ible. It comes to the table in foams, fizzles, flying nerds, flaming citrus and spherical cocktails. The idea is to create foods and cocktails using physical and chemical transformation of ingredients that occur while cooking. While science is doing its thing, the chef adds the artistic presentation twist to the whole experience where colorful liquids turn to solids, solids to foam and things go puff in your mouth. The phenomena of MG was the first formal scientific discipline dedicated to the study of regular cooking done in a restaurant or at home. All previous studies concerned themselves with industrial food production. The “What a Gas” part of this article is that anyone can cook this way; you don’t have to be a professional chef or have a commercial kitchen to prepare a “Modern Cuisine” dinner for your friends and family. You can buy starter kits from $30-$60 or go for the whole molecular enchilada for around $300-$500. The other fun thing about it is that it has become an ‘open source’ social networking cooking lab. There are recipes, forums and blogs all over the web. (see sidebar for sources) Like many things, everything new is old. Kurti and Hervé weren’t the first to recognize culinary chemistry. There’s an interesting bit of regional history credited to the origins of this food science. A Missouri-born professor at Iowa State College, Belle Lowe, wrote a book in 1932 called “Experimental Cookery: From the Chemical and Physical Standpoint”. Her book became the basis for U.S. home economics courses (remember those?) Makes you wonder where food science would be now if home economics hadn’t been cut from the curriculum, doesn’t it? Everything old is new again, too. Home economics taught us a lot more than just cooking. It was like a mini-MBA for homemakers of the time. It also taught us about science, math, nutrition, design and how to socialize. As a consumer science, it made us use both sides of our brain. Hmmmm – Mr. Wizard meets Julia Child? As MolecularRecipes.com put it:
Molecular Caviar
experience with artistic dish presentations, textures, aromas, flavors and even sounds. The plate is your canvas! Then again, do you even need a plate? How about serving soup in a tea cup or a sphere in a bended spoon or a salad in a parmesan basket or a bruschetta on a titanium mesh?”
Even though MG is a playground for passionate, curious and creative foodies, it does have structure and discipline. After all, it is a science. Any dish or cocktail can be deconstructed by using natural texturing agents and any of the 7 basic molecular gastronomy techniques: Technique What it can do Gelification Sculpt food into pearls and other shapes Spherification Encapsulate flavors in bubbles that pop in your mouth Emulsification Create colorful foams Siphon Whipping Add super creamy touches Suspension Defy gravity and gives flavors a suspended twist Powderizing Transform any fatty ingredient into a light flavored powder Deep Freezing Cook with the cold or create incomparably smooth ice cream
(source:http://www.molecule-r.com/en/content/7molecular-gastronomy-definitions) If you are a curious enlightened individual who happens to be a social mixture of chef, inventor and artist –MG may just be the next feather in your toque! Are you ready to put on your lab coat and head to the kitchen? Try it, it’s a gas!
“Molecular gastronomy is about experimenting, being curious, using intuition, being precise, playing with emotions and creating a multi-sensory dining www.2njoymag.com
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