Molecular Gastronomy

[The Knize]

I am not sure I really like this term, but is anyone playing around with what is generally thought to come under this rubric?

I bought a cream whipper canister and have down a little bit with foams and infusions, but more to use in cocktails rather than food, per se. Kind of fun, but I cannot say either thrilled me. I suppose the infusions are great, but so far what I have done is more of a speed of soaking various items in liquor, rather than creating anything I could not do otherwise.

I just bought some sodium alginate and calcium lactate for so-called reverse spherefication, essentially where on creates a soft clear pliable outside coating on a filling so that one has a ball of that filling to eat as is or add to another dish. Think of a ball of goat cheese in a bowel of soup. Or a ball of mango puree on plate of dessert. I want to also try so called direct spherefication when one creates caviar-like balls of various flavors. So far, my technique or chemistry skills seem a little lacking. Fun stuff, though. The chemistry set aspects are appealing.

 

[ajkel64]

Have you been watching Heston Bloomenthal? He is into all this sort of food science. It was very interesting watching the reaction from the celebrities that he cooked for.

 

[The Knize]

Have you been watching Heston Bloomenthal? He is into all this sort of food science. It was very interesting watching the reaction from the celebrities that he cooked for.

I will have to check him out.

 

[ajkel64]

He is an English Chef and loves to use science in food.

 

[The Knize]

He is an English Chef and loves to use science in food.

I gathered from skimming his You Tube titles. What I am playing with is different I am guessing. which is why I am kind fo dissatisfied with the name.

 

[Vespasian]

Too much faffing about with food. Grill the steak, bake the potato, toss the salad, chill the chocolate mousse: that's enough chemistry for me.

 

[emwolf]

I think the chemistry behind food is fascinating. They had a chemist on NPR talking about baking cookies and I came away with an appreciation I hadn't had before.

 

[The Knize]

I think the chemistry behind food is fascinating. They had a chemist on NPR talking about baking cookies and I came away with an appreciation I hadn't had before.

Me, too, and there is chemistry at work in all sorts of cooking. I am more specifically talking about this kind of thing, though. Reverse Spherification

 

[natenaaron]

This is one of those "when I have time and live closer to fresh ingredients" thing. I find it fascinating though.

 

[The Knize]

This is one of those "when I have time and live closer to fresh ingredients" thing. I find it fascinating though.

I am not sure the freshness of ingredients matter so much. One does have to have the "chemicals," distilled water, and the equipment, including, apparently, a gram scale, though. The chemicals and equipment are fairly inexpensive and easily available through Amazon or ebay. (I live in the Washington, DC area and can find most food/kitchen stuff, but I have not found a local source for any of this stuff, other than the distilled water!)

Time is a different issue. It is not that the individual processes take much time at all. Weighing and mixing in sodium alginate into distilled water. Blending a fresh fruit filling, including calcium lactate. Freezing it into little trays or just dropping it carefully into a solution. But there is the time it takes to put the solution aside and let any air bubble settle out, and the time it takes things to freeze, which is not much.

But after one is done with all of that, one does not necessarily have a dish to serve. One had a large blob of gel enclosed fruit puree or cheese, or something like caviar filled with some kind of flavoring. I think most of the time those re going to be ingredients in something that takes additional work. Although, they could just be served in a Chinese soup spoon, with perhaps a grind of sugar or a pinch of sea salt. It seems the things one creates do not have a long shelf time, so one can only do so much in advance.

So far, this stuff seems to take a lot of precision and a certain amount of technique I have not mastered. I just ordered some ph test strips. I am hoping those will help. I hope I do not need a ph meter. I am not sure how accurate the gram scale I got is. It is definitely fun though.

 

[TexLaw]

A friend of mine was fascinated by it, so a bunch of us chipped in and got him the five-volume Modernist Cuisine. (He's a great friend, and a great guy who is generous with his time and food almost to a fault.)

I flipped through it after we gave it to him, and there is some cool stuff in there. I've also been to a couple of places that did some of that. The same friend even organized a five course food and beer pairing that was all about molecular gastronomy.

It is interesting, but the novelty wears off quickly. It's like climbing Everest. Do it once, get the photo, and never go back.

Not that I'll ever do either. They aren't my style..

 

[The Knize]

Your friend has generous friends!

I am apparently not keeping up at all when it comes to cooking. I had not heard at all about this set of cookbooks.

They look like fun, and have a lot going on besides the things I had specifically in mind. I do not think I am interested in climbing Everest. I know what you mean. But I think fooling around with some of these techniques will be fun. Frankly, I started down this path with more of an interest in the application of this stuff to mixology. I think it would be fun to create a large membrane bubble of carbonated mojito ingredients to slide into other ingredients, and at this point I think I have the equipment to do it. I do not know how often I would bother.

I am sure a lot of this is like sous vide, and sous vide is probably a part of it. I do not find myself doing anything with sous vide other than steaks. But I find that--very strangely to me frankly--sous vide really does produce fabulous results without any risk of error.

If I got just a couple of things out of the spherefication and reverse spherefication that were really fun and really impressive, and not too terribly time consuming to do, it would probably be worth the effort.

 

[davent]

I received 'Modernist Cuisine @ Home' as a gift a number of years back, interesting read but pretty sure i haven't made anything from it, maybe the Raspberry panna cotta. (Continuously rolling through new recipes each week for years, in the last year or so i started keeping track, documenting what we've done so i can go back and maybe make something again though not likely.)
dave

 

[The Knize]

An online website has the full five-volume Modernist Cuisine in pdf format for $29.95. Sounds a little too good to be true. It is north of $500 on Amazon in hard cover.

 

[oc_in_fw]

I think the chemistry behind food is fascinating. They had a chemist on NPR talking about baking cookies and I came away with an appreciation I hadn't had before.

Baking is science, cooking is art.

 

[mightyeskimo]

toss the salad

Simplicity that everyone in cell block c can really get behind.

 

[The Knize]

An update. I am not having an easy time with this molecular gastronomy stuff, at least the spherefication and reverse spherefication at all. I now own a gram scale accurate to 1/100s of a gram, distilled water, a special spoon, a large syringe, ph test strips, and a bunch of "chemicals." May results with frozen reverse spherefication for "balls" of goat cheese were pretty good. Interesting look and good taste. There fruit stuff is messy and a waste of time. Am especially disappointed in the caviar. Have not tried any thing vegetable or with alcohol in it. I am being as careful as I can be. I guess I need to watch some more videos for technique. Pretty much a waste of time/money so far.

 

[davent]

How's the texture, mouth feel with this stuff, anything to chew on? I take a pass on just about anything hot and mushy, things i can chew with my tongue, always exceptions.
dave

 

[The Knize]

The reverse spherefication globs, for want of a better name, which are of decent size, are very soft, and the membrane very thin. Not so much of a chew, with tongue or otherwise, as a very quick pop which takes no pressure with a rush of liquid and, thus, I suppose, of flavor. As often cold as hot, and maybe more like just above room temperature then, I suppose. Cool presentation.

The spherefication, which is the caviar, which gives you an idea of size, I think are supposed to be firmer, with a more pronounced skin and way less liquid inside. I may not be much of a judge on those as I am having trouble making them. But I think I have had them in mixed drinks and on a salad, and if I remember what I had, a more pronounced popping quality, similar to real caviar, say salmon roe on sushi. An interesting texture. Kind of satisfying. Candy-like in some respects. I suppose they have an interesting presentation, too, but I think there there texture and the popping is a bigger thing.

 

[sig303]

Molecular gastronomy is definitely interesting and the science can and should inform our techniques in the kitchen. That said, I think a lot of it was kind of a fad that has thankfully passed. I seem to recall about about 10-15 years ago everybody was doing infusions and foams and what not and wanted to be the next Adria (or Blumenthal). Of course, behind all that there was some very cool exploration of flavor and ingredients and technique.

Spherification is pretty cool though.