I’ve mentioned hydrocolloids at several occasions earlier in the blog, and today I found an interesting recipe I would like to share. Put simple, hydrocolloids are compounds that form gels when mixed with water. One particular hydrocolloid is methyl cellulose whose chemical structure is as follows:

Methyl cellulose is made from cellulose. Methyl celluloses are available with varying degrees of methyl substitution. Typically 40-90% of the hydroxy groups are methylated. Often the degree of substitution (DS) is given as the average number of hydroxy groups that have been methylated per anhydroglucose unit, so the maximum DS is 3. The solubility in water decreases with increasing methyl substitution. One interesting property of methyl cellulose is the fact that it dissolves readily in cold water, but solidifies when you heat it (such gels are often referred to as thermoreversible). Using this property it is possible to make a hot “ice cream” that melts as it cools down. Does this sound weird? Here’s a recipe from Ideas in food so you can try it at home:

Hot Vanilla Ice Cream
306 g whole milk yogurt
230 g cream cheese
80 g agave nectar
154 g water
1 Bourbon vanilla bean scraped
pinch of sea salt
11.55g Methocel food gum (SGA150)

In a blender puree together the yogurt, cream cheese, agave nectar, the insides of the vanilla bean and the salt. Blend just until the mixture comes together as a smooth puree, but do not aerate. Meanwhile, heat the water up to a boil. As soon as the water boils remove from the heat and whisk in the Methocel. Once the Methocel is dispersed, add it to the blender and puree the contents until the mixture is homogenized, again avoid aeration.

Once the mixture is combined, pour it into a bowl over an ice bath to chill. Let the ice-cold mixture rest for at least an hour, preferably overnight before poaching the ice cream.

When ready to make the ice cream, heat a pot of water to a boil. When the water boils, shut off the heat and scoop the ice cream base. As you scoop, wipe the edges of the ice cream scoop, and then immerse the scoop and its contents into the hot water. You will see the ice cream set, and then dislodge it from the scoop. The ice cream should poach for about one minute for small scoops and longer for larger scoops. (Depending on how much ice cream you are poaching you may have to turn the heat back on to keep the water hot.)

Once the ice cream is set, remove the scoops, drain briefly on a paper towel and place into serving dishes with whatever garnishes you want. As the mixture chills the ice cream will “melt” in your dish, blending with the garnishes like and actual cold ice cream sundae.

First challenge is to get hold of methyl cellulose (also known as Methocel which is the trademark owned by Dow - BTW, they have very informative pages on food grade methyl cellulose). From Dow’s pages, it seems the SGA in the name refers to “METHOCEL Super Gelling A-Type Food Gums”. Methocell A has a DS = 1.8 and a 2% solution of this methyl cellulose sets at 50-55 °C, forming a firm gel. For a overview of Dow’s full range, check out this pdf. Click here for information about where to buy methocel (most likely in larger quantities).

For small quantities of methyl cellulose you can check out Will Goldfarb’s site (unfortunately, there’s no information about which type of methyl cellulose this is Update: It’s Dow’s F50 - a semi-firm gel forms at 62-68 °C). The Texturas series by elBulli includes Metil (with a methyl cellulose base, whatever that means), but again, I haven’t been able to find any information as to what kind of methyl cellulose this is (they do mention a gelling temperature in the range 40-60 °C however).

I’ll be happy to include further links to suppliers of methyl cellulose (and other hydrocolloids) both here and on my suppliers page if you know about any!

For those really interested, Ideas in food have several other recipes requiring methyl cellulose: hot mozarella sheets, hummus gnocchi and caramellized yoghurt gnocchi.

I’m working on a page about wine from the viewpoint of a chemist. So far I’ve included a short introduction to wine from a chemical perspective and also discussed interactions between wine and saliva (including an experiment for you to try at home). Feel free to discuss in the blog! For those interested, I’ve also compiled a list of books about wine and wine chemistry. There’s also some books about food and wine pairing (but if I were you, I’d just stick with the wine and the food that you like!). More to come soon!

(Photo borrowed from “my unfair lady” at flickr.com)

Heston Blumenthal was recently featured in “Private Eye”, a british satire magazine (found via Aidan Brooks). They included the following recipe for boiled eggs:

A further discussion of boiled eggs from the perspective of molecular gastronomy is found here.

My very first encounter with food chemistry and molecular gastronomy was through the first edition of Harold McGee’s book “On food and cooking”. The good news is he has started a blog with News for curious cooks (with the subtitle: exploring the science of food and its transformation with Harold McGee). The first post appeard in August and was on recent scientific report showing that “Cognacs contain more dissolved taste substances than other spirits”. I’m looking forward to read more! (appearantly, Harold McGee also plans to post further gems of knowledge about food and cooking according to Simon Quellen Field)

Now that I’m at it, I found yet another article by Hervé This entitled Molecular Gastronomy and the Foundation “Food Science and Food Culture”, published in Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 2006, 5, 48. About the name “molecular gastronomy”, Hervé This writes:

Molecular gastronomy, why such a pompous name? And is it some useless activity of the idle rich or wealthy foodies? Of course not! First, a differentiation should be made between cooking and gastronomy. Cooking means preparing dishes, whereas gastronomy, according to the promoter of the word, means “intelligent knowledge of whatever concerns man’s nourishment” (Brillat-Savarin 2006). When this knowledge is history, the activity is “historical gastronomy,” but when it comes to the study of chemical and physical transformations involved in culinary practice, then it is “molecular gastronomy.”

He goes on to distinguish it from culinology (which BTW is a trademark - “How can science be patented?” Hervé asks). What is even more interesting, is that he includes a modification of the original five points that were published in his PhD thesis (and also included in the 2002 article “Molecular gastronomy” in Angewandte Chemie):

1. investigate recipes
2. collect and test culinary proverbs, old wives’ tales, and so on
3. invent new dishes based on 1 and 2
4. introduce new tools, ingredients, and methods in the kitchen
5. use cooking to show that the physical and biological sciences are wonderful

He writes that this was a major mistake because 3 and 4 are technological, not scientific, and 5 is political. Because of this, he has recently changed the objectives of what he thinks molecular gastronomy should be. He notes that a dish contains a “love” component, an “art” component and a “technical” component. And molecular gastronomy should investigate these three, but only from a scientific point of view. Read more about definitions of molecular gastronomy.

In a recent issue of EMBO Reports, Hervé This (who coined the term “molecular gastronomy”) writes about “Food for tomorrow? How the scientific discipline of molecular gastronomy could change the way we eat” (free download: html or pdf). He asks:

What is molecular gastronomy? Is it only a temporary trend for people who are prepared to spend a small fortune on the latest in fine food, or is it here to stay? Is it a useful technique for both the average chef and anyone preparing dinner for their family? What does it mean for the future of food preparation? What are we going to eat tomorrow?

Higly recommended reading!

Approximately a month ago Harold McGee suggested that the term “molecular gastronomy” should be ditched. Now Ferran Adrià who has been visiting San Francisco claims that his cooking is often incorrectly labeled molecular gastronomy. More on this from SFGate.com:

Adrià says what’s come out of his experimentation has often been misunderstood and incorrectly labeled molecular gastronomy or molecular cooking.
“Come on,” he said, throwing his hands into the air. “It doesn’t mean anything. People think Ferran Adrià and they think chemist. ”

Harold McGee fills in:

“What he’s doing doesn’t start or end with science,” McGee said in an interview. “It’s just one of the many tools he uses.” He takes natural ingredients and transforms them into something interesting.

I guess Ferran Adrià wants his cooking to be not only molecular gastronomy (or science if you like), but a lot more than that, namely art. Perhaps this can be traced back to an artificial boundry between the “hard” and “soft” sciences? At this point I think it’s important to take a look at some definitions of molecular gastronomy. Thorvald Pedersen has definied it in a way that overcomes this boundry. According to him, molecular gastronomy is “The art and science of choosing, preparing and eating good food”. This definition captures the important point that there is an interplay between art and science.

Since Ferran Adrià goes on using many techniques which are familiar for chemists and other scientists, but still quite unusual in the everyday kitchen, I see no reason not to label his cooking molecular gastronomy. One could say that when molecular gastronomy misses the artistic dimension, it is perhaps more of academic interest. (But those who are comfortable with science know that it has a beauty of it’s own!)