Thanks Rob, what you are chasing there does sound interesting, good luck, happy trials!
dave
dave
Molecular Gastronomy
- Thread starter The Knize
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- #22
I'll keep fooling around with it. I think from the beginning I was more interested in making some cool flavorful bubbles than in chasing down some culinary theories of deconstruction or the like. I am surprised the spherification and reverse spherefication seem to be so much harder to do well than what the You Tube videos seem to indicate. Certainly there was nothing very difficult about foams and infusions! I do not feel at all attracted to the making clear pasta out of various things or freeze drying ice cream.
I definitely think there is something to be gained from it; spherication definitely proved to be harder than I imagined as well. I also think there is a lot of interesting work being done with various kinds of fermentation and curing which, understood properly, definitely falls under the umbrella of "molecular gastronomy" when conceived as the science (and art) of the very broad number of reactions that occur affecting taste and texture. Deconstruction also has an important place as well. Yet, I kind of feel that the two were often conflated and the result was cooking that favored form over substance - for me, this is a mistake in the kitchen, though not necessarily in other fields.
I really hate to be critical of "molecular gastronomy" because there are little things I do here and there (mostly with pastry) that would have fallen into the avant garde fifty years ago. And things like sous vide are magnificent advancements. However, what I dislike is often what is presented when its all said and done. My challenge to those that lean on it is this, are you making food that people genuinely crave? I crave a garlicky potato gratin with a roasted leg of lamb. I crave braised chicken. I crave Bearnaise sauce. I crave a grilled octopus. If you are making food that people truly crave, want, and think about long after they've consumed it you're on the path. I get cynical when I see a lot of this stuff because I watched it all change. A lot of chefs twenty years ago started to move away from traditional sauces because the economics of making copious amounts of well made stock became too much of a burden for them. But you could whizz up an herbal oil in a matter of minutes. But making a real demi glace took days. In the 90s a lot of the changes I was seeing were driven by laziness and economics. Then one day I was riding the train and saw the article on Adria in Spain. My heart sank. Well before MG took off I knew it was coming. I read the article and could see the future. It was the next big thing. It wasn't here yet but I knew it would be. And here it is. And its everything I feared it would be. French food went through a period of craziness in 60's and 70's. When the dust settled on that, only a little of it stuck. I'm hoping MG plays itself out the way nouvelle cuisine played itself out. When the dust settles again I'm hoping that its contributions will serve to make the things we love and crave better. There will be a time to use these techniques and times not. The future challenge will be bridging the gap. Part of that will be changing peoples view of what a meal is. So many people today want "experiences". At some point, we will want to dine again. Not taste, dine. We won't want to experience something, but hopefully we will want to return to eating. If that happens, we will question the wisdom of a lot of these innovations.
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- #25
Good write up, mise-en-place. I do not find much of what I eat on a regular basis, even out at expensive restaurants to be all that affected by a lot of what seems to fall within molecular gastronomy. If sous vide steak is MG, certainly that. I have done done a steak another way for quite a while. Not so much for anything else sous vide, at least so far. Out and around I find the occasional spherification in a salad or mixed drink. Perhaps in a dessert, I am not sure. I do not think I have ever run into an example of reverse spherification out, and have not mastered it well enough to use it at home.
I admit I have not eaten at places like Mini-Bar, if I have the name correct, in DC.
I did learnt to cook at a time when nouvelle cusine was new and big. I would say it changed cooking a lot and for the better. Lightened things. Brought in influences from other cultures to high end food. Probably helped popularize high end Italian food. But perhaps I am prejudiced.
I admit I have not eaten at places like Mini-Bar, if I have the name correct, in DC.
I did learnt to cook at a time when nouvelle cusine was new and big. I would say it changed cooking a lot and for the better. Lightened things. Brought in influences from other cultures to high end food. Probably helped popularize high end Italian food. But perhaps I am prejudiced.
