2008.11./2 - Molecular Gastronomy

What do we try to teach the kids ?
Stay curious, ask questions, experiment, make mistakes to find a better way ....

That's what I did by following the course set by a Hungarian physicist whose hobby was cooking, and he was an enthusiastic advocate of applying scientific knowledge to culinary problems.

I invited some friends to a workshop to learn about Molecular Gastronomy
- the Science of Flavour -

There is plenty of better definitions for the term Molecular Gastronomy than one I could come up with, so I guess I just quote the other guys:

Molecular gastronomy is a scientific discipline involving the study of physical and chemical processes that occur in cooking.

Other interpretations:

"The application of scientific principles to the understanding and improvement of domestic and gastronomic food preparation."

"The art and science of choosing, preparing and eating good food."

"The scientific study of deliciousness."

The term "Molecular and Physical Gastronomy" was coined in 1988 by Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti (Kürti Miklós) and French physical chemist Hervé This.

It became the title for a set of workshops held in Eirce, Italy (originally titled "Science and Gastronomy") that brought together scientists and professional cooks for discussions on the science behind traditional cooking preparations.


Eventually, the shortened term "Molecular Gastronomy" also became the name of the scientific discipline co-created by Kurti and This to be based on exploring the science behind traditional cooking methods.

And so we did !

We created delicious courses with methods which are normal in a laboratory but not necessarily in the kitchen.
But I have to admit - the creativity and fantasy used by the combination and arrangement of food on the plates, spoons and in glasses fascinated me most !

To the left above, cocktail caviar is being produced with Curacao - little balls of (alcoholic or non-alcoholic) liquid mixed with fruits and spices to eat from a spoon as a starter. We used giant syringes to reshape liquids into little pearls to eat.
To the right is an example of Kelly's and my final arrangements for Spoon Cocktails with Campari, orange, red current and lime slices with mint.

Then we made Olive-Ravioli. For 8-10 raviolis we needed : 50ml Olive oil, 1g Xanthan, 1g "Johannisbrothkernmehl", 100ml water, 3 slices of Gelatine and a little dry ice !

We filled them with cream cheese-garlic-kräuter sauce and presented with vinegar, paprika and beetroot grass with pepper foam on the top.

For the main course we prepared Argentinian Roastbeef cooked at low temperature and served with vegetables and Barollo sauce. It tasted very well - the only thing disturbing was to see how much of the food was wasted at preparation. Every potato ball you see was carved out from one whole potato - the rest of the potato got thrown away ...

For snack we dipped popcorn into dry ice and had steam come out through our nose and mouth while enjoying them.

Then we came to the sweetest part of our course - Dessert.

The application of liquid nitrogen or dry ice to freeze (or boil) the food was the most important technique we used here. Dry ice boils at −196 °C / −321 °F at atmospheric pressure and evaporates constantly when exposed to air of room temperature.
It causes rapid freezing on contact with living tissue, which may lead to frostbite - that's why we used eye protection and gloves.

It comes very handy in the kitchen though.
Instead of waiting for hours until the chocolate coating becomes solid and crispy around the fruits, you just dip your masterpiece into fluid chocolate, then into dry ice and have the perfect combination of freshly peeled and cut fruit coated with hard chocolate.
This was my favourite and just couldn't have enough.

Then we prepared some icecream within minutes. The teams could decide what to add - which flavour of juice and/or alcohol
and spices - we added among other things Amaretto and cinnamon.


By this time - making was more fun than eating - we were all more than full.



And to make sure we forget all the secrets we have just learnt, we all got to drink some more cocktails from test tubes.









For those who want to know more about molecular gastronomy here are some of the questions it explores:

• How ingredients are changed by different cooking methods
• How all the senses play their own roles in our appreciation of food
• The mechanisms of aroma release and the perception of taste and flavor
• How and why we evolved our particular taste and flavor sense organs and our general food likes and dislikes
• How cooking methods affect the eventual flavor and texture of food ingredients
• How new cooking methods might produce improved results of texture and flavor
• How our brains interpret the signals from all our senses to tell us the "flavor" of food
• How our enjoyment of food is affected by other influences, our environment, our mood, how it is presented, who prepares it, etc.