In this installment of our weekly chef challenge, Phillip Foss of the Meatyballs Mobile food truck takes on freeze-dried saffron.
Freeze-dried saffron tastes just like regular saffron, a red-orange spice from southwest Asia. It’s actually the dried stigma of the saffron crocus, and since each flower has only three stigmas, a pound of saffron can require up to 75,000 blossoms. The threads are usually steeped; freeze-drying makes that unnecessary.
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Tasting the finished dish, he observed that the saffron “gives it another layer of depth. It’s one of the first flavors you taste, and it carries on to the end. It accentuates the curry, accentuates the cauliflower big time. You can taste it over the lobster and oysters as well.”
Foss serves a bull-ball sandwich on his food truck, and admits, “It’s a novelty thing. For a guy it’s really tough to take a bite into it without wincing and cringing and buckling at the knees. But as long as they’re cooked right, they’re tasty.”
2 eggs
Curry Masala
