Whether you’re watching a Top Chef competition, grabbing a cocktail at a high-end bar or dining at one of the world’s trendiest restaurants, chances are you’re familiar with the term molecular gastronomy – even if you haven’t experienced it yourself. Or have you? Maybe you’ve heard of Dippin’ Dots, created by microbiologist Curt Jones? Dippin’ Dots is an ice cream mixture that’s flash frozen in liquid nitrogen, emerging as tiny globules or “dots” of ice cream.
Dippin’ Dots is a form of molecular gastronomy -- a way of preparing ordinary food using scientific methods and instruments so that it appears in forms and flavors that are almost other-worldly.
Scientific Beginnings
But the science behind molecular gastronomy is hardly new. As early as 1943, two home economics professors, Evelyn G. Halliday and Isabel Nobel, wrote Food Chemistry and Cooking in which they described the chemistry of milk, vegetable cookery and baking powders and their use in baking.
By 2002, however, the new master of kitchen alchemy, Herve This, came out with his book Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor. It makes sense that the man who created the latest iteration of food science is a French chemist and cookbook author whose book is actually a fascinating look at the science behind such simple foods as hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, French fries and butter. The book also explains the physiology of flavor, and how tastes are detected in food. Then, there is the discussion of foam -- first made popular in the 1960s during the heyday of Nouvelle Cuisine -- and today, so beloved by “de-constructionist” chefs like Ferran Adria of Spain’s El Bulli restaurant and Heston Blumenthal of England’s Fat Duck restaurant.
These chefs are among some who like to bring scientific instruments into the kitchen to see what results when different food elements are exposed to things like vacuum storage and waterjet pumps.
“The challenge facing cooks and chemists today,” writes This in Molecular Gastronomy “is to apply this (scientific) knowledge in order to create new flavors.” Of course, beetroot foam, mustard ice cream, and candied olives may not be to everyone’s taste, but to sophisticated palates that have been around fine dining so long a truffle no longer seems novel, these seem like ingenious creations.
Molecular Mixology
Molecular gastronomy has even found its way into the world of mixology, where some bartenders are mixing up truly unusual cocktails using blowtorches and sous-vides (a utensil that combines ingredients in a vacuum for the purpose of preserving flavors).
As popular as molecular gastronomy has been worldwide, however, there came some backlash three years ago from chefs who chafed at being known only for their scientific technique. For example, in an article by Amanda Gold, "Spain's Culinary Picasso Seeks New Suggestions" in the November 8, 2006 San Francisco Chronicle, Ferran Adria of El Bulli restaurants says what has come out of his experimentations in the kitchen – manipulating ingredients and trying unconventional cooking styles – has been misunderstood and incorrectly labeled molecular gastronomy. "Come on," he said. "It doesn't mean anything. People think Ferran Adrià and they think chemist.
The Chronicle article said Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking agreed. "Adria is about creativity, and a lot of cooking. What he's doing doesn't start or end with science,' McGee said. "It's just one of the many tools he uses. He takes natural ingredients and transforms them into something interesting.”
Controversy Arises
With chefs now steering clear of a term that defines them as more chemists than chefs, another couple of incidents that occurred in July 2009 may have set molecular gastronomy back a few more paces.
In the first incident, Spanish chef Santi Santamaria, author of The Kitchen Laid Bare, said in his book that food prepared as part of molecular gastronomy is unhealthy since it uses synthetic ingredients. Santamaria is a proponent of cooking with natural ingredients, but whether or not the synthetics used in molecular gastronomy should be considered unhealthy is questionable, says Adria. He says all amounts of additives in his food meets European standards and make up only 0.1 percent of his cooking. Then, a second and more sobering July incident brings the techniques behind molecular gastronomy under closer scrutiny. The July 13, 2009 issue of The Local, an English-language German newspaper, reported that a 24-year old German cook was experimenting with liquid nitrogen when the nitrogen container exploded. One of the young cook’s hands was blown off in the explosion. The other had to be amputated at the hospital.
Despite this tragedy, however, molecular gastronomy will no doubt continue to be practiced. “Looking to chemical laboratories for inspiration (is) a useful first step on the road to culinary innovation,” writes This in Molecular Gastronomy – and good chefs will always want to travel down that road.
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