What is molecular gastronomy? Wikipedia defines it as " a scientific discipline involving the study of physical and chemical processes that occur in cooking. It investigates the mechanisms behind the transformation of ingredients in cooking, attempts to explain them, and investigates the social, artistic and technical components of the ingredients."
When talking with chefs today about molecular gastronomy you will no doubt get a varied degree of opinions. Most "old school" chefs will probably tell you that it has no place in the traditional kitchen and that it is a fad that will mostly likely fade away with time. If you talk to the younger generations of chefs you will most likely get a reaction of instant excitement and enthusiasm about the new techniques and equipment that are used in molecular gastronomy. Equipment like liquid nitrogen or even a Class IV laser (the later not quite mainstream yet).
Most of the dishes prepared in molecular gastronomy are a result of a chemical reaction. Take spherification for example. Spherification is a process when you take a liquid and mix it with a natural substance called Algin (a natural product extracted from brown algae) and drop it into a Calcic bath (calcic is a calcium salt). The reaction creates a self contained sphere of the original liquid. Spherification is really one of the more simple processes of molecular gastronomy.
Ferran Adria (El Bulli Executive Chef) is the founding father of molecular gastronomy even though he considers himself as a deconstructivist, many chefs around the world look to him for inspiration and new techniques. Chef Adria after many years of research and cataloging his recipes decided to market and sell the very products he uses in his own laboratory/restaurant to create his masterpieces. The product line is called Texturas and are now available to the professional and home chef.
The Chef's Table at Home is excited to announce the sale of Texturas starting in the beginning of July. I encourage anybody who loves to cook and is interested in trying new techniques to try out some of the Texturas products. You don't need a laboratory or any special equipment to use Texturas. All you really need is imagination and the willingness to try new things.
In the coming months myself and a friend of mine who has been using the Texturas products in his restaurant will be producing some videos on this blog of new techniques and recipes that you can follow along with. Please send me any comments or suggestions on this subject. I would love to hear how many people are interested in molecular gastronomy.
Please feel free to visit my website (http://www.thechefstableathome.com/) or call our toll free number at 866-709-CHEF.
No comments:
Post a Comment