Food | November 05, 2007 | 4 comments

Food 2.0: Chefs as Chemists

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/science/06food.html

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"In September, talking to an audience of chefs from around the world, Wylie Dufresne of WD-50 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan waxed enthusiastic about a type of ingredient he has been adding to his restaurant’s dishes.

Not organic Waygu beef or newfound exotic spices or eye of newt and toe of frog, but hydrocolloid gums — obscure starches and proteins usually relegated to the lower reaches of ingredient labels on products like Twinkies. These substances are helping Mr. Dufresne make eye-opening (and critically acclaimed) creations like fried mayonnaise and a foie gras that can be tied into a knot."

OK, first of all, Waygu beef is delicious. Second, after reading about all these crazy, artificial things in crappy food (like fast food and the like), is this really what I want out of some fancy, swanky restaurant?
  1. groups:
    Food,   FOODIES: UNITE
  2. tags:
    Food,  Cooking,  Chemicals,  Chemistry,  3 more
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4 comments // Food 2.0: Chefs as Chemists

  • jarque05
    • 0
      jarque05  

    • I am getting a bit foamed-out, too, though nothing beats a tiny demitasse of foamy wild mushroom 'cappuccino' in a demitasse... Flavor can be really heightened with such a treatment.

      For those drawn to these innovative culinary ideas but intimidated by the sci-tech approach to kitchen wizardry, Ferran Adria has a video that shows a lot of really practical and creative techniques. Check the 9/13/07 posting at the food blog Chez Pim. The video is in Spanish but she also provides a helpful kind of cheat sheet translation.

    • 4 years ago
  • Tori
    • 0
      Tori  

    • I was really hoping Food 2.0 was going to be the back-to-nature-organic-and-local phase. Not the chemical-ed-to-the-max phase.

      Maybe this too shall pass, much like the "foam" phase of a couple years ago.

    • 4 years ago
  • abbym0308
    • 0
      abbym0308  

    • here's one of my favorites, Anthony Bourdain on molecular gastronomy and one of the technique's greatest, Ferran Adria. so worth the watch. when can we eat??

    • 4 years ago
  • abbym0308
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