14 It may seem strange to first add a sequestrant to get
Food manufacturers often use methylcellulose
rid of calcium, only to later add the calcium back in,
to prevent boilover in foods like chicken potpies
but that is often exactly what we must do.
and berry cobblers. As the liquid filling heats up,
Alginate, LM pectin, and iota carrageenan are less finicky than LA gellan. Any sequestrant and calcium levels worked out for gellan will also work
the methylcellulose solidifies it. The liquid returns to its original state when the food cools. One drawback of cellulosic gums is that they
for them. HA gellan is far less sensitive to ions
are difficult to disperse and hydrate in a cold
than LA gellan is, but because it yields an opaque
liquid. The problem is like trying to mix dry cocoa
and elastic gel, it is not a substitute for LA gellan.
powder into cold milk before heating it for hot
One family ofhydrocolloids, the cellulosic
One of the quests of Modernist cuisine is to develop the fab led "hot ice cream" dish, a goal that so far has eluded eminent chefs. You can use methy lcellulose to make something like hot ice cream, but to many tasters the dish lacks a true ice-cream-l ike texture and instead resembles an odd, dumpling- like object that me lts as it cools.
chocolate; the process requires lots of shear force
gums such as methylcellulose, differs from the
and is hard to achieve even with a high-speed
other gelling agents in a significant way: they are
blender. As in making hot chocolate, it's best
thermo-reversible gels that set with heat and melt
to disperse the methylcellulose first in a small
with cold. With these, you can make a plate of
volume of hot liquid. Then you can blend the mix
warm "noodles" that gel instantly from liquid (see
to thin the granules, which will start hydrating as
page 138), and other unusual dishes.
the liquid begins to cool.
GElS
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