I'm looking to evolve to the next plane. Anyone made the journey?

[Poppinfresh]

Barbecue? I mastered that ages ago. Cajun? Fun for a while, but I've got it down. Mexican, Indian (Northern), 4 different kinds of Asian, Italian (Northern and Southern), Spanish? Conquered. Northwest? Tom Douglas himself asked me for a couple of recipes. Northeast? Check. French was a bit of fun, but the challenge faded.

Fusion kept my interest for a couple of years, but I'm starting to reach my limit there...I mean, when I start doing things like combining Cajun and Cambodian or German and Peruvian, I'm really digging.

The mad scientist in me screams to get out. I recently ate at wd-50, and my next challenge became clear: I was to join the cult of Wiley Dufresne. It's time for the next great evolution: Molecular gastronomy.

I've done some self-experimentation, mostly teaching myself how to make things like balsamic caviar (thanks to Chiarello, who taught me how wonderful it is on caprese), doing some things with fruits, etc. Made green eggs and ham with a side of bacon out of foam, that was kind of cool. But I need a tome on all the other aspects to this. Sadly, Dufresne has never written a book, and nobody I know has gotten into this sort of method.

Anybody ever gotten into it? If so, what books would you recommend? I'm pretty adept at absorbing advanced topics, so I don't need one that will hold my hand. Not a lot of them out there, and what I've found has universally had mixed reviews. Reviews I can't trust because I don't know how poisoned they are with novice cooks that got in over their head and decided that it was the book and not them. I'd like something pretty definitive before I invest in a liquid nitrogen setup and a centrifuge.

 

[sparrowgrass]

There is a big discussion on eGullet.org on molecular gastronomy.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I won't be ready for molecular gastronomy for another fifty years. I am still trying to figure out what to use parchment paper for.

 

[Zhizara]

Just what is molecular gastronomy? Simple version please.

 

[pacanis]

I won't be ready for molecular gastronomy for another fifty years. I am still trying to figure out what to use parchment paper for.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

I won't be ready for molecular gastronomy for another fifty years. I am still trying to figure out what to use parchment paper for.

Regular parchment paper, or Martha Wrap?

 

[Mark Webster]

We don't do it in my restaurant, but I enjoy working with it on a research and development level. Books to read: Hevre This has a couple out on the subject, Adria Ferran from El Bulli Spain is hot (I know El Builli is closed right now, but it will re-open), and of course Grant Achatz from Chicago. Love to chat about this phenom.

 

[Poppinfresh]

Just what is molecular gastronomy? Simple version please.

The simplest way to explain it would be the point where food meets science. It's Alton Brown....on HGH, anabolic steroids, and crushed deer antler.

It's the study of using various chemicals and techniques to create new kinds of food and dining experiences. You can Youtube the phrase and a lot comes up. The sous vide craze is a result of this style, for example.

 

[Poppinfresh]

We don't do it in my restaurant, but I enjoy working with it on a research and development level. Books to read: Hevre This has a couple out on the subject, Adria Ferran from El Bulli Spain is hot (I know El Builli is closed right now, but it will re-open), and of course Grant Achatz from Chicago. Love to chat about this phenom.

Yeah, I'm going to be truling El Bulli this July when I'm in Europe. Very stoked about it. Sadly, Ferran doesn't have a book out, though. There's a book that came out from a foundation he started, but it doesn't appear he had anything to do with it.

 

[Poppinfresh]

I made bacon spaghetti tonight. People are right: Bacon DOES make everything better, especially when it's made entirely of bacon.

I do have to work on the sauce some, though.

 

[mzdee]

I made bacon spaghetti tonight. People are right: Bacon DOES make everything better, especially when it's made entirely of bacon.

I do have to work on the sauce some, though.

Bacon is good served with bacon

 

[Rasputin]

I won't be ready for molecular gastronomy for another fifty years. I am still trying to figure out what to use parchment paper for.

:/ Sadly I'm on the same page. The only thing I use wax paper for are for baking shortbread cookies. And I'm not even sure if I should do that!

 

[PolishedTopaz]

I made bacon spaghetti tonight. People are right: Bacon DOES make everything better, especially when it's made entirely of bacon.

I do have to work on the sauce some, though.

Pasta Carbonara comes to mind

 

[no mayonnaise]

Check out the book series, Modernist Cuisine.
It's what you might be looking for, OP.

 

[masteraznchefjr]

I'm taking a class on molecular gastronomy next quarter. I'll let you guys know how that turns out.

 

[GLC]

If molecular gastronomy is an evolution, it seems to be too often, as it's popularized, an evolution that evolved right past the point of it all, on to gee whiz, watch what happens and look at this expensive piece of gear.

But at it's legitimate core, it's really just opening up cooking to different techniques that are conceived after the physical basis of food preparation is better understood. If you're ordering exotic ingredients and following instructions, without studying and understanding the chemistry and physics, you're not doing molecular gastronomy, any more than the junior high science "experiment" is really an experiment or even the student's knowledgeable application of science. Doing chemistry exercises by rote isn't "doing" chemistry, any more than the worker who pours the specified amount of maltodextrin or xanthan gum into the factory pot is doing molecular gastronomy. For a great deal of what's featured in the craze, it wouldn't be though of as anything special, if the ingredients had been on the grocery shelves and in use all along. A great deal, if not most of it, has been routine industrial cooking for a very long time.

The point is that ALL cooking is molecular gastronomy, and most of the amateurs who are chasing off to the books and web sites don't yet understand the physical and chemical basis of their regular everyday cooking. Real molecular gastronomy is simply and literally cooking while knowing what you're doing. Most folks would do better to begin by just learning something as basic as the nature of heat transfer.

Heat Transfer and Cooking - Kitchen Notes - Cooking For Engineers

And reading Harold McGee:
Amazon.com: On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (9780684800011): Harold McGee: Books

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

I'm looking to evolve to the next plane. Anyone made the journey?

Not for quite a while. I prefer to take the train. It may take longer, but it is a lot less hassle, and the benefits outweigh the extra time.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I think I'll stick to exploring regional and ethnic cuisines for a while longer.

 

[Claire]

It sounds like you're missing out on eastern European and Russian cuisines.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

It sounds like you're missing out on eastern European and Russian cuisines.

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