Gonzo Jiménez so good #31 White Chocolate

Melon with ham cake dessert with white chocolate by Gonzo Jiménez

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Gonzo Jiménez spends his life traveling around the United States to give advice, as well as courses and demonstrations to other professionals, as the North American Corporate Chef of the firm Republica del Cacao. Despite this, he still finds time to participate in television programs and to try to educate young people about the pastry trade.

Faced with the “rogue” pastry challenge we proposed to him in so good.. magazine 31, this chef created a very unique menu in which nothing is what it seems. “I tried to take this challenge back to my birthplace, to my childhood. Although I was born in Argentina, my parents are Spanish, so I grew up eating Spanish dishes, tapas and good ham,” he explains.

Below we share the recipe for one of their proposals, Melon with ham, “What we have is a sweet sponge cake, very moist, with lots of butter, infused with Serrano ham and vacuum packed for 24 hours. The melon comes in the form of a gel, made from the juice and a texturizer. The portion is covered with a white chocolate whipped ganache and coated with salted chopped almonds. And to finish, meringues with ham powder, fresh melon, and pine-infused honey gummies. Delicious and very fun to the palate, combining sweet and savory in the same dessert. The airbrushed white chocolate décor adds realism to this slice of melon with ham,” he explains.

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Melon with ham

Serrano ham cream cake

155 g all-purpose flour
7 g baking powder
2 g salt
185 g granulated sugar
150 g ham-infused butter, room temperature
75 g egg whites
135 g whole milk
17 g serrano ham, fat rendered

The day before, vacuum pack the butter with the serrano ham. Place all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the butter and with the help of the paddle attachment create a sand consistency mixture. In a separate recipient, combine the egg whites, milk and the ham liquid fat.
Combine half of the liquids with the dry ingredients slowly and then add the second half of the liquids, forming a homogeneous batter. Pipe in round 5-inch silicone molds and bake at 180ºC.

Honeydew melon gel

225 g fresh Honeydew melon purée
60 g simple syrup
15 g Gelcrem Cold Sosa

Mix the honeydew melon purée and simple syrup. Place them in a container and start mixing with an immersion blender, adding the Gelcrem Cold powder little by little.
Once it is all integrated, place the mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and then mix one more time with an immersion blender until obtaining a smooth and thick consistency of the purée.

Serrano crispy meringues

120 g sugar
60 g egg whites
30 g water
10 g dehydrated ‘jamón serrano’ powder

Place several slices of prosciutto or serrano in a food dehydrator overnight. Once they are completely dry, run through a food processor to create a fine powder.
In a stand mixer, place the egg whites and start whipping until foamy. In a separate pot, bring the sugar and water to a boil, creating a hard ball syrup at 121ºC. Slowly incorporate the hot syrup into the bowl with the egg whites and continue whipping until the temperature of this Italian meringue has reached room temperature.
Pipe the meringue into mini drops on a silicone mat. Sprinkle with dehydrated ham powder and dry in a low heat oven at 80ºC for 4 hours.

Pine needle and lemon honey gummies

10 g fresh lemon zest
200 g water
6 g agar agar
7 g sugar
45 g honey (previously infused with fresh pine needles)

Heat up the water with the lemon zest in a small pan, remove from the heat and cover with plastic wrap for 15 minutes to infuse. Combine the agar and the sugar and incorporate with the help of a whisk into the lemon water. Add the infused honey as well. Bring the whole mixture to a boil again and continue mixing with a whisk. Pour the hot mixture into miniature dome molds and refrigerate.

White chocolate whipped ganache outer layer

450 g heavy cream, 35% fat
75 g glucose syrup
450 g heavy cream, 35% fat
10 g gelatin sheets – silver bloom
730 g Republica del Cacao white chocolate
1 g vanilla bean paste

In a saucepan, heat up the first cream, the vanilla paste and the glucose. Bring to a boil.
Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and create a ganache, emulsifying with an immersion blender. Add the previously hydrated and melted gelatin sheets and emulsify again. Create one last emulsion with the rest of the cold cream making sure the mixture is homogenized. Refrigerate the mixture for 12 hours and then whip to the right consistency for a smooth covering of the cake.

Caramelized white chocolate melon decoration

300 g caramelized white chocolate
10 g light green cocoa butter color
10 g dark green cocoa butter color

Temper the cocoa butter colors and airbrush on guitar sheet plastics, utilizing the help of ring cutters to create different shadings around the edges and a shape that resembles a honeydew melon wedge. Once the cocoa butter is crystallized, place the tempered caramelized white chocolate onto the cocoa butter design. Immediately place another guitar sheet and, once it is halfway crystallized, mark with ring cutters and cut in half, creating a ‘u’ shape. Refrigerate for a few hours and, once the chocolate is fully crystallized, proceed to peel the plastic off.

Other

300 g almonds, chopped roasted and salted (for covering the cake)

Assembly

Bake the cakes in silicone molds. Once they are baked and unmolded, place the honeydew gel in between 2 cakes and cut in halves, creating half circles. Coat the cakes with the white chocolate whipped ganache and immediately crumble coat with the salted chopped almonds. Place the caramelized white chocolate decorations on both sides of the desserts. Place the honey gummies, dry ham meringues and fresh melon balls on top of the petit gateaux. Decorate with fresh citrus lace leaves.

Discover two creations by Gonzo Jiménez in so good.. magazine 31