Molecular Gastronomie

What is that ?

Cubic peas, liquid nitrogen ice, foie gras whipped cream or  tender wiskey egg… No, this is not the Star Wars Christmas menu, but dishes straight from the imagination of Molecular cuisine chefs.
Molecular cuisine is a scientific thing, its purpose is to contribute to the advancement of cooking knowledge. The term was invented by Nicholas Kurti, a physicist at Oxford, and Hervé This, a French physical chemist.

Is there a benefit ?

Molecular cuisine is economic :

For example, it’s possible to make gallons of mayonnaise with one egg yolk. The egg containing a binder surfactant which creates an emulsion between the oil and vinegar.
Even if that mayonnaise isn’t the same as the “real” french mayonnaise, it’s a clever idea !

Same thing for the heat, natural gas is a waste of energy for cooking, unless you want to heat your kitchen over winter, you should rather use an induction hob.
When cooking meat, there is no need to cook at high heat. To keep a steak tender you should not exceed 55 ° C.
Why not use low temperature cooking processes such as “Norwegian pot”, a box with insulating walls where you place the pan to finish cooking ?

That’s just an introduction, we gonna try to show you a few recipes on the Frenchy’s Cuisine !

It’s artistic

The use of new gelling agents like agar agar, the use of additives, the use of new materials for filtering, distilling, heating, cooling (liquid nitrogen): all of those things allowed the cooks to create a new cuisine. They renewed their practices, their ingredients, their utensils and their methods.

There is a “But” :

Chefs remains skeptical, they still prefer the traditional cuisine, rich in taste and texture. But what are the disadvantages of molecular cuisine ?

- There is no more mastication as most dishes are like foams, and chewing is essential to digestion, and to taste.
– Some chemicals ingredients are quite expensive, and difficult to obtain.

That’s why I think that molecular cuisine is just another way to cook some recipes, sometimes, but not on a regular basis.