Ever quickly wash a fresh vegetable, and then you find that you missed a little bit o dirt? Due to my quick lettuce washing technique, I have eaten my share of dirt, but on accident. Today at the French restaurant called Ne Quittez Pas in Tokyo, you can order southern French cuisine made with seafood, vegetables, and soil, which is the newest fresh ingredient.
A six-course dinner, which features dirt as an ingredient is created by owner and chef Toshio Tanabe for the cost of 10,000 yen or US$110. The dirt is unique, in that it is chemical-free soil that comes from a supplier in Tokyo. In order to prepare the dirt for cooking and eating, the dirt is lightly cooked in order to release the flavor, and is run through a sieve to remove any sand grains.
Some of the dishes of the 6 course dirt experience include an appetizer of soil soup, a soil-dusted potato ball with a truffle center, and soil sorbet with sweet dirt gratin.
Rocket News 24, a Japanese-language news blog, has an article written by Jessica Kozuka who tried the dinner and soil experience, which describes in detail the menu and dirt courses.
An excerpt from her account of trying the dirt dishes reads:
“The first course: a potato starch and dirt soup. It arrived in a shot glass looking so dark brown, it was almost black. It definitely looked like it had dirt in it. A slice of black truffle was balanced on top, and the staff instructed us to take a bite of it and then try the soup. So we did… and it was divine! There wasn’t a dirty flavor at all. Instead, this simple soup went down smoothly with just a hint of potato flavor.
The rim of the shot glass was dusted with salt like a margarita, so after the initial saltiness, your mouth filled with the mild flavor of the soup. The dish impressed us more with the chef’s skill than with the potential of the unusual ingredient, though.
Next up: salad with dirt dressing. As simply as I can describe it, this dish featured fresh vegetables like eggplant, tomato and turnips grilled and served with a dressing made from dirt and a fine powder made from ground popcorn. Here too the surprise wasn’t the dirt, but the deliciousness of the vegetables. The tomatoes had the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity, and the eggplant hadn’t taken on any bitterness from the grilling.
I’d come here to try a dirt course, but the food tasted so little of the earthiness I was expecting that I’d kind of forgotten about that ingredient. According to the staff, the dirt used is a special black soil from Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture. It’s strictly tested for safety and purity to be used in food, but so far I thought I hadn’t been able to notice a “dirt” flavor in the meal.”
Got dirt?
Image Source:
en.rocketnews24.com
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