Has Watermelon Been Cured?

It all started with a watermelon

Well, that’s not exactly true. It started with an email from Cured/18th&21st announcing their new chef.

Harry Doyle Here - Introducing Chef Christina - And Restaurant Weeks!

Below the information were their Restaurant Week menus. Take a look at the first item.

Starters: Compressed Watermelon.

Wait, what? Yes, you read that correctly.

COMPRESSED WATERMELON: grilled peaches, burrata, pistachios, blackberry balsamic

Just think for a minute. What would happen if you compressed watermelon? Envision the scenario: take a slice of watermelon (no rind) and put weight on it. Press hard. Get the picture?

Squish! You now have watermelon juice. And a mess. This seems like it would be a great sensory activity for preschoolers.

But this is clearly not meant to be a beverage. That would be Watermelon Squash.

I did some research and it turns out that compressed watermelon is a thing. A culinary thing. It is achieved by placing the fruit in a special plastic envelope and hooking it up to a vacuum seal device. By removing the air you somehow intensify the flavor of the watermelon.

But you don’t have to take my word for it: you can, with the proper equipment, “take an ordinary watermelon to another level.”

How to Make Compressed Watermelon, Salt, Butter, Smoke website.

Friends, if you wanted to take an ordinary watermelon to another level you could also bring it along on an airplane ride or even down to the basement.

But this is the world of fine dining. This is culinary art. Think marinating, macerating, flambé, brûlée, sous vide. So, who am I to laugh at a compressed watermelon?

In fact, it turns out that I can’t even complain that this is some newfangled idea. I can find references to compressed watermelon going back more than ten years. (Clearly I am not up to date on the latest gastronomic trends.)

It just so happens that I adore watermelon. I consider it to be the perfect food. I don’t really understand why anyone would think it needs tweaking. On the other hand, I didn’t know until I visited my sister in Indiana that you can eat frozen chunks of watermelon and that was a revelation.

If you should decide to decompress with a visit to Cured/18th & 21st during Restaurant Weeks, let me know if you tried the watermelon.

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