It's April Fools! So we thought it a great opportunity to talk about one of our favourite topics, food that looks like something else!
Now we’re not just talking about cakes that look like dinosaurs (although I must say, the trend of wedding cakes made out of spindles of cheese will always have a place in my heart!). We’re talking about some truly mind-boggling ‘eyes must be deceiving me’ type stuff. So it’s only prudent that we start with the Master of visual food deception, Heston Blumenthal.
Anyone who has frequented a Heston restaurant (or seen his work on TV), knows that he is at the absolute forefront of food that’s made of one thing but looks completely like something else. His two most popular dishes of this nature is his “Verjus in Egg”, and of course, the “Meat Fruit”.
Whilst it simply looks like an egg sitting on top of some noodles, the Verjus in Egg is actually made out of coconut panna cotta, a verjus egg yolk and a chocolate covered egg shell and takes over 100 steps to make.
Then there’s the Meat Fruit. We were lucky enough to try this first-hand at the “Dinner by Heston” restaurant in Southbank, Melbourne. We can hand on heart say it is even more impressive in real life. Made using chicken liver and foie gras parfait for the filling, and mandarin jelly to make the ‘peel’, you can’t believe your eyes as you cut into the small manderine shaped delight that it that its not actually a piece of fruit.
Then there’s Taverna Hoffman in Barcelona, who’s simply named “Egg” looks just like a real egg, and even has a white and yellow runny centre. However the shell is actually made of chocolate and the egg is made of coconut mousse for the egg whites and roasted mangos for the yolk.
Then there’s fruits and vegetables that, lets just say, aren’t the standard shapes we usually to see in our supermarkets that have made the rounds on social media over the years. There’s of course the evolved radish, the duck tomato, the gangsta carrot, the strawberry appendage and my personal favourite, the ‘Draw me like one of your French girls” parsnip.
So then the question is, how will you fool those you love with food this April Fool’s Day? Here are some of our suggestions:
- Soup disguised as pies. Fill a ramekin with soup and cover with some puff pastry. Deliciously deceptive!
- You can’t go past the good ol’ fashioned “Jesus Toast” or similar. Just get a stencil and push it into your bread before toasting (or toast in a hot pan) and feign surprise when its ‘discovered!"