RESEARCH

PROJECT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The study was conducted by the assistance of several individuals. We really
appreciate their help and hereby thank them. We would like to give special
thanks to the following people:

1 Firstly, I would like to thank Mr. Jassal who had supervised the
study and was in charge of the entire project. His presence and
assistant was remarkable and so I am grateful to him.

2 Secondly, I would like to thank the outlet managers who were

interviewed. They took out time from their busy schedules to help
me proceed with my study. Their assistance was very significant
and so I am grateful to them as well.

3 Thirdly, I would like to thank all other people who provided me

with the resources to conduct my study. Their help and assistance
was very valuable and so I would like to acknowledge them as
well.

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
Certified that this project report “MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY” is the

bonafide work of “Vikas Tanwar, Sanjeev Kumar, Vishal and Anuj Sharma”

who carried out the project work under my supervision.

SIGNATURE
 INTRODUCTION

Although the term “molecular gastronomy” was coined by

French chemist Hervey This and Hungarian physicist Nicholas
Kurti to describe their exploration of the science behind
various cooking methods and techniques, Spanish chef
Ferran Adria is the undisputed poster-child of this modern
culinary catchphrase. His El Bulli restaurant was the first to
combine the rigors of scientific research and experimentation
in a practical restaurant setting, in what This refers to as
"molecular cookery". During the six months per year that El
Bulli is open for business, Adria creates a dining experience
that’s more about shock, awe and delight than mere food on
a plate, one reason he refers to his cooking as
“deconstructionist.”

He and his chefs spend the rest of the year in his self-
designed cooking lab, where they work and play with food.
That’s where he created “foams” made with everything from
beet juice to consommé, designed absurdly expensive
cookbooks and continues to push the boundaries of what
people can expect from dinner.

You’ve heard of foam? That’s probably thanks to the last few

seasons of Bravo’s Top Chef, or maybe one of the few Bay-
area restaurants that actually make a play at modern
culinary techniques. Producing a semi-sold, bubbly mass
from cream of mushroom soup or truffled beef stock sure is
fun, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to
molecular gastronomy.

In Chicago, you'll find Grant Achatz "cooking" food on a piece

of liquid nitrogen-cooled metal he calls an anti-griddle and
levitating food in midair, while neighbor Homaru Cantu fills
inkjet cartridges with squid ink and creating beet "balloons".
There're also Wylie Dufresne in New York and Heston
Blumenthal in England, among a multitude of others who
have either dipped their toe in MG or gone mad-scientist in
the kitchen.

Sadly, most local chefs either don’t want, or don’t have the
time, to start learning scientific culinary theory like forward-
thinking cooks in more metropolitan cities. No matter. At the
heart of molecular gastronomy is a desire to play with your
food, albeit with chemical solutions and bodged together
equipment. And what better place to play with your food
than at home?

Here’s a basic primer on how to inject a little scientific joy

into your nightly dinner, courtesy of molecular gastronomy.
 Chocolate Chantilly

Method
1. Put the chocolate and water into a pan (or bowl of metal), and
immerse it into a larger pan with water which is gently heated. Stir the
chocolate and water mixture occasionally until it forms a uniform
mixture.
2. Immerse the pan into a larger pan with cold water and some ice
cubes. Whisk the chocolate water mixture until it thickens.
Caramelized cauliflower and chocolate jelly
Ingredients
cauliflower
olive oil
salt
cocoa powder
sugar
agar

Method
Cut cauliflower in 1 cm slices.
Spread them on aluminum foil.
Sprinkle with olive oil and salt
Bake in oven at 200 °C for approx. 30 min (turning the slices after 15
min)

For the jelly, bring 1 dL of water to the boiling point

Add 1 ts of agar-agar, 1 ts of sugar and 1 TS of cocoa powder.
Mix well; pour into a suitably sized container and leave to set.
Cut jelly into pieces and serve together with caramelized cauliflower

Gibbs
When an egg white is whipped with oil, a white emulsion is obtained.
If this emulsion is cooked in a microwave oven, water heats and
expands. At that time, the temperature is about 100°C, which is higher
than the coagulation temperature of egg-white proteins. The emulsion
is then trapped into a gel. Of course, oil does not necessarily taste
good, but imagine infusing vanilla pods in egg white, dissolving sugar
into the mixture and adding very good olive oil before microwave
cooking. The product is called a Gibbs, after the famous physicist
Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839–1903).

Vauquelin
When an egg white is whipped, a small quantity of foam is formed:
about 300 ml for one egg white.Why not more? As whipped egg white
consists primarily of water (around 90%), proteins and air, it is easy to
discover that adding water will produce more foam. If the foam is
cooked in a microwave oven, chemically jellified foam is formed. To
achieve a better-tasting product, use orange juice or cranberry juice
instead of water, and add sugar to increase the viscosity and to
stabilize the foam before cooking. This new dish is named after
Nicolas Vauquelin (1763–1829), one of Lavoisier’s teachers.
Baumé
Have you ever put a whole egg into alcohol? If you are patient
enough, ethanol will permeate the shell and promote coagulation.After
about one month, the result is a strange coagulated egg called a
Baumé, after the French chemist
Antoine Baumé (1728–1804).
Founding
There are many branches of food science, all of which study different aspects
of food such as safety, microbiology, preservation, chemistry,
engineering, physics and the like. Until the advent of molecular
gastronomy, there was no formal scientific discipline dedicated to
studying the processes in regular cooking as done in the home or in a
restaurant. The aforementioned have mostly been concerned with
industrial food production and while the disciplines may overlap with
each other to varying degrees, they are considered separate areas of
investigation.

Though many disparate examples of the scientific investigation of cooking

exist throughout history, the creation of the discipline of molecular
gastronomy was intended to bring together what had previously been
fragmented and isolated investigation into the chemical and physical
processes of cooking into an organized discipline within food science to
address what the other disciplines within food science either do not cover, or
cover in a manner intended for scientists rather than cooks.

Origin of term
The term "Molecular and Physical Gastronomy" was coined in 1992 by
Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti and French physical chemist Hervé This.
It became the title for a set of workshops held in Erice, 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.

Kurti and This had been the co-directors of the "Molecular and Physical
Gastronomy" meetings in Erice, along with the American food science writer
Harold McGee,] and had considered the creation of a formal discipline
around the subjects discussed in the meetings.[7] After Kurti's death in 1998,
the name of the Erice workshops was also changed by this to "The
International Workshop on Molecular Gastronomy 'N. Kurti'". This remained
the sole director of the subsequent workshops from 1999 through 2004 and
continues his research in the field of Molecular Gastronomy today

HOW MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY

WORKS
Even if your culinary credentials are limited to boiling pasta and dumping on
some canned tomato sauce, you undoubtedly have heard your share of
cooking rules and old wives' tales. Preparing pasta has three well-known
rules all by itself: add olive oilto the cooking water to prevent it from
sticking, throw pasta on the wall to see if it's ready and rinse pasta after
cooking and draining. Have you ever wondered if these time-honored
techniques work? Why do they or don't they work? Is there a physical or
chemical basis for what's happening to the food as it cooks?
These are the kinds of questions physical chemist Hervé This began to ask in
the 1980s, inspired by a soufflé disaster in his own kitchen.
The cheese soufflé recipe he was following gave strict instructions: Add the egg yolks
two at a time. This, however, added in all of the yolks together and suffered the
consequences.

Instead of giving up on soufflés, This started studying them, analyzing

conventional wisdom to see what worked and what didn't. Soon, he was
collecting "cooking precisions" -- rules like the one given for preparing
soufflé above -- for a variety of dishes. As he did, this began to realize that a
systematic, scientific study of food preparation had largely been ignored.
He set out to change that. This partnered with Nicholas Kurti, emeritus
professor emeritus of physics at Oxford University, and the two physical
scientists launched a new discipline: molecular gastronomy. At first, the
field attracted few devotees. Then, as the two demonstrated that
understanding the science of cooking could lead to amazing culinary
creations, chefs and foodies began to salivate. Today, several renowned chefs
have embraced molecular gastronomy to concoct seemingly bizarre dishes
that are shockingly delicious. Consider snail porridge, what one diner has
described as "successively savory, sweet, snaily, crunchy and tart … nothing
less than magical" [source: The Independent]. Or nitro-scrambled egg-and-
bacon ice cream. These are just some of the delights that await the molecular
gastronomist.
But what exactly is molecular gastronomy? Is it science? If so, how can
science revolutionize what is generally considered an artistic endeavor? This
article will answer all of those questions by exploring every facet of
molecular gastronomy -- the tools, the techniques and the ingredients.

Fundamental objectives according to Hervé

The objectives of molecular gastronomy, as defined by Hervé This are:

Current objectives:

Looking for the mechanisms of culinary transformations and processes (from

a chemical and physical point of view) in three areas:

1. the social phenomena linked to culinary activity

2. the artistic component of culinary activity
3. the technical component of culinary activity

Original objectives:
The original fundamental objectives of molecular gastronomy were defined
by This in his doctoral dissertation as:

1. Investigating culinary and gastronomical proverbs, sayings, and old

wives' tales
2. Exploring existing recipes
3. Introducing new tools, ingredients and methods into the kitchen
4. Inventing new dishes
5. Using molecular gastronomy to help the general public understand the
contribution of science to society

However, this later recognized points 3, 4 and 5 as being not entirely

scientific Endeavour’s (more application of technology and educational), and
has since revised the primary objectives of molecular gastronomy.

Examples of molecular gastronomy

Example areas of investigation:

• 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.

Example myths debunked:

• You need to add salt to water when cooking green vegetables

• Searing meat seals in the juices
• The cooking time for roast meat depends on the weight
• When cooking meat stock you must start with cold water. (While
false, most cooks who use tap water avoid hot water because hot water
pipes may or may not have minor mineral deposits, which give an
unpleasant flavor.)

International meetings in Erice, Italy

Though she is rarely credited, the origins of the Erice workshops (originally
entitled "Science and Gastronomy") can be traced back to the cooking
teacher Elizabeth Cawdry Thomas who studied at Le Cordon Bleu in London
and ran a cooking school in Berkeley, CA. The one time wife of a physicist,
Thomas had many friends in the scientific community and an interest in the
science of cooking. In 1988 while attending a meeting at the Ettore Majorana
Center for Scientific Culture in Erice, Thomas had a conversation with
Professor Ugo Valdrè of the University of Bologna who agreed with her that
the science of cooking was an undervalued subject and encouraged her to
organize a workshop at the Ettore Majorana Center. Thomas eventually
approached the director of the Ettore Majorana center, physicist Antonino
Zichichi who liked the idea. Thomas and Valdrè approached Kurti to be the
director of the workshop. By Kurti's invitation, noted food science writer
Harold McGee and French Physical Chemist Hervé this became the co-
organizers of the workshops, though McGee stepped down after the first
meeting in 1992

Up until 2001, The International Workshop on Molecular Gastronomy "N.

Kurti" (IWMG) was named the "International Workshops of Molecular and
Physical Gastronomy" (IWMPG0). The first meeting was held in 1992 and
the meetings have continued every few years thereafter until the most recent
in 2004. Each meeting encompassed an overall theme broken down into
multiple sessions over the course of a few days.

The focus of the workshops each year was as follows:

• 1992 - First Meeting

• 1995 - Sauces, or dishes made from them
• 1997 - Heat in cooking
• 1999 - Food flavors - how to get them, how to distribute them, how to
keep them
• 2001 - Textures of Food: How to create them?
• 2004 - Interactions of food and liquids

Examples of sessions within these meetings have included:[14][15]

• Chemical Reactions in Cooking

• Heat Conduction, Convection and Transfer
• Physical aspects of food/liquid interaction
• When liquid meets food at low temperature
 • Solubility problems, dispersion, texture/flavour relationship
• Stability of flavour

Heated bath used for low temperature cooking

Rotary evaporator used in the preparation of distillates and extracts
Nicholas Kurti and Hervé This

The Hungarian born physicist Nicholas Kurti (1908–1998) became Professor

of Physics at Oxford in 1967, a post he held until his retirement in 1975. He
was also visiting Professor at The City College of New York, the University
of California, Berkeley, and Amherst College in Massachusetts. His hobby
was cooking, and he was an enthusiastic advocate of applying scientific
knowledge to culinary problems. He was one of the first television cooks in
the UK, hosting a black and white television show in 1969 entitled "The
Physicist in the Kitchen" where he demonstrated techniques such as using a
syringe to inject hot mince pies with brandy in order to avoid disturbing the
crust.[16] That same year, he held a presentation for the Royal Society of
London (also entitled "The Physicist in the Kitchen") in which he is often
quoted to have stated:

I think it is a sad reflection on our civilization that while we can and do

measure the temperature in the atmosphere of Venus we do not know what
goes on inside our soufflés
—Nicholas Kurti

During the presentation Kurti demonstrated making meringue in a vacuum

chamber, the cooking of sausages by connecting them across a car battery,
the digestion of protein by fresh pineapple juice, and a reverse baked Alaska
- hot inside, cold outside - cooked in a microwave oven.[14][17] Kurti was also
an advocate of low temperature cooking, repeating 18th century experiments
by the English scientist Benjamin Thompson by leaving a 2 kg lamb joint in
an oven at 80 °C (176 °F). After 8.5 hours, both the inside and outside
temperature of the lamb joint were around 75 °C (167 °F), and the meat was
tender and juicy.[17] Together with his wife, Guiana Kurti, Nicholas Kurti
edited an anthology on food and science by fellows and foreign members of
the Royal Society.

Hervé This started collecting "culinary precisions" (old kitchen wives' tales
and cooking tricks) in the early 1980s and started testing these precisions to
see which ones held up; his collection now numbers some 25,000. He also
has received a PhD in Physical Chemistry of Materials for which he wrote
his thesis on molecular and physical gastronomy, served as an adviser to the
French minister of education, lectured internationally, and was invited to join
the lab of Nobel Prize winning molecular chemist Jean-Marie Lehn.[10][18]
This has published several books in French, four of which have been
translated into English, including Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the
Science of Flavor, Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking,
Cooking: The Quintessential Art and Building a Meal: From Molecular
Gastronomy to Culinary Constructivism. He currently publishes a series of
essays in French and hosts free monthly seminars on molecular gastronomy
at the INRA in France. He gives free and public seminars on molecular
gastronomy any month, and once a year, he gives a public and free course on
molecular gastronomy. Hervé also authors a website and a pair of blogs on
the subject in French and publishes monthly collaborations with French chef
Pierre Gagnaire on Gagnaire's website.
 Precursors to molecular gastronomy

Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753 - 1814) was one of the early
pioneers in the science of food & cooking.

The idea of using techniques developed in chemistry to study food is not a

new one, for instance the discipline of food science has existed for many
years. Kurti and This acknowledged this fact and though they decided that a
new, organized and specific discipline should be created within food science
that investigated the processes in regular cooking (as food science was
primarily concerned with the nutritional properties of food and developing
methods to process food on an industrial scale), there are several notable
examples throughout history of investigations into the science of everyday
cooking recorded as far as back to 18th century.
Professors Evelyn G. Halliday and Isabel T. Noble: In 1943 the University
of Chicago Press published a book entitled Food Chemistry and Cookery by
the then University of Chicago Associate Professor of Home Economics
Evelyn G. Halliday and University of Minnesota Associate Professor of
Home Economics Isabel T Noble. In the foreword of the 346 page book the
authors state that, “The main purpose of this book is to give an understanding
of the chemical principles upon which good practices in food preparation and
preservation are based.”

The book includes chapters such as "The Chemistry of Milk", "The

Chemistry of Baking Powders and Their Use in Baking", "The Chemistry of
Vegetable Cookery" and "Determination of Hydrogen Ion Concentration"
and contains numerous illustrations of lab experiments including such things
as a Distillation Apparatus for Vegetable Samples and a Pipette for
Determining the Relative Viscosity of Pectin Solutions.[23] The professors had
previously published The Hows and Whys of Cooking in 1928.[24]

Professor Belle Lowe of Iowa State College (1886–1961): In 1932 a

woman named Belle Lowe, then the professor of Food and Nutrition at Iowa
State College, published a book entitled Experimental Cookery: From The
Chemical And Physical Standpoint which became a standard textbook for
home economics courses across the United States. The book is an
exhaustively researched look into the science of everyday cooking
referencing hundreds of sources and including many experiments. At a
length of over 600 pages with section titles such as “The Relation Of
Cookery To Colloidal Chemistry”, “Coagulation Of Proteins”, “The Factors
Affecting The Viscosity Of Cream And Ice Cream”, “Syneresis”,
“Hydrolysis Of Collagen” and “Changes In Cooked Meat And The Cooking
Of Meat”, the volume rivals or exceeds the scope of many other books on the
subject, at a much earlier date.

Belle Lowe was born near Utica, Missouri on February 7, 1886. She
graduated from Chillicothe High School and then received a teaching
certificate (1907) from the Kirksville State Normal School in Kirksville,
Missouri. She also received a Ph. B. (1911) and an M.S. (1934) from the
University of Chicago. In 1957, Lowe received an honorary Ph.D. from Iowa
State College (University). In addition to “Experimental Cookery”, she
published numerous articles on the subject of the science of cooking, she
died in 1961.[27]

According to Hervé This:

In the second century BC, the anonymous author of a papyrus kept in

London used a balance to determine whether fermented meat was lighter
than fresh meat. Since then, many scientists have been interested in food and
cooking. In particular, the preparation of meat stock—the aqueous solution
obtained by thermal processing of animal tissues in water—has been of great
interest. It was first mentioned in the fourth century BC by Apicius (André
(ed), 1987), and recipes for stock preparation appear in classic texts (La
Varenne, 1651; Menon, 1756; Carême & Plumerey, 1981) and most French
culinary books. Chemists have been interested in meat stock preparation and,
more generally, food preparation since the eighteenth century (Lémery,
1705; Geoffrey le Cadet, 1733; Cadet de Vaux, 1818; Darcet, 1830).
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier is perhaps the most famous among them—in
1783, he studied the processes of stock preparation by measuring density to
evaluate quality (Lavoisier, 1783). In reporting the results of his experiments,
Lavoisier wrote, "Whenever one considers the most familiar objects, the
simplest things, it's impossible not to be surprised to see how our ideas are
vague and uncertain, and how, as a consequence, it is important to fix them
by experiments and facts" (author's translation). Of course, Justus von Liebig
should not be forgotten in the history of culinary science (von Liebig, 1852)
and stock was not his only concern. Another important figure was Benjamin
Thompson, later knighted Count Rumford, who studied culinary
transformations and made many proposals and inventions to improve them,
for example by inventing a special coffee pot for better brewing. There are
too many scientists who have contributed to the science of food preparation
to list here. — Hervé This, 2006[3][28]

Marie-Antoine Carême (1784–1833): The concept of molecular

gastronomy was perhaps presaged by Marie-Antoine Carême, one of the
most famous French chefs, who said in the early 19th century that when
making a food stock "the broth must come to a boil very slowly, otherwise
the albumin coagulates, hardens; the water, not having time to penetrate the
meat, prevents the gelatinous part of the osmazome from detaching itself."

Terminology confusion

The term molecular gastronomy was originally intended to refer only to the
scientific investigation of cooking, though it has been adopted by a number
of people and applied to cooking itself or to describe a style of cuisine.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the term started to be used to describe a
new style of cooking in which some chefs began to explore new possibilities
in the kitchen by embracing science, research, technological advances in
equipment and various natural gums and hydrocolloids produced by the
commercial food processing industry. It has since been used to describe the
food and cooking of a number of famous chefs, though many of them do not
accept the term as a description of their style of cooking. Other names for the
style of cuisine practiced by these chefs have included "New Cuisine",
"Progressive Cuisine", "Nueva Cocina", "Culinary Constructivism",
"Modern Cuisine", "Avant-Garde Cuisine", "Experimental Cuisine",
“Techno-Emotional Cuisine”, “Molecular Cuisine” and “Molecular
Cooking”, though no singular name has ever been applied in consensus and
the term molecular gastronomy continues to be used, in many cases, as a
blanket term to refer to any and all of these things - particularly in the media.
Ferran Adrià prefers the term 'deconstructivist,' at least in regards to his own
style of cooking.

Chefs often associated with[molecular gastronomy because of their embrace

of science include Grant Achatz, Ferran Adrià, Jose Andres, Sat Bains,
Richard Blais, Heston Blumenthal, Sean Brock, Homaro Cantu, Michael
Carlson, Wylie Dufresne, Pierre Gagnaire, Will Goldfarb, Adam Melonas,
Randy Rucker, Kevin Sousa, Sean Wilkinson, and Laurent Gras.

Frustrated[37] with the common mis-classification of their food and cooking

as "molecular gastronomy", several chefs often associated with the
movement have since repudiated the term, releasing a joint statement in 2006
clarifying their approach to cooking.[34] Still, other modern chefs[who?] have
embraced molecular gastronomy.

How Molecular Gastronomy Works

Introduction to How Molecular Gastronomy Works
Food Pyramid Image Gallery

Michael Blann/Getty Images

This probably isn't quite what food visionary Hervé This had in mind
when the physical scientist began a scientific study of food
preparation. See more food pyramid pictures.

Even if your culinary credentials are limited to boiling pasta and

dumping on some canned tomato sauce, you undoubtedly have heard
your share of cooking rules and old wives' tales. Preparing pasta has
three well-known rules all by itself: add olive oil to the cooking water
to prevent it from sticking, throw pasta on the wall to see if it's ready
and rinse pasta after cooking and draining. Have you ever wondered
if these time-honored techniques work? Why do they or don't they
work? Is there a physical or chemical basis for what's happening to
the food as it cooks?

These are the kinds of questions physical chemist Hervé This began
to ask in the 1980s, inspired by a soufflé disaster in his own kitchen.
The cheese soufflé recipe he was following gave strict instructions:
Add the egg yolks two at a time. This, however, added in all of the
yolks together and suffered the consequences.

Up Next
• How Food Works
• How Water Works
• Curiosity Project: 5 Advances in Molecular
Nanotechnology

Instead of giving up on soufflés, This started studying them, analyzing

conventional wisdom to see what worked and what didn't. Soon, he
was collecting "cooking precisions" -- rules like the one given for
preparing soufflé above -- for a variety of dishes. As he did, This
began to realize that a systematic, scientific study of food preparation
had largely been ignored.

He set out to change that. This partnered with Nicholas Kurti,

emeritus professor emeritus of physics at Oxford University, and the
two physical scientists launched a new discipline: molecular
gastronomy. At first, the field attracted few devotees. Then, as the
two demonstrated that understanding the science of cooking could
lead to amazing culinary creations, chefs and foodies began to
salivate. Today, several renowned chefs have embraced molecular
gastronomy to concoct seemingly bizarre dishes that are shockingly
delicious. Consider snail porridge, what one diner has described as
"successively savory, sweet, snaily, crunchy and tart … nothing less
than magical" [source: The Independent]. Or nitro-scrambled egg-
and-bacon ice cream. These are just some of the delights that await
the molecular gastronomist.

But what exactly is molecular gastronomy? Is it science? If so, how

can science revolutionize what is generally considered an artistic
endeavor? This article will answer all of those questions by exploring
every facet of molecular gastronomy -- the tools, the techniques and
the ingredients.

Before you run into the kitchen (or lab), let's start with a basic
definition to understand how molecular gastronomy compares to other
related fields and endeavors.
Getty Images
You may have heard of molecular gastronomy through the cable TV
show "Top Chef." Chef Richard Blais, pictured here, one of the
contestants on the popular program, has a liking for molecular
gastronomy.

Molecular gastronomy is a relatively new term, one that has caused

much confusion and controversy. Some of the confusion comes from
trying to put a modern spin on a much-older word. That word is
gastronomy, which, since the 19th century, has described the art of
selecting, preparing, serving and enjoying fine food. If preparing food
is an art form, then it must be an activity requiring creative skill and
imagination, not technical expertise. And yet gastronomy, like
astronomy and agronomy, say, seems to describe a rigorous,
scientific field of study.

In 1989, Nicholas Kurti and Hervé This decided to intentionally

emphasize the scientific elements of cooking by coining the term
molecular and physical gastronomy. The addition of the words
"molecular" and "physical" cast cooking in a new light. It was no
longer magic and artistry, but molecules obeying well-known
processes that describe the behavior of all solids, liquids and gases.
Suddenly, the "art" of selecting, preparing, serving and enjoying fine
food became the "science" of doing so.

This described molecular and physical gastronomy as the physics and

chemistry behind the preparation of a dish, and he began testing the
scientific validity of cooking rules and old wives' tales in a research
environment that was part kitchen, part high-tech lab. He also
organized the first International Workshop on Molecular and Physical
Gastronomy in 1992 and presented the first doctorate in molecular
and physical gastronomy at the University of Paris in 1996.

Not everyone embraced the field. Some critics complained that the
new field overemphasized the scientific processes of cooking and
failed to acknowledge intangible aspects of the craft, such as a chef's
intuition or spontaneity. Others simply said it was too difficult and
complex for average cooks in average kitchens. One such critic has
been William Sitwell, the editor of Waitrose Food Illustrated. Sitwell
argues that the modern interpretation of gastronomy lies beyond the
grasp of most food lovers and home cooks. Even Heston Blumenthal,
who applies the science of cooking to great success, has questioned
the accuracy of the term.

It's Not Food Science

Molecular gastronomy isn't the same as food science, which is
concerned with analyzing the chemical makeup of food and
developing methods to process food on an industrial scale. Molecular
gastronomy takes advantage of many of the same scientific principles,
such as the use of emulsifiers, but on a much smaller scale. In this
respect, molecular gastronomy could be considered a branch of food
science.

In 1998, after Nicholas Kurti passed away, Hervé This officially

changed the name of the fledgling field from molecular and physical
gastronomy to just molecular gastronomy. He also began to ease his
strictly scientific definition of the field. Today, This acknowledges that
cooking involves more than just science and technology. It also
involves art and love -- components that aren't so easily described by
the behavior of atoms and molecules. In this new framework,
molecular gastronomy is more properly defined as the "art and
science" of selecting, preparing, serving and enjoying food. Others
prefer a more fanciful definition, such as the science of deliciousness,
which suggests that perception and emotion are just as important in
cooking as physics and chemistry.

The emotional side of cooking may be difficult to quantify, but the

science is becoming better understood every day. We'll begin to
explore some of the science next.

Colloids and Cooking

Chemists classify all matter into three groups: elements, compounds

and mixtures. An element, such as carbon, hydrogen or oxygen, can't
be broken down into other substances. A compound is composed of
two or more elements joined chemically in a definite proportion.
Compounds -- water, ammonia and table salt are examples -- have
properties that are separate and distinct from their constituent
elements. Finally, a mixture is a combination of substances that
aren't held together chemically and, as a result, can be separated by
physical means, such as filtration or sedimentation.

All prepared food dishes are examples of a mixture known as a

colloid. A colloid is a material composed of tiny particles of one
substance that are dispersed, but not dissolved, in another substance.
The mixture of the two substances is called a colloidal dispersion or
a colloidal system. The accompanying table shows some of the
most important types of colloids you come across in cooking.
The colloidal systems described above involve only two phases, or
states of matter -- gas and liquid or solid and liquid. Sometimes,
especially in food preparation, more than two phases are involved.
Such a colloidal system is known as a complex disperse system, or
CDS. The classic example is ice cream, which is made by churning a
mixture of milk, eggs, sugar and flavorings as it is slowly chilled. The
churning disperses air bubbles into the mixture by foaming and
breaks up large ice crystals. The result is a complex substance
involving solids (milk fats and milk proteins), liquids (water) and gases
(air) in at least two colloidal states.

To aid in the description of complex disperse systems found in food

preparation, Hervé This devised a method -- a CDS shorthand, if you
will -- that could be used for any dish. His method abbreviates phases
with letters and uses symbols and numbers to represent processes
and sizes of molecules, respectively. For example, the shorthand for
aioli sauce, a mayonnaiselike emulsion of olive oil flavored with lemon
juice and garlic, would be written as:

The O stands for "oil," the W for "water." The forward slash means
"dispersed into." The numbers indicate sizes of the molecules.
Showing molecule sizes is important because the size of solid
particles in a colloid helps determine its properties. The particles
dispersed in milk range from 3.9 x 10-8 to 3.937 x 10-5 inches (1 x 10-7
to 1 x 10-4 centimeters) in diameter.

After developing his system, Hervé This undertook a thorough

analysis of French sauces. Most cookbooks will tell you that there are
hundreds of French sauces, which are generally classified into white
sauces, brown sauces, tomato sauces, the mayonnaise family and
the hollandaise family. This discovered that all the French classical
sauces belong to only 23 groups based on the type of CDS used to
make the sauce. Not only that, This found that it was possible to move
backward from a formula to a brand-new sauce never before
prepared in any kitchen. In other words, you can use This' CDS
system to invent new recipes from scratch.

Understanding colloids is just the beginning. Molecular gastronomists

take advantage of other scientific principles to prepare world-class
dishes. We'll cover those next.

Spherification, Flash Freezing and Other MG Tricks

Molecular gastronomists use special techniques, ingredients and

cooking principles to encourage certain chemical reactions to occur.
These reactions, in turn, produce startling new flavors and textures.
One popular technique is cooking meat sous vide, a French term that
means "under vacuum." Here's how it works: First, you pour water in
a pan and heat it to a low temperature. The exact temperature varies
depending on the type and thickness of the meat, but it never
exceeds the boiling point of water (212 degrees F, 100 degrees C).
For steak, the water temperature will be about 140 degrees F (60
degrees C). Next, you place your meat, along with seasonings, into a
heat-safe plastic bag, seal it and place it in the hot-water bath. The
meat cooks slowly in the heated water and retains its moisture. After
approximately 30 minutes, you remove the meat from the bag and
place it in a hot frying pan. Sear the meat briefly on each side before
serving. When you cut into the meat, you will find it to be juicy, tender
and delicious.

AP Photo/Bernat Armangue
Chef Ferran Adria experimenting in his kitchen workshop in
Barcelona, Spain

Another interesting technique is spherification, which involves

making liquid-filled beads that, to use the words of a writer at Gourmet
magazine, "explode in the mouth with a pleasingly juicy pop" [source:
Abend]. Ferran Adrià, the chef of El Bulli Restaurant in Spain, first
developed the technique and has since perfected it for a variety of
dishes. Spherification relies on a simple gelling reaction between
calcium chloride and alginate, a gumlike substance extracted from
brown seaweed. For example, to make liquid olives, you first blend
calcium chloride and green olive juice. Then you mix alginate into
water and allow the mixture to sit overnight to remove air bubbles.
Finally, you delicately drop the calcium chloride/olive juice mixture into
the alginate and water. The calcium chloride ions cause the long-
chain alginate polymers to become cross-linked, forming a gel.
Because the calcium chloride/olive juice mixture enters the alginate in
the shape of a droplet, the gel forms a bead. The size of the bead can
vary dramatically, making it possible to create jelly-shelled equivalents
of everything from caviar to gnocchi and ravioli.

Flash freezing can also be used to create fluid-filled fare. It's simple:
Expose food to extremely low temperatures, and it will be frozen on
the surface, liquid in the center. The technique is typically used to
develop semifrozen desserts with stable, crunchy surfaces and cool,
creamy centers. At Chicago's Alinea restaurant, chef Grant Achatz
uses flash freezing to create a culinary delight consisting of a frozen
disk of mango purée surrounding a core of roasted sesame oil. As a
San Francisco blogger and food lover relates, the dish arrives with
instructions: "We were instructed to allow the whole thing to melt
away on our tongues. An extraordinary dance of sweet, tangy, salty,
icy, creamy, oily ..." [source: Gastronomie].

Flavor juxtaposition is one of the most important tenets of molecular

gastronomy. Hervé This says juxtaposition can be used to intensify a
more flavorful ingredient by pairing it with a much less flavorful
ingredient. Or, you can combine two dominant flavors, such as
chocolate and orange, to reinforce the taste of both. Either way,
understanding the molecules responsible for flavors is helpful.
Molecular gastronomists have learned that foods sharing similar
volatile molecules -- those that leave food as a vapor and waft to our
nose -- taste good when eaten together. This concept has led to some
unusual flavor pairings, like strawberry and coriander, pineapple and
blue cheese, and cauliflower (caramelized) and cocoa.

If you want to test some of these techniques, you'll need the right
equipment. On the next page, we'll review some essential tools of the
molecular gastronomist.

Cooking with Liquid Nitrogen, Vacuum Machines and Syringes

Emrah Turudu/Getty Images

A syringe can be a handy tool when you're practicing molecular
gastronomy.

The recipe for liquid olives, which calls for 1.25 grams (0.04 ounces)
of calcium chloride, 200 grams (7 ounces) of green olive juice, 2.5
grams (0.09 ounces) of alginate and 500 grams (18 ounces) of water,
sounds more like the materials list of a high school chemistry
experiment and hints at one important piece of equipment every
molecular gastronomist must have: a scale. A good digital scale is
indispensable and can even be used for nonculinary tasks, such as
evaluating nutritional content or even calculating postage.

Here are some other tools you might need to master molecular
gastronomy:

• Vacuum machine. Remember the sous vide steak we talked

about last section? If you really want to do the job right, consider
a vacuum sealer. A good model will evacuate the air from
plastic bags and then seal the bag tightly closed. You can also
buy a thermal bath to provide precise heating of your water
bath.
• Hypodermic syringe. You may shudder at the sight of a
needle, but you may have to overcome your fear if you want to
practice molecular gastronomy. As we've already seen, syringes
are helpful in the process of spherification. Some chefs also use
them to inject liquids into meat to enhance flavor and texture.
• Liquid nitrogen. At a temperature of -321 degrees F (-196
degrees C), liquid nitrogen will flash freeze any food it touches.
As it boils away, it gives off a dense nitrogen fog that can add
atmosphere and drama to food preparation. Unfortunately, liquid
nitrogen must be transported in specially made flasks and can
be dangerous if it touches skin. A safer alternative is the Anti-
Griddle, described next.
• Anti-Griddle. The Anti-Griddle, a product of PolyScience, looks
like a traditional cook top, but it doesn't heat up food. It’s -30
degrees F (-34 degrees C) surface instantly freezes sauces and
 purées or freezes just the outer surfaces of a dish while
maintaining a creamy center.
• The Gastrovac. Manufactured by International Cooking
Concepts, the Gastrovac is three tools in one: a Crock-pot, a
vacuum pump and a heating plate. In its low-pressure, oxygen-
free atmosphere, the Gastrovac cooks food faster at lower
temperatures, which helps the food maintain its texture, color
and nutrients. When the food is done warming, you restore the
pressure and create what ICC calls the "sponge effect." The
liquid rushes back into the food, bringing intense flavors with it.

Of course, you'll need to have a well-stocked spice rack to

accompany your high-end gadgets. We've already discussed alginate
and calcium chloride -- the two chemicals needed for spherification.
Another important gelling agent is methylcellulose, which congeals
in hot water, then becomes liquid again as it cools. Emulsifiers are a
must for maintaining a uniform dispersion of one liquid in another,
such as oil in water. Two popular emulsifiers are soy lecithin and
xanthan gum. Finally, more and more molecular gastronomists are
turning to transglutanimase, a chemical that causes proteins to stick
together. Because meat is protein, chefs can do inventive things with
transglutaminase, such as removing all fat from a steak and gluing it
back together or fashioning noodles from shrimp meat.

Now we're ready to put everything together. In the next section, we'll
present three recipes for a molecular gastronomy-inspired meal.

Molecular Gastronomy Recipe Redux

It's not the goal of molecular gastronomists to reduce cooking to a
collection of dry calculations and lifeless formulas. Rather inventive
cooks are trying to make their creations even tastier, with the help of a
new technique or by tweaking an old favorite. Let's see how they
might transform this traditional meal.

C Squared Studios/Getty Images

This might be what you think of when you think of traditional caviar --
mmm, caviar, chives and crème fraiche -- but the technique of
spherification invented an all-new kind of caviar.

Caviar, the classic upscale hors d'oeuvre, is prepared from the eggs
of certain fish species. With a little kitchen chemistry, you can enjoy a
new kind of caviar -- apple caviar -- first developed by Ferran Adrià,
the chef of El Bulli Restaurant who experimented with spherification.

Here's the basic recipe; you can find detailed instructions on the
StarChefs Web site. Gather one-and-a-quarter pounds of golden
apples, along with some alginate, baking soda, water and calcium
chloride. Puree the golden apples, freeze for half an hour and then
skim off the impurities and strain. Next, add the alginate to the apple
juice while heating. Remove from heat and add the baking soda. Now
prepare a calcium chloride solution by dissolving calcium chloride in
water. Finally, use a syringe to add your apple juice mixture to the
calcium chloride solution one drop at a time. As you do, you should
see beads, or "caviar," form. Cook for a minute in boiling water, strain
and rinse in a cold-water bath.

For the main course, we're going to have duck à l'orange. The classic
French recipe directs you to roast the bird in an oven for about two
hours. Roasting browns the meat and adds flavor through a series of
chemical changes known as Maillard reactions. These reactions
cause sugars and amino acids in the meat to cross-link. This, in turn,
creates the compounds responsible for the pleasing color and flavor.
Unfortunately, cooking meat at high temperatures also has some
negative effects. Most notably, the muscle fibers contract and shorten,
forcing out water and making the meat tougher.

A molecular gastronomist overcomes this by taking advantage of

microwave technology. When meat is prepared in a microwave, it
warms to 212 degrees F (100 degrees C) and remains at that
temperature as long as it contains water. Microwaving meat is faster
and more efficient than roasting, but doesn't produce the beneficial
Maillard reactions. To get the best of both worlds, molecular
gastronomists would brown the meat first in a skillet, inject Cointreau
(an orange-flavored liqueur) into each piece with a syringe, then finish
the cooking in the microwave.

Homemade vanilla ice cream is last. The best ice cream has
abundant air bubbles and small ice crystals, which makes the finished
product light and smooth. Traditionally, you would place your
ingredients in an automatic ice cream maker to churn and freeze the
mixture. Churning folds air into the material and breaks up ice
crystals. But there's a limit to how cold an average machine can get.
Most rely on your kitchen freezer, which reaches a temperature of 0
degrees F (-18 degrees C). A molecular gastronomist uses a simpler
technique: He or she pours liquid nitrogen directly into the ingredients,
which will flash freeze the mixture and create extra-small ice crystals
that result in the smoothest ice cream possible.

If you're dying to make this classic dessert in a cutting-edge way, start

with a basic recipe, like this one from the Food Network. After you've
prepared the ice cream mixture, don your safety glasses and gloves
and add liquid nitrogen while stirring with a wooden spoon. Stop when
the ice cream reaches your desired thickness.

Up next, we'll talk about some chefs who have embraced molecular
gastronomy.
Becoming a Molecular Gastronomist

Anyone can learn and apply the techniques of molecular gastronomy

to basic dishes and preparations. If we re-examine one of the pasta-
cooking rules we presented in the introduction, you can see how the
application of a little science can save time and energy. Adding oil to
boiling water does not, in fact, prevent pasta from clumping. Why?
Because oil and water don't mix, which means the oil stays on the
surface, far from the cooking noodles. Instead, add a tablespoon of
something acidic, such as vinegar or lemon juice. A weak acid inhibits
the breakdown of starch and reduces stickiness.

Notable chefs in molecular gastronomy

For many people, this will be the extent of their hands-on involvement
with molecular gastronomy. But that doesn't mean they won't
appreciate the products of molecular gastronomy. Luckily, there are
several chefs around the world who readily embrace physics and
chemistry in the kitchen. The accompanying table lists some of the
most renowned chefs who apply the principles and techniques of
molecular gastronomy. But be forewarned: If you decide to visit one of
these restaurants, you'll need to make reservations weeks or even
months in advance. You should also be prepared to pay handsomely
-- $200 a head or more -- for the experience.

If, after dining at one of these molecular gastronomy hotspots, you

decide you want to become an avant-garde chef yourself, there are
options. A few universities are introducing molecular gastronomy
programs for postgraduate students. For example, the University of
Nottingham has partnered with Heston Blumenthal to create a
doctoral track. The three-year course of study provides a unique
blend of science and gastronomy, with ideas and inventions devised
in the laboratory being tested and refined at the Fat Duck. Several
cooking schools are also incorporating molecular gastronomy in their
courses. At the French Culinary Institute in New York City, students
can learn about sous vide techniques, hydrocolloids and other
applications of food and technology.

Either way, as a student of cooking or as a lover of fine food,

molecular gastronomy is sure to open up new vistas -- and awaken
your palate to a new definition of delicious.
Hot topic: molecular
gastronomy
What kind of methods are we talking about?
Methods include cooking food at low temperature or in a vacuum while
equipment used includes liquid nitrogen tanks, syringes and metal canisters.

Several of the world’s best chefs have embraced molecular gastronomy.

Ferran Adria (codfish foam) of the celebrated (but now sadly defunct) El
Bulli restaurant, near Barcelona, who has been described by the French
gastronomic god Joel Robuchon as the ‘best cook on the planet’ is one
disciple. Another is Heston Blumenthal (snail porridge), the chef/proprietor
of Michelin starred British restaurant, The Fat Duck.

How long has molecular gastronomy been around?

The French scientist, Herve this, and Hungarian physicist, Nicholas Kurti,
coined the term back in 1969. Both had investigated the application of
scientific methods to food. However the idea of using techniques developed
in chemistry to study food was not a new one; it has a history dating back to
the 18th century.

Enough of the science bit, what kind of food can I expect?

The combination of odd ingredients; salmon poached with liquor ice, bacon
and egg ice cream or sardine-on-toast sorbet anyone? Molecular gastronomy
is cooking at its most adventurous, dismissing the tried and true for the
untried and yet to be proven.

Can’t say I’m convinced…

Cast aside any preconceptions you might have. Essentially the whole aim of
molecular gastronomy is to create flavours and textures that will temporarily
transport our taste buds to a happier world

Okay so where can I eat it?

Try the following on for size:

The Fat Duck (Bray, England)

Expect a menu of grain-mustard ice cream, white chocolate with caviar or
palate cleansers cooked in ‘liquid nitrogen’ from the master of molecular
gastronomy, Heston Blumenthal.
Tang, Le Meridien Mina Seyhai (Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
Tang was the first restaurant to bring molecular gastronomy to Dubai.
Contemporary French dishes are combined with the finest flavours of the
Orient to tantalize and tease the taste buds. Even the menu at this innovative
eatery is edible!

Aria (Beijing, China)

It’s all change at Aria. Australian chef Matthew McCool arrived at the
veteran restaurant late last year with his creative culinary matches and novel
presentations. Signature dishes include a tender veal steak served with a
smoked foie gras cream and a unique melted chocolate cake: waiting staff
use a heated spoon to pour hot chocolate over the cold chocolate crust, which
melts to reveal a white chocolate centre for in the words of McCool “the
dining experience should be a show. A good restaurant should incorporate
entertainment with dining.”

Fifty Three (Singapore)

Chef Michael Han trained at iconic restaurant The Fat Duck prior to opening
Fifty Three in 2008. The menu at Han’s stylish Singaporean venue changes
every six weeks but, regardless of season, every meal starts with the
signature burlap sack of homemade bread — muffin-shaped potato flour
buns and/or black buns made out of charcoal power — kept warm by heated
stones.

Alinea (Chicago)
Last year Grant Achatz’s Alinea was voted the best restaurant in Chicago
EVER. Not everyone agrees but one thing is certain: Alinea isn’t a restaurant
that can easily be replicated: Achatz uses burning dry oak leaves to suffuse
pheasant and roasted shallot with smoky flavours and perfumes a goat-milk
ricotta cheesecake with lavender air to help keep Chicago firmly on the
culinary map.

Can I cook it at home?

We’re not ruling it out but the dishes created by this new science based
school of cooking, aren’t the sort of thing that you can knock up very easily
in five minutes flat. The CD Traveller team obtained the recipe for one of
Chef Stephane’s (see interview below) signature dishes; surveying the long
list of ingredients, we weren’t overly encouraged

What is in the name khymos?

The name of this site, khymos, is Greek meaning "juice". It is however
related to al-kimiya, the Arabic word from which our word chemistry
derives from. Other related words include Khemia, the old name of
Egypt (meaning land of black earth) and the Greek khein and
khymatos meaning "to pour" and "that which is poured out"
respectively. So in a sense, the word khymos provides a link between
chemistry and food! I therefore thought it would be a suitable name for
a site dealing with molecular gastronomy and related subjects.

What is molecular gastronomy after all?

Harold McGee defines molecular gastronomy as "The scientific
study of deliciousness". Check out the Definitions, History and
Examples pages for more information. Also check out the different
collections of links and the books about molecular gastronomy.

Who am I?
My name is Martin Lersch; I live in Oslo, Norway and hold a PhD
within the field of organometallic chemistry. I have been studying
platinum complexes which perhaps one day will be used to convert
natural gas to value added products such as methanol. My
involvement with molecular gastronomy has been a spare time activity
besides my research. Currently I'm working as a research scientist in
a privately owned industrial company.

When I first became interested in the connection between food and

chemistry in the late 90's, I searched the Internet without finding much
information. I did however find some very interesting books in the
faculty library, including Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking - The
Science and Lore of the Kitchen". In the last couple of years a large
number of books have appeared about molecular gastronomy and
related subjects. Having found books about the subject, I soon started
to give popular science presentations. In 2004 I was invited to attend
the "International Workshop on Molecular Gastronomy" in Erice,
Sicily. This was a great experience and I enjoyed meeting many of the
scientists, writers and chefs involved with molecular gastronomy. The
material found on this page originally started of as a collection
of books and links related to my popular science lectures. After I left
the University of Oslo, the page was moved to it's present location at
khymos.org. I believe the collected information is of interest to anyone
interested in molecular gastronomy and the science of food and
cooking. In many ways the pages represent what I whould liked to find
at the time I became interested in the subject.

What is my motivation?
Part of my motivation for giving popular science lectures and also
setting up this site, is the popular notion that chemistry is dangerous.
This picture of a soda can I bought in London a couple of years ago
exemplifies this:
The Father of Molecular Gastronomy
Whips Up a New Formula

White-haired scientist Hervé this leans conspiratorially over

a crisp tablecloth at the Paris bistro where we are having lunch. "They
have my chocolat chantilly!" he says with a chuckle. "I invented it —
but it was so easy, I'm embarrassed!"

This (pronounced "Tees") came up with the formula for this

confection in 1995 to prove that a scientific approach to cuisine can
lead to all kinds of tasty new dishes. Most people think of whipped
cream — Chantilly in French — as a simple combination of heavy
cream and sugar. This sees it as a specific ratio of fat, water, and gas.
Measure out some chocolate into a container, stir in the other two
ingredients according to a particular formula, and you've got mousse.
And, yes, it's delicious.

This started his culinary career in 1980, soon after he finished his
Grandes Écoles diploma in physical chemistry. One night, he invited
friends to dinner and made a cheese soufflé from a recipe that said to
add the egg yolks two at a time. "Because I was a rational man," he
says, "I decided to put in all of the yolks together. It was a failure."

Intrigued, This began to collect what he calls "cooking precisions" —

rules he gleaned from disparate sources like 19th- century cookbooks,
old wives' tales, and the tricks of modern chefs. He then started
testing these precisions to see which ones held up (the skin on a
suckling pig really does crackle more if you chop off its head right
after roasting) and which didn't (a menstruating cook won't ruin
mayonnaise). For the next couple of years, 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.
Illustration by Pietari Posti

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. He also has received a PhD in the field he created,
served as an adviser to the French minister of education, published
several books, lectured internationally, and even been invited to join
the lab of one of his fans, Nobel Prize winning molecular chemist
Jean-Marie Lehn.

In 2001, This came up with a formal system of classification for what

happens when foods are mixed, baked, whipped, fried, sautéed in lime
juice, and so forth. It shows, for example, how the 451 classical French
sauces break down into 23 distinct types. More important, the system
allows the creation and pairing of billions of novel, potentially tasty
dishes. To demonstrate how, this randomly generated a formula
describing the physical microstructure of a previously nonexistent
dish, then asked chef Pierre Gagnaire to plug real ingredients into it.
The result — a bitter orange, scallop, and smoked-tea concoction —
delighted Gagnaire's customers.

As this guides me through the comfortably cluttered halls around his

Agro Paris Tech lab, he reviews his to-do list. His team is using
nuclear magnetic resonance to analyze carrot-based soup stocks and
studying why green beans change color when cooked. But he says that
the next big idea he wants to tackle is the role that love — of the cook
for the diners, the diners for the cook, and of everyone for each other
— plays in determining tastes. "Cooking for someone is a way of
telling them, 'I love you.' This has to be understood, of course," This
says before pausing for a second. "But first, I do my job with the
carrots

Molecular Gastronomy
I read about molecular gastronomy. It sounds like something very
cool. Anyone know any recipes or tips for molecular gastronomical
cooking?
 Molecular Gastronomy Starter Kit

Try a brand new way to make dinner

Some say cooking is an art form - that recipes are merely guidelines
to what makes food delicious. You've seen it on TV: a porcine chef
sweating enthusiastically over a steaming pot of jambalaya, while
tossing fistfuls of spices and shouting "Wham!" (Or something more
trademark-friendly). Chefs like that are good at what they do - they
have a feel for cooking, but good food isn't art. It's science!

What makes food delicious? Is it taste-receptors in the tongue? Can it

be that all that makes food delicious is the molecular switching
between guanosine diphosphate and guanosine triphosphate bound
states on a G protein? Clearly that's a load of crap. Everybody knows
G proteins only relate bitter and sweet tastes. We still have salty, sour
and umami to cover.

All told, the five recognized "basic" tastes - sweet, salt, sour, bitter,
umami - are chemical processes. Ions here, receptors there, when all
balanced out create these wonderful flavors. Any chemist knows that
absolute precision is required when working with chemicals. An extra
mole here or there and what had been a delightfully exothermic
bubbling beaker is a melted lump of glass and a trip to the eyewash
station. Why shouldn't cooking be the same?

A new generation of chef-chemists has risen to take back the pinch,

smidgen and fistful. They understand that an acidic fluid, when mixed
with sodium alginate and dropped slowly into a bath of calcium
chloride solution will create wonderful little spheres that pop in your
mouth like caviar. Chill an agar infused liquid in a silicon tube and now
you've got spaghetti. Mix soy lecithin in sauce and whip it into a light
and delicious foam. All this science is available to your next culinary
project with our Molecular Cuisine Starter Kit.
This fantastic tin box contains everything you need to get started in
spherification, thickeners and foaming agents. Not only the chemicals
- agar, sodium alginate, calcium chloride, carrageenan, ascorbic and
citric acid, and sodium bicarbonate - but all the equipment too! A
syringe, pipettes, silicon tubes, measuring spoons and a non-reactive
spoon. Included in the kit is also a booklet featuring six spectacular
recipes for some amazing new cuisine.

If you've ever wanted to give Molecular Cuisine a try, here's a perfect

start. Once we whet your appetite, though, we can't be held
responsible for weight gain, flavor overload, or an obsessive need to
measure things down to the microgram.

Includes

• 20g sodium alginate

• 20g calcium salt
• 20g agar-agar
• 20g carrageenan
• 20g ascorbic acid
• 20g citric acid
• 20g sodium bicarbonate
 • 20g xanthan gum
• 1 20mL syringe
• 2 m of alimentary grade silicone tube
• 2 graduated pipettes
• 1 set of measuring spoons
• 1 bored spoon
• 1 booklet containing 6 molecular cooking recipes
• 1 volume-weight conversion table

Culinology and Molecular Gastronomy

With changes in how we cook and eat the fields of culinary arts and
culinary science appear now to be merging into one. Many famous
restaurant now have cooking and food laboratories on their premises,
while universities and colleges around the country are beginning to
offer degrees in culinology ( a degree program that blends food
science and technology with culinary art).
Interest in food science has grown in recent years because of the
increasing awareness of the vital role of food in the health, well-being,
and economic status of individuals and nations and people's curiosity
and desire to try new and innovative food dishes. Food science is the
study of the chemical composition of food and food ingredients; their
physical, biological and biochemical properties and and the interaction
of food constituents with each other and their environment.

What is Molecular Gastronomy?

Molecular Gastronomy is the application of scientific principles to the

understanding and improvement of small scale food preparation. The
term was invented by the Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti in a 1969
presentation to the Royal Institution called "The Physicist in the
kitchen", and popularized by his collaborator the French scientist
Hervé This.

Heston Blumenthal, 38, is presently at the forefront of this radical style

of cooking (molecular gastronomy). His triple Michelin starred
restaurant The Fat Duck serves dishes like sardine-flavored sorbet,
pasta made out of Jello, snail porridge, or a puree of mango and
Douglas fir. At El Bulli, the restaurant of Ferran Adria in Spain another
molecular gastronomist dishes consist of monkfish liver with tomato
seeds and citrus or barnacles with tea foam, or a parmesan cheese
ice cream. During the six months his restaurant is closed, Adrià works
on new recipes in a laboratory near the Barcelona market.
At restaurant Arzak in San Sebastian, Juan Mari Arzak and his
daughter Elena experiment with their chefs on a daily basis. Upstairs
from the restaurant you will find a small food laboratory with pH
meters, sonicators and liquid nitrogen.

Pino Maffeo of Boston's Restaurant L uses liquid nitrogen, emulsifiers

and an arsenal of equipment typically found in scientific laboratories,
Maffeo creates what he calls "one-bite wonders." "If science can
make my cuisine better, then I'll use it," he said, while putting ravioli
made from mango and dry cured ham on skewers alongside aloe vera
and muscato grape juice gelatin cubes.

To create unusual and original recipes -- such as pairing fried

calamari with watermelon and cantaloupe -- Maffeo analyzes the
molecular make-up of the ingredients with an infrared spectrometer
nuclear magnetic resonance machine, equipment usually used by
synthetic chemists and physicists. He believes foods with similar
composition pair well together. He meets weekly to discuss projects
with Angela Buffone, a visiting professor of organic chemistry at
Suffolk University and partner in Maffeo's culinary experiments. For
his signature dish, seared foie gras with a 24 carat golden egg,
MDDWO uses liquid nitrogen to flash freeze an airy meringue that has
been dipped in lightly whipped cream to create a texture resembling
an egg shell. Then using a syringe he injects mango sauce into shell.
See full text article by
 Calcium hydroxide’

I’m quite fond of carbonated water, and last summer I bought a water
carbonator so I wouldn’t have to carry all the water home from the shop. The
working principle of the carbonater is very simple – a bottle filled with cold
tap water is subjected to a pressure of carbon dioxide for a couple of seconds,
allowing some of it to dissolve in the water. The result is an instant sparkling
water. But even with the carbonation there is something missing. The big
difference between my homemade instant carbonated water and bottled
mineral water is the mineral content. True, tap water may also contain a
number of minerals, but this varies and there are huge regional differences.
In Norway most water is very soft (i.e. low in calcium and magnesium) and
has a very low mineral content. But tap water rarely has a desirable mix of
minerals compared with the really good tasting mineral waters.
Chef blows off hands dabbling in 'molecular
gastronomy'

The 24-year-old man from Stahnsdorf near Berlin somehow obtained some
of the dangerous chemical and was poised to try out a new recipe from the
school of molecular cooking, which aims to apply scientific processes to
gastronomy.

There was an "enormous explosion," according to the Berliner Morgenpost

daily. The would-be Heston Blumenthal - a leading proponent of molecular

gastronomy - lost one hand in the explosion and the other

was so badly injured it had to be amputated.

The man, who was staying at his girlfriend's mother's

house, was rushed to hospital where his condition was
described as life-threatening. He is on artifical respiration.
He claimed he was trying to fill a gas lighter, but his
girlfriend said he was trying to empty a canister of liquid
nitrogen.

"Criminal investigators secured the remains of a nitrogen

flask, bits of clothing, flesh and bits of skin," the paper said.

Food related “Periodic videos”

I believe most chemists are familiar with the “periodic videos” from the
University of Nottingham, covering all the known chemical elements. The
series features Professor Martyn Poliakoff who’s grey hair is really worthy of
a professor! They have now covered the complete periodic table of elements,
and have even started to update some of their previously posted videos.
There are also thematic videos as well as videos covering specific molecules
appearing now. As a chemist I think the videos are great fun to watch since
they show a number of exotic experiments I’ve never seen before combined
with plenty of nice-to-know facts. I certainly recommend all these videos
(for an overview, check out their website), but the reason I chose to blog
about this is that I was delighted to find a number of more or less food
related videos! These are definitely not going to make you a better cook.
But some of them are quite amusing to watch, and you may even learn some
chemistry as you go. But most of the food related videos are really just for
fun

CONCLUSIONS
• Increase in collaboration on
progress of culinary processes
And eating between chefs and
Scientists

• Be aware of different agendas

and time perception!

• Science and Gastronomy

• Dissemination

• Eating meals

• A meal is a plethora of sensations,

including alimentary interoception
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTERNET
NASA
MINNESOTA OFFICE OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSISTANCE
PURDUE SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURE AND ENGINEERING
WWW.ASK.COM
WWW.GOOGLE.COM
NEWSWEAK MAGAZINE
RESTAURANT MAGAZINE