Raw Gastronomy

The greatest advantage to being a professional raw foods chef is that I get to expand my culinary creativity everyday. In keeping with the latest trends in the food industry, it is no surprise to discover a few techniques that can be applied to gourmet raw foods preparation, namely gastronomy, which provide unexpected contrasts of flavour, temperature and texture.  I’ve already used a few of the following for my mise en place at 105degrees.

The Smoking Gun allows you to quickly and easily finish products with natural cool smoke, without adding heat.

Smoking Gun: Handheld Food Smoker

The Anti-Griddle quickly freezes sauces and purees into solid, unique forms — or freezes just the outer surfaces while maintaining a creamy center.

Anti-Griddle

Sous Vide, a French term for “under vacuum”, is a method in which food is vacuum sealed in a polymer pouch and then slow-cooked at a low temperature (115°F) in a water bath that is precisely controlled by a Thermal Circulator.

Thermal Circulator

To further continue this conversation, I brought to my Level II class a Raw Food Conversion Chart I found online and adapted, which outlines food substitutions for a raw food diet.  I hope you find it as useful as it has been to me.