Monday, February 18, 2013

Recipe: Gastrique - mango lime

I made this sauce recently and was really pleased with the results.  When finished, the flavours of both the lime and the mango came in clear and the acidity of the lime was enough that no vinegar was needed.  A good quality mango concentrate will help a lot here - you get a potent mango flavour and the bright yellow colour at the same time.  You could reduce juiced mangoes, but in order to avoid caramelizing the sugars and compromising the colour, you would have to reduce it at such a low temperature it would take an excessively long time.  

In the process of making this, I also stumbled upon the two consistencies you might want out of this gastrique.  The first is more of a plate garnish, with a thick caramel-like flow to it, the second is more like a cold sauce, but it stays emulsified beautifully and holds a nice pooled shape when poured onto a plate.  In both cases, the ratio of lime juice to mango stays the same, so the only difference in the flavour profile is that the thicker one is slightly sweeter because a greater proportion of the sauce is made up of the caramel that starts the recipe.

You will need:

1C / 250ml                                 white sugar
1/2C - 1C / 125ml - 250ml        fresh squeezed lime juice (amount depends on desired thickness)
1C - 2C / 250ml - 500ml            mango concentrate (amount depends on desired thickness)
to taste                                        kosher salt

Method:

 - put the sugar in a pan with a bit of water to make a thick syrup
 - cover the pan loosely and turn the heat on (the cover creates steam and prevents crystallization)
 - cook until the syrup turns to a light amber caramel, then turn the heat to low
 - add the lime juice (1/2C for the thick gastrique, 1C for the loose)
 - add the mango juice (1C for thick gastrique, 2C for the loose)
 - keep the heat on low, stir, and let the caramel and juices come together
 - season with kosher salt
 - turn off the heat and cool completely
 - refrigerate 
 - use cold or at room temperature

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