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All cooking revolves around science. Whether we like to or not, when we step into the kitchen we are about to use physics, chemistry, and biology to prepare and then eat the food we make. How? We use physics when honing the metal blade of a knife to an extreme point, when we perfectly slice the contents of a tomato for a sandwich, or when we tenderize a steak with a mallet. We use chemistry to blend different ingredients for our favorite salad dressing or to heat the water for hard boiled eggs. And everyone becomes a professional biologist when we’re on a diet.
Molecular and Physical Gastronomy
“Molecular gastronomy” is a term coined in 1988 by Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti and French chemist Herve This at the National Institute of Agricultural Research in France. This term is both obvious and mysterious at the same time. The Cambridge Dictionary defines molecular gastronomy as “preparing and cooking food according to the scientific principles of what changes happen to different foods when they are cooked or combined with other foods”. If this seems to be an exact definition of what cooking is and has always been, that’s because it is, just through a filter of science.
This may appear obvious, but there’s a twist. The mystery arrives in the perspective and manner of preparing the food.
Kurti and This had a perspective skewed through the lens of science, which allowed them to see and think outside of the “breadbox” of regular culinary artists. They continued their studies in science and gastronomy together, eventually organizing the first “International Workshop of Molecular and Physical Gastronomy” in 1992 in Erice, Italy. Kurti continued the research until his death in 1998 and This continues his work experimenting with food in a lab today at AgroParisTech. Although they gained international acclaim for their work combining science and gastronomy, the concept is much older than these two gentlemen.
Looking back, we can find cooks looking to science for inspiration throughout the centuries, such as the 18th century French cook Marie-Antoine Careme who looked at cooking through a scientific vocabulary, or Americans Halliday & Noble who wrote the book Food Chemistry and Cookery in 1943. In fact, many cooks have had a scientific perspective in the creation and preparation of food for as long as we’ve had science and dinner.
The new study of molecular gastronomy did inspire a number of chefs to look into both scientific principles and modern scientific innovations and integrate them into their dishes. This sparked a number of avant grade changes and new culinary tools, which were regularly being featured in cooking magazines, blogs and television shows by the end of the 20th century.
The most common novelties of molecular gastronomy included creating edible spheres or strings from liquids, experimental freezing of foods in extreme temperatures (usually using liquid nitrogen), experimentation with the cooking of eggs, syringes to insert innovative fillings into food, edible paper, and the use of gasses and pressure to create new textures and foams. Molecular gastronomy is a constantly growing and changing field, as both science and cuisine change and improve regularly.
At XLWhip, we want to cultivate this spirit of innovation by offering the highest quality food-grade nitrous oxide to create every whipped cream or foam you can imagine.
