Molecular gastronomy courtesy of The Fat Duck

After the Fat Duck food poisoning episode, you’d be forgiven for thinking that enthusiasm for molecular gastronomy had gone cold.  But with Heston Blumenthal planning another restaurant in London, and increasing numbers of molecular restaurants in Europe and the United States, it looks as though food science is not a passing craze.

In fact, molecular gastronomy is not as new and crazy as it might first appear. All cooking is science: it is the chemical and structural properties of an egg that help a cake rise; the coagulation of casein that makes cheese set; even boiling water is essentially a ‘scientific’ process of heating hydrogen oxide molecules. What makes molecular gastronomy appear like a Frankenstein in the kitchen, however, is that these sci-fi chefs have got high-tech equipment on their side as they experiment with liquid nitrogen and microscopes.

The very phrase ‘molecular gastronomy’ reveals why some people have a problem with it, as it fuses science and the arts. It would be the equivalent of molecular painting or atomic music for example – it just sounds a bit clinical. It can be satisfying to think of the arts as something esoteric and impossible to pin down; if we understand the science then some of the mystery seeps away too. However the binary of arts and sciences is a relatively modern invention as what we would now call ‘science’ came under the heading of philosophy until 1833 when the philosopher William Whewell started calling people ‘scientists’ rather than ‘natural philosophers’ or ‘men of science’.

Originating from the Latin scientia, meaning “knowledge”, in its broadest sense ‘science’ refers to any systematic implementation of knowledge that results in a predictable outcome. Cooking might not feel like a science when your cake sinks inexplicably or your scrambled eggs always stick to the pan – but there is always a scientific explanation.

The principle of molecular gastronomy is to debunk myths around cooking and use new technology to challenge how food is eaten and prepared. Molecular chefs rebuke old wives tales that you need to add salt to water when cooking green vegetables, for example, or that the cooking time for roast meat depends on the weight. Instead, their investigations demonstrate that temperature is more important than time when it comes to good cooking.

Experimenting in the kitchens at El Bulli

The term ‘Molecular and Physical Gastronomy’ was coined in 1988 by Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti and French physical chemist Hervé This. They used the term to describe their workshops brining together scientists and professional cooks to discuss the science behind traditional cooking preparations. Kurti died in 1998, but Hervé This continues to run his internationally renowned workshops on the molecular gastronomy principles of understanding how ingredients are changed by different cooking methods, the role of the senses or environment in taste, and how our brain interprets ‘flavour’.

The results have been revolutionary as chefs combine scientific knowledge with culinary expertise. El Bulli chef, Ferran Adrià, discovered calcium gluconolactate for example. A salt which is completely tasteless, calcium gluconolactate enables Adrià to make a sphere out of any liquid using the non-Newtonian properties of ingredients which behave like both a liquid and solid. Chefs who dabble in the dark arts of modern gastronomy are often interested in mixing unlikely ingredients and wilfully disregarding cultural concepts of sweet and savoury. In short, a molecular menu ends up sounding like the Umpa Lumpa canteen food at Willy Wonker’s chocolate factory.

If you want to try molecular gastronomy at home, then Blumenthal’s tome, In Search of Perfection, will give you the ‘basics’ (as long as you have some dry ice and goggles lying around). There are simpler websites for cooks that want to get a bit geeky, or you can contact New York specialist l’Epicerie to indulge your crazy science needs for dehydrated grapefruits and 60ml plastic syringes. If you’re just curious to find out what science tastes like, here is a round up of some Europe’s top molecular kitchens:

One of Pierre Gagnaire's culinary creations

France

Pierre Gagnaire (Paris, Chef: Pierre Gagnaire)
Listed as one of the best restaurants in the world, this Parisian restaurant is a delight for food lovers with an unlimited budget. Gagnaire takes haute cuisine to new heights with soy-glazed eel served with tiny gingerbread cookies or beetroot crisp topped with anchovy paste and served with roasted peanut cornet filled with peanut cream.

Germany

Amador (Langen, Chef:  Juan Amador)

Juan Amador is the leading molecular chef in Germany. Influenced by his Spanish roots, with Asian touches and French training, Amador is the Heston Blumenthal of Germany. He transforms traditional ingredients with the latest kitchen alchemy techniques to create treats such as jelly of whisky with pineapple and cotton candy, or local pigeon served with coconut milk, mango and ‘purple curry’.

Italy

Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni (Como Lake, Chef: Ettore Bocchia)

Set in an elegant hotel next to Lake Como, Villa Serbelloni is where history meets experimentation. Chef Bocchia uses liquid nitrogen to make traditional Italian gelato and has been awarded two Michelin stars for his innovative menu and cuisine.

United Kingdom

Anthony’s (Leeds, Chef: Anthony Flinn)

Although everyone always talks about the bacon and egg ice-cream at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck, Anthony Flinn is the 27 year old chef pushing the boundaries of molecular gastronomy in the UK. Flinn’s Anjou squab (pigeon) is slow-slow-slow cooked between 55 degrees centigrade (at which collagen breaks down into gelatin) and 58 (at which the cells begin to burst) to create the most delectate meat you will ever taste.

Tapas it certainly isn't... Food at El Bulli

Spain

El Bulli (Rosas, Chef: Ferran Adrià)

The father of molecular cooking in Spain, Chef Adrià runs the best restaurant in the World. Up to one million people try to book a table per year, and only 8,000 succeed – less then one percent. If you are lucky enough to get a table you will be rewarded with parmesan marshmallows, cherries covered with yoghurt powder, or fruits freeze dried by a process of lyophilisation, and served with foam.

Considering that Spain has such a strong traditional food culture, its surprising to find out that it also has the largest number of molecular restaurants. Others Iberian restaurants that follow the school of Madrid Fusion include Espai Sucre (Barcelona, Chef Jordi Butrón), Mugaritz (Otzazulueta, Chef Andoni Aduriz) andRestaurante Arzak (San Sebastian, Chef Juan Mari Arzak).

Europe isn’t alone in mixing baking and Bunsen burners – you can get your molecular fix in Australia (Fenix, Victoria: Chef Raymond Capaldi) Canada (DC Duby, British Columbia: Chefs Dominique and Cindy Duby), Japan (Tapas Molecular Bar, Tokyo: Chef Jeff Ramsey) and in five different restaurants in New York alone (Cru, davidburke and donatella, Gilt, Room 4 Dessert, and wd-50).