— Julie Ryan

I love using agar. People would say to me pretty frequently, oh, it's so hard to use. It isn't hard to use if you use it correctly. So there are three different kinds of agar, but most people today, I, I don't even see the sticks around anymore. They use either the flakes or the powder. And the powder is slightly less processed than the powder. The flakes are less processed than the powder. Um, you can't make powder by grinding the flakes. The powder is three to four times as strong as the flakes. So we have an entire unit on using agar in this course because it is so important. It is a secret in, it's a secret ingredient that is not a secret. It's really necessary. The important thing is to remember that the powder is three or four times as strong as the flakes. Different brands will be different. I use super agar, uh, it's called from modernist pantry and that is a very strong one in terms of the flakes. Eden has the most reliable and strongest of the flake. So you wanna do this by weight, not by a tablespoon. You wanna do it by weight and the liquid that you are using and the result. Are you looking for a jello or are you looking for a cream that's going to make the difference in the, the answer to this question, when I was a pastry chef in New York City at Angelica Kitchen, uh, on the lower East side, and it was the first, it was like the og, we pastry cooks could make different desserts during the week, but we always had what was called a Canton, which is a fruit gel that is set with agar. In this course we have an assignment where students have to make an agar gel, a straight gel, and also one with a starch. So when you use agar and a starch slurry together, you get more of a cream. So for example, you know, when I wanted this, I wanted something that was more set than the pudding. I reasoned for the amount of solids that I had, that I needed a small and the kind of squash I was using. I needed a small amount. Now in terms of how long agar, unlike bovine gelatin will set up at room temperature, but putting it in the refrigerator will hasten the product product, the time, not the product, the time. What I suggest is always when you have finished cooking your agar gel or whatever it is you're making, I always take a tablespoon, put it in the refrigerator and make sure that it is the consistency that I want before I leave it alone to set. So if the gel is softer than I want, I will dissolve a little more agar in. If it's thicker than I want or firmer than I want for the intended result, then I'll add a little bit more liquid agar. Unlike bovine gelatin, another difference is that you can actually melt it back down and adjust it if need be.