CCST 9045: The Science and Lore
of Culinary Culture
Molecular Gastronomy
“the science of deliciousness.”
In-class activity
Ice-breaking question:
1. Have you heard of molecular gastronomy?
2. Molecular gastronomy, the study of science in food, is
very popular in the food industry today. Which of the
following techniques have you heard of?
Spherification Foaming Maltodextrin (for Vapors Liquid nitrogen
turning fats into
powder)
What is Molecular Gastronomy?
• Study and application of chemistry, physics, and other
scientific principles on cooking
• Chemical-physical processes that take place when
you cook food
Peter Barham
The Science of Cooking
Peter Barham (Physicist)
“The application of scientific principles to the
understanding and improvement of gastronomic food
preparation. “
Nicholas Kurti
(1908-1998)
Physicist and Food Lover
Oxford University
Brief History of Molecular Gastronomy
International Workshop of Molecular and Physical
Gastronomy
Collaboration between scientist and chiefs!
Brief History of Molecular Gastronomy
In the meeting, five goals of Molecular Gastronomy were
identified:
1. To collect and investigate old wives' tale about
cooking.
2. To model and scrutinize existing recipes
3. To introduce new tools, products and methods to
cooking.
4. To invent new dishes using knowledge from the
previous three aims.
5. To use the appeal of food to promote science.
Wylie Dufresne
Restaurant: WD-50,New York City
Pickled Beef Tongue with Fried Mayonnaise
Fried Mayonnaise
Beef Tongue
http://www.starchefs.com/chefs/rising_stars/2005/newyork/html/tongue_onion_
w_dufresne.shtml
Homaro Cantu and Ben Roche
Restaurant: Moto Restaurant, Chicago
Homaro Cantu + Ben Roche: Cooking as alchemy
Candy
Chocolate
Exploring Molecular Gastronomy Techniques
Spherification
Foams
Sous Vide
Dehydration
and many more…..
Your Experiment: Spherification
6 Apl (SubClass A)
13 Apl (SubClass B)
Experiment on Flavor (Expt 2) and Spherification (Expt 3)
Spherification
Ingredients
Sodium alginate
Calcium salt (calcium chloride)
Water
Fruit Juice
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=xeP01iqQxi0
Wylie Dufresne
Restaurant: WD-50,New York City
Carrot-coconut "sunnyside up"
WD-50 faux egg made with
Specification technique
A server puts a fried egg on
your table. You cut into the
egg, and both yellow and
white liquids flow out. It
tastes like a pina colada!
Membrane Formation
Sodium alginate is water soluble polymer
mixed with many different fruit juices
When dripped into a solution containing
calcium ions, each calcium ion (Ca2+)
replaces two sodium ions (Na+).
Each calcium ion coordinates to two alginate
chains, linking them together.
The flexible chains become less flexible and
form a huge network a gel
alginate
Ca2+
Membrane Formation
Rigid strand=>not dissolved in water
Since the outside edge of the drop is first to bond
with the calcium, it solidifies much quicker than
the rest
Therefore, caviar!
Gel-texture
Ca2+
Ca2+
Juice
with
alginate
Ca2+
Ca2+
2 types of Spherification
Direct Spherification
• The juice is mixed with alginate and the juice is added to calcium
bath
• The gelling layer grows inward.
• The longer it’s kept without being eaten, the liquid center of these
spheres becomes smaller and smaller because the gelling process
continues towards the center as the calcium ion continue to
diffuse into the gel.
2 types of Spherification:
Reverse Spherification
Reverse Spherification
• The juice is mixed with calcium salt (e.g. Calcium Lactate)
• Juice is added to alginate solution
• Suitable for juice which has high calcium content, acidic or
contains alcohol. Such kind of juice is not suitable for direct
spherification.
• The gelling layer grow outwards.
• The gelation process stops once the sphere is removed from the
bath.
https://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=A7QFcP7
4zyg
Emulsion
Emulsions
Oil
No emulsifier
Oil
Water
With
Water emulsifier
Stabilizer can be emulsifier
found in:
- Milk Dispersed
Building blocks of
phase
- Eggs Emulsions:
- Gelatin - Proteins
- Oil (fat)
- Water
Continuous phase
Stabilizer (Emulsifier)
Hydrophilic Head Hydrophobic Tail
(Water Loving) (Water Hating)
Example: Lecithin is an emulsifier
commonly used in foods.
2 Types of Emulsions:
Oil in water emulsion Water in oil emulsion
Micelle
Emulsion Stabilizers
• Thickeners and gelling ingredients can make emulsions
more stable.
• Giving emulsions more thicker texture
• Slow down the rate at which emulsions separate.
• Since the liquid is more viscous, the suspended droplets
can't move around so easily to eventually combine in
a specific area.
Basic Vinaigrette Recipe
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup white-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Pinch of sugar
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup white-wine vinegar, 1
tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper,
and a pinch of sugar.
Slowly add 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, whisking until emulsified. Or
shake the ingredients in a jar, or whirl them in a blender.
http://www.marthastewart.com/336993/basic-vinaigrette
Vinaigrette Emulsion
Most commonly as a salad dressing
Oil-in-water emulsions made with oil, vinegar, other
flavorings, and mustard.
Network of naturally-occurring mucilage in
mustard emulsifies the oil and water
Mucilage is a gelatinous substance that contains
protein and polysaccharides and is similar to
plant gums
Acommon ingredient in vinaigrettes is honey. While
honey is not an emulsifier, its thick consistency
helps to stabilize the mixture.
Mayonnaise
Recipe: egg yolk, salt, mustard,
pepper, vinegar, olive oil
Egg yolk: provides water and protein
(stabilizer)
Mustard, pepper: taste
Vinegar: Contains water.
Oil: oil droplets in water. The more and
smaller the oil droplets, the thicker
the mayonnaise (creamier)
Why Mayonnaise is thicker (higher
viscosity) than water and oil?
Emulsion (Mayonnaise) viscosity can be substantially
greater than the viscosity of either the oil or the water
Water molecules are small and they are very mobile.
water is runny and flow easily
Fat molecules has three long chain per molecule
Drag against each other and move more slowly.
Oil is more viscus than water
In emulsion (mayonnaise), water molecules can move
only a small distance before they collide with the oil
droplet (the less mobile substance).
Water flow more reluctantly
Liquid Nitrogen Ice-cream
Ingridients
Liquid nitrogen ice-cream 1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
45 g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Liquid Nitrogen
Liquid Nitrogen
Liquid nitrogen is nitrogen in a liquid state at an extremely
low temperature.
At atmospheric pressure, liquid nitrogen boils at −196 °C
(77 K)
Can cause rapid freezing on contact with
living tissue! Be careful when handling
liquid nitrogen
What is ice-cream… scientifically?
It’s a Foam
What is foam?
A foam is a substance that is formed by trapping pockets
of suspended gas in a liquid or solid
Suspended Gas in liquid
Suspended Gas in solid
Solid foam
Suspended Gas in solid:
Solid portions prevent suspended gas from escaping
Sponge
Bread
Liquid based foams
Suspended Gas in liquid (Liquid-based foams):
• Requires surfactants
• Surfactants lower the surface tension of water and
allow water and oil to mix.
• Surfactants may act as detergents, wetting agents,
emulsifiers, foaming agents, and dispersants.
• As air is also non-polar, the surfactant also allows air
and water to mix.
Surfactant / emulsifier molecule
Non-polar tail
Polar head
Air
Air
Ingredients for foams
Milk protein
Allow the fat and water parts of milk to stay combined
(i.e. For an emulsion) and they also facilitate the
emulsification of air into the mix.
Egg whites contain a complex network of proteins that
serve as emulsifiers.
Egg yolk contains lecithin which acts as emulsifier
Ingredients for foams
Thickener, such as xanthan gum, guar gum, or locust
bean gum will allow a foam to form.
Thickeners slow the rate at which foams dissipate.
modified
soy protein
A scanning electron micrograph of ice cream
Air
Ice
100 mm:
average width of
a strand of
human hair 100 mm = 0.1 mm
A magnified picture of ice-cream
Ice cream consists mainly of:
•Ice (Frozen Water)
•Air
(Stabilized by fat and protein)
•Sugar Fat Air Bubble
•Fat (From milk or cream) droplet
Air Bubble
Ice
Proteins
Air Bubble
Fat Droplet
Sugar molecules
http://www.rsc.org/Education/EiC/issues/2003July/Makingicecream.asp
Foam - ice cream
What do you need to make ice cream?
- Water
- Stabilizer (fat, protein, gelatin)
- Anti freeze substance (sugar, gelatin,
alcohol, salt)
Wine ice-cream / liquor ice cream:
Caipirinha
- fruit: water, sugar (anti freeze) Wine ice-cream
ice cream
- Alcohol: water (anti-freeze)
- Stabilizer (cream, gelatin)
Vegetable/meat ice cream:
- vegetable: water
- Fish/ meat: proteins, fat
- No sugar: other stabilizer
(gelatin) shrimp ice-cream Garlic ice-cream
Ice cream - new dishes
Egg and bacon ice cream
Fat duck, London
- 300 gram bacon
- 1 liter milk (water, proteins)
- 25 gram milk powder (proteins, fat)
- 24 egg yolks
- 125 gram glucose (anti freeze)
Ice cream - new dishes
Tomato and basil sorbet ice
- 5 tomatoes
- 120 ml lemon juice
- 1 spoon of salt (anti freeze)
- 70 ml water
- 70 gram sugar (anti freeze)
- tomato puree
- chopped basil
- gelatin (to stabilize the air)
Homemade Ice-cream VS Commercial Ice-cream
Why does homemade ice cream taste so
much different than store bought?
The major difference is the freezing
condition
At home the ice cream freezing process
can take up to 30-45 minutes, and
commercially-made ice cream is usually
frozen in 30 seconds or less.
The longer freezing time causes the ice
cream to have much larger ice crystals
which makes it have a less-creamy
mouth feel.
Ice-cream Soda
Is there any difference of adding
ice-cream to soda
and
adding soda to ice-cream?
First, you need to know what is soda…
• Carbonation
• Carbonated Water
• Carbon dioxide CO2
dissolved in water CO2 bubbles
under pressure
creates
Factors affecting bubble formation
1. Agitation
-shaking will encourage bubble formation
2. Surface area and roughness
- bubbles tend to form on surfaces; particularly on rough
surfaces.
Ice-cream Soda
• When you pour soda over ice cream,
the soda makes its bubbles as it
usually does.
• But these bubbles don’t just pop; they
are held in place and stabilized by
the thickening agents in the ice
cream.
• You get a glass full of thick ice cream
soda foam.
• If you add the ice cream after the
soda, most of those soda bubbles
have already formed and popped
before the thickening agents can get
to work.
How much do you know abut cooking?
Something as simple as boiling water…
In-class activity
When water boils, bubbles rise to
the surface of the water. What are
the bubbles made of?
1) Air molecules
2) Heat molecules
3) Water molecules
4) Oxygen molecules
Phase Change
H2O (s) H2O (l) H2O (g)
Cooking an egg
Liquid Solid
Cooking an egg =
solidifying it?
Cook an egg means solidify it ?…
Is it a physical or a chemical change?
Frozen Egg (Using Liquid Nitrogen)
Boil an egg
Why does egg solidify when heated?
Molecular structure of proteins
Protein,
folded
Free Amino Acids
Protein Denaturation & Coagulation
Coagulation
Forms solid
Denaturation network
Folded
(Protein Gel)
Protein
How to cook a perfect egg?
A process of scientific investigation…
How to cook a perfect egg?
A process of scientific investigation…
Molecular Gastronomy: Sous Vide
Sous vide is French for “under vacuum”
A method of cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags
in an accurately controlled temperature water bath.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huY_v1hRdYE
Molecular Gastronomy: Sous Vide
Step 1: Vacuum Seal
The purpose for this is to preserve the flavor, aromas,
moisture and color of the ingredients
Step 2: Cook the sealed food in controlled water bath for
a prolonged period of time
Advantage of sous vide
• Allows almost-perfect reproducibility
• Gives greater control over doneness than traditional
cooking methods
• Ensures the food is evenly cooked from center to edge
• Foods don't overcook if they stay longer in the sous
vide bath so they can be conveniently served when
you are ready
water bath with temperature control
Heat transfer from water
bath to meat
meat And slowly cook the
meat from edge to center,
until every part of the
meat reaches the same
temperature
Beef Comparison
Traditional Cooking Sous Vide Cooking
Different Levels of Doneness Perfect Doneness Throughout
When cooking meat, the tough collagen in connective tissue
can be hydrolysed into gelatin without overheating the
proteins too much, get toughen and lose moisture.
After the meat is cooked with low temperature, sear sous-
vide cooked meat separately to achieve excellent browned
flavor.
Sous vide food safety
Is it safe to cook food with low temperature?
A) Yes
B) No
What temperature?
For how long?
Sous vide food safety
Main food safety risks:
Bacteria such as Clostridium perfringens
Bacteria that form heat stable toxins in food, Bacillus
cereus and Staphylococcus aureus
Sous vide food safety
Approximate time (Hours : Minutes) to heat and cook
refrigerated beef
Other molecular gastronomy tricks…..
Olive Oil Powder
Ingredients
16 g olive oil
40 g Tapioca Maltodextrin
Some salt (To add a bit of salty taste to the olive oil
powder)
The science of olive oil powder
• Tapioca Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide
• When mixed with fat, it has the ability to absorb it,
transforming the fat into a powder like substance.
• "dehydrated fat illusion"
