The Father of Molecular Gastronomy Whips Up a New Formula

An anonymous reader writes "French chemist and cook Hervé This maintains his quest to find the scientific precision behind great tasting food. Chef This is just one of a growing number of cooks that approaches food from a scientific perspective; making recipes in a lab instead of in the kitchen. The difference is that This was one of the pioneers of the field. 'This and a colleague, the late Oxford physicist Nicholas Kurti, conducted the experiments in their spare time. In 1988, the pair coined a term to describe their nascent field: molecular gastronomy. The name has since been applied to the kitchen wizardry of chefs like el Bulli's Ferran Adria and Alinea's Grant Achatz. But This is interested in basic culinary knowledge -- not flashy preparations -- and has continued to accumulate his precisions, which now number some 25,000.'"

Re:Grammar?

[rm999]

The guy's name is "This." Yes, you probably do need some sleep, and I do too because I thought the same thing at first ;)

More on This

[dargaud]

He has a monthly page in the french edition of Scientific American (Pour La Science [pourlascience.com]) and several books out:

• Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor [amazon.com]
• Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking [amazon.com]
• In the Kitchen with Pierre Gagniere and Louis XIV [amazon.com]

He's also a nice guy and I've exchanged cooking tips with him by email !

We have Heston Blumenthal

[simong]

And his restaurant [fatduck.co.uk]. He has become notorious for his creations such as smoked bacon flavoured ice cream and snail porridge (which is actually supposed to be a snail risotto made with oats). He also says that Molecular gastronomy is dead [guardian.co.uk], so who do we believe?

Re:More on This

[ivano]

Or go to the bible: McGee's "On food and cooking"

harold mcgee

[romit_icarus]

One of the best books to offer the basics of the 'science' of cooking is Harold Mcgee's On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. http://www.amazon.com/Food-Cooking-Science-Lore-Ki tchen/dp/0684800012/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-1551306-21 10061?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186389795&sr=8-1 [amazon.com]

Re:We have Heston Blumenthal

[otie]

As the article you linked says, Blumenthal just said the term "molecular gastronomy" is confusing and elitist. He doesn't mean the actual field where scientific precision is used to examine cooking is dead.

Re:But does it taste good?

[transiit]

you're getting bogged down in the sensationalism.

An understanding of some of the chemical or molecular interactions in your food can be handy knowledge. It'll keep you away from the old Swedish Lemon Angel [everything2.com] debacle at least.

My limited experience with food scientists suggests that they rarely think about measuring things to infinite precision, but rather think about the underlying systems. More of a hacker mentality.

Re:We have Heston Blumenthal

[uohcicds]

Blumenthal's restaurant (complete with a research kitchen) The Fat Duck in Bray was named the Worlds' Best Restaurant in 2005 by "Restaurant" magazine (see http://www.theworlds50best.com/ [theworlds50best.com]). It also came second in 2004, 2006 and 2007. I always enjoyed the columns he wrote for the Guardian (he now writes for the Sunday Times), which I found fun, interesting and not pompous at all, unusually for the food industry. He's recently done some TV in the UK in a series called "In Search of Perfection", where he tries to put new spins on traditional foods, such as spaghetti Bolognese, Black Forest gateau, roast beef, fish & chips etc.. The piece where he effectively created a sandblaster to coat the Black Forest Gateau with chocolate was something indeed to behold.

Re:Grammar?

[Hognoxious]

Whoever modded the parent troll is an ass. Precisions exists in French (if you put an acute on the e), and it means details. The word doesn't exist in English since an uncountable noun has no plural.

Seems like a case of a faux-ami, non?

McGee On Food and Cooking is the bible

[Richard W.M. Jones]

Mod parent up.

Even better, a link to the book at Amazon: McGee On Food and Cooking (Hardcover) [amazon.com]. (The hardcover version is worth getting).

Rich.

Re:McGee On Food and Cooking is the bible

[Anonymous Coward]

Or, even better, Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor [amazon.com]

Re:lab vs home made.

[DecPascal]

Do not missunderstand This. His purpose is knowledge of what append while cooking, not the way or where it is done.
One of his first discovery was the yellow part of an egg is cooked at 68C and white part at 63C. It seems nobody ever wonder about it!
The direct application of this knowledge is to make "perfect" boiled eggs. Simply put eggs in an oven at 65C. (You can do it at home, like I did ;-) )
Other example: He discovered that quicker an ice cream was frozen, smaller were cristals in it, and smaller critals are, better it taste.
Application: Some restaurants make "liquid nitrogen" ice-cream (you are breathing 4 time more nitrogen than oxygen, so no nitrogen is no dangerous). More diffcult to do at home :-s
This do not care about application (well, at least, he does not felt responsible of it). The knowledge is a key, that can open many doors. Some of his research are used for cooking jam or better cork (to avoid corked wine), not for try to poison the whole planet ;-)

Re:We have Heston Blumenthal

[sjwaste]

If anyone's interested in this and is in the DC area, you can taste it affordably. Central Michel Richard, I think on 12th and Pennsylvania, has short ribs on the menu cooked sous vide. And it'll only set you back like $25. I had 'em, definitely the best thing on the menu.

Let's not forget Ferran Adria

[spun]

His El Bulli restaurant beat out Heston Blumenthal's The Fat Duck in the Restaurant Top 50. He is also considered a pioneer of molecular gastronomy and has written several books on the subject. He was featured on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, with dishes like cotton candy fish.

Re:We have Heston Blumenthal

[sjwaste]

Barbecue is very similar, but the method I think we're talking about is sous vide. Basically, the meat is sealed up in a vacuum bag and cooked at even a lower temp than bbq generally is done, usually at the "done" temperature of whatever it is you're cooking. So for a medium rare piece of beef, you put the pouch in 130 degree water for sometimes days until its done.

Barbecue uses slightly higher temperatures and smoke as its dry heat source. Also, the meat is not sealed up with its juices. So you get something similar (and delicious), but not quite the same. If you ever come across it, give it a shot.

Buy this book: Cookwise

[gosand]

One of the best cooking books I own (note: it isn't just a cookbook) is Cookwise by Shirley O. Corriher. You Good Eats fans would recognize her as the portly grey-haired lady that has appeared on some episodes. This book is absolutely fantastic, and describes the WHYs of cooking. It also has some great recipes. Ever wonder what makes cookies chewy, crispy, puffy, or flat? It shows a great chart in that section that shows "more of this" leads to "more of that". e.g. if you want to make your cookies chewy, use more brown sugar and bread flour.

I think that the right tools help immensely with cooking. Get 3 very good knives, and keep them sharp. I would recommend Wusthof: 8" chefs knife, paring knife, and a bread knife. Get 3-4 plastic cutting boards of decent size. That will get you started, and try to avoid all the gadgets that you see. Learn good techniques, like how to do basic chopping/dicing, and you won't need the gadgets to do it for you.

Next, I would suggest you try some classic recipes. Use good ingredients, and learn what everything tastes like. And enjoy it!

How many geeks like to cook?

[spun]

Okay, I have a theory that a certain number of geeks love to cook and are really very good at it. I've been cooking since I was eight and I can make almost anything without looking at a recipe. I may be wrong, but I imagine some very good cooks post here.

One resource I can't recommend highly enough is Cook's Illustrated magazine, put out by the folks who do the PBS show, America's Test Kitchen. It has no advertisements, just in depth recipes and reviews you can trust. In each recipe, the highlight common problems and the solutions they've found through experimentation. They also tell about the failures and why they failed, and the science behind what went right and wrong.

Sous Vide

[edsel]

Amanda Hesser did a NYT piece [nytimes.com] on Sous Vide cooking a while back. Pretty good overview of the technique along with some history.