Jiggle All the Way
An inventive young chef finds room for gelée By Rob Mifsud
Image credit: Edward Pond
No dish better captures the perverse culinary sensibility of 1950s suburban “gel cookery” than Jell-O salad, that iconic nightmare of canned fruit and marshmallows entombed in an iridescent, moulded gelatin sarcophagus—Reddi-wip optional. But a new generation of chefs is reinventing jellies, emphasizing classic technique and fresh, vibrant flavours that you’ll never find at a church ladies’ dinner. On an already arresting plate of impeccably sourced Arctic char served with preserved blood oranges, slow-braised chilled octopus, and fire-in-the-throat red wild ginger and icicle radish sorbet, Sequel chef Andrea Nicholson integrates a verdant cordial glass of green icicle radish gelée. Made from diced and juiced radish and a light fish consommé, the lightly briny, peppery creation echoes sea and field, a microcosm of the plate as a whole, and transforms the stuff of culinary nightmares into a sophisticated exploration of flavour and texture. It never hurts to break the mould.
Sequel, 3362 Yonge St., 416-480-0996.Comments
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