In the Internet age, in addition to competing for "color, fragrance and taste", food also has a very important point, that is, "creativity". Molecular cuisine perfectly interprets the creativity of food. The so-called molecular gastronomy is to apply chemical (or physical) theory to cooking and reorganize the molecular structure of food. Here, the caviar you see may be filled with juice, and the mashed potatoes you specially ordered may turn out to be foam.
Many years ago, a group of short films about Long Yin food in Japanese Michelin-starred restaurants became popular on the Internet, and laboratory equipment such as constant temperature water bath, liquid nitrogen and n-butane spray gun were moved into the kitchen, which made people open their mouths and marvel. Can this thing cook? These amazing foods are the favorites of Michelin restaurants today, aiming at constantly challenging the limits of people's vision and taste buds.
When you hear Michelin's lofty words, don't feel far behind. In fact, many girls' favorite desserts, such as exploding pearl milk tea, cotton candy and ginger milk, are the embodiment of "casual" molecular gastronomy technology. Let's take a look at some common cooking skills in molecular gastronomy.
Spheroidization technology
Spheroidization is one of the most common and classic technologies in molecular gastronomy. In 2003, Michelin three-star chef Ferran Adrià first introduced "Hami melon caviar", which was a sensation. After the crystal clear caviar burst open, it turned out to be sweet Hami melon juice, which surprised the diners at that time. Now the recipe of Hami melon caviar has been made public, and even ordinary people can DIY at home, which has also contributed to the explosion of bubble tea in the streets.
The beaded milk tea is produced by spheroidization technology. If water is to be repaired, the first thing that many people think of may be freezing. How can you seal the liquid water in place? That is spheroidization, which is mainly realized by sodium alginate and calcium chloride.
Sodium alginate will cross-link with calcium ions to form gel spheres wrapped with liquid. Spheroidization can be divided into forward spheroidization and reverse spheroidization. To put it bluntly, it is a question of who will fall first in the above two schemes. Fruit juice is mixed with sodium alginate and then dropped into sodium chloride solution, which is positive polarization. On the contrary, you add fruit juice to calcium chloride solution, mix it and then drop sodium alginate, which is reverse polarization.
The ball formed by forward polarization is obviously brittle when bitten, and with the passage of time, the ball with forward polarization will become more and more dense. The effect of anti-polarization is that it is full of liquid. When the skin is broken, it will explode and need to be eaten as soon as possible. Generally, the milk tea with exploding beads that girls often drink is positively polarized, while the anti-polarized milk tea is especially suitable for alcoholic drinks, such as the exploding beads of mojito cocktails. When the exploding beads burst, the fresh and cool mint goes straight to the throat, bringing people a unique drinking experience.
Low temperature slow cooking technology of NO2
As the name implies, low-temperature slow cooking technology is to slowly "time-consuming and mature" ingredients through a constant temperature water bath. Why did you invent such a technology? It is completely to lock the moisture in the ingredients, so as to keep the freshest and tender taste of the ingredients to the maximum extent during the cooking process.
Presumably, many people will encounter a problem when frying steak, that is, if the heat is not well mastered, it is easy to fry the water inside the beef, and the taste of the beef will become old and hard. How to fry the meat and keep it juicy and tender? This is a great test for chefs. Some chefs will fry both sides of the steak first to lock in the moisture in the steak.
Low-temperature slow cooking technology is to put the ingredients into a plastic bag, then vacuum the bag and put it into a constant-temperature water bath pot, so that beef can be cooked slowly at a temperature of only 50 to 60 degrees Celsius. Some kitchens even heat steaks for 24 hours, making them tender like sponges, boiled salmon tender like tofu, and boiled eggs with jelly-like texture, which makes your mouth water.
No.3 liquid nitrogen freezing technology
Nowadays, when many dishes are served on the table, it feels like a fairyland, that is, the effect of adding dry ice or liquid nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen freezing technology uses the ultra-low temperature of-196 degrees Celsius to quickly freeze ingredients, which needs to be faster. Under normal freezing conditions, the water in the ingredients will condense to form large ice crystals. As we all know, the volume of water will increase when it freezes.
The ultra-low temperature of liquid nitrogen will freeze the water in the ingredients first, and then condense into larger ice crystals, thus forming fine particles. After the liquid frozen by liquid nitrogen is crushed, it is fine and even, and the taste is ice-free. Nowadays, many well-known brands of shaved ice adopt low-temperature liquid nitrogen technology. This kind of shaved ice overcomes the disadvantage that traditional shaved ice is not easy to taste. It is a must-have artifact in summer and is deeply loved by dessert people.
No.4 emulsification technology
Also known as foam, many people have had the experience of making cakes with an eggbeater. Lecithin in eggs and casein in milk are good emulsifiers. Emulsifier can mix water and oil to reduce the surface tension of liquid, thus forming stable bubbles. We often say that sending cream to send eggs is to fill the air with emulsifier quickly, thus forming a foam texture.
However, in addition to eggs and milk, such as fruit juice, vegetable juice and various sauces, even if you beat them hard to make them bubble, these bubbles will burst quickly. Molecular gastronomy is adding foaming agents such as soybean lecithin, xanthan gum and gelatin to these ingredients that you think are impossible to foam, to help chefs make unexpected foaming ingredients, such as chocolate foam, cheese foam and soy sauce foam. Unexpected changes in the structure of ingredients are always amazing. Is this still edible?
If traditional cooking is a skill, then molecular gastronomy is an art, which is based on scientific research and development, with a curious heart, constantly expands the boundaries of food, and brings unprecedented food sensory feast to people in the process of exploring the unknown world.