So, most cooks these days know the cold consommé technique as described by Harold McGee. If you aren’t familiar, the technique involves creating a flavorful liquid, straining it, adding some gelatin (no where near enough to make gelatin), freezing it (which will break the gelatin), and finally allowing it to drip while wrapped in cheesecloth or muslin. And what does this this deliberate syneresis do for you? It gives you a nicely clear version of your liquid. It sure beats the classic clarification method you learn in cooking school in which you create a raft, the strange melange of egg whites, egg shells, ground lean meat, mirepoix, and something nicely acidic, such as tomato paste.
But what if you could do that another way? Something even easier than the gelatin? What if I told you that you could clarify things like fresh juice easily and you could do it with agar? And what if I’d been sitting on this blog post for over a year, trying to prove exactly what I’m not sure? OK, buckle up for this list of benefits:
It is fast so fragile juices like lime can be clarified
You need no special equipment
It is vegetarian
It is foolproof
The results are clearer than gelatin for some products
You don’t tie up fridge space with hotel pans
You don’t tie up freezer space with hotel pans
Yield is high
Because there’s no freezing involved, you can clarify alcohol without liquid nitrogen