A tasteful Zombie Brain presentation of Cherry Mango Cream Aspic, Pomegranate Gastrique and Teriyaki Thai Silkworms! With zombie green chromosomes!
Halloween in Las Vegas is the wildest place to be! During the entire month of October, Las Vegas offers many Halloween events, costume parties, costume contests, Halloween theme shows, sexiest costume contests, vampire strippers, zombie theme events at gentleman's clubs, fetish parties, zombie marches, haunted houses, horror film festivals and basically anything that can be imagined for Halloween and beyond! Some people fly to Las Vegas in their Halloween costumes a few days ahead of time. They party till after Halloween is over and then they fly home still dressed in their Halloween costumes. No luggage, no change of clothes. That is the ultimate "on a roll" style for party animal getaways this time year! Others pack their costumes in their luggage, till the night of a Halloween party of Halloween night. Airport security screeners kind of have their hands full this time of year. Baggage inspectors at the airport have plenty of stories to tell, I am sure. People that fly into Las Vegas to celebrate Halloween do go all out with their costume designs. When I drove taxis in Las Vegas years ago, I have talked to visitors checking into resorts on the strip that had 3 suitcases full of gear that was later was put together as one elaborate halloween costume. Then again, other visitors that come to Las Vegas for the sexy costume contests can easily fit their costumes into a makeup bag! Halloween 2012 is definitely the year of the zombie! Zombie popularity has never been higher, so it is a great year for zombies of all ages. Zombie movies, zombie TV shows, zombie strippers, zombie walks and zombie parades have been going on everywhere this year. A friend and I at Facebook have been regularly posting zombie stuff and we are not the only ones. It seems like anything zombie on social networks also gets a lot of attention these days. A few weeks ago, I posted an article about the Zombie Apocalypse Store in Las Vegas with one of my recipes. The Zombie Apocalypse Store is located at 3420 Spring Mountain Road, just a short distance from the Las Vegas Strip. If you need zombie apocalypse defense supplies, this is the place to go! I visited the Zombie Apocalypse Store in search of the zombie coloring book collectors item, but they were sold out that day. They did have an interesting zombie brain candy making kit that included foaming brain goop! For those who are in the mood to play hero and shoot zombies, the Zombie Apocalypse Store has a life size realistic zombie shooting gallery. Just drop a few coins in the box, pick up a gun and start firing away at shooting gallery zombies! This could be great practice for the real thing! While at the Zombie Apocalypse Store, I picked up some memorabilia. A bumper sticker, a poster and a T-Shirt was all my buget would allow. Photographs of those items are pictured above. This Halloween, the Zombie Apocalypse Store T-Shirts should hit record number sales! After visiting the Zombie Apocalypse Store, I got the bright idea to post some Halloween recipes this year. I ordered a zombie brain gelatin mold, zombie brain lollipop molds and bloody eyeball chocolate molds. During this week, I will be posting some unusual recipes for Halloween sweets. I could not wait to break in the Zombie Brain Gelatin Mold after it arrived. I gave careful thought as to how I was going to present the first zombie brain of the season. I soon realized that I was developing a mad scientist persona and a sadistic evil laugh. I was turning into some kind of a Doctor Frankenstein or something! Figuring that most people would simply make gelatin zombie brains that were comically entertaining, I decided to create a very realistic looking zombie brain that would cause the squeamish souls to slam on the brakes! I was once an artist, so mixing colors to create an effect was easy. Dried cherries and dried mango combined in boiling water create a flesh tone base color. By adding cream, the base color becomes a lifelike flesh tone. If the dried cherries do not exude enough red tint, then use a few drops organic red food coloring. If you want a grainy looking translucent effect for the top of the brain, then add milk to the boiling fruit broth, before adding cream and allow the milk to curdle. Fresh curdled milk is still edible. Gummy worms are what most people decorate a gelatin brain with. Not me! I purchased frozen edible Thai silkworms at an asian market in Chinatown Las Vegas. The silkworms were simmered in a Japanese teriyaki sauce glaze and it made it easy to stick the silkworms to the zombie brain. The teriyaki silkworms added a nice nutritious asian flavor to this zombie brain recipe. The grubs also created a realistic maggot infested brain effect! Pomegranate gastrique was my choice for a sauce that resembled fresh blood. By pouring the pomegranate gastrique over the zombie brain, a brain with seeping blood effect was created. The pomegranate gastrique also compliments the flavors of the zombie brain and teriyaki silkworms. The blue green colored zombie contaminated chromosomes garnished the plate and they added a captivating color combination. By submerging drinking straws in hot tinted liquid agar gelatin, the straws acted as molds. The firm gelatin was squeezed out of the straws and cut into symbolic short chromosome lengths. The agar gelatin was flavored with mint. Minty fresh tasting zombie chromosome contamination! Put it all together and you have a nutritious, good tasting plate of realistic looking zombie brain for a Halloween party!
Mango Cherry Cream Zombie Brain Aspic: This recipe is written for a 1 quart zombie brain gelatin mold! Place 1/2 cup of chopped dried cherries in a sauce pot. Add 1/2 cup of chopped dried mango. Add 1/4 cup of sugar. Add 4 cups of water. Place the pot over medium low heat. Gently simmer and reduce the liquid, till the liquid becomes flavored by the fruit and till a clear peach/pink color develops. Add water id the liquid to reduces to less than 3 1/2 cups. Pour the liquid through a strainer into a large measuring cup. (Discard the fruit or save it for another recipe.) Measure 3 1/2 cups of the mango cherry flavored liquid. Place the 3 1/2 cups of mango cherry liquid into a sauce pot. Simmer over medium low heat. Add 1/4 cup of milk. Add 1/4 cup of cream. Stir the mixture. Adjust the color of the liquid to a light flesh tone by adding 1 to 4 drops of red food coloring. Remove the pot from the heat. Allow the liquid to cool to room temperature. Rain 1 ounce of powdered gelatin over the surface of the liquid. (This will create a semi firm aspic that is easy to remove from the mold.) Allow the gelatin to bloom. Place the pot over medium low heat. Gently stir the mixture, till the gelatin dissolves. Place the zombie brain gelatin mold in a roasting pan. Pour the warm mango cherry aspic mixture into the zombie brain mold. Carefully place the pan with the mold in a refrigerator. Allow the aspic to chill and set up for at least 16 hours, so it becomes firm.
Zombie Green Chromosomes: The texture of the green chromosomes will be a semi hard gelatin texture. Place 1 1/2 cups of water in a sauce pot. Add 1 tablespoon of mint leaves. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar. Add 2 drops of green food color. Add 1 drop of blue food color. Place the pot over medium heat. Bring the liquid to a gentle boil. Boil for 2 minutes. Pour the liquid trough a strainer into a second sauce pot. Allow the liquid to cool to room temperature. Rain 5 grams of seaweed agar gelatin over the liquid. Allow agar to bloom. Heat the liquid over medium low heat. Stir till the agar gelatin dissolves. Place 6 medium wide drinking straws that are cut to 4" lengths in small pie pan. Place a knife across the top of the drinking straws as a weight to hold them down. Pour the agar gelatin mixture into the pan. Refrigerate till the agar gelatin becomes firm. Remove the straws from the excess agar. (The excess agar can be later melted down for a second use, if you wish.) Pinch one end of the straw and squeeze the agar gelatin rods out of the straws. Cut the agar gelatin rods into about 3/8" lengths. Chill the zombie green chromosomes till they are needed.
Pomegranate Gastrique Recipe: Many of my gastriques are made at the hard crack sugar stage. This gastrique's sugar is cooked beyond the top of the hard crack range of 310 degrees to an amber stage. It is important to observe the sugar as it changes color from clear soft ball stage, to hard crack stage, then to light yellow amber. This happens quickly! A few seconds later, the sugar changes from a light amber color to a darker amber color. That is the time to add the fruit! Take caution! Hot molten sugar will cause severe burns! Do not stir a gastrique, till shortly after the liquid flavorings are added. Boil 2 cups of water over medium high heat in a sauce pot. Add 1/2 cup of sugar. Prepare the pomegranate fruit, while the sugar water reduces. Separate 1/2 cup of fresh pomegranate fruit from the rind and set the fruit aside. Reserve a few of the pomegranate fruit pieces for garnishing the zombie brain later in the recipe. When the sugar begins to turn a light amber color, stay close to the pan and watch for the sugar to turn a dark amber color. (Dark amber is a golden yellow brown color.) When the sugar turns an amber color, immediately add the pomegranate fruit. Allow the caramelized sugar to coat the fruit for 1 minute. (The sugar will stop caramelizing when you add the fruit. The hot sugar will seize the fruit and pull all of the flavor and color out of the fruit. The caramelized sugar will completely take on the flavor of the fruit!) Add 3 tablespoons of pomegranate vinegar. Add 3/4 cup of dry white wine. Add 1/2 cup of water. Add 1 pinch of sea salt. Add 1 pinch of white pepper. Add 1 pinch of thyme. Reduce the temperature to medium low heat. Simmer and reduce the gastrique, till a thin glaze is formed. The glaze should be thick enough to very thinly coat the back of a spoon. Keep in mind that when a gastrique cools, it may become a little bit thicker in viscosity. Pour the gastrique through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl and set aside.
Teriyaki Thai Silk Worms: Frozen edible Thai silk worms are available at asian markets. These are actually tasty tidbits of protein! Heat a sauce pot over medium low heat. Add 1/4 cup of water. Add 1/4 cup of thin soy sauce. Add 1/2 cup of sugar. Simmer the ingredients, till a Japanese style teriyaki syrup is formed. Add 1 handful of edible Thai silk worms. Simmer the silkworms in the teriyaki sauce for one minute. Set the teriyaki Thai silk worms aside.
Halloween Zombie Brain Presentation: Heat a pot of water over medium heat. Dip the zombie brain mold in the hot water to warm the mold. Invert the mold onto a plate and drop the zombie brain in place on the center of the plate. Pour the pomegranate gastrique over the zombie brain and onto the plate. Sprinkle some pomegranate fruit on the plate. Sprinkle the zombie green chromosomes on the plate. Arrange the teriyaki Thai silk worms on the zombie brain and the plate in a ghastly manner.
Voila! Magnifique! A lifelike zombie brain! This is a good tasting zombie brain for those with a gourmet palate. Zombie Brain! Yum! Happy Halloween! ... Shawna
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