Monday, September 12, 2011

Jello Babies

Are you so excited? The moment for the big reveal has come. The first thing you need to do is fill a shallow pan with warm water (doesn't need to be super hot, that will just melt the details on your mold) and give your jello baby a little bath for a few minutes:


Next you invert your mold-- it's easy with little guys like these teacups. For bigger molds you may want to place a plate or tray across the top before you flip.




Let gravity work it's magic! And if gravity plus the water bath aren't doing the trick, you can gently run a knife around the inside edge to help separate the jello from its container. And voila! A little jello baby is born!



We decided to take our babies out for some fresh air. Don't they look sweet all lined up in a row?

Jello Mold Tutorial-- Weird Science.

Well, it's been a while since we launched our jello journey on this blog, we truly meant to post sooner but a hard truth we keep relearning is that jello molds have a mind of their own, and our first attempts to capture the process for you weren't up to standard.


But finally our efforts were rewarded, and we're here to walk you through the process. We'll be using the Cosmopolitan recipe from Jello Shot Test Kitchen, with the modification of using Agar. Part of the reason I hadn’t eaten jello products in a while is that I became a vegetarian at around the same time kids normally stop eating jello. By the time college rolled around and there were other social applications for jello, I had realized what gelatin was made of and politely declined. But with our recent exploration of jello as an art medium as well as a tasty treat, I decided I needed to experience our creations fully. Enter the Agar! Agar is a seaweed-derived vegetarian gelling agent used not only in our kitchen experiments, but in real science labs as a base substance in Petri dishes. We’ll go no further down that path because it may start to get gross—just wanted you to know that when you’re creating with agar, you’re in the big leagues. Like maybe Nobel-prize territory.


Agar can be substituted into any recipe that calls for gelatin, just remember that ½ teaspoon = 1 packet of gelatin. Agar can be found at most natural food stores in the bulk section. A word of warning: you don’t need much agar for a batch of jello, usually just around 1 teaspoon, so you can buy it sparingly. I zealously measured out a few generous scoops, not noticing the price, and ended up with $14.00 worth—probably enough to last the next 3 years.



InIn order to form a base, dissolve the amount of agar your recipe calls for in ½ the amount of non-alcohol based liquid. Do this by measuring out half the liquid into a pan, sprinkling with the agar, and allowing to sit for 5 minutes. Liquids should all be at room temperature when you begin working. For this recipe, 1/2 cup cranberry juice + 1/8 cup Roses lime juice, sprinkled with 1 1/2 teaspoons agar.




After the first 5 minutes of setting, turn on the heat and bring just barely to a boil. You don’t really want to boil the mixture, we tried it once and the results were bizarre and chunky and gross, not silky and clear.



Once the mixture begins to delicately boil, lower the heat and simmer gently until the agar is dissolved. How can you tell if the agar is dissolved? I noticed that a light white foam would gather around the edges of the pan, and that the granular texture would disappear on the spoon. This is the part that requires the finesse-- you don't want boil it because of the weird consistency issues sited above, but you need to simmer it for long enough that the agar fully incorporates. Tricky!



After simmering for approximately 4 minutes and achieving the desired level of dissolved add the second ½ of your non-alcoholic mixer (1/2 cup cranberry juice and 1/8 cup Rose's lime juice) and stir.




Add the alcohol component if your recipe calls for it (here 1 cup vodka and 1/4 cup Grand Marnier) and pour into molds. You don’t want to dawdle, unlike gelatin agar will set at room temperature. It will also begin to set quickly, usually within 10 minutes you can see signs of it solidifying.


One last note: agar doesn’t react well to any oil or grease so make sure your implements are clean, and don’t worry about greasing your mold. Getting your jello creation out of the mold is a topic unto itself: stay tuned for our next post!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Jello: the journey


Isn't it funny how and idea will be vaguely swirling around out in the ether over time, and then suddenly a Moment happens when it all coagulates, solidifies, and becomes a thing of beauty on everyone's lips? Such has been the case this past year for jello. Yes, jello, once merely the province of kindergartners and Bill Cosby, that substance that manages to be slightly tacky but miraculous at the same time-- it goes from being a liquid to being a solid! It is a technicolor plasma that can be modeled and molded and layered! It is a way to conjure a feast reminiscent of Marie Antoinette's Versailles on a peasant's budget! Let them eat cake? No. Let them eat Jello, we say.

Our fascination with jello began last November when we were approaching the annual local tradition of Friendsgiving (like Thanksgiving, but with less relatives and more booze) and Jenni had the genius idea to channel her inner Betty Draper and bring a classic jello mold to the occasion. The research began, the anticipation built, and we all waited with bated breath, picturing the resplendent terraces of Jello emerging, shimmering and otherworldly, from their mold.


So, we still had a lot to learn:
Although the bottom layer collapsed slightly, in this mold's defense let us say that it worked perfectly as an effective and tasty social lubricant. But we knew that this was only our first foray into the strange new world. As the long winter months went on, jello kept cropping up on our radar every so often. Mia remembered seeing an exhibit of artist Liz Hicock's jello ode to the San Francisco earthquakes at Mass MoCA earlier in the summer. Jenni discovered the ultimate online resource for mold recipes at Jello Shot Test Kitchen. Our friends benefited from our experimentation at parties, band rehearsals, and Wednesday nights. By the time we got to springtime and styling our mad tea party, we were pros.



Our resident mad scientist examines a glowing jello mold. When Vogue's longtime food writer Jeffrey Steingarten featured jello molds in the July issue this summer, we knew that the trend had truly arrived. We have a lot more to say about jello, so check back soon for recipes and styling ideas.

All photos courtesy of Oliver Scott Photography






Friday, June 10, 2011

Mad Tea Party

We are very excited to be sharing this first photo from a series that we recently styled for photographer Oliver Scott. Many more details are coming, there was so much talented collaboration involved...those bottles in the background have the most gorgeous labels designed by Rob Driscoll. Also thanks for the good friends who did their part to empty the bottles in the first place, saving our livers from the task of doing it all on our own. Stay tuned for subsequent madness.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Monsters!

Monsters Currently on View at The Elevens, Northampton Ma.