Playing with my food - using Tapioca Maltodextrin: Sesame - Salt Powder

Though I love food...both consuming and cooking; once in a while I kind of hit a rut and need a little change of pace. I don't remember where I first about Tapioca Maltodextrin and its effect as a fat stabilizer. I'm sure it wasn't in Modernist Cuisine at Home which I bought last year. And looking through it. Maltodextrin is only mentioned in two recipes and barely in passing. I do recall seeing something, perhaps on Youtube where an olive oil powder was made. Anyway, a couple of months ago I bought Modernist Cooking Made Easy, which had a short chapter on Maltodextrin. It just seemed like fun.....plus Maltodextrin is plant derived and a pretty common food starch. First I cleared things with the Missus who has a Masters in Chemistry, then I went ahead and ordered a pound.

Getting to the point; tapioca maltodextrin can turn fats and oils into pastes and powders. For my first try, I decided to use something that we have around the house and use in sparing quantities...sesame oil was an easy choice.

One of things you'll notice right away is that tapioca maltodextrin is lighter than air....so no sneezing....no heavy breathing either. You don't need anything more than a whisk for this one. Using the recipe in Modernist Cooking Made Easy as my reference, it was a simple as this:

Sesame-Salt Powder (based on the recipe in Modernist Cooking Made Easy)
50 grams sesame oil
2 grams kosher salt
25 grams tapioca maltodextrin (this was about 3/4 cup)
extra tapioca maltodextrin as needed

- Pour sesame oil into a large mixing bowl (a large mixing bowl)
- Add salt and mix
- Add 10 grams of tapioca maltordextrin...gently, unless you want clouds of the stuff all over the place
- whisk in until a paste forms. Slowly add the rest of the maltodextrin. It will begin to clump.
- Whisk until it starts to form "beads", you may need to add more maltodextrin to get the texture you want.

Other than a couple of maltodextrin clouds floating about, this was easy.....

It will stay in powder form as long as it doesn't come in contact with liquid...though it lasted a while even when on some poke I made.

There's quite an interesting sensation...ahem, "mouthfeel" when it turns back to oil in your mouth.

It was also delicious on my Hiyayakko Tofu.......

I really didn't detect much in terms of any additional flavor....by itself, there's a very faint sweetness, which I could not detect when using it with my poke or tofu.

Truffle Powdered Popcorn, caramel - salt powder, nutella, and probably duck fat or bacon powder seem around the corner. This will be great for dipping....

This was a fun experiment.....now it's on to Xanthan Gum and Lecithin!

Comments

[caninecologne]

Very cool! I can't wait to read about what interesting flavor combinations you come up with!

The guys at Swoon Dessert bar use maltodextrin powder for their savory/semi-sweet desserts. One concoction had bacon "snow" (where the rendered bacon fat was made into a powder), another utilized peanut butter powder.

[Jinxieats]

Whoa, neat stuff! Gotta love chemistry :P

[Kirk]

Hi CC - This was easy and fun....though kinda messy because I didn't know how light the powder was.

LOL Jinxi! Better eating thru chemistry!

[caninecologne]

hi kirk - that's neat that you got to play mad scientist with this powder. good advice on not inhaling or sneezing too! haha.

[Kirk]

That would be like a really bad sitcom CC!