Fromage Melon

When I first saw photos of Kki’s Fromage Melon posted by some folks who had sampled the mousse creation over flickr, I was first captivated by its simplicity – a fromage blanc mousse with a piece of rockmelon gelée over a sable breton base. Though I would very much like to, I’d not visited Kki ケーキas yet to try their creations. But I’d read and heard very good things about the place and hence, find no excuse not to visit this pastisserie tucked within the streets of Ang Siang Hill. But before I do that, I thought about creating my own version of Fromage Melon, harnassing inspiration from Kki’s original work, rather than a re-creation or an adaptation.

Strictly speaking, this can’t be called my own recipe, as its quite simply a collage of several recipes for the various components in this creation

Composition

(A)   Sable Breton base

(B)   Rockmelon gelée

(C)   Fromage blanc muskmelon mousse

(D)    Candied rockmelon décor

Sable Breton base

Basically the same recipe and method by Chef Gregoire Michaud of Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong which I’d used for the Yuzu Curd and Mascarpone Ice-cream plated dessert

Rockmelon gelée

100g rockmelon puree (I use fresh rockmelon pulp)

16g granulated sugar

16g water

2g gelatine (1 sheet)

-Reconstitute gelatine in cold water

-Place pulverised rockmelon pulp or rockmelon puree, sugar and water in a small saucepan and warm carefully.

-Stir in gelatine sheets until well incorporated

-Sift mixture into mould, cover with clingfilm and leave to cool to room temperature before freezing overnight.

-Before assemblage, cut into small pieces using a cookie  cutter and return to the fridge.

Candied rockmelon balls

100g water

100g granulated sugar

Fresh rockmelon

-Cook water and syup in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil

-Using a fruit baller, carve out melon balls and place into a metal bowl.

-Pour hot syrup over melon balls until submerge.

-Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature

-Cover with cling film and sit in refrigerator overnight

-When ready to assemble, place melon balls on a wire rack to allow excess syrup to drain off for at least ½ hour before use.

Mousse au fromage blanc (adapted from foodbeam.com)
6g gelatine sheets (3 pieces)

30g water

110g caster sugar

2 egg yolks

250g fromage blanc

315g whipping cream, whipped to soft peak

2 tablespoons of Jupe Melon Concentrate

2 tablespoons of Midori, or any melon liqueur

-Soak the gelatine leaves into cold water for at least 20 minutes.

-Place the water and sugar into a pan, and bring to 121°C. In the bowl of a freestanding mixer fitted with the whip attachment, slowly mix the egg yolks, then pour the syrup over them increasing the speed as you do so. Whip until thick.

-Dissolve the soaked gelatine by heating in a microwave and add to the fromage blanc. Mix in the fromage blanc into the sabayon (egg yolk mixture), then gently incorporate the whipped cream. Finally add the Jupe Melon Concentrate, followed by melon liqueur until well amalgamated. wrap with clingfilm and place in refrigerator until ready for assemblage.

Montage et Finition

Place mousse rings on an even and flat surface and insert the sable breton discs

Add 1 large tablespoon of fromage blanc mousse over the bsicuit base

Carefully place a piece of frozen rockmelon gelée in the middle

Pour more fromage blanc mousse til it reaches the brim. Smoothen the surface with a frosting scrapper or spatula.

Place the assembled mousse rings in the refrigerator for the mousse to set for a few hours, preferably overnight. Remember to cover the top with clingfilm to prevent any condensed moisture from wetting the top surface.

When the mousse has firmed up after a few hours , demould from the mousse ring by using a blowtorch.

Place a candided rockmelon ball on one edge near to the perimeter and voila! It’s done!!!

Personal reflections and notes

(1) Through some reading up over the internet, I found out that melons do not continue to ripen upon being harvested. So just get a riped melon for the recipe and use it within a few days. Australian rockmelon works best given their high brix index. We see some from Indonesia and no offence but they suck big time. Very bland and not fragrant at all! I also saw “golden musk melon” under the label “Premium Gold” over these few weeks and they are very sweet too. A good substitute for the Australian ones which can be quite expensive.

(2) The fromage blanc mousse is flavoured with Jupe Melon Concentrate and Midori melon liqueur. The former is available at Sunlik. They both serve the same purpose to heighten the aroma of the dessert making it very very “melony”, a tad too melony for my liking. I would just stick to one if I were to remake this dessert again, probably Midori since I have a large bottle of it.

(3) Fromage blanc provides a good carrier for the liqueur both in texture and taste. Its considerably lighter compared to other soft cheeses. If fromage blanc is not readily available, greek yoghurt can be used as a reasonable substitute. Excess moisture can be drained off by means of a cheesecloth or clean tea-towel.

(4) Unlike the sable breton base used for the Yuzu curd and mascarpone ice-cream dessert, the pate is baked without the mould rings. This causes the biscuit to spread during baking, thinning out rather well. The biscuit is then “trimmed” off any excess by means of the same 3″ mould rings, when they are still soft, fresh out of the oven. The sable breton harden and crisp up fairly quickly, so be sure to work fast!

(5) Prepare the rockmelon gelee and candied rockmelon balls first as they require longer period of freezing and cooling. This is preferrably performed the day before.

The results were fairly satisfactory, bearing very strong melon flavours. Now that I’m done with my own version, perhaps its a good time for me to go down to Kki to sample theirs!

I’m submitting this for Aspiring Bakers #6: Say Cheese! (April 2011) hosted by Jean from Noms I Must.
This was featured on “Top 9 of the Day” on 02 May 2011 on Foodbuzz. Thank you everyone for your encouraging words!

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