KAIMEH: The centrifuge machine is really used for clarifying. It is used in a laboratory for spinning blood and DNA [testing]. For a perfect example: we wanted to do an orange consommé glaze on a hearts of palm bavarois. So, classically or just naturally you would either boil the orange juice, which would give it a different flavor. You kind of split the enzymes in the orange juice. Or you could clarify it by straining it through a towel. You could use an egg white raft or something to that effect. But you would be adding heat to it. At the very least, you would be changing the flavor of it. By literally just taking a few liters of this orange juice and spinning it, I don’t know off the top of my head the RPMs, but 15 minutes later you get two products: One is all of the solids that come from juicing an orange; the other is a completely clear, completely clean liquid that is separate from all the solids. It is very fresh, crystal clear, nothing was added to it, nothing was done to it, other than being spun. It was just so eye opening. .. You could take a braising cuisson from an oxtail and do the same thing. You wouldn’t have to clarify it with an egg white. The flavors are very “unmucked” and very clear.
Eli Kaimeh - on Per Se's technology and French Laundry exchange, Toqueland
