuming things in pod format, with a whiskey brand recently creating cocktail pods that have gained popularity online.
- 🔬 The process used to create these cocktail pods is called reverse spherification, which involves a gelling agent and calcium ions.
- 🌊 Sodium alginate, derived from seaweed, is the gelling agent used, which needs to be combined with calcium ions to form a membrane.
- 📦 Calcium lactate gluconate is used as the calcium salt, chosen for its lower salt content compared to other calcium salts.
- 📚 A precise digital scale is necessary for accurately measuring the ingredients, particularly the sodium alginate and calcium salts.
- 🧊 A water bath with sodium alginate is created, and it's important to use distilled or filtered water to avoid interference from calcium.
- ⏳ The sodium alginate mixture needs to rest to allow the gelling agent to activate properly, ideally for 24 hours.
- 🍹 Cocktails are prepared in advance, combined with calcium salts, and then frozen in ice cube trays to create the right shape and volume for the pods.
- 🥄 Xanthan gum may be added to sour cocktails with higher water content to thicken them, as these types of cocktails can be more challenging to spherify.
- 🍽 After the spherification process, the pods are rinsed in cold water to remove excess sodium alginate and are then ready to eat.
- 📦 For storage, the pods should be kept in a mason jar filled with the respective cocktail (without calcium salts) to prevent the membrane from leaking.
- 🎧 The video includes a promotion for Ray Khan's earbuds, highlighting their value, sound quality, and design.
Q & A
What is the main technique used to create the cocktail pods?
-The main technique used to create the cocktail pods is reverse spherification.
What are the two specialty ingredients required for the reverse spherification process?
-The two specialty ingredients required are sodium alginate (a gelling agent refined from seaweed) and calcium salts in the form of calcium lactate gluconate.
Why is distilled or filtered water important in the sodium alginate bath?
-Distilled or filtered water is important because it ensures there is no calcium present, which could interfere with the gelling process.
How long should the sodium alginate solution rest before use?
-The sodium alginate solution should rest for at least one hour, or ideally for 24 hours.
What is the purpose of adding calcium lactate gluconate to the cocktail mixture?
-Calcium lactate gluconate is added to the cocktail mixture to supply calcium ions, which are necessary for the gelling agent to form a membrane around the cocktail.
What is the recommended percentage of calcium salts to add to the cocktail mixture?
-It is recommended to add 2 percent of the weight of the cocktail in calcium salts.
Why is it important to weigh the cocktail ingredients when making the pods?
-Weighing the cocktail ingredients ensures the precise amount of calcium salts is added, which is crucial for the gelling process to work correctly.
What can be added to sour cocktails to help thicken them for the spherification process?
-Xanthan gum can be added to sour cocktails to help thicken them, at about 0.3 percent by weight.
How long should the frozen cocktail pod be stirred in the warm sodium alginate bath?
-The frozen cocktail pod should be gently stirred in the warm sodium alginate bath for about two minutes.
What should be done to store the cocktail pods overnight without the membrane leaking?
-To store the cocktail pods overnight without the membrane leaking, they should be placed in a mason jar filled up with the same cocktail (without calcium salts).
What is the recommended temperature for the sodium alginate bath when preparing the pods?
-The recommended temperature for the sodium alginate bath is 125 degrees Fahrenheit.
What is the name of the person mentioned in the script who appears in the whiskey pod commercial?
-The name of the person mentioned in the script who appears in the whiskey pod commercial is Pods Worth.
Outlines
🍸 Making Whiskey Cocktail Pods with Reverse Spherification
The video introduces a method for creating whiskey cocktail pods using a technique called reverse spherification. The process involves two key ingredients: sodium alginate, a gelling agent derived from seaweed, and calcium salts, specifically calcium lactate gluconate, which provides the necessary calcium ions. A precise digital scale is used to measure ingredients accurately. The sodium alginate is first dissolved in distilled water to form a 0.5% solution, which is then left to rest, ideally for 24 hours. During this time, cocktails are prepared with added calcium salts and then frozen in silicone ice cube trays to create the desired pod shape. Once the gelling bath and frozen cocktail pods are ready, the pods are gently stirred in the warmed sodium alginate bath. This activates the gelling agent, forming a membrane around the cocktail. After thawing, the pods are rinsed in cold water and are ready to be eaten. The video also provides a link to additional information and equipment in the description.
🎧 Reviewing Premium Wireless Earbuds and Making Boulevardier Pods
After demonstrating the whiskey cocktail pod process, the video transitions into a review of premium wireless earbuds, specifically the e25 model, provided by Ray Khan. The earbuds are praised for their sound quality, compact design, noise-isolating fit, and affordability compared to other premium wireless earbuds. A special discount link is provided for viewers. The video then returns to the cocktail pod theme, showing the process of creating Boulevardier pods using the same reverse spherification technique. The pods are tested for taste and consistency, with the presenter expressing satisfaction with the results. The video concludes with a teaser for a Patreon-exclusive attempt at creating a giant Negroni sphere and a toast to the viewers.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Reverse Spherification
💡Sodium Alginate
💡Calcium Lactate Gluconate
💡Digital Scale
💡Old Fashioned
💡Boulevardier
💡Xanthan Gum
💡Water Bath
💡Cocktail Pods
💡Ear Buds
💡Negroni
Highlights
The internet has a weird obsession with consuming things in pod format
A whiskey brand recently brought out cocktail pods, causing a frenzy on the internet
The process used to make the cocktail pods is called reverse spherification
Two specialty ingredients are needed - sodium alginate and calcium lactate gluconate
Sodium alginate is a gelling agent refined from seaweed
Calcium lactate gluconate provides the calcium ions needed for the gelling reaction
A precise digital scale is needed to measure ingredients to the nearest 0.1g
A 0.5% sodium alginate solution is made by dissolving 5g in 1L of distilled water
The sodium alginate solution needs to rest for at least 1 hour, ideally 24 hours, to remove bubbles
The cocktail mixture is combined with 2% calcium lactate gluconate by weight, then frozen
The frozen cocktail is placed in the warm sodium alginate bath to form a gel membrane
The calcium salts in the cocktail activate the gelling agent in the bath
The pod is stirred in the bath for 2 minutes until the inside thaws and gelling stops
The pod is then rinsed in a cold water bath to remove excess sodium alginate
Sour cocktails with high water content may need to be thickened with xanthan gum
The resulting cocktail pods have a thin, edible membrane that bursts with flavor
If stored overnight, the membrane can leak so it's best to keep the pod in the cocktail liquid
The video demonstrates making whiskey pods using an Old Fashioned and Boulevardier cocktail
Transcripts
if there's one thing the Internet has
taught me in the last couple years is
that we have a weird obsession with
trying to consume things in pod format
now thankfully the tied pod challenge
meme has completely gone away but
recently a certain whiskey brand has
brought back our memories of the Tide
Pods with their cocktail pods and the
internet went a little crazy for these
things I mean can you blame them look at
how much they're enjoying these all
right so I'm going to tell you how they
do it it's actually not that complex
it's a well known process called reverse
spherification you need two specialty
ingredients the first being a gelling
agent called sodium alginate which is
refined from seaweed now this comes in a
powder form and in order for the gelling
to actually take place to form that
membrane we need to combine it with
calcium ions to supply those ions we're
gonna combine it with calcium salts in
the form of calcium lactate gluconate
there are some other types of calcium
salts like just calcium lactate and
calcium chloride but this one is great
because it has a lower salt content I'll
put a link to all the ingredients and
equipment I use in the description
and speaking of equipment you're gonna
want a precise digital scale one that
allows you to measure to the tenth of a
gram increment for legal purposes of
course all right we're gonna start by
making a water bath using our gelling
agent sodium alginate we're targeting a
point five percent solution so we're
gonna start by measuring out five grams
of sodium alginate then we're gonna pour
in 1 liter of distilled water into a
large bowl and it's very important that
there is no calcium in this water so
make sure it's distilled or filtered
next grab yourself a trusty hand blender
and slowly blend the powder into the
water now if you don't have a hand
blender just do this in a regular
blender okay it should have thickened a
little bit and have a ton of bubbles in
it now we do not want those bubbles so
we need to let this rest for at least
one hour or ideally 24 hours now that's
ok because there's another step we need
to do in advance we're gonna create our
cocktails that we want to go inside the
pods combined them with our calcium
salts and then freeze them we know the
whiskey pods are about 23 mils or a
little less than one ounce so these ice
cube trays are perfect for the right
shape the right volume and the bottoms
have silicone so you can pop them right
out all right so let's make our first
cocktail we're gonna go with a classic
rye old fashioned and it's actually
important to weigh this cocktail as
you're making it so we know precisely
how much of the calcium salts we should
add all right let's start with two
ounces or 60 mils of rye for our
sweetener I'm gonna use a hipster
barrel-aged maple syrup we're gonna add
a quarter ounce or about 7 mils hit that
with a few dashes of Angostura add one
ounce over 30 mils of water okay so we
need 2 percent of the weight in our
calcium salts so because this weighed
about 90 grams we're gonna add one point
eight grams of our calcium lactate
gluconate dump all that into a container
this nifty one here came with my hand
blender and we're just gonna blend that
up on high for about 30 seconds all
right and while you inspect my hairline
for bald spots I will just fill up the
ice cube tray this will make about five
pods worth coincidentally pods Worth is
the name of the guy in that whiskey pod
commercial what all right calm down pods
worth while we're at it let's get
another whiskey cocktail going here were
gonna make a boulevardier
so start with one ounce or 30 mils of
Campari then one ounce or 30 mils of
sweet vermouth and finally one ounce or
30 mils of our rye throw in another
ounce or 30 mils of water to account for
the dilution and because this drink
weighs a hundred and ten grams we're
gonna add 2.2 grams of our calcium salts
blend it up and pour it in the ice cube
trays will get about five or six pods
out of this man
this will work with any cocktail you
want but I will say if you're gonna make
a sour cocktail that maybe has a higher
water content you're gonna need to
thicken it a bit with some xantham gum
about 0.3 percent by weight I'll put a
recipe for a whiskey sour on the website
smash cut 24 hours later we've got three
bowls in front of us the first is our
sodium alginate bath heated to 125
degrees Fahrenheit I just microwaved it
on high for about two minutes
next to that we've got two bowls of cold
tap water you'll see why in a second and
we need a perforated spoon like this all
right grab our old-fashioned frozen pod
here and pop one out into the warm bath
and right when we drop that in the
calcium salts that we blended into that
cocktail are going to activate the
gelling agent in the water bath starting
to create a membrane around that pod
you're gonna gently stir the warm water
bath for about two minutes until the
inside of the pod completely thaws that
has stopped the gelling reaction and we
need to rinse off the sodium alginate so
pick it up with the perforated spoon
wipe the bottom with a towel and
transfer it to your first water bath
give that a light stir and then
literally rinse and repeat in the next
bowl after that transfer it to a paper
towel and it is ready to eat now we've
got our whiskey type pot I mean cocktail
pod the membrane should be thick enough
to just pick up with your hands without
breaking but if you try to store this
overnight the membrane will leak like
this so make sure if you want to store
this for later to put it in a mason jar
filled up with that cocktail itself so
in this case fill it up with the
old-fashioned but without the calcium
salts you can store it like this
indefinitely but before we move on to
the next pod I want to thank Ray Khan
for partnering with me on this video and
sending me these amazing ear buds and
the timing could not actually be better
for me because my quote unquote premium
ear buds just broke and these things
sound awesome first thing I notice about
the rake on ear buds is that they're
about half the price of any other
premium wireless earbuds on the market
and they sound just as amazing this here
is their latest model the e25 and it is
great it's got
six hours of playtime really seamless
bluetooth pairing it's got extra base in
a more compact design that has a nice
noise-isolating fit it comes in a bunch
of fun colors too so been using these
the past couple weeks
and they're just fantastic the fit is
really snug and discreet they never fall
out when I'm running on the treadmill
and for how small and discreet they are
I'm just amazed at how much sound you
can get out of them these earbuds are
already such a great value but they're
giving an additional discount right now
just click the link in the description
below to get 15% off your order all
right now on to the boulevardier pods
heat up your sodium alginate bath again
and pop in the frozen pod give that a
quick stir after a few minutes once it's
completely thawed we're again gonna
transfer it to the cold bath number one
cold bath number two and plate it up now
the easiest thing would be to put these
in the fridge for about an hour to cool
them down before getting her grubby
hands on them but let's make my Tide pod
eating dreams come true Cheers and yeah
I mean once you bite into this thing
it's like an explosion of cocktail this
is actually pretty great now I know what
pods worth was on about okay moving on
to the boulevardier in pod form honestly
I'm really impressed at how well this
thing holds together I would have
thought it would be a flimsy mess right
now but down the hatch and yeah this one
is fantastic I think this one's my
favorite it's a little less boozy than
the old fashioned and it's just a
delicious cocktail these things are
really fun give it a try but what if we
attempt a giant Negroni sphere over on
my patreon I attempt this monstrosity
and you can see if it's a fail or a
total success a huge thank you to all
those who support the channel and keep
it going I couldn't do without you guys
Cheers until next time
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