From The Menu · 2022 · Reconstructed
The Island
Serve when
Present it as the first real course, cold and elemental — a raw scallop on the shore, dressed with nothing but the sea itself, melting as it warms at the table.
In the movie
Theatrical
- 00:17:13 Chef Slowik's first proper course: 'Our first course is called The Island.' Plants foraged from around the island, arranged on rocks from the shore, over a barely-frozen filtered seawater that keeps flavoring the fresh raw scallop as it slowly melts. 'The people on this island are not important.'
"The Island" is Slowik's thesis stated as food: the island and its nutrients exist in their most perfect state without us, he tells the room — the diner is a "frightened nanosecond," nature is timeless. It's gorgeous and it's a little contemptuous, a course built to make you feel like an intruder at your own dinner. Reconstructed at home it loses the menace and keeps the beauty: raw scallop, cold brine, something green from close to the water. Let the ice melt into it and you'll taste why the idea is seductive, even coming from a man who despises you.
Ingredients
- For the seawater granita:
- To finish:
Method
- Make the seawater granita a few hours ahead: stir the water, sea salt, optional kombu, and a squeeze of lemon until the salt dissolves — it should taste like clean seawater, no more. Freeze in a shallow tray, then scrape with a fork into loose icy crystals and keep frozen.
- Chill your serving stones or a shallow bowl of crushed ice thoroughly.
- Slice each scallop across into thin, even rounds and lay them out in a small overlapping fan. Keep everything ice cold.
- Arrange the raw scallop over the chilled stones or ice. Tuck the sea vegetables and greens around and over it, and finish with a few drops of good olive oil.
- At the very last moment, spoon the seawater granita over the top. As it melts it seasons the scallop at the table — so carry it out the instant it's built and let it finish itself in front of your guests.
Substitutions
- Raw scallop: the safest hosting version is a hard-seared scallop, cooled briefly, then sliced and plated over the granita. You lose the fully raw tasting-menu texture, but keep the cold shore presentation and sweet shellfish centre.
- Guests at higher risk: use the cooked version for anyone pregnant, immunocompromised, older, very young, or otherwise avoiding raw seafood. Keep the plate cold until it is served and do not let raw seafood linger on the table.
- Sea vegetables: genuine samphire or sea beans are ideal but seasonal; watercress, thin celery, or blanched green beans give you the fresh, briny bite and the color.
- The rocks: entirely optional theatre. A wide, well-chilled white bowl reads clean and modern and is a lot easier to wash.
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