"Tidal Memory"

A Meditation on the Meeting of Land and Sea

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CONCEPTUAL NARRATIVE

This dish was born from a single image: the precise moment at low tide when a rocky coastline exhales — releasing the mineral breath of the ocean while the surrounding pine forest absorbs it. Tidal Memory explores the sensory tension between iodine and resin, cold salinity and warm earthiness, the ephemeral and the preserved.

The unusual pairing at the dish's heart is sea urchin (uni) married with Douglas fir tips and aged Comté — three ingredients that share a hidden aromatic compound, β-pinene, a terpene present in conifer needles, certain aged cheeses, and the fatty membranes of sea urchin roe. This molecular kinship creates a flavor resonance that feels simultaneously surprising and inevitable — as if these ingredients have always been waiting to meet.

The dish tells a story in four acts: arrival (the cold, briny opening), immersion (the warm, enveloping middle), discovery (textural surprise), and memory (the long, resinous finish).

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SERVES: 4

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COMPONENT OVERVIEW

1. Douglas Fir & Comté Velouté
2. Uni Royale with Sea Water Gel
3. Compressed Cucumber with Pine Oil Vinaigrette
4. Crispy Forbidden Rice & Nori Tuile
5. Pickled Sea Beans and Finger Lime Caviar
6. Smoked Egg Yolk Confit
7. Douglas Fir Tip Oil
8. Finishing Elements & Plating Architecture

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SOURCING NOTES

Ingredient	Source / Notes
Santa Barbara Uni (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus)	Order from Catalina Offshore Products or direct from Japanese importers (Hokkaido uni in season, Oct–Mar). Must be Grade A trays, consumed within 24 hours of delivery.
Douglas Fir Tips	Harvest new spring growth (bright green, soft tips) yourself from non-sprayed trees, or source from Foraged & Found Edibles (Pacific Northwest). Freeze unused portions immediately.
Aged Comté (36-month minimum)	Marcel Petite Fort Saint Antoine affinage, available through Murray's Cheese or specialty importers. The extra aging develops the crystalline tyrosine deposits essential to this dish's flavor architecture.
Sea Beans (Salicornia)	Marx Foods, Specialty Produce, or forage from coastal salt marshes (Pacific or Atlantic coast, summer–fall).
Finger Lime (Citrus australasica)	Melissa's Produce or specialty citrus growers in California. The "caviar" vesicles provide micro-bursts of acid.
Forbidden Rice (Black Glutinous Rice)	Lotus Foods brand widely available; Anson Mills produces a superior heirloom variety.
Smoked Water	Produce in-house (see below) or source from Salish Smoked Water.
Agar-Agar (high-grade)	Texturas brand (Albert y Ferran Adrià line) for precise gel clarity.
Transglutaminase (optional)	Modernist Pantry — used for uni royale binding.

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TIMELINE (Service Day)

T-48 hours:  Order uni, prepare fir tip oil (infusion stage)
T-24 hours:  Pickle sea beans, prepare Comté stock, smoke egg yolks
T-4 hours:   Make velouté, set sea water gel, prepare tuile batter
T-2 hours:   Compress cucumber, finish fir tip oil, plate mise en place
T-30 min:    Temper uni, warm velouté, final assembly

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COMPONENT 1: DOUGLAS FIR & COMTÉ VELOUTÉ

The warm, enveloping center of the dish — aromatic, slightly resinous, deeply savory

Ingredients

• 200g Douglas fir tips, washed, divided
• 1.2L high-quality chicken stock (preferably from feet and wings for collagen body)
• 300g aged Comté (36-month), rind reserved, cheese finely grated
• 150ml heavy cream (36% fat minimum)
• 80g unsalted butter, cubed, ice cold
• 1 large shallot, finely minced
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• 100ml dry white vermouth (Noilly Prat)
• 15g tapioca starch
• Fine sea salt, white pepper
• 1 small piece kombu (5cm × 5cm)

Method

Step 1 — Fir Tip Infusion: Bring chicken stock to 75°C (167°F) — do not boil. Add 150g of fir tips and kombu. Maintain temperature precisely using an immersion circulator or careful monitoring. Infuse for 22 minutes exactly. Beyond this point, the terpenes begin to denature into bitterness. Strain immediately through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth. Discard solids. Reserve infused stock.

Step 2 — Comté Stock Base: In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, sweat shallot and garlic in 20g butter over medium-low heat until translucent and sweet (approximately 8 minutes). Add vermouth and reduce by two-thirds. Add infused stock and Comté rinds. Simmer gently for 20 minutes. Strain, pressing rinds to extract maximum flavor. Return to clean pan.

Step 3 — Velouté Construction: Mix tapioca starch with 30ml cold water. Bring stock base to a gentle simmer. Whisk in tapioca slurry gradually until the liquid coats the back of a spoon with a silky, light body — not thick, not watery. Think of it as a liquid veil rather than a sauce.

Step 4 — Cheese Integration: Remove from heat. Allow to cool to 82°C (180°F) — use a probe thermometer. Gradually whisk in grated Comté in three additions, ensuring each addition is fully incorporated before adding the next. The cheese must melt rather than seize. Add cream. Return to 78°C and maintain.

Step 5 — Finishing: Using an immersion blender, mount the cold butter cubes into the hot velouté to create emulsification and gloss. Season with fine sea salt and white pepper. Pass through a fine chinois. Keep warm in a bain-marie at 65°C. Do not allow to boil.

Chef's Note: The velouté should taste like the forest floor after rain — earthy, slightly resinous, with the crystalline sharpness of aged cheese arriving at the finish.

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COMPONENT 2: UNI ROYALE WITH SEA WATER GEL

A savory custard of extraordinary delicacy, suspended in clarity

This is a two-part element: a barely-set uni royale (Japanese-style savory custard) encased in a transparent sea water gel that melts on the tongue, releasing a concentrated burst of ocean minerality.

Part A — Uni Royale

Ingredients

• 120g Grade A uni (6–8 lobes per person, divided: 4 lobes for royale, remainder for garnish)
• 3 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 200ml dashi (see below)
• 50ml heavy cream
• 5ml light soy sauce (usukuchi)
• 3ml yuzu juice (fresh or frozen)
• Fine sea salt

Dashi (for royale)

• 1L cold water
• 20g kombu
• 30g katsuobushi (bonito flakes)

Dashi Method: Cold-steep kombu in water for 1 hour. Bring to 60°C, hold 20 minutes. Remove kombu. Increase heat to 85°C, add bonito, steep 4 minutes. Strain without pressing. Season lightly.

Royale Method

Step 1 — Uni Purée: Reserve 16 of your most beautiful, intact uni lobes for garnish (4 per plate). Place remaining uni in a blender with 50ml dashi. Blend on high for 30 seconds. Pass through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing gently. You should have approximately 80ml of smooth, intensely flavored uni purée.

Step 2 — Custard Base: Whisk whole eggs and yolks together. Combine with remaining dashi (150ml), cream, soy sauce, and yuzu. Whisk until homogeneous. Add uni purée. Season carefully — the uni is already saline.

Step 3 — Strain and Set: Pass custard mixture through a fine chinois twice. Skim any surface foam. Carefully pour into four individual cylindrical molds (5cm diameter × 3cm tall) or small ramekins lined with acetate for easy unmolding. Cover each with plastic wrap pressed directly to the surface.

Step 4 — Steam Setting: Place in a bamboo steamer over water maintained at exactly 82°C (180°F). Steam for 14–16 minutes. The royale is set when it jiggles as a single unit — like very firm jello — with no liquid center. Remove immediately. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for minimum 2 hours. The royale must be cold-set before being encased in gel.

Part B — Sea Water Gel

Ingredients

• 500ml filtered water
• 18g sea salt (fine, non-iodized)
• 5g agar-agar (Texturas brand)
• 2g iota carrageenan (for added clarity and slight elasticity)
• 3ml rice wine vinegar
• 1 sheet gelatin, bloomed (adds mouth-melt quality)

Sea Water Gel Method

Step 1: Combine water, salt, and vinegar. Taste — it should taste like clean, cold ocean water. Adjust salt.

Step 2: Whisk agar-agar and carrageenan into cold sea water. Bring to a full boil while whisking constantly. Boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cool to 70°C, add bloomed gelatin, stir to dissolve.

Step 3 — Encasing: Place unmolded, cold uni royale cylinders into individual molds slightly larger (6cm diameter). Pour sea water gel around and over the royale to a depth of 5mm above the top. Refrigerate until fully set (minimum 1 hour). The finished element should appear as a crystal-clear block with a pale amber cylinder suspended within it — like an insect preserved in amber, but edible and alive with flavor.

Step 4: Using a hot knife, cut each block into a perfect 6cm × 4cm rectangle. Keep refrigerated until service. Unmold and plate cold — it will temper to the correct serving temperature during the 3-minute plating window.

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COMPONENT 3: COMPRESSED CUCUMBER WITH PINE OIL VINAIGRETTE

Coolness and clarity — the palate's breath of fresh air

Ingredients

• 2 English cucumbers, peeled
• 150ml cucumber juice (extracted from trimmings via centrifuge or fine pressing)
• 30ml Douglas fir tip oil (Component 7)
• 15ml rice wine vinegar
• 5ml honey (acacia)
• 2g fine sea salt
• 0.5g xanthan gum
• Microplaned zest of 1/2 lime

Method

Step 1 — Cylinder Cutting: Using a ring mold or Japanese mandoline guide, cut cucumber into perfect cylinders: 4cm diameter, 1.5cm tall. You need 3 cylinders per plate (12 total). Use a melon baller to create a shallow divot in the top of each cylinder — this will cradle a finger lime pearl cluster.

Step 2 — Vacuum Compression: Place cucumber cylinders in a vacuum bag with cucumber juice, a pinch of salt, and 5ml of the fir tip oil. Vacuum seal at maximum pressure. The compression will collapse the cellular structure, making the cucumber translucent, dense, and intensely flavored — more cucumber than cucumber. Compress for 20 minutes. Remove, pat dry.

Step 3 — Pine Oil Vinaigrette: Blend fir tip oil, rice wine vinegar, honey, and lime zest. Season. Whisk in xanthan gum using an immersion blender to create a light, stable emulsion that coats without weighing down. The vinaigrette should be bright green and luminous.

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COMPONENT 4: CRISPY FORBIDDEN RICE & NORI TUILE

Architecture and texture — the dish's structural exclamation point

Ingredients

• 200g black forbidden rice
• 2 sheets nori, toasted
• 50g tapioca starch
• 30ml squid ink
• 500ml water
• Fine sea salt
• Neutral oil for frying (grapeseed)

Method

Step 1 — Rice Paste: Cook forbidden rice in 500ml water until completely overcooked and sticky (approximately 45 minutes). While still hot, blend with tapioca starch and squid ink until a smooth, thick, deeply black paste forms. Season aggressively with salt.

Step 2 — Nori Integration: Blend toasted nori in a spice grinder to a fine powder. Fold 15g of nori powder into the rice paste.

Step 3 — Tuile Formation: Using an offset spatula, spread the paste in an extremely thin, even layer (1–2mm) on a silicone baking mat. You can use a stencil to create precise geometric shapes — for this dish, we use an irregular wave form approximately 12cm × 4cm, evoking a breaking wave. Dry in a dehydrator at 60°C for 3 hours, or in an oven at its lowest setting with the door slightly ajar, until completely brittle and dry.

Step 4 — Frying: Heat grapeseed oil to 190°C (375°F). Fry dried tuiles for 8–10 seconds until they puff, blister, and become extraordinarily crisp. Drain on paper towels. Season immediately with fine sea salt and a dusting of remaining nori powder. These must be made within 2 hours of service and stored in an airtight container with silica gel.

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COMPONENT 5: PICKLED SEA BEANS & FINGER LIME CAVIAR

Acidity, brine, and the micro-burst of citrus

Pickled Sea Beans

Ingredients

• 100g fresh sea beans (Salicornia), woody stems removed
• 150ml rice wine vinegar
• 100ml water
• 20g sugar
• 5g sea salt
• 1 star anise
• 3 white peppercorns
• 1 small strip kombu

Method

Blanch sea beans in boiling unsalted water for 45 seconds. Shock in ice water. Combine remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, dissolve sugar and salt. Cool to 70°C. Pour over sea beans. Refrigerate minimum 12 hours, maximum 48 hours. The pickling will temper the sea beans' natural salinity while preserving their extraordinary emerald green color and satisfying snap.

Finger Lime Preparation

Halve 4 finger limes crosswise. Using a small spoon or the back of a knife, gently squeeze the vesicles (the tiny pearl-like spheres) out of each half. Reserve in a small bowl. The vesicles should remain intact — they are the dish's surprise micro-texture, bursting with sharp, aromatic citrus acid precisely when the diner bites.

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COMPONENT 6: SMOKED EGG YOLK CONFIT

The dish's golden punctuation — rich, smoky, and barely held together

Ingredients

• 8 egg yolks (the freshest possible — ideally same-day farm eggs)
• 200ml cold-pressed olive oil
• 200ml grapeseed oil
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 clove garlic, bruised
• Wood chips for smoking: alder and applewood blend (40/60 ratio)
• Fine sea salt, white pepper

Method

Step 1 — Cold Smoking: Set up a cold smoker (Smoking Gun or purpose-built cold smoker). Target temperature: below 25°C (77°F) to prevent any cooking. Carefully separate egg yolks, keeping them completely intact. Place yolks in a shallow ceramic dish. Cold smoke for 8 minutes — enough to impart a delicate, sweet smokiness without overwhelming the yolk's inherent richness. The yolks should develop a very slight translucent skin on the exterior.

Step 2 — Confit Oil: Combine olive and grapeseed oils with thyme and garlic in a small saucepan. Bring to 63°C (145°F) using a thermometer. Maintain this temperature precisely.

Step 3 — Confit: Gently lower smoked yolks into the oil using a slotted spoon. Confit at 63°C for exactly 45 minutes. The yolk should be set on the outside, flowing within — a state between raw and cooked that food scientists call the "jammy" stage. Remove carefully. Season with fine sea salt and white pepper. Serve within 30 minutes of confiting.

Step 4 — Smoked Water (for velouté finish): Fill a smoking gun chamber with alder chips. Inject smoke into 200ml of water sealed in a plastic bag for 5 minutes. Seal and let stand 10 minutes. Use 2 tablespoons of this smoked water to finish the velouté at service — it adds an invisible aromatic depth that connects the yolk to the soup.

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COMPONENT 7: DOUGLAS FIR TIP OIL

The dish's chromatic and aromatic spine — electric green, resinous, alive

Ingredients

• 100g Douglas fir tips (fresh spring growth only)
• 100g flat-leaf parsley (blanched, squeezed dry — for color stability)
• 300ml grapeseed oil
• 2g fine sea salt

Method

Step 1 — Blanching: Blanch fir tips in aggressively salted boiling water for 90 seconds. Shock in ice water. Squeeze completely dry in a clean kitchen towel.

Step 2 — Blending: Combine fir tips, blanched parsley, and grapeseed oil in a high-powered blender (Vitamix). Blend on maximum speed for 4 full minutes — the friction will heat the mixture to approximately 70°C, which is ideal for chlorophyll extraction. The oil will turn an extraordinary, vivid emerald green.

Step 3 — Straining: Pour into a container and refrigerate overnight (minimum 8 hours) — the solids will settle and the oil will clarify to a jewel-like transparency. Do not rush this step. Carefully ladle the clear green oil off the top, leaving sediment behind. Pass through a coffee filter or fine cheesecloth-lined chinois.

Result: A luminous, electric green oil with a complex nose of pine resin, fresh herb, and a faint sweetness. This oil appears in three places in the dish: the velouté finish, the cucumber vinaigrette, and as a final plating element.

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COMPONENT 8: ADDITIONAL FINISHING ELEMENTS

• Micro herbs: Sea purslane, micro shiso, bronze fennel fronds
• Edible flowers: Borage (for their oceanic, cucumber-like flavor), nasturtium petals (for color and peppery note)
• Comté shavings: Using a vegetable peeler, create thin, translucent shavings of 36-month Comté — these will be placed at the last moment and will begin to melt slightly from the heat of the velouté
• Sea salt flakes: Maldon or fleur de sel
• Fresh fir tip: One perfect, raw spring fir tip per plate — a visual and aromatic anchor

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PLATING ARCHITECTURE

This dish is plated in a shallow, wide-rimmed bowl (28cm diameter, matte white or pale celadon glaze). The goal is to evoke a tidal pool — depth, layering, and the sense that something beautiful is being revealed rather than presented.

The Bowl (Pre-warmed to 55°C)

PLATING DIAGRAM (Top View):

                    [Tuile Wave — arching from 10 o'clock to 3 o'clock]
                   /
    [Fir tip]    /
       |        /
  [Uni Royale Block] ← CENTER
       |
  [Egg Yolk] — [Sea Beans cluster]
       |
  [3× Cucumber cylinders — gentle arc]
       |
  [Finger lime pearls in cucumber divots]
  
  [Uni lobes — draped over royale, 4 per plate]
  [Micro herbs — scattered naturally, not placed]
  [Flowers — 2-3 points of color]
  [Fir tip oil — 3 small pools, irregular]

Step-by-Step Plating Sequence

1. The Foundation — Velouté: Pour 60ml of warm velouté (65°C) into the center of the bowl. Tilt the bowl gently so it creates a natural, organic pool — not a perfect circle. The velouté should settle to a depth of approximately 8mm. It is the dish's sea.

2. The Island — Uni Royale Block: Using a thin spatula, place the sea water gel block containing the uni royale slightly off-center in the velouté. It should appear to float — the transparent gel nearly invisible against the pale velouté, the amber royale cylinder visible within. The cold gel will create a temperature contrast with the warm velouté that persists for 4–5 minutes — the ideal eating window.

3. The Shore — Cucumber Cylinders: Arrange three compressed cucumber cylinders in a gentle arc along the lower-left quadrant of the bowl, partially submerged in the velouté. Their translucency against the pale soup creates a visual echo of the gel block.

4. The Texture — Tuile: Lean the forbidden rice and nori tuile wave against the gel block, arching dramatically across the upper portion of the bowl. Its jet-black color against the pale velouté creates maximum visual contrast. It should feel like a wave about to break.

5. The Treasure — Uni Lobes: Using tweezers, carefully drape four perfect uni lobes over the top of the gel block, slightly overlapping, like a crown. Their golden-orange color against the crystal-clear gel is the dish's most beautiful moment.

6. The Punctuation — Egg Yolk: Using a slotted spoon, carefully lower the smoked egg yolk confit into the velouté to the lower right of the gel block. It should rest on the bowl's bottom, barely submerged, its golden surface gleaming. It is the dish's sun.

7. The Brine — Sea Beans: Arrange 6–8 pickled sea bean segments in a small cluster near the egg yolk, their emerald color contrasting with the gold. Tuck 2–3 under the tuile.

8. The Burst — Finger Lime: Using a small spoon, nestle finger lime vesicles into the divots of the cucumber cylinders and scatter 8–10 additional pearls across the velouté surface. They should look like sea spray caught in amber light.

9. The Color — Fir Tip Oil: Using a small squeeze bottle or a teaspoon, create three irregular pools of fir tip oil on the velouté surface: one large (approximately 3cm diameter) near the egg yolk, two smaller near the cucumber. The electric green against the pale velouté is the dish's chromatic climax.

10. The Life — Micro Herbs and Flowers: Using tweezers, place micro herbs and flowers with apparent spontaneity — as if they have washed ashore. Sea purslane echoes the sea beans. Bronze fennel fronds mirror the fir. Borage flowers, with their oceanic blue, complete the color story.

11. The Anchor — Fresh Fir Tip: Place one perfect, raw Douglas fir tip — bright spring green, still fragrant — leaning against the tuile. It is the first thing the diner sees. It is the dish's title card.

12. The Finish — Comté Shaving: Lay one translucent Comté shaving across the uni lobes. In 60 seconds, the heat from the velouté will begin to soften it. Service must happen immediately.

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SERVICE INSTRUCTIONS

The server presents the dish with a brief narrative:

"This is Tidal Memory — a moment from the Pacific Coast where the pine forest meets the sea. At the center, you'll find uni royale suspended in sea water gel — we suggest you break through the tuile first to release the smoke from the egg yolk. The dish is best experienced within four minutes, while the temperatures are still in conversation with each other."

The diner's ideal eating sequence:

1. Break the tuile — releasing the aroma of sea and smoke
2. Take the first spoonful through gel, royale, and velouté together
3. Encounter the egg yolk — its smoke and richness anchoring the ocean
4. The cucumber provides cool relief
5. A finger lime pearl bursts — sudden acid, a palate reset
6. The raw fir tip, nibbled last, leaves a resinous, lingering memory

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WINE PAIRING

Primary: 2018 Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet "Les Pucelles" 1er Cru — the wine's mineral tension, white flower, and subtle resinous notes mirror the dish's architecture precisely.

Alternative: 2019 Domaine Weinbach Riesling "Clos des Capucins" — the wine's petrol, citrus, and saline minerality create a dialogue with the uni and sea water gel.

Non-alcoholic: A cold-infused tea of white peony (Bai Mu Dan), green apple, and a single Douglas fir tip, served at 12°C.

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RECIPE NOTES & KITCHEN PHILOSOPHY

"The greatest dishes do not surprise the palate — they remind it of something it has always known but never tasted. Tidal Memory is not a dish about technique. The technique is merely the language. The dish is about the feeling of standing at the edge of the water, breathing in, and understanding for one moment that the boundary between the forest and the sea, between the self and the world, is an illusion."

Total active preparation time: 6–8 hours (team of 3) Components that can be prepared ahead: Sea water gel (D-1), pickled sea beans (D-1), fir tip oil (D-1), Comté stock base (D-1) Components requiring same-day preparation: Uni royale, egg yolk confit, tuile (2 hours before), velouté finishing

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Recipe developed for a tasting menu context — this dish appears as the 4th course of 9, following a warm amuse-bouche of pine-smoked butter and preceding a dry-aged duck with fermented black garlic.