Your Dinner Is About To Get Scientific

Q. What the hell is O/W + G → (G+O)/W?

*Answer can be found at the end of this article. Happy reading!

Chefs by their very nature are chemists, crafting alchemical masterpieces of taste and flavor from basic ingredients. Most chefs would tell you, however, that they have no idea WHY that recipe called for baking powder instead of baking soda or why that flour/egg/sugar mixture became a cookie in the oven. A few brave Discovery Channel viewers might venture something along the lines of “baking soda is gassier, I think.” or “The oven… dries stuff out…heat… I think”** but few would be able to tell you that baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, a base that must be mixed with an acidic ingredient in order to react and expand in your cookie dough, while baking powder is sodium bicarbonate with starch and a powdered acid already mixed in. Or that when baking, particles in that doughy concoction become denatured and change shape as they get hotter and drier, via the process called convection. 

My point is that food is inherently scientific at every point in its cycle, from the chemical makeup of table salt (sodium chloride, or NaCL) to the boiling point of water used to cook pasta. (That’s 100 degrees Celsius or 212 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level.) Many cooks can turn a radish into a beautiful flower, but few are aware of the physical and chemical principles that make their food so fabulous. There are some chefs who are taking the science of food to a whole new level, in a culinary discipline called Molecular Gastronomy.

Food explorers have been figuring out the whys behind our pies for centuries, but molecular gastronomists, or as I like to call them, Fe Chefs, got their start in 1988 when world-renowned chefs, Herve This and Nicholas Kurti created an order dedicated to the physics and chemistry behind cooking. Herve writes, “Initially, as written in my PhD dissertation, molecular gastronomy had five aims: to collect and investigate old wives’ tales about cooking; to model and scrutinize existing recipes; to introduce new tools, products and methods to cooking; to invent new dishes using knowledge from the previous three aims; and to use the appeal of food to promote science.”

Today, molecular cooks continue to delve deeper into the processes of food preparation, coming up with new techniques that defy the conventions of the kitchen. Chefs such as Ferran Adria, of El Bulli in Spain or Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck, in England, are using tools that sound better suited for NASA, tools such as anti-griddles, liquid nitrogen, emulsifiers and cryo guns, to create exciting and texturally unique foods. It’s quite apparent that their adventurous patrons are loving every bite. El Bulli receives over one million reservation requests to fill the 8,000 slots they offer each year. The restaurant is sold out in one day.

Molecular cooking does have its detractors, opponents such as Jun Tanaka of Pearl in London. “Chefs will move away from molecular gastronomy. Things will go back to being more about the produce, about things being natural.” Many chefs agree with him, feeling that these chemistry experiments are just what they seem to be… flashes in the pan. The societal movement toward fresh, locally produced ingredients seems to be at odds with what can only be described as Extreme Cooking. The controversy probably won’t die any time soon.

But neither will the science. In a world where children clamor for astronaut ice cream and Dippin’ Dots, can carrot air really be so far behind? At the very least, the chefs of tomorrow will probably be able to answer the question, “Why did my dish do that?”

*That would be the shorthand CDS (complex disperse system) for whipped cream. Looks yummy, doesn’t it?

**Actual answers I received from co-workers. They shall remain anonymous because… seriously?

How To Make Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream*

By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., About.com Guide

You can use liquid nitrogen to make ice cream pretty much instantly. This makes a nice cryogenics or phase change demonstration. It’s also just plain fun. This recipe is for strawberry ice cream. If you omit the strawberries, you can add a bit of vanilla for vanilla ice cream or some chocolate syrup for chocolate ice cream. Feel free to experiment!

 Difficulty: Average

 Time Required: Minutes

What You Need:

• 5 or more liters of liquid nitrogen
• gloves and goggles recommended
• large plastic or stainless steel punch bowl or salad bowl
• 4 cups heavy cream (whipping cream)
• 1-1/2 cups half-and-half
• 1-3/4 cups sugar
• 1 quart mashed fresh strawberries or thawed frozen berries
• additional half cup of sugar if you are using unsweetened berries
• wooden spoon
• wire whisk

Here’s How:

1. This recipe makes a half gallon of strawberry ice cream. First, mix the cream, half-and-half, and sugar in the bowl using the wire whisk. Continue mixing until the sugar has dissolved.
2. If you are making vanilla or chocolate ice cream, whisk in vanilla or chocolate syrup now. Add any other liquid flavorings you might want.
3. Put on your gloves and goggles. Pour a small amount of liquid nitrogen directly into the bowl with the ice cream ingredients. Continue to stir the ice cream, while slowly adding more liquid nitrogen. As soon as the cream base starts to thicken, add the mashed strawberries. Stir vigorously.
4. When the ice cream becomes too thick for the whisk, switch to the wooden spoon. As it hardens more, remove the spoon and just pour the remaining liquid nitrogen onto the ice cream to fully harden it.
5. Allow the excess liquid nitrogen to boil off before serving the ice cream.

Tips:

1. The mix of whipping cream and half-and-half helps to make a very creamy ice cream with small crystals, that freezes quickly.
2. Don’t touch liquid nitrogen or store it in a closed container!
3. If the ice cream begins to melt before everyone is served, simply add more liquid nitrogen.
4. A large plastic mug with a handle is good for pouring the liquid nitogen. If you use a metal container, be sure to wear gloves.
5. I’m told a cordless drill with a mixing attachment is even better than a whisk and wooden spoon. If you have power tools, go for it!

 *I have not tried preparing this recipe. I have a hard enough time with knives and fire and simply cannot imagine the kind of damage I could inflict on my self/home/cat if I had liquid nitrogen at my disposal. By the same token, I am not recommending that YOU try this recipe for much the same reason. I like you and I hate lawsuits.

Sources:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/06/what-is-the-difference-between-baking-powder-and-baking-soda-in-pancakes.html

http://www.nature.com/embor/journal/v7/n11/full/7400850.html

http://www.howstuffworks.com/molecular-gastronomy.htm/printable

http://iweb.tntech.edu/dswart/Thisnmat1303.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heston_Blumenthal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denaturation_(biochemistry)

http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB126532946414240915.html

Advertisement