How To Make An Edible Coral Tuile Garnish

Here's how to make an easy and beautiful coral tuile garnish to elevate your dishes and make them stand out on special occasions. Edible coral (as it is also known) is a fancy garnish often used in high-end restaurants, and it's a lot easier to replicate at home than you might think! I'll go through the ingredients and cooking tips for making a basic coral tuile and then show you some ways of adding flavor to a coral tuile.

I did a real deep dive into this fancy garnish recipe, trying lots of different flours, methods, and equipment. It is very easy, but not simple. Little culinary flairs like this need precision to get right, but once you've nailed it, a coral tuile is such a fun thing to make for dinner party dishes that make them instantly look elegant and refined. Plus, it makes everyday cooking fun!

Jump to:

• 📖 Ingredients List
• 👩🏼‍🍳 How to make coral tuile
• 👩🏼‍🍳 How to use Coral Tuile
• ❄️ Storage & Freezing
• 🥣 Equipment
• ❓Recipe FAQ
• 🍽 More garnishes and food styling
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

📖 Ingredients List

This lace tuile recipe uses very simple ingredients, but it requires reading essential technique notes for success.

1. Flour—I have tested various flours to find the best kind of flour for a coral tuile. I prefer to use cornstarch (called cornflour in the UK), which not only garnered the best results for me but also makes the coral tuile gluten-free. I found that all-purpose flour (plain flour) sometimes made the lace tuiles a bit pancakey. As cornstarch is such a powdery, fine grain, I then tried pastry flour and 00 flour (pasta flour), which are both lower protein, fine-milled flours, and also got good results. Do not use self-raising flour, as this contains baking powder, and you will end up with pancakes.
2. Oil - Any neutral oil with a high smoke point is fine. I prefer to use canola oil, sunflower oil, vegetable oil, or a mild olive oil. You can use oils that have a strong flavor (like coconut oil) but bear in mind that this will leech into the lace tuile flavor and, therefore, affect the dish you are garnishing. We fry the coral tuile in a very hot pan, so the hot oil needs to be safe at high temperatures.
3. Water - The water rapidly evaporates in the hot pan, leaving the oil to cook the flour suspended in the emulsion. This is what causes the lace pattern to emerge.
4. Food coloring - This is optional. Only use powdered food coloring, not gel food coloring or liquid food coloring which will affect the consistency of the emulsion. Without food coloring, your coral tuiles will be pale and beige in color.

👩🏼‍🍳 How to make coral tuile

Here is the basic method of making a savory coral tuille garnish. Then I have listed a few variations and adaptations (e.g., how to add flavor and color).

How to make a colored coral tuile

1. Add a pinch of powdered food coloring (not gel or liquid) to the oil, water, and flour mixture before blending. Squid ink is also commonly used as a coloring for a savory tuile garnish, simply replace a teaspoon of water with a teaspoon of squid ink.
2. Use this mixture as per the method above.

How to use herbs to make a flavored coral tuile

For best results, you will need to infuse both the water and the oil with the herbs.

1. Tear a handful of fresh herbs into pieces and place them into a heat-proof jug. Alternatively, use a tablespoon of dried herbs.
2. Heat the oil until it is just warm, and then turn off the heat and stir in the herbs. Allow to cool completely, then pour the oil through a sieve or strainer into a sterilized bottle. Leave in a cool, dark place for a week to let the flavors develop.
3. Steep another handful of fresh herbs in boiled water for 5 minutes, and allow it to cool completely.
4. Blend the water and herbs together, and then sieve (keeping the liquid).
5. Use this water and the flavored oil in the method above.

How to use spices to make a coral tuile

You will also need to infuse the oil for this method. Just adding the spices straight to the mixture does not work, as they burn when you fry the lace tuile.

1. Heat the oil with a teaspoon of spices (e.g., cinnamon, chili pepper flakes, cumin seeds, ground cardamom pods) until it is just warm. Allow to cool completely and then sieve it into a sterilized bottle. Leave in a cool, dark place for a week to let the flavors fully develop.
2. Use this flavored oil in the method above.

👩🏼‍🍳 How to use Coral Tuile

You can make circular discs of edible coral or random shapes as they look good broken up in pieces on the plate. Break them up with your hands or use a pair of scissors. They are very versatile. Use them as a dessert coral tuile to elevate and garnish desserts like ice creams or a mango passion fruit eton mess or on savory dishes like a samphire risotto. They also work well as a garnish for cocktails.

❄️ Storage & Freezing

Store coral tuile garnish in an airtight container, and use within one week. To keep coral tuile crisp, wait until they are completely cooled before storing and add a silica gel sachet to the container with them. Do not freeze coral tuile.

🥣 Equipment

Weigh ingredients by the gram with a digital scale for accuracy. A good-quality, flat, non-stick frying pan is essential for this recipe to succeed. The pan cannot be warped or have a domed base; it needs to have a completely level, flat base. A crepe pan can work well, as they always have to be very flat. But beware—this coral tuile recipe spits a lot as you cook it, so the low sides of a crepe pan offer much less protection. Use a grease splatter guard/splatter shield, wear an apron, and use cooking gloves if necessary.

I tried blending the mixture with an Immersion blender but found it added too much air into the mixture, which affected the way it cooked. So don't overmix it. Honestly, putting all the ingredients into Squeeze bottles and just shaking them is the best option.

❓Recipe FAQ

🍽 More garnishes and food styling

Here are more ways you can upstyle your entertaining and create beautiful restaurant-style dishes at home.

📖 Recipe