Molecular Gastronomy

Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Cooking is such an important part of our world (even the smallest flat has a room

for it) that it is worth specific scientific studies. The scientific discipline devoted to

culinary transformations, and to gastronomical phenomena in general has been called

Molecular Gastronomy. Of course, this discipline is part of food science, but research is

focused on (mainly home or restaurant) culinary transformations and eating phenomena

rather than physical and chemical structure of ingredients.

Molecular gastronomy is a discipline practiced by both scientists and food

professionals that studies the physical and chemical processes that occur while

cooking. It is also the use of such studied processes in many professional kitchens and

labs. Molecular gastronomy seeks to investigate and explain the chemical reasons

behind the transformation of ingredients, as well as the social, artistic and technical

components of culinary and gastronomic phenomena in general.

"Molecular gastronomy" also refers to a modern style of cooking, which takes

advantage of innovations from the scientific discipline.

When people hear molecular gastronomy for the first time they often mistakenly

view it as unhealthy, synthetic, chemical, dehumanizing and unnatural. This is not

surprising given that molecular gastronomy often relies on fuming flasks of liquid

nitrogen, led-blinking water baths, syringes, tabletop distilleries, PH meters and shelves

of food chemicals with names like carrageenan, maltodextrin and xanthan.

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Molecular Gastronomy

The truth is that the "chemicals" used in molecular gastronomy are all of

biological origin. Even though they have been purified and some of them processed, the

raw material origin is usually marine, plant, animal or microbial. These additives are also

used in very, very small amounts and have been approved by EU standards. And the

science lab equipment used just helps modern gastronomy cooks to do simple things

like maintaining the temperature of the cooking water constant (water bath) , cooling

food at extremely low temperatures fast (liquid nitrogen) or extract flavor from food

(evaporator). There is still some debate out there about the healthiness of molecular

gastronomy but I personally believe there are other bigger health issues in everyday

food we consume. In the end, you are not going to be eating liquid pea spheres every

day anyway.

The term "Molecular and Physical Gastronomy" was coined in 1992 by

Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti and French physical chemist Hervé. They created a

new scientific discipline to investigate culinary transforma tions, specifically the

chemistry and physics behind the preparation of food. 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.

Molecular Gastronomy is also called as “the art or science of good eating, the

very definition of gastronomy lies in a nebulous terrain that is not strictly science but one

where the vein of the culinary arts runs squarely across. Gastronomy as the intelligent

knowledge of whatever concerns nourishment, the gourmet professor initiates his

readers into a veritable eighteenth-century encyclopedia o natural history, physics,

chemistry, cookery, business, and political economy.

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Molecular Gastronomy

Molecular gastronomy has been long been a culinary trend. It is an extremely fine

cuisine, an haute cuisine with special emphasis on what happens during the cooking

process.

In molecular gastronomy are scientific experiments and the central kitchens of

‘molecular’ restaurants are equipped with the most ingenious instruments. We’re talking

about kitchens nepkaviaar is prepared for – as well we have to educate – and in which

sodium alginate and calcium instant “snow” is made using liquid nitrogen gas.

If you are passionate about cooking, have a creative mind and at the same time

you are analytical and logical, molecular gastronomy is most likely going to become

your passion. Molecular gastronomy cooking requires a good use of your left brain and

right brain. Most of the molecular recipes need to be followed precisely. More than

often, steps need to be followed in a very specific sequence or the whole dish will be a

disaster. Quantities are measured in fractions of a gram or fractions of a percentage.

Slight variations in food acidity levels could be disastrous for some dishes like a learned

when making caviar for the first time as I replaced melon with pomegranate. At the

same time, molecular gastronomy is about experimenting, being curious, using intuition,

playing with emotions and creating a multi-sensory dining experience with artistic dish

presentations, textures, aromas, flavors and even sounds.

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Molecular Gastronomy

Statement of the problem

Our new millennium initiator is more rigorously focused: Molecular gastronomy

deals with culinary transformations and the sensory phenomena associated with eating.

This study sought to identify the Molecular Gastronomy. The study answered the

following questions:

1. What is Molecular Gastronomy?

2. How cooking methods affect the eventual flavor and texture of food ingredients?

3. How Molecular Gastronomy applied in Food Science?

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Molecular Gastronomy

Significance of the Study

The science looks for the mechanisms of phenomena, whereas the technology

uses the results provided by science to improve a technique. When people hear

molecular gastronomy for the first time they often mistakenly view it as unhealthy,

synthetic, chemical, dehumanizing and unnatural.

Department of Health, to identify the alternative meal planning and preparation,

to provide safe, evidence - based dietary advice and management to individuals, as well

as to institutions. Especially on the role of molecular gastronomy in human health.

Although many governments around the world are aware of the problem of chronic

disease, the majority do not have comprehensive policies and budgets to develop

integrated approaches to their prevention, surveillance, and control. Given the rapidity

of the malnutrition

Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) for developing national health policies.

NGOs plays a more important role in lobbying for specific policy actions, conducting

research into consumer concerns about obesity and unhealthy diets, and tracking

commitments made by governments.

Consumer, peoples who are the beneficiaries of natural resources. They should

increase their awareness on what they eat and to know their food.

Furthermore, results and findings will always be a source of information that can

be channeled to other researchers who may have of same interest or may have similar

studies in the future

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Molecular Gastronomy

Chapter II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Molecular gastronomy is the science of cooking but it is commonly used to

describe a new style of cuisine in which chefs explore new culinary possibilities in the

kitchen by embracing sensory and food science, borrowing tools from the science lab

and ingredients from the food industry and concocting surprise after surprise for their

diners. The term molecular gastronomy refers to the scientific discipline that studies the

physical and chemical processes that occur while cooking. Molecular gastronomy seeks

to investigate and explain the chemical reasons behind the transformation of

ingredients, as well as the social, artistic and technical components of culinary and

gastronomic phenomena in general.

Molecular Gastronomy is a culinary technique combining the knowledge of

scientific chemicals with food ingredients to create various versions of foods or cuisine.

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.

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. While food science is part of molecular gastronomy, its main application has

traditionally been to provide safe and nutritious food for the masses in the most efficient

and economical manner possible. The aforementioned have mostly been concerned

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Molecular Gastronomy

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. These mere investigations

into the scientific process of cooking have unintentionally evolved into a revolutionary

epicurean practice that is now prominent in today's culinary world.

Molecular gastronomy has helped bring the tools and technology that

are commonplace in the food industry to the restaurant kitchen.

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/flavor relationship

Stability of flavor

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Molecular Gastronomy

Heated bath used for low temperature cooking

Rotary evaporator used in the preparation of distillates and extracts

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Molecular Gastronomy

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.

The experimental styles in culinary arts that both coincided with and followed

the establishment of the science of molecular gastronomy soon were called by the

same name. Because so much of this experimentation included new understandings of

the science behind the cooking and the use of ingredients and processes that were the

offspring of high-tech development, the name stuck. However, more chefs and

gourmands than not would rather call this style "modern", "forward", "experimental", or

even "deconstructionist".

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.

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Molecular Gastronomy

Some has a common mis-classification of the food and cooking as "molecular

gastronomy", several chefs often associated with the movement have since repudiated

the term; still, other modern chefs have embraced molecular gastronomy.

Molecular Gastronomy - Where Science Meets Cuisine

Strip Steak and Beet Foam

Odd and unfamiliar language, ingredients, equipment, cooking processes, and

food combinations dominate the conversation about cooking when the topic is molecular

gastronomy.

When it comes to dining on the spectacular dishes concocted by chefs who excel

in these new cooking styles, your brain will make new sense--or nonsense--of the

textures and tastes in your mouth, aromas in your nose, and forms, colors, and shapes

before your eyes.

The science of molecular gastronomy has given us knowledge about why foods

do what they do, under what circumstances, and how. And it has fascinated us by

busting myths such as these:

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Molecular Gastronomy

Oil added to boiling water prevents pasta from sticking to the pan (it doesn't)

The consistency of an egg that makes it hard- or soft-boiled depends on the

amount of time spent in boiling water (it depends on the temperature of the

water)

Searing meat at a high temperature before roasting seals the juices in (it doesn't)

Green vegetables retain more color and nutrients when cooked in a covered pot

(it doesn't matter whether the pot is covered or not)

Key to the challenge of cooking in this new style is the accomplished and

creative use of ingredients, equipment, and processes that have come about through

the application of molecular gastronomy principles.

New-style cooks include an understanding of the physical and chemical

properties of foods when they explore ingredient combinations. They also use both

traditional laboratory and high-tech equipment to create their masterpieces. And they

experiment with processes that have their roots in science labs and commercial

industrial enterprises. When art, creativity, and the love of pleasing are added to the

mix, new-style practitioners create amazing edibles that surprise, fascinate, and even

astound.

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Molecular Gastronomy

Ingredients

Many of the seemingly novel ingredients in this new style have been mainstays in

the commercial food industry for quite some time. Now, practitioners of this new style

use these ingredients on a smaller, more intimate scale. Here's a sampling of some of

these quite scientific-sounding ingredients.

Agar agar, a gelling substance derived from algae, used to thicken liquids

Sodium alginate, an emulsifying agent also derived from algae, used to create

self-encapsulated spheres of liquids or purées

Tapioca maltodextrin, a food starch used to create powders out of fatty

substances such as nut butters and bacon fat.

Flavor is the combination of taste experienced on your tongue and the aroma

you experience through your nose. It is believed that as much as 80 percent or more of

what we perceive as taste is actually aroma. This is why when we have a cold the food

we eat “tastes” bland.

Taste buds allow us to perceive only bitter, salty, sweet, and sour flavors. It’s the

odor molecules from food that give us most of our taste sensation. The average person

can discriminate between 4,000 to 10,000 different odor molecules.

Food pairing has been done over the history of cooking mostly through trial and

error resulting in classic combinations like tomato with basil, bacon with eggs and

cucumber with dill. However, this is changing with molecular gastronomy and the

influence of scientists in the kitchen

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Molecular Gastronomy

To start exploring new pairings. Molecular profiling for food pairing was then born

and has spawn odd combinations like:

coffee and garlic

mandarin and thyme

cucumber and violet

salmon and licorice

banana and parsley

mango and pine extract

oyster and passion fruit

The molecular profile of a single ingredient is so complex than even if it has

several compounds in common with another, there could still be many other reasons

why they don’t have a good affinity. Molecular profiling is a great tool for creativity but it

supports intuition, imagination and emotion rather than replacing them. Molecular

profiling can also be used to substitute an ingredient with a combination of other

ingredients that all together have similar flavor components to the ingredient they are

substituting. For example, fried bacon can be replaced with a combination of basmati

rice, Beijing roasted duck, strawberry and black tea.  13

Molecular Gastronomy

Generally speaking, molecular gastronomy would be 75% science and

25% applied technique, and culinary arts would be 75% technology and 25% science.

The two proportions of 25 percentages represent similar scientific and technical aspects

between molecular gastronomy and culinary arts, which provide common language and

interests but different application directions: towards scientific analysis and towards

various techniques through distinguished foods and drinks.

Eating is about much more than a simple matter of taste. The experience affects

all of the senses, often in the most surprising of ways. Which is why scientists the world

over are busy making the most of it.

It is not just taste that determines whether we like a particular ingredient or dish. All

of the senses play a part, as does memory.

Whenever we eat, the poor brain has a fair amount of work to do just to process

the data and then let us know if we like a particular food. What makes that food

acceptable or otherwise is a complicated issue, because it raises so many emotions

and memories, and may even call into question firm beliefs.

Cooking with alcohol is something many of us are happy to leave to the

professionals, and not just because we're scared of setting light to the kitchen. But

follow a few rules, and your meals will be transformed.

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Molecular Gastronomy

Equipment

The equipment used in this new style of cooking is an interesting mix of

scientific laboratory tools and high-end kitchen appliances and utensils derived from

their laboratory cousins. The equipment for molecular gastronomy is reusable.

Gas torch, used to caramelize sugars and brown meats

Ultra sonic bath, used to make mayonnaise in seconds

Büchner funnel, for vacuum-filtering solids from liquids

Rotary evaporator, for distilling liquids without heating them, thereby retaining the

delicate aromas that are lost when aromatic liquids are subject to heat

The Anti-Griddle, which is exactly what its name implies, a space-age appliance

that instantly freezes food placed on its super-cooled stainless steel surface

Gas Torch from the Lab

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Molecular Gastronomy

Techniques, tools, and ingredients

As a beginner, using molecular gastronomy techniques are fairly safe, although

caution should be used whenever you are cooking in the kitchen and especially when

using ingredients and techniques with which you are unfamiliar. As you learn and

advance, exercise extreme caution whenever cooking with chemicals, heat and new

equipment. Read all directions and, if possible, even consult an expert on safe

techniques and how to handle everything properly. Cooking is a pleasure and using

molecular gastronomy makes it even more so, but you want to be sure to practice

molecular cooking techniques in a safe way.

Foams - is a substance that is formed by trapping many gaseous bubbles in a liquid or

solid. Foams can also be made with an immersion blender.

Centrifuge - is a piece of equipment, generally driven by an electric motor (some older

models were spun by hand), that puts an object in rotation around a fixed axis,

applying a force perpendicular to the axis. The centrifuge works using the

sedimentation principle, where the centripetal acceleration causes more dense

substances to separate out along the radial direction (the bottom of the tube).

Immersion blender - or stick blender' is a kitchen appliance ingredients or puree food

in the container in which they are being prepared.

Ice cream maker - often used to make unusual flavors, including savory.

Anti-griddle - for cooling and freezing.

Thermal immersion circulator s - for sous-vide (low temperature cooking).

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Molecular Gastronomy

Sous-vide - French for "under vacuum", is a method of cooking food sealed in

airtight plastic bags in a water bath.

Food dehydrator - refers to a device that removes moisture from food to aid in

its preservation.

Liquid nitrogen - for flash freezing and shattering.

Car de - source, for adding bubbles and making foams.

Maltodextrin - can turn a high-fat liquid into a powder.

Sugar Substitutes - is a food additive that duplicates the effect of sugar in taste,

usually with less food energy. Some sugar substitutes are natural and some are

synthetic. Those that are not natural are, in general, called artificial sweeteners.

Lecithin - an emulsifier and non-stick agent.

Emulsifier - (also known as an emulgent) is a substance that stabilizes an

emulsion by increasing its kinetic stability.

Hydrocolloids - such as starch, gelatin, pectin, and natural gums - used as

thickening agents, gelling agents, emulsifying agents, and stabilizers, sometimes

needed for foams.

Transglutaminase - a binder or one of the family of enzymes that catalyze the

formation of a covalent bond between a free amine group(e.g., protein- or

peptide-bound lysine) and the gamma-carboxamid group of protein- or peptide-

bound glutamine.

Spherification - a caviar-like effect.

Syringe - for injecting unexpected fillings

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Molecular Gastronomy

Chapter III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the methodology used by the researcher in the conduct of

the study. This further discussed the research design used, the data gathering and

instruments.

The researcher will gather data through library research, journal, and articles

and through the aid of networking sites. Considering on the research questions raised.

Research Design

This study is a descriptive study that focused on the evaluation and how this

evaluation related to the collaboration between specialists and technologists. It refers to

a mutual dynamics, with information from researchers in molecular gastronomy towards

technologists and the other way around, from the creativity of chefs in culinary arts and

of highly professional cookers, as technologists, towards researchers, to elucidate

processes of culinary production.

The Analysis of Variance or ANOVA was used to determine the sample test

used.

.

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Molecular Gastronomy

Chapter IV

CONCLUSION

If you are not a professional chef with a fully equipped kitchen you can still enjoy

molecular gastronomy at home and without spending too much money. Many recipes

don't even require especial equipment or "chemicals". Even with as little amount of

money you can get some basic molecular gastronomy substances to start making

spheres, airs and gels. Of course, cooking with liquid nitrogen is a different story. The

major challenge is going to be finding good recipes with complete detailed explanations,

learning the basic principles behind each recipe so you can be creative and come up

with your own dishes and finding good pictures of finished dishes so you know how they

are supposed to look. People should not be deprived of the multi sensory pleasures of

molecular gastronomy.

Molecular gastronomy is not just about taste, but also about presentation of your

final product. Molecular gastronomy entails trial and error. The most important point is to

have fun with this interesting style of cooking and enjoy whatever results you get.

The researcher 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.

This tool will help individuals to see the benefit that their personal choices can

make.

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Molecular Gastronomy

R E F E R E NC E S

Adria, F., Blumenthal H., Keller, T., McGee, H.2006. Statement on the ‘new cookery.’The Guardian. Dec. 10, 2006.

Barham, P. 2008. Molecular Gastronomy. Discovery Channel. www.discoverychan nel.co.uk. Accessed April 28, 2008.

Popular Science 2007. The Future of Food – Molecular Gastronomy for the Masses.

Pain, E. 2007. Molecular Gastronomy: Something’s Cooking. Science. November 2. www.sciencemag.org.

This H., 2006: Food for tomorrow? How the scientific discipline of molecular gastronomy could change the way we eat, EMBO reports 7, 11, 1062–1066.

Nathan Myhrvold et al.: Modernist Cuisine (2010, 2200p)

Harold McGee: Keys to Good Cooking: A Guide to Making the Best of Foods and Recipes

Jeff Potter: Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food (2010, 432p)

Heston Blumenthal: The Big Fat Duck Cookbook (2008, 532)

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