So I'm thinking of dinner for Mary and Charlie, Martin and Cherry. I'd like to develop the wasabi crackers with some sort of fishy mousse dip - smoked haddock or salmon perhaps. I was thinking it might be nice to maybe do that squid stuffed with lemon risotto. - I'd like to extend the black squid ink sauce - it would be good to avoid the use of cream (which makes it very gray rather than black), but we can't use a meat stock reduction if we are serving vegetarians. What about a bit of liquorice? I've seen tomato-based ink sauces, but I don't think that would work here. Thickening with arrowroot might help with the texture. Port and butter seems like it might work as a thickening agent too. Here's an interesting link that uses mussel stock and port in the squid ink sauce (http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Squid+head+stuffed+peppers+with+potato+blinis+and+squid+ink+sauce...-a0202661160) "For the mussel stock: In saucepan, place 3/4 cup white wine. Torch wine and reserve. In separate saucepan, heat oil and saute 2 shallots and 1 stick celery until shallots are translucent. Stir in mussels, reserved wine and water. Simmer three minutes. Remove from heat, cover and set aside 15 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Season with salt and pepper, return to saucepan and reduce to 1 1/2 cups. For the squid ink sauce: In saucepan, heat oil and saute 2 shallots until translucent. Stir in mussel stock and 1/8 cup squid ink. Reduce until sauce is thick enough to coat back of wooden spoon. Whisk in 1 tablespoon port and 2 oz butter. Cook until butter is melted. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Season with salt and pepper." - A hot lemon 'sorbet' (to secure the squid slices)? Possibly made with Dragon Fruit - which has a nice crunchy sorbet-like texture. Thickened with arrowroot? Even something like semolina to give that crunchiness. Seems like something with tapioca like Heston uses might be the route? Certainly the Dragon fruit didn't work - it dissolves away too easily. Having said that, it's a nice enough dessert with a raspberry sauce. - Samphire ought to work well. Of course it's only in season May-ish. Same with the squid though. - Samphire and spinach with olive oil and garlic is a nice combo. Perhaps puree the spinach though or make a hollandaise with it? Just double blanch the samphire? I'm thinking of serving that in/on/with some kind of seafood crisp. One based on parmesan and dried scallop corals perhaps? - http://www.pomiane.com/2007/12/recipe-parmesan-crisps.html You can also non-stick pan-fry these parmesan crisps too, according to Nigel Slater [https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/leekrisottowithparme_92285.shtml] And here [http://cheese.about.com/od/appetizers/r/parmesan_crisps.htm] you are told you can shape them whilst they are still warm. " 120g Parmesan, finely grated 1. Preheat the oven to 190C/ gas 5. 2. On a non-stick baking sheet form a series of discs made out of parmesan, about 5cm across - you can use a biscuit cutter to do this. You will need 12 crisps in all. Put in the preheated oven and bake until the parmesan has melted and gone a pale, wheaty brown. This will take about 5 minutes but keep an eye on them. 3. Take out of the oven and cool. When they are quite cold you will find that they have become crisp." - Dessert: Something with meringue has been suggested/requested by Rachel. I think we could do something interesting along the lines of a more meringuey Lemon Sponge Surprise (or Queen of Puddings as Rachel's family calls it). Scallop coral drying tips [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/recipes/article2590855.ece]: "Secret: We never discard anything that can be used to impart flavour, and that includes scallop corals. The fresh corals are spread on a sheet of baking parchment and dried overnight in a very low oven until they are hard and brittle, then blitzed in a food processor, or ground to a powder. We sprinkle this coral powder over fish dishes, risottos and creamy sauces for pasta. It lends a superb flavour." How To Make Savoury Meringues - http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070606135329AAwNP75 ============================= it's a mad idea but it's not impossible, but you'll need to understand exactly what it is you're doing chemically or tragic blobs of overworked albumen is all you'll be left with... :-)

Let's start with the really bad news bits, and they're not negotiable:

1. each bash you take at this will cost you 4 eggs absolute minimum, and preferably 8 for greater stability.

2. if your equipment, every darned square millimetre of it, is not so mindnumbingly free of grease and any other contaminant that it's been burnished to within an inch of its life, you will be binning all those eggs each time and every time.

3. don't even think of doing this in humid weather, never mind rainy conditions: you will be binning those eggs like they're going out of fashion, guaranteed, as often as not *after* all the hard work on them's been done. :-(

4. use older eggs, 4-6 days old: they'll be much easier to work.

5. forget the caramelisation: be darned grateful if the remaining sugar keeps your edifice upstanding at all and sing two verses of the Hallelujah chorus *in full*, if you happen to get some colour at all, too. ;-)

The science bit:
-------------------
Meringue is egg white beaten to a foam and sugar, which has been dried in a low oven until enough moisture has been removed for the mixture to stabilise. The whisking of the egg whites stretches the albumen proteins; when they're stiif they have been stretched to the maximum of their tensile strength. At that point the sugar's beaten in. The sugar attracts the water in the egg whites to form a syrup which covers the stretched proteins. When the mixture is baked, the water evaporates and the sugar remains as a dry coating on the solidified albumen, fixing it: Meringue.

Now, you want the sugar out. If all of it comes out that will leave you with a 'turtle without its shell' and you can work out how happy the poor turtle will be in that condition.

Compromise: we take out as much sugar as we dare risk, before the whole shebang collapses under its own weight, and then we overwhelm the remaining sugar taste with a fierce savoury flavour -- think "curry" here, for instance -- which has little or no reactive power to affect the egg whites' performance.

The ratio of sugar to albumen in meringue is 2:1 by weight. We'll need to aim for 1/4 : 1 to get as much sweetness out as we dare, without losing the 'lead in pencil' effect of the syrup that needs to form to keep the thing upright in the end. If you dare, try for the 1/4 : 1 from the start: if you've been spotlessly clean you might strike lucky first time round. It could also cost you your first 8 eggs. Otherwise go for 1/2 : 1 instead, first.

This is how, based on the 1/4 ratio:

8 egg whites (notional weight 30g ea.)
60g caster sugar (if you dare, 40g)
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

salt and spice mixture of your choice to mask the remaining sugar and turn savoury. It *must* be dry, i.e. powder.

The acid of the c. of tartar solely serves as a stabiliser, and believe me, you' re going to be needing it. It wil also help preventing overworking the egg whites which, should it happen, will guarantee collapse.

preheat your oven to 110C / 225F (switch your fan off!)

Beat the egg whites with the c. of tartar to their maximum volume and stretch -- test on a wire whisk, a pyramid of the beaten whites will and must stand up like a perfect illustration of an ice-cream in a cone, pointy-hat style. You *must* get this right for this is now all that is essentially forming the body of your meringue.

(If you're working by hand exclusively, 4 egg whites max per batch, by machine 8. Overworked albumen looks like cotton wool and the volume will begin to slink if you've 'gone beyond. Bin it, start again.)

Whisk in half the sugar and the salt/spice mask, then fold in the remaining sugar. Metal large bladed spoon, no excuses. Fold in, in as few figures of eight as is humanly possible. Every unnecessary disturbance is your enemy. (If you can't yet fold perfectly as a matter of course, don't even start on this lark. It'll end in plentiful tears.)

Drop the meringue in dessertspoonfuls on to lined baking sheets, setting them wide apart, and bake/dry for 1-1 1/2 hours, or until they lift readily fom the parchment.

If you can get this to perform reliably you can start to consider meringue enhanced other dishes. The drying in the oven merely fixes the meringue which is already a tall order given the chemistry we've royally disturbed. Higher temps and shorter baking times in conjunction with other dishes adds more complexity which you can only realistically start playing with once you've got this one nailed.

Good luck and don't shout at me when pearshaped: you're trying to defy baking gospel, pulling a fast one on chemistry. It can be done -- done it. I'm just not remotely convinced it's in any way worth it -- and that's about all that can be said in its favour, which is not much.

I'm probably stark staring mad even to be giving you this, but hey-ho... <g> Bonne chance! :-/

Edit: I'm sorry I forgot to say this first off: I sincerely applaud you for trying to think as a genuine pastryman. Without that. I wouldn't have written this at all. Give it some more,,, All the best.