Rhubarb Recipe: Emily Roux’s Entremet with Five Textures

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One of the stars of the so good.. magazine 36 is Emily Roux, co-founder of the restaurant Caractère (London) and the granddaughter of the legendary chef Albert Roux. This young chef stands out for embracing the trend of offering desserts made with fresh fruits, and a very low sugar content, “because after a tasting menu you don’t really want to end on a really heavy dessert.” Texture is equally important: her entremets combine biscuit, praline and crunchy or nutty elements to evoke the generous desserts of family meals, but in a smaller, lighter and more delicate format.

A prime example of this philosophy is Rhubarb, an entremet in which rhubarb is presented in various textures and preparations: purée, mousse, sorbet, gel, and tuile. The acidity and vegetal character of the rhubarb are balanced by the sweetness of white chocolate and vanilla, while the biscuit and tuile provide a crunchy contrast. We exclusively share the complete recipe on our website.

Photos, Rebecca Dickson

Discover so good.. magazine 36

Rhubarb

Biscuit

480 g softened butter
8 g salt
360 g icing sugar
120 g almond powder
200 g eggs
940 g flour

Place the butter, icing sugar and salt all together in a kitchen aid bowl. Mix with the beater blade until smooth. Add the eggs, flour and lastly almond powder. Do not over mix. Leave to rest overnight.

Roll out the pastry in between two sheets of greaseproof paper. You are aiming for 2 mm in thickness. Use your preferred shape of cutter and bake at 165º C (fan 3) for six to eight minutes or until golden.

Cooking method for rhubarb

750 g roughly chopped pink rhubarb
130 g strawberry purée
180 g syrup (50/50 water & sugar)

Place all the ingredients in a large sous-vide bag. Cook for eight minutes at 100º C in a steam oven. Immediately stop the cooking process by placing the sous- vide bag in ice.

Blend the cooked rhubarb in a VITAMIX for four minutes until completely silky smooth to obtain a rhubarb purée.
Place the cooked rhubarb in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat, mixing continuously with a spatula. After 10-15 minutes, you should obtain a marmalade-like texture. Leave to cool overnight before inserting in molds of choice. Freeze to make an “insert” for the dessert.

Rhubarb mousse

690 g white chocolate
600 g rhubarb purée
300 g cold cream
600 g crème epaisse
900 g hot cream
24 g bloomed gelatine
1 u scraped vanilla pod

Heat the hot cream and vanilla until a rolling boil. Place the white chocolate in a large bowl with the bloomed gelatine at the surface. Pour the cream over and gently stir. Once all the chocolate has melted, incorporate the crème épaisse, cold cream, and rhubarb purée. Once all homogenised, use a piston to fill your desired mould. Place in the fridge to set for 35 minutes.

You can then add your frozen rhubarb insert in the center of the dessert.

Rhubarb sorbet

375 g rhubarb purée
250 g sorbet base

Whisk the two components together and place in a Pacojet beaker. Freeze overnight.

Sorbet base

1.5 kg water
600 g sugar
300 g dextrose powder
36 g stabiliser

Place all the ingredients in a large saucepan over a gentle heat. Use a hand-held blender to smoothen out. You should achieve a paste-like texture. Once the mixture has boiled, remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Rhubarb tuille

170 g rhubarb purée
10 g glucose
15 g cornflour
50 g isomalt

Bring all the ingredients to the boil in a small saucepan. Leave to cool overnight.

Use a stencil to spread out the tuile mix thinly and evenly.

Bake at 115º C (fan 2) for one hour and 15 minutes.

Rhubarb gel

100 g rhubarb purée
10 g ultratex powder

Place both ingredients in a tall container and use a hand blender to mix thoroughly. After 3-4 minutes, the powder will have dissolved and the texture will be pipeable.

Assembly

Demold the entremet, and place on a tray with enough space in between each dessert in order to “spray paint” accurately. Leave in the fridge for six hours to gently defrost. Sit the dessert on top of the biscuit in the center of your chosen plate.

Place the quenelle of sorbet to one side of the dessert and add the tuile on top.

Pipe a few dots of rhubarb gel to complete the dish.

Discover in so good.. magazine 36 these creations ans complete interview by Emily Roux