playing with fire and water

grapes

One of my earliest taste memories is of grapes. Not of the insipid seedless supermarket variety. The grapes that I grew up eating were the European Vitis vinifera, grown in my backyard.

Growing grapes was my fathers passion. As far back as I can remember, he would tend the vines; training, pruning and grafting them year after year, in hopes of producing the perfect grape. The goal, of course, was to produce a great wine. The wines, though perfectly drinkable, were never remarkable.

When he stopped making wine, there was an abundance of grapes for the table. Just a few ripe bunches in a bowl would fill the house with a complex bouquet of aroma compounds made up of alcohols (methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol), aldehydes (acetaldehyde, isobutyraldehyde), amines (methoxypyrazine), esters (ethyl, butyrate), thiols (mercaptohexyl acetate) and terpenes (linalool, nerol)--to name a few. Their flavor was amazing--a beautiful balance of acids, alkalies, tannins and sugars. 

Nature blessed these fruits with many great attributes, but she did not make them conducive for good eating. Unless you are a bird.

As with most fertile plants that cover our planet, the grapes loftiest endeavor is to go forth and multiply. In order to sustain the species, Nature designed the grape berry as a seed carrier. Only when the seeds are ready, do the fruits ripen-- making them attractive to the birds that will consume them and deposit the seeds.

 

Eating these grapes was a challenge. The skins, thick and tough, were unpalatable. Removing them was not an option, as they contained aromas and astringency necessary for a balanced flavor. The large seeds which contained the bulk of the tannins were completely inedible; Natures cruel joke to us humans.

As a child, I developed a slow, methodical approach to eating these grapes: First, the skins were split open to reveal the seeds, which were pried out with fingertips, and sometimes from impatience, with tweezers. Next, the tenacious skins were peeled, but only halfway, leaving them intact at the blossom end. Holding on to the end, I would insert the grape into my mouth, biting down on the skin to release the flavor and loosen the pulp, then remove and discard the masticated skin. Messy? yes. Attractive? no. It would take me nearly an hour to get through a small bunch.

Other members of my family did not have the patience (or neurosis) to eat them "properly" and would just eat them whole, or not bother at all. And yes, these grapes made an extraordinary jelly, but how many jars can a family consume or give away? 

Not that many, it turned out. And so, the grapes were left for the birds.

A few years ago, my father, tired of cleaning the mess and tending the vines, cut them down and installed an awning over the patio that was once covered with a flourishing grape arbor.

Every year since, come October, I get a craving for those old world grapes.

I miss them.

 

"Those things are better which are perfected by nature than those which are finished by art", said Cicero, a long, long time ago

Nature, with her infinite variations, has always been a primary source of inspiration, as well as aggravation, but I have to concur with William Blake, who said "Great things are done when men and mountains meet"

This is not a mountain...its just a grape. 

My intention here was to recreate the flavor and balance of the grapes, without the obstacles of seeds and skin. With my father's grapes no longer available, I turned to the the Concord (Vitis labrusca). The pulp was separated from the skins and each juiced separately. The pulp was set with agar and gelatin and molded. After a few trials, I found the best ratio was .85% agar to .35% gelatin. When the gelled pulp was unmolded, the grapes were marinated in the juice from the skin. Adria applies this technique in Gelatina Cru by vacuum sealing. I found that I had better control over the penetration and ultimate proportions of skin/pulp by simply allowing it to sit in the marinade for a few hours. 

For the first time, I am able to enjoy the flavor and texture of old world grapes with none of the distractions. This technique also opens up possibilities for other whimsies...grapes made of white wine, marinated in red. Or, other manipulations of flavor contrasts between pulp and peel...sweet orange gel, marinated in bitter orange.

Have I outwitted Mother Nature? Just maybe on this one...but she is still legions ahead.

For a philosophical take on Man vs. Nature in the context of food, read  "Cooking: The Quintessential Art" by Herve This and Pierre Gagnaire, a book that I forgot to include in my previous post. Chadzilla quotes from the book in a recent post, sparking an insightful conversation.

(I can't put up this post without a shout out to my friend, Uwe, who embraces the nicknames Uva and Queso [grape and cheese]. Check out his blog Gratifood. His food will make you drool. His language will make you smile.)

 

puff pastry

Flour. Butter. Water. Salt. No leavening. Or is there?

When these four ingredients are combined into a homogeneous dough, then rolled out and baked, you end up with a cracker or flatbread. Not much rise there.

Blend the same ingredients together but stop while the butter is still discernible-- about the size of peas. Now roll out and bake. You have a pate brisee or a short, flaky pie crust with unevenly puffed layers that may have doubled in height.

Now, take the same four ingredients, blend the flour, water and salt to make a dough. Evenly layer the butter throughout the dough through a series of rolling out and folding. Stop when you have made 6 "turns", resulting in 1459 alternating layers of fat and starch. After a final rolling and baking, you are left with pate feuilletee or puff pastry. This time, the finished pastry leaving the oven has risen up to 6 times in volume from the raw dough that went in.

Three products...sharing identical ingredients in similar proportions...with significantly different results. Do you know why?

Lacking chemical leavening, the release of gases is not responsible for the differences between the three pastry products. And with the absence of yeast, it cannot be attributed to fermentation. 

What caused the puff pastry to rise to glorious heights and the pie crust to puff to a lesser degree is the steam created by the melted butter. As the butter melts and boils, the gluten matrix in the dough hardens, trapping the pockets of steam. The degree of rise in the three products varies with the distribution of fat and starch.

Understanding this was an epiphany. So was grasping the unfolding of egg proteins. And the destruction of sugar to make caramel. And so on. 

These were my AH-HAA moments. They allowed me to analyse mistakes and to not only correct them, but to control the outcome. They liberated me from bondage to recipes, and with this freedom came a broader one: the freedom to create.

Modern cooking places an emphasis on science, when, in fact, chemistry has been at play throughout the history of food and cooking. Does a strong knowledge of food science make us good cooks? If that were true then scientists, by right, would all be chefs.

What about technique? Consider the baker who gets up at 3 AM every morning to bake bread. After some time, he can turn out hundreds of perfect loaves even while half-asleep. He may even have a grasp on the chemistry of his craft through extended observation of cause and effect. His talent and dedication may move him onto the saute line, where through repetition he learns to turn out a perfectly cooked piece of fish every time. 

But would he know what to do with a salsify? Would he even know what to serve it with?

At ICC, Jordi Butron of Espai Sucre gave a presentation about the process of creating desserts. A lot of what he said resonated with me. In it, he stated (from my notes) "Pastry is techniques...but technique has to service flavor. Technique is easy--it only requires repetition, but a library of flavors takes many years to acquire."

As a baker, I have made puff pastry countless times. Through muscle memory, I could even make it while half-asleep. Because of my understanding of steam pockets and gluten matrixes, I was able to effectively teach it to my students, passing on the AH-HAA moments. My familiarity with this product allows me to play and ask questions:

Why butter? (because it is fat and for it's flavor)

What else is flavored fat? (oils..but they won't work, they're liquid and here, the fat needs to start as a solid)

What else is solid, flavored fat? (pork fat, bacon fat, foie, cheese...)

Cheese? Which cheese? (needs to be spreadable and have a high fat content...a triple cream)

Saint Andre? Boursault? Brillat-Savarin? (no...too subtle for the flavor to come through)

l'Explorateur? (a triple cream, assertive flavor...yes, it will work)

That is how I have come to make l'Explorateur puff pastry; a product that pleases me.

Will it please everyone? Is it ground-breaking? Life-altering? No. No. And no.

It is simply a token of where I'm at as a cook/baker at this moment in time and a synthesization of what I know about technique, food science and my own palate.

Do these things make me a better cook? I'd like to think so. What I do know for certain is that by relying on their guidance, I am free to contemplate and to think about food; what it is...what it can be. 

And that, I believe, is the starting point for innovation.

raclette potato

I have a confession to make:

I am a sucker for babies. They reduce me to a pile of cooing, quivering jelly. When I encounter a neonate, i have to fight the urge to stuff their pudgy cheeks, fists, and feet into my mouth. This may seem bizarre, but I'm willing to bet there are some of you that are nodding in recognition.

This same compulsion applies to baby vegetables (just ask Sid Wainer). These, I recognize, are OK to put in my mouth.

My first vegetable garden was largely dedicated to the cultivation of baby root vegetables. I planted miniature varieties of white turnips, red and yellow beets, cylindrical and round carrots, and red and white pearl onions in neat rows. It was a garden fit for a dollhouse. 

I also planted Yukon Gold potatoes that were intended to be full size, but when I prematurely dug them up, I was delighted to find tiny, marble-size potatoes clinging to the roots. Within minutes, I was in my kitchen, rinsing off the still-wet earth, their skins so thin that the force of the water nearly peeled them away. After a few minutes in boiling, salted water, they went into a saute pan with fruity olive oil, smashed cloves of garlic and sprigs of thyme. Heavenly, they were; creamy inside, crisp and earthy outside. Later that day, I made a simple dinner of roasted baby potatoes with melted raclette cheese, good bread and wine. I will never forget those humble meals; they rekindled my love affair with the potato. 

Nowadays, I seldom grow potatoes, mainly because I don't want to sacrifice the space in my garden required to grow and hill them. At this time of year, I am on the lookout for new crops of spuds that appear at the market and will rummage through bins and baskets, picking out the tiniest specimens. 

The newborn fingerlings that I found, just hours old I was told, were prime for simple preparations. But, of course, I had to play. 

raclette potato

Methocel SGA forms a firm gel when heated and reverts to it's original state (here, a soft puree) as it cools. For best results, allow it to hydrate overnight.

160 g hot potato puree

75 g milk, cream, or buttermilk

15 g butter

salt

100 g water

5 g methocel SGA150

raclette cheese, cut into thin slices.

To make potato puree: Peel potatoes and cut into chunks. Drop into boiling, salted water and cook until very tender. Drain and pass through a ricer, tamis or sieve 2-3 times or until a very smooth texture is achieved. This is best made just before proceeding with recipe, while still hot.

Combine hot potato puree with milk, butter, and salt, stirring vigorously until butter melts.

Add methocel to water and blend it in with an immersion blender. Combine gel with potato mixture, stirring until well blended. Cover and chill overnight in refrigerator.

The next day, preheat oven to 250F. Fill molds with potato mixture and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until firm. Remove from oven and unmold onto baking sheet lined with silpat. 

Lay slices of cheese alongside potatoes and return to oven just until cheese softens and begins to spread. 

Peel cheese off silpat and drape over potato. Lift potato and mold the cheese around the bottom, pressing into place.

If desired, the raclette potato can be painted with strongly-brewed, finely-ground coffee. Serve warm.

instant chocolate cake

At Madrid Fusion 2008, Ferran Adria demonstrated a black sesame cake baked in a plastic cup in the microwave. It took 40 seconds.

As a card carrying member of the National Society of Cake Whores, the technique tickled my C-spot. Recreating it in chocolate is...well...let's just say it's good. Toe-curling, basking-in-the-afterglow good.

OK, now that I've regained my composure, let me tell you why this cake has me purring. If you've ever made a sponge cake, souffle, or any hot egg foam, you have witnessed first-hand the unfolding and bonding of egg protein molecules. If your attempts have been successful--Congratulations! (maybe you would like to join the NSCW?). If you have failed, it may be because you didn't follow one of the many rules: overbeating, under beating, introducing fat, sugar, salt, acid at the inappropriate time, folding, not stirring, cooking too slow or too fast.

Reason #1 why I love this cake: Forget all the rules. This is egg foam anarchy.

Reason #2: Taste & Texture. Don't let the pale color fool you...it's because of the aeration. While it's true that eggs mask flavor, the taste of chocolate does come through and lingers. And just look at the structure. Have you ever seen air pockets that large in a cake? I haven't, and I've been making them since I've possessed the motor skills required to put a spoon in a bowl and stir. The only thing that can expand a batter like that is yeast. Or Nitrous Oxide and a microwave.

Reason #3: Ease & Speed. This cake goes from pantry to tummy in less than 10 minutes. The lengthiest part is melting the chocolate. If you use the microwave for that step, it's even faster. How can instant gratification be bad when it's this good?

Instant Chocolate Cake
makes 12-15 individual cakes

Put 8 whole large eggs (400 g.) plus 1 yolk (17 g.) into a bowl with 160 g. sugar. and 3 g. salt. Whip with a whisk or electric mixer for 1 minute.

Add 42 g. flour, followed by 210 g. melted, semisweet chocolate. Mix just until blended.


Pour mixture through a fine mesh sieve.


Pour into a whipped cream charger. Fill only halfway. You will have enough batter left to make another batch. Charge with 2- N2O cartridges. Shake firmly 2-3 times. Dispense foam into a 9-oz. plastic cup, stopping when it is 1/3 filled.


Place cup in microwave. Set to bake at 900watts (for standard 1000w microwaves, set at 90% power or power9). Set timer to cook for 40 seconds. Watch it rise before your eyes.


Unmold and dig in.


Yum

 

blueberry cheese

ser·en·dip·i·ty  n.

1. The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.
2. The fact or occurrence of such discoveries.
3. An instance of making such a discovery.

Blueberry juice, when extracted through a juicer, forms large, soft curds that quickly begin to oxidize.

Smaller and firmer curds form after a brief cooking to set the color.

An overnight rest in a cheesecloth-lined sieve drains excess moisture and leaves a firm mass that can be molded or sliced.

whipped gelatin

                                    
                                 whipped pernod tomato
                                 fennel poached in parmesan water
 


One of the biggest challenges about catering is getting the quantities right. Running out of food is unforgivable, but throwing out excessive food is painful. Over the years, I have come to terms with this aspect, but it still disturbs me every time. When I recently rescued a batch of tomato aspic from it's fate with the bin, it wasn't because of my conscience. I just wanted to play.

I had made the aspic from plum tomatoes that were slowly roasted in the oven to concentrate their flavor and amplify their sweetness. Relieved of their skins, they were simmered in tomato consomme with Pernod until soft and melting. This intensely flavored mixture was then pureed, passed through a chinois several times, and set with 3% gelatin. The finely diced aspic was served as part of a first course with roasted fennel, eggplant, dried olives and smoked chevre. As I was dicing the aspic, I began to wonder about gelatin's shear-thinning capabilities and for once, I was glad to see leftovers.

Back home, I learned a few things about shearing gelatin:

• it does not form a fluid gel...a soft gel? yes...fluid? no.

• whipping it from it's gelled state in a Kitchenaid is a lot of fun to watch, but the product is no more useful than the unfluid gel.

• whipping it from it's ungelled state over a bowl of ice water allows air to be whipped in and trapped as it chills and sets. The result is a light, creamy textured gel that holds it shape, yet is soft and melting on the palate...mind blowing? hardly...useful? definitely.

salmon passion fruit hollandaise

My play with Transglutaminase continues after an intensive week of catering. Here I've made a salmon ravioli filled with passion fruit hollandaise. When I used to work the line, the hollandaise was made before service and kept in a warm bath. This didn't make sense to me and I insisted on making it to order, which pissed everyone off. They backed down when I proved that a perfect sauce could be made in the time that it took them to get their pans hot.

My entry into the world of cooking was through the sweet side. The skills that I have learned from baking have eased my transition to the savory side of the kitchen. I look for the moments when the two worlds collide and the transition feels seamless.

One day, while making a lemon curd, it occurred to me that I was essentially making a sweetened hollandaise. Although the cooking methods and proportions varies slightly between the two, the chemistry is the same in forming these egg-emulsified sauces. They share the same trio of key ingredients: egg yolks, fat in the form of butter, and acid in the form of lemon juice.  When isolating these ingredients and considering possible alternatives, it becomes easy to imagine flavor variations on the classic hollandaise. Egg yolks are unique in their protein coagulation, but acid can be introduced in the form of any fruit juice that has a PH of 3.0 or lower so as not to over-dilute the egg yolk. Candidates that fall in this range are: grapefruit, lime, cranberries, gooseberries, wild grapes, verjus, raspberries, rhubarb, pomegranates, tamarind, and passion fruit. These are all flavors that I've used to make fruit curds, so why not hollandaise? To bring it back to the savory realm, even the butter can be replaced with solidifying fats such as: foie, bacon, duck fat, serrano fat. Can you see where I'm going? Does this excite you as much as it does me?

For this ravioli, the hollandaise posed a challenge because it needed to solidify in order to glue the thin sheets of salmon around it, then to revert to it's fluid sauce state when reheated. A traditional hollandaise was not stable enough to endure the freezing and cooking process without curdling. I fiddled with a few additives and techniques before hitting on the simple addition of a small amount of gelatin. This allowed the hollandaise to firm up sufficiently without the need to be frozen, which I suspect had destabilized the emulsification, and to remelt in the sous vide bath.

 

sous vide salmon ravioli filled with passion fruit hollandaise
crispy salmon skin
asparagus ramp puree
spiced rum beads

playing with ricotta

Some days, I go to the playground, looking for fun, but find that it is deserted. I can see my good friends, Ideas and Inspiration, lurking in the shadows; just out of reach. As much as I coax and cajole them, they refuse to come out to play.
Then there are days, like today, when they are already there waiting.

This morning, while enjoying my breakfast of ricotta, fruit, and coffee, I was struck by the how the flavor of ricotta mingled with the coffee. I began to wonder if it was possible to unite these flavors before they hit the palate.
Ideas told me that this might be achieved by marinating the ricotta in coffee. Obediently, I brewed a fresh cup and stirred in some ricotta. A few hours later, I was dismayed to find that there was only a faint flavor of the coffee in the ricotta.
I was about to give up hope, when Inspiration suggested that because the ricotta was now a few days old, it had already 'set' and was not open to absorbing any more liquid, but that a fresh batch would still be porous. It seemed plausible, and because it is quick and easy, I made more ricotta.
While the fresh batch drained for the requisite 5 minutes, I brewed a fresh cup of coffee and stirred in the still- warm ricotta. This time, after only 20 minutes, the ricotta had taken on a rich brown color and tasted distinctly of coffee.
Before the ricotta cooled, I tried other flavors:

                coffee                            caramel                                raspberry

                

Moving to the savory side, I had on hand some gelatin-filtered tomato sauce that I had infused with basil and garlic.
This tasted just like pizza!

I was having a great time playing with my friends (they get so wound up), but I had other things to do (like work). They did, however, convince me to try one more thing with ricotta before abandoning it for the day: ricotta caramel.
I cooked some sugar with a bit of water until it turned dark amber, then stirred in some well-drained ricotta. I had expected it to turn out hard and brittle, but instead it was soft and chewy, interspersed with flecks of curd. Interesting texture...more play for another day.

                                 

 

methylcellulose primer

Methylcellulose has been part of the chemical arsenal of avant guard chefs for years.
I have only been experimenting with it for a few weeks now, but have already found many significant uses for it.  As a hydrocolloid, it can thicken liquids to form gels that can glue together vegetables, or spread thinly on silicone to form sheets that are flexible and plastic-like when dried, but turn crisp and brittle when baked. It can also be piped into hot liquid to form instant noodles. The gel, when whipped, behaves like egg whites and can be baked into souffles, marshmallows, and light and crisp meringues.

In the blogosphere, Ideas in Food have used various types of Methocel to make hot ice cream, whipped yogurt , hot mozzarella sheets, and gnocchi. Chadzilla has some recent posts in which he's made whipped lemonade and tempura batter.

Since my s'mores post, I have received a number of email inquiries about working with Methylcellulose. While I am certainly no expert, I thought that I would share some research that I have found helpful to my understanding of this versatile gum.

Methylcellulose,or MC, is a chemical derivative of cellulose. Cellulose is the 'bones', or structural cells of all living plants.

Methocel and Benecel are trademarked brand names of MC.

uses
MC is widely used in the food, drug and cosmetic industries. If you have ever taken a coated tablet, or a capsule, you have ingested MC. It is often added to baked goods, beverages, ice creams, and whipped toppings.  It is what forms the onion in the Burger King onion ring

category
MC is categorized as a food gum because it is a non-starch carbohydrate polymer. MC behaves like starch in the way that it thickens and stabilizes, but does so using much smaller amounts.

dietary
Because it does not ferment in the digestive tract, as does starch, it is non-caloric. MC is known to be non-allergenic, kosher, halal, and vegan.

applications
Methylcellulose has varied applications: it can coat, thicken, stabilize, gel, suspend, bind, form flexible or brittle films, carry flavors, reduce syneresis (weeping), and improve texture.
Within these applications, it delivers versatility: it is soluble in cold liquids (though it can be introduced in hot liquids and agitated when cool), its viscosity is stable over a wide PH range of 2-13, it is non-ionic, has a high tolerance for salt and sugar, and it can be combined with alcohol or oil. It is colorless, odorless, and tasteless.

           

thermoreversible
MC is unique among hydrocolloids in that it forms a reversible thermal gel; it has the ability to gel when heated and revert back to its original state when cooled.

types
There are several types of Methylcellulose: A, E, F, and K, and even more variations within each type. A types are Methylcellulose, or MC, while E, F, and K types are hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, or HPMC. They differ in viscosity, gelation temperature, and gelation strength:

               Nominal                          Gelation                    Gelation
Type        Viscosity*                     Temperature                Strength

A15         12-18                      122-131°F (50-55°C)         Very firm
A4C         300-560                  122-131°F (50-55°C)         Very firm
A15C       1,125-2,450            122-131°F (50-55°C)         Very firm
A4M         2,700-5,600           122-131°F (50-55°C)         Very firm
E15         12-18                      136-147°F (58-64°C)         Semi-firm
E50          40-60                     136-147°F (58-64°C)         Semi-firm
E4M         2,700-5,040            136-147°F (58-64°C)         Semi-firm
E10M       7,500-14,000          136-147°F (58-64°C)         Semi-firm
F50          40-60                     143-154°F (62-68°C)         Semi-firm
F450        360-540                  143-154°F (62-68°C)         Semi-firm
F4M C      2,700-5,040            143-154°F (62-68°C)         Semi-firm
K100LV    80-120                    158-194°F (70-90°C)         Soft
K99 C      80-120                    158-194°F (70-90°C)         Soft
K15M       13,500-25,200        158-194°F (70-90°C)         Soft
K35M       26,250-49,000        158-194°F (70-90°C)         Soft
K4M         2,700-5,040           158-194°F (70-90°C)         Soft
K100M      75,000-140,000      158-194°F (70-90°C)         Soft
K200M      150,000-280,000    158-194°F (70-90°C)         Soft

*viscosity is measured in millipascal-seconds (mPa.s) in a 2% solution at 20 degrees C. (68F)

solubility
A types are soluble at 32-41 F (0-5 C) for 20-40 minutes. E, F, and K types are soluble at 68-77 F (20-25 C). Viscosity will continue to increase as temperature drops.

       

aerated chocolate

Heston Blumenthal has been described as a mad food scientist. If this is true, then his madness is borne of an exquisitely focused curiosity of food.
In his books "In Search of Perfection" and "Further Adventures in Search of Perfection", Blumenthal turns this curiosity to classic dishes that evoke fond memories and nostalgia. They are last meal dishes. He dissects them and goes to extraordinary lengths to execute each component according to his standards of perfection, which are high indeed. 
There is much to be learned from these books; simple and practical lessons on how to properly roast a chicken, knead bread, fry potatoes. He almost had me convinced that he is not mad. Then he goes and vacuums chocolate with a Dyson.

special equipment:
whipped cream dispenser
3 N2O charges for dispenser
a vacuum sealer such as foodsaver with its large canister*
a plastic container that will fit inside the large canister

set up:
fill a small saucepan with 2" of water and bring to a simmer
place whipped cream dispenser in a bowl of warm water
place plastic container in large canister and surround with ice
attach hose from vacuum sealer to lid of large canister

step 1 (melt chocolate)

place 18 oz (500g) of good quality chocolate that has been chopped into small chunks into a metal or glass bowl. Add 1/3 cup (65g) peanut oil. Set bowl over simmering water in saucepan. Stir occasionally until completely melted and smooth.

step 2 (foaming)
pour the melted chocolate into the warmed whipped cream dispenser. Screw on the top and charge with 3 N2O charges. Shake vigorously and discharge into the bottom of the plastic container, stopping when the chocolate foam is halfway up the container. Immediately place dish on ice in large canister.

step 3 (aerating)

place lid securely on canister. Begin vacuum. When the chocolate has doubled in bulk, stop the vacuum. Remove the hose attachment and carefully transfer the canister to the refrigerator to chill.

step 4 (chilling)

let canister chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Remove and release pressure from canister. Remove  plastic container from inside canister and unmold aerated chocolate by running a thin knife along the sides. If the chocolate does not release, wrap a towel that has been soaked in hot water around the outside of container.

* in ISoP, Blumenthal uses a plastic storage container to hold the foamed chocolate,then places it into a plastic baggie and inserts the nozzle of a Dyson vacuum into the opening.