Cool Plates features dishes from across the country to help inspire chefs' creativity.
Executive chef Joseph Lenn demonstrates that sorghum grains pop like popcorn with this dish. He pops them in grapeseed oil and then dusts them with smoked sweet paprika, cayenne pepper and salt.
He makes a pear vinaigrette by simmering chopped pears in water with some sugar and vinegar until the pears are translucent. He chills them, purées them and then adds some elderflower liqueur lime juice and sorghum syrup. He mixes that in a blender and when it’s smooth he pours it into a container and stirs in some lime zest.
He cuts a ripe pear into 12 pieces, sprinkles them with salt, dresses them in grapeseed oil and places them in a plastic bag, He vacuum seals them at the highest setting to compress them and thoroughly impregnate them with the salt.
Using the liquid remaining from the pears, he dresses young purple curly mustard leaves and seasons them with salt.
He places three pieces of compressed pear on a plate, then adds some pear vinaigrette. Next he adds the mustard leaves and then thinly sliced radishes. He continues to layer the ingredients like that and then garnishes the dish with the puffed sorghum.
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