" Look at all the beautiful, delicate layers! It's a perfect mille-feuille!
"Heh. I call it...
...Mushroom Mille-Feuille with Duxelles Filling.
Eat up!"
Incredible!
The exciting flavors of multiple kinds of mushrooms meld together with the crispy, ultrathin layers of piecrust in a moist and magical harmony!
"The main ingredient Rindo Kobayashi chose was shiitake mushrooms! She used olive oil to cook them into a confit, trapping and magnifying their natural umami flavor!"
Wait... this tang!
"Aah. Champignon mushrooms and shallots, sautéed to a golden brown in garlic and butter and then simmered to a paste in broth. Cracked nuts and heavy cream were blended in to make a Duxelles, which she then sandwiched between the Mille-Feuille layers.
*Duxelles is a mushroom paste often used as a base for fillings or sauces.*
A perfectly balanced tart note makes the salty savoriness of the confit stand out...
... while allowing the mellow sweetness of the shiitake to linger on the tongue!
Though I can't put my finger on what this sour flavor is from. What is it?"
"Ants.❤️
I extracted formic acid from ants and mixed it into my Duxelles!"
"WAAAAH?!"
Too much formic acid is poisonous, of course. But in small amounts it can be a wonderful culinary accent. It has no extraneous sweetness, just a sharp, invigoratingly tart tang.
"Not only that, if you add it to a sweet base, it can create deeper, more nuanced flavors than the more commonly used citrus fruits. "

― , 食戟のソーマ 30 [Shokugeki no Souma 30] (Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma, #30)