The following short discussion is the first of a series of articles I am writing about some of my experiences at the Fat Duck and my personal research into this exciting area of food. So far, I have one other such article completed, which is about 800 words long. This will be the first paper to be presented on my new domain site next week- entitled, 'A Matter of Taste?'. Please note- that this web site in no way reflects the opinion of Heston Blumenthal or the Fat Duck Ltd. It is not an approved or official site and is not associated with the Fat Duck.
‘Gastronomic Alchemy- understanding Molecular Gastronomy’
It has occurred to me lately that I may have been a little too critical of Heston’s work in my last few entries. Earlier today Heston and I discussed briefly ways that I could learn more whilst I am here. One thing that we talked about made me think- we decided that I should definitely ask more questions about why we do certain things, because there are reasons behind everything. Whilst I still do not think that this sort of food is the style I would choose to adopt, it is masterfully carried out and there are many techniques and methods that I could apply. I thought that during this posting I would discuss further some of the key principles behind some of Heston’s work.
Firstly, it should be realized straight-away that despite Heston’s extensive scientific research, he insists that he remains first and foremost a chef, who cooks food. Of cause beyond this statement we can see clearly that Heston is not just any chef and he is even more than just one of the world’s best chefs. He is a chef heavily engaged in the pursuit of understanding what happens to food when we prepare it and with this increased knowledge about the chemical composition and structure of certain ingredients, he is making ground breaking developments.
The Royal Society of Chemistry said in an official statement in April that, “We are delighted with Heston’s success. His work at the Fat Duck using scientific principles to create new and exciting combinations of flavour and taste has raised the awareness of ‘molecular gastronomy’ in the UK. Heston’s curiosity to investigate the fundamental processes behind cooking and thereby push the boundaries of the culinary art is an inspiration..”.
This quotation triggers several other thoughts- but to discuss them all now would become a distraction to this present idea about ‘molecular gastronomy’. I will briefly mention them now though to remind us to return to them later-
Firstly, Heston is creating new and exciting combinations of flavour and taste, (What new combinations have been created and how many of these have been successfully implemented in to the Fat Duck’s menu?)
Secondly, This idea of cooking as an art-form (In what ways is cooking an art form and how does it compare with other arts such as painting, music or literature?).
Many think that ‘molecular gastronomy’ is little more than a fictional buzz- word. But it is much more than that. In many ways is not really anything new. After all molecular gastronomy is (in part) simply investigating the scientific processes that go on with food. For example, we have been roasting meats for hundreds of years, molecular gastronomy has looked at cooking times of meats and told us that by checking the temperature of the core of the joint of meat whilst cooking we can more accurately control how long it should be cooked for. Domestic recipes often increase the cooking time depending simply on the weight of the joint, but commercially this is unhelpful, particulary with large pieces of meat and can result in the meat being over-cooked. So we see, that ‘molecular gastronomy’ is helping us not only create new flavours and combinations, but is also dismissing old wives tales and helping us perfect more traditional cooking methods.
We should not think that Heston is the first to become interested in the science behind cooking and by no means is he the creator of molecular gastronomy. He would be the first to admit this himself, however, he should be credited with the title of ‘pioneer’ and is leading the application of academic theories here in the UK.
We will return to this discussion about molecular gastronomy soon and don’t forget to remind me to chat more about- new combinations of flavour and cooking as an art.
‘Gastronomic Alchemy- understanding Molecular Gastronomy’
It has occurred to me lately that I may have been a little too critical of Heston’s work in my last few entries. Earlier today Heston and I discussed briefly ways that I could learn more whilst I am here. One thing that we talked about made me think- we decided that I should definitely ask more questions about why we do certain things, because there are reasons behind everything. Whilst I still do not think that this sort of food is the style I would choose to adopt, it is masterfully carried out and there are many techniques and methods that I could apply. I thought that during this posting I would discuss further some of the key principles behind some of Heston’s work.
Firstly, it should be realized straight-away that despite Heston’s extensive scientific research, he insists that he remains first and foremost a chef, who cooks food. Of cause beyond this statement we can see clearly that Heston is not just any chef and he is even more than just one of the world’s best chefs. He is a chef heavily engaged in the pursuit of understanding what happens to food when we prepare it and with this increased knowledge about the chemical composition and structure of certain ingredients, he is making ground breaking developments.
The Royal Society of Chemistry said in an official statement in April that, “We are delighted with Heston’s success. His work at the Fat Duck using scientific principles to create new and exciting combinations of flavour and taste has raised the awareness of ‘molecular gastronomy’ in the UK. Heston’s curiosity to investigate the fundamental processes behind cooking and thereby push the boundaries of the culinary art is an inspiration..”.
This quotation triggers several other thoughts- but to discuss them all now would become a distraction to this present idea about ‘molecular gastronomy’. I will briefly mention them now though to remind us to return to them later-
Firstly, Heston is creating new and exciting combinations of flavour and taste, (What new combinations have been created and how many of these have been successfully implemented in to the Fat Duck’s menu?)
Secondly, This idea of cooking as an art-form (In what ways is cooking an art form and how does it compare with other arts such as painting, music or literature?).
Many think that ‘molecular gastronomy’ is little more than a fictional buzz- word. But it is much more than that. In many ways is not really anything new. After all molecular gastronomy is (in part) simply investigating the scientific processes that go on with food. For example, we have been roasting meats for hundreds of years, molecular gastronomy has looked at cooking times of meats and told us that by checking the temperature of the core of the joint of meat whilst cooking we can more accurately control how long it should be cooked for. Domestic recipes often increase the cooking time depending simply on the weight of the joint, but commercially this is unhelpful, particulary with large pieces of meat and can result in the meat being over-cooked. So we see, that ‘molecular gastronomy’ is helping us not only create new flavours and combinations, but is also dismissing old wives tales and helping us perfect more traditional cooking methods.
We should not think that Heston is the first to become interested in the science behind cooking and by no means is he the creator of molecular gastronomy. He would be the first to admit this himself, however, he should be credited with the title of ‘pioneer’ and is leading the application of academic theories here in the UK.
We will return to this discussion about molecular gastronomy soon and don’t forget to remind me to chat more about- new combinations of flavour and cooking as an art.
Next- 'Molecular Gastronomy- A Matter of Taste?'
No comments:
Post a Comment