"Temporal Echo: Sea & Forest Confluence"

Conceptual Narrative

This dish explores the dialogue between ocean depths and ancient forest floors, creating a sensory experience where seemingly disparate ecosystems converge. The unexpected pairing of fermented black garlic and white chocolate creates a profound umami-sweet liaison that bridges marine and woodland flavors. The composition invites diners to discover how ingredients from these two worlds mirror and complement each other—sea foam echoes forest mist, while mushroom soil recalls sandy ocean beds. Each element undergoes transformation through time and technique, reflecting nature's own cycles of decay and renewal.

Components

1. Butter-Poached Hokkaido Sea Scallops

Ingredients:

• 12 large U10 Hokkaido sea scallops
• 200g unsalted cultured butter
• 5g kombu
• Fine sea salt

Method:

1. Remove side muscles from scallops and dry thoroughly.
2. Create a beurre monté by melting butter with 30ml water and kombu at 60°C.
3. Season scallops lightly with salt.
4. Poach in butter bath at exactly 54°C for 8 minutes.
5. Remove and carefully pat dry, reserving for searing just before plating.
6. Just before serving, sear one side only in a screaming hot carbon steel pan for 20 seconds.

2. Black Garlic & White Chocolate Emulsion

Ingredients:

• 50g fermented black garlic cloves
• 75ml heavy cream
• 30g Valrhona Ivoire white chocolate
• 10ml champagne vinegar
• 5g Acacia honey
• 1g xanthan gum

Method:

1. Purée black garlic with 25ml cream to a completely smooth paste.
2. Strain through fine chinois.
3. Heat remaining cream until just below simmer, remove from heat.
4. Add white chocolate, whisk until incorporated.
5. Gradually integrate black garlic purée, vinegar, and honey.
6. Emulsify with immersion blender while adding xanthan gum.
7. Pass through filter again and transfer to a thermal container.

3. Spruce Tip Oil

Ingredients:

• 100g fresh young spruce tips
• 250ml grapeseed oil
• 1g ascorbic acid

Method:

1. Blanch spruce tips for 10 seconds, shock in ice water.
2. Dry thoroughly and blend with oil and ascorbic acid.
3. Process in high-speed blender until temperature reaches 65°C.
4. Strain through superbag or coffee filter.
5. Rest 24 hours before decanting clear oil from sediment.

4. Pine-Smoked Mushroom "Soil"

Ingredients:

• 200g oyster mushrooms
• 100g shiitake mushrooms
• 50g dried porcini mushrooms
• 25g food-grade activated charcoal
• 50g tapioca maltodextrin
• 20g pine nuts, toasted

Method:

1. Cold-smoke all mushrooms using pine needles for 45 minutes.
2. Dehydrate at 55°C for 8 hours.
3. Grind to fine powder and mix with toasted, ground pine nuts.
4. Brown 15g butter until nutty, combine with mushroom mixture.
5. Incorporate charcoal and maltodextrin until soil-like consistency forms.

5. Yuzu Sea Foam

Ingredients:

• 100ml dashi made from scallop trimmings and kombu
• 50ml fresh yuzu juice
• 5g soy lecithin
• 10ml mirin

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients in tall container.
2. Use immersion blender at liquid surface to create stable foam.
3. Allow to set 1 minute before harvesting with slotted spoon.
4. Create immediately before service.

6. Forest Floor Gel

Ingredients:

• 500ml mushroom consommé (clarified using gelatin filtration)
• 5g agar-agar
• 3g gellan gum
• 10ml white soy sauce
• 5g aged barley miso

Method:

1. Heat clarified consommé to 90°C.
2. Whisk in hydrocolloids, white soy, and miso.
3. Pour 5mm thick into shallow container, refrigerate until set.
4. Cut into irregular 1cm fragments resembling forest detritus.

7. Koji-Compressed Green Apple

Ingredients:

• 2 Granny Smith apples
• 50g fresh rice koji
• 10g salt

Method:

1. Peel and core apples, cut into precise 1cm batons.
2. Mix koji with salt to create paste.
3. Vacuum seal apples with koji mixture at maximum pressure.
4. Ferment 24 hours at 21°C.
5. Rinse, dry, and cut into precise 3mm cubes before service.

8. Seaweed Tuiles

Ingredients:

• 30g high-quality nori sheets
• 20g rice flour
• 10g tapioca starch
• 5g squid ink
• 100ml filtered water

Method:

1. Pulverize nori into fine powder.
2. Create thin batter with remaining ingredients.
3. Spread paper-thin on silicone mats in organic patterns.
4. Dehydrate at 60°C until completely brittle.
5. Store with desiccant until service.

9. Living Micro Forest

Ingredients:

• Selection of microgreens (micro shiso, micro sorrel, micro pine)
• 100g food-grade black soil medium
• Edible flowers (borage, bronze fennel blossoms)
• Edible moss (carefully cleaned reindeer moss)

Method:

1. Prepare planting medium from edible substrates.
2. Just before service, arrange living microgreens in medium.
3. Integrate moss and flowers for texture and color contrast.

Plating Instructions

1. Place a crescent of mushroom soil off-center on a matte black ceramic plate.
2. Position three scallops in a measured asymmetric arrangement.
3. Pipe five precisely-placed dots of black garlic emulsion using a #2 tip.
4. Arrange forest floor gel fragments in deliberate pattern.
5. Strategically place three seaweed tuiles to create height.
6. Distribute koji-apple cubes as points of acidity and brightness.
7. Create a small crater in the soil, nestling the living microgreen element.
8. Gently spoon yuzu foam in three locations, avoiding excess liquid.
9. Using a medicine dropper, place 7 individual drops of spruce oil.
10. Finish with edible flowers and a pinch of fleur de sel on each scallop.

Sourcing Notes

• Hokkaido Scallops: Source from Hokkaido Seafood Federation; requires 72-hour advance ordering. Alternative: Hand-harvested Maine diver scallops.

• Black Garlic: Produced in-house through 30-day controlled fermentation at 60°C. For consistency, begin new batch every 15 days.

• Spruce Tips: Harvest during 2-week spring window when bright green and tender. Flash-freeze surplus to extend availability.

• Yuzu: Import from Kōchi Prefecture, Japan during November-January season. Preserve excess juice in frozen cubes.

• Rice Koji: Cultivate in-house on steam-cooked Koshihikari rice using A. oryzae spores in cedar chamber at 30°C with 80% humidity.

• Edible Moss: Source through specialized foragers with mycological expertise; requires thorough washing and inspection before use.

This dish demands meticulous preparation, flawless execution, and precise timing of each element. The components must be prepared according to a strict schedule ensuring the living elements remain vital while fermented and transformed ingredients reach their optimal expression.