I thought I knew most of the cooking techniques out there, but this one surprised me. The Sydney Morning Herald reports:
When Black by Ezard restaurant opens at The Star tonight, diners will feast on fish cooked in 2000-year-old deep-sea water from Hawaii.
“It makes such a difference,” the chef and restaurateur Teage Ezard, who has one of the casino development’s signature venues, said.
“It’s like putting the fish back into seawater again.”
Food served at his 136-seat restaurant will come from a large open kitchen equipped with the restaurant industry’s favourite appliance, an open fire of burning logs.
Chefs, including the executive chef Michael Tripp, will also have access to 10 sous vide, or circulator, machines including one purpose-built 60 litre tank.
This is where the fish will be cooked at a low temperature, sealed in bags with the water. Sous vide is a cooking method that has becoming increasingly popular in Sydney restaurants over the past 10 years.
Long cooking times – fish takes 30 to 60 minutes – bring time control and cooking consistency to a kitchen.
. . .
The water is drawn, at below six degrees, from 915 metres [about 3,000 feet] below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, off Kona on the Big Island. Sold under the Mahalo label, it is transported to Sydney via Hong Kong. Mr Ezard pays $20 [Australian dollars, equal to about US $20.50] for a 1.5 litre bottle [just over 3 pints].
There’s more at the link.
For the life of me, I can’t see how cooking something in ‘old’ water will make it taste any better. (Doesn’t bottled water usually come with a ‘sell by’ or ‘best before’ date? If so, can one really say that 2,000-year-old water is best before it reaches 2,001?) On the other hand, perhaps it could now be classified as ‘antique dining’ . . .
Peter
Perhaps they determine the age of the water by x-raying their client's wallets. The fatter the wallet, the older the water.
They could call it vintage water. Or maybe Grand Reserve Water. Whatever they call it, though, few patrons will be waiting 60 minutes for a piece of fish, especially on a busy Friday night.
Anyone who tries to claim water is old because it's deep has flunked science. Things like convection and currents move water constantly.
Meh- When I was in Sydney and met with Julie from Jigsaw Thoughts, we ate at one of Tripp's restaurants. I wasn't impressed…
Hey, the Chinese do 1000-year eggs, don't they? 🙂
So people are buying restaurant meals cooked in a boil bag which was boiled in sea water? How does that impart any extra flavor, and who the heck seriously pays money for boil bag meals that isn't going on a camping trip?
Since Aliens havent brought water from the planet Zork ALL water on earth is as old as the earth…DUH
Capt. Obvious
Fine dining quit being all about the food a long time ago. It's about the experience now. (Or, I suspect, bragging rights. "We had fish cooked in 2000 year old water! Hawaiian water!")
About ten years ago I read about a guy who made a fortune mining Alaskan glacier ice and selling it in Japan. People in Japan are fascinated by ancient things, and the air trapped in glacier ice (since it's compressed snow, it has a lot of air in it) is estimated to be 10,000 years old. As the ice melts it fizzes just a little, and a brilliant marketer called it "the whisper of the ages."
i'm with tmoney here … sous vide uses SEALED bags … and hey, OldNFO the restaurant mightn't have been that impressive but the waiter certainly was taken with you 🙂