If I were to name a topic for this year’s Flemish Primitives event I guess gadgets would be it. I’ve already covered the high pressure processing in a previous post. Regrettably we were only shown pictures and movies of this machine (it is to large/complex to be brought on stage) but there was much more that would qualify for a post focusing on some of the gadgets presented.

Crycotuv
The most obscure machine in my opinion was the Crycotuv – a vacuum chamber which could be cooled to any desired temperature between -150 and 0 °C in seconds/minutes. The rapid cooling was achieved by evaporation of liquid nitrogen (so in order to run a Crycotuv you’ll need a steady supply of LN2). The major benefit of rapid vacuum freezing is significantly less cell damage. In conventional freezing the damaged cells cause leaks when the food is thawed. When the desired vacuum was reached, a spray nozzle also allowed flavors to be sprayed onto foods inside the vacuum chamber, resulting in a “vacuum impregnation”. This was demonstrated with oranges slices which were submerged in coffee. Using the Crycotuv the airpockets were replaced by coffee.

(skip the long intro with overly dramatic music and view from 0:53 – that’s were the demo starts)

The most interesting demonstration was how one could use the vacuum to expand foods and then freeze them to obtain sponges. This was done with foie gras and I sure wish I could have tasted one of those! The Crycotuv is based on a ideas from Kristof Coppens and produced by Messer, and during the sessions the Jean-Claude Claeys and Harold Demoen (from Messer and Cretel respectively) were also on stage.

During the presentation is occured to me that the vacuum impregnation (without cooling) is identical to what you can do with the Gastrovac, and that you could even make a DIY version with a pressure cooker and a water suction pump. Or if you have a food saver with the possibility of attaching jars you can use them as well for vacuum impregnation.

Chef Roger van Damme with the EmulsionFire. Photo by Piet De Kersgieter.

EmulsionFire
An immersion blender will bring you quite far when making emulsions such as mayonnaise, but if you want to make emulsions at a larger scale the EmulsionFire could be your choice. The machine was demonstrated by chef Roger van Damme and 3 emulsion samples were handed out to every participant – they were indeed thick and very rich. In fact, it’s possible to make emulsions as thick as Nutella with EmulsionFire. It was mentioned that the machine uses magnets, but no details were given on this. My guess is that the machine uses a contact less, magnet based drive train in the emulsifier unit as would probably be qutie favorable from a cleaning viewpoint – but this is only a guess.

Samples prepared by the EmulsionFire: dark chocolate, milk chocolate and coconut creams.

Laboratory equipment
The large laboratory supplier VWR was a sponsor of the event and had a range of equipment on display at the back of the scene. I talked to the VWR sales representative Dominique Mauroy and he let me know that they soon will launch a brochure with laboratory equipment of particular relevance for use in the kitchen. I’ll update once I know more about this. There is also a launching event planned on April 19 in Belgium. Anyway – here are some of the gadgets VWR had on display. This is equipment that we use daily in my daytime job, and it’s really fun to see how it has found it’s way into kitchens.

To the left a conventional rotary evaporator, but check out the wide mouthed flask on the right! This is perfect glassware for food stuffs which are sticky and may require more extensive cleaning.

In chemistry labs UltraTurrax stirrers are a common sight. They are high shear stirres but without “external” moving parts (like the knives of an immersion blender) and are excellent for dispersion of hydrocolloids.

Freeze driers (left) are well known in the food industry, but chefs are also beginning to see the potential that lies in this low temperature flavor concentration technique. Of course there were also water baths for sous vide on display.

To the left a standard laboratory heating plate with magnetic stirring. To the right magnetic stirring bars of different sizes.

SOSA aroma library
SOSA should be well known to many with their extensive product range for professional kitchens. At The Flemish Primitives this year they displayed their aroma library. With a total of 192 flavors grouped into categories such as sweets, nuts, herbs, flowers, vegetables, roots, fiction, lactis etc you basically have “an alphabet of flavors” at your hands. It’s a great way of learning flavors and a perfect toolbox when investigating flavor pairings. I’d sure like to have a library like this in my kitchen! Interestingly Sense for taste (who formally run the foodpairing website) and SOSA had co-published a small booklet on flavorpairing with two recipes using some of the flavors from the “flavor alphabet”.

“Alphabet of flavors” from SOSA: 192 flavors at your finger tips!

Wine table
And finally a gadget for the more tech savy people: a Microsoft Surface table running a wine application (from the company Metanous). As you can see from the pictures and the video a coaster with an identifying chip is attached to each wine bottle. When the bottle is put down on the table it is immediately recognized and a circular menu appears around the bottle. If you move or rotate the bottle, the menu follows the movements. The menu gives access to text, pictures and videos about the wine, the grape variety, the growing region, interviews with the wine producers etc. The table allows plenty of simultaneous user interaction with different gestures and touches.

Due to the outbreak sessions I regrettably missed the presentation of Sergio Herman’s sophisticated dinner plates.
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I also visited The Flemish Primitives in 2009. You can read more about that in my four posts from last year: The Flemish Primitives: A travel report (part 1), Chocolate surprise (part 2), Heston Blumenthal (part 3) and Glowing lollipops (part 4). Final note to readers: This year my travel expenses were covered by TFP and the tourism bureau of Brugge.

I’ve written a couple of posts about The Flemish Primitives 2010 event (and there are more to come), but I also wanted to do an interview with Bernard Lahousse, the project manager of the event. Bernard first contacted me back in 2006 and we met at the EuroFoodChem conference in Paris in 2007. Those who’ve followed Khymos for a while may remember pointers to the “Food for design” blog and the foodpairing website which Bernard has set up.

ML: It seems you have always had an interest for things in the cross section of science and art? When we first came in contact you were writing the “Food for design” blog which covered gastronomy, science and design – what happend to it?

BL: Indeed, I’ve always been interested in the cross-section between different disciplines. Not only science-art or science-gastronomy, but many more. My belief is that the interesting stuff is happening where people with different background meet. As I lack time (and also Lieven), we made a choice to put Food for design on hold and concentrate on other topics. For me that’s foodpairing and my company. For Lieven it is his PhD.

ML: Could you briefly describe your educational background and how you ended up as a project manager for The Flemish Primitives?

BL: I have a master in bio-engineering, and a master in intellectual law. But I’ve always been interested in gastronomy. As I’m one of the founders of the Foundation (Flanders Taste Foundation) organizing The Flemish Primitives and really the intermediate between industry, chefs and universities it was quite logical to become the project leader; but it is still a hobby (none of us is gaining some money with organizing this – it is really out of love for gastronomy). But all of the innovations presented at TFP come from myself, from HPP to Dominique his foams, they were all initiated by me (so quite logical I’m the project manager)

ML: I find it difficult to put TFP in a specific category – it is part gastronomy, part science. How would you in as few words as possible define The Flemish Primitives? And the company “Sense for taste” where you work, could you briefly explain the business concept?

BL: The Flemish Primitives aspires to become the most innovative and creative culinary event in the world. The way we do it is by combining different players: chefs, scientists, companies, artists,… So The Flemish Primitives wants to give you a glimpse of what is possible in the future in gastronomy and food. It is meant to inspire and let people start dreaming.

In “Sense for taste” we position ourselves as a foodlab increasing the efficiency in food product development. Foodpairing is one of the methods we use. So we do consultancy, but we also develop our own products. We work mainly for the big food multinationals, but also for farmers with a passion for products…We are with 3 partners; an ex-Michelin star chef Peter Coucquyt, a product developer Johan Langenbick and a scientist myself.

ML: Could you give one example of how science, gastronomy and art have been combined into something which is more than just the sum of three parts?

BL: The plates from Sergio Herman e.g.

ML: Very often cooking comes first and is later explained by science, possibly with a few adjustments. Do you have any examples were it started with science (or technology) sparked the creativity of a chef?

BL: The system of using pectin methylesterase naturally present to make gels out of tomato, was initiated by science and executed by chefs afterwards.

ML: What are the biggest challenges you have faced when working with TFP?

BL: We don’t lack ideas/content. But to organize an event like this you should need at least 1 or more persons working the whole year on this event to prepare and we lack for the moment the means to make this a professional organisation (it is still like a bunch of friends). We are still a private organization without any support from the Government, but hoping that will change in the future.

ML: Your debut was last year, this year amazingly all seats were sold out (BTW – how many tickets were sold?) – what are your plans and expectations for next year and the years to come? Will you remain in Belgium or “go global”? What would be a “dream come true” for TFP?

BL: We sold around 400 tickets, the rest was taken by food companies. My dreams are to build a platform with Belgian chefs, universities, companies,… The outcome of this cooperation will be shown each year at The Flemish. There are some plans and requests to go global, but these are still plans for the moment.

ML: A final question – when working all day long with food and The Flemish Primitives, how has your work influenced your own cooking at home? And what is your favorite dish?

BL: The way of using meat and fish changed at lot (now mostly low temperature). For the rest my cooking changed a lot as my using now different products inspired by what chefs are using. My favorite dish; that’s a hard question. It will probably contain fish and then some vegetables also low temperature treated.

ML: Thank you very much!

(The interview was done by email since Bernard had a pretty hectic time schedule on the day of the event.)

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I also visited The Flemish Primitives in 2009. You can read more about that in my four posts from last year: The Flemish Primitives: A travel report (part 1), Chocolate surprise (part 2), Heston Blumenthal (part 3) and Glowing lollipops (part 4). Final note to readers: This year my travel expenses were covered by TFP and the tourism bureau of Brugge.

As mentioned in my previous post on The Flemish Primitives 2010 (TFP2010) two chefs had taken their inspiration from Asia. Peter Goossens had come across high pressure processing during a study trip to Japan, and had developed this further in cooperation with Stefan Töpfl. Korean born Sang Hoon Degeimbre (of L’Air du Temps) on the other hand had returned to his roots to study kimchi, the ubiquitious Korean staple food. It is a pickled dish made of vegetables with various seasonings, and it is a very common side dish in Korea. In fact, it’s so common that Koreans say “kimchi” when being photographed, just like we say “cheese” in English.

Sang Hoon’s idea was to take the basic concepts and modernize them. Central to the preparation of kimchi is the lactic acid fermentation, using lactic acid bacteria. And in this sense kimchi is closely related to miso, kvass, kapusta, kefir, yoghurt, sauerkraut and sour dough bread – all of which involve fermentation of sugars to lactic acid. And as a commenter mentioned, I should not forget sour beers such as Flanders red ale.

The science was very much integrated into this years event, and to help him with the science of lactic fermentations Sang Hoon had teamed up with Xavier Nicolay from the Meurice institute. Xavier briefly mentioned several scientific papers on Kimchi, most of which you can find by doing a quick google scholar search on kimchi). However, from what I manged to pick up during the presentation nothing from these publications was actually applied in the cooking being done.

Traditional home made kimchi. Photo by J.W. Hamner (CC by-nc-sa).

A lactic fermentation induces several changes in foods. Firstly the acidification aids the preservation as food spoilage microbes generally can’t grow at low pH. Important flavour changes include the lactic acid with a hint of carbonation and other fermentation products such as diacetyl and ethanol. The texture of lactic fermented products is also quite unique as the vegetable or fruit becomes tender without beeing oversoftened. In fact they retain a remarkable crispiness. Interestingly the colors turn brighter, and in some special cases even change (green garlic was the topic of Harold McGee’s first column for the New York Times)

Sang Hoon used the following procedure when preparing his modernized kimchi:

• blanch vegetables (this releases sugars for the fermentation)
• add 1-8% salt
• add a lactic starter (no specific info was given on type and source – hints form readers are welcome!)
• vacuum pack – this is definitely a novel use for your sous vide plastic bags (compare with traditional German way of anaerobic fermentation in “ceramic pot” with water lock rim)
• the vacuum pouches were then left to ferment for 1 week @ room temperature
• to aid creation of flavors starch was added
• yeast autolysate was also added for flavor
• final preparation was clarified in a centrifuge

As a result, Sang Hoon had arrived at a “more sturctured” kimchi (sorry – no picture as of now, but the blog Cuisiner en Ligne does have a nice picture of the finished kimchi inspired dish).

For comparison you may check out these kimchi recipes. Note that none of these uses specific starters (i.e. starting culture of lactic acid bacteria). They all rely on the bacteria naturally present on the cabbage leaves.

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I also visited The Flemish Primitives in 2009. You can read more about that in my four posts from last year: The Flemish Primitives: A travel report (part 1), Chocolate surprise (part 2), Heston Blumenthal (part 3) and Glowing lollipops (part 4). Final note to readers: This year my travel expenses were covered by TFP and the tourism bureau of Brugge.

I just received an alert today about a major review article on molecular gastronomy: Molecular Gastronomy: A New Emerging Scientific Discipline (DOI: 10.1021/cr900105w) is a British-Danish joint publication by Peter Barham, Leif H. Skibsted, Wender L. P. Bredie, Michael Bom Frøst, Per Møller, Jens Risbo, Pia Snitkjær, and Louise Mørch Mortensen. Peter Barham is a professor in polymer physics at the University of Bristol, author of The science of cooking and probably doesn’t need further introduction. The Danes are all associated with the Department of Food Science at the University of Copenhagen and have a varied background in chemistry, food science, sensory science and psychology background. Check out the links to their individual profiles more info on projects and publications. Leif H. Skibsted and Michael Bom Frøst head several molecular gastronomy related projects. The Danish scientists also work closely together with Claus Meyer, chef at Meyers madhus and visiting professor at Copenhagen University, and Torsten Vildgaard, assistant head chef at Denmark’s gastronomic shining star Noma (which Claus Meyer started together with René Redzepi in 2004 – they were ranked 3rd in Restaurant magazines top 50 list for 2009, only surpassed by el Bulli and The Fat Duck).

Considering the impact factor of Chemical Reviews (ranked as a clear no. 1 among chemistry journals), this review will likely remain the review on molecular gastronomy for years to come – so you can just as well go ahead and read it. It’s got a whopping 53 pages and more than 350 references, and will be very useful for further studies and research. Oh, and the authors have opted for sponsored access, meaning that you can download the whole review for free!

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Some curiosa as a post scriptum: Even though the above mentioned review is the most comprehensive academic treatment on molecular gastronomy to this date, the very first mention of “molecular gastronomy” in Chemical Reviews was in a review on platinum chemistry in 2005 (check out the full text search). When writing a review on platinum C-H activation chemistry some years ago with my supervisor I mentioned in the short author bio that besides my research activities I had “a strong interest in molecular gastronomy”. My supervisor prof. Mats Tilset then added to his bio that he had “a strong interest in practical gastronomy”. Even in serious journals there is room for a little fun

The available litterature in English (including blogs) on popular food science focuses mainly on Western cooking, although the academic litterature on Asian foods is catching up quickly. Although widespread and apparently “well known”, Asian cooking is still largely being referred to in broad categories such as Chinese, Indian etc. Having spent 10 years of my childhood in Asia I’ve always had the feeling that this wasn’t quite right, and I do indeed look forward to learn more about the science aspects of Asian food in the years and decades to come. In one of the breakout sessions (more about those in a separate post) Alok Nandi made a point that Indian cuisine is as diverse as the European cuisine. With this background it is interesting to note that two of the chefs presenting at The Flemish Primitives 2010 had taken their inspiration from Asia.


Japanese pressure treatment vessel (picture from Peter Goossens powerpoint presentation)

On a study trip to Japan, Peter Goossens (chef at Hof Van Cleve) and 15 other chefs were apparently the first Europeans admitted to the Hattori chef’s school (Wikipedia entry – I’m not 100% sure if this is the right “Hattori”) for a 3 day intensive course. One thing they were served were sardines treated at a pressure of 1000 bars. They were surprised by the texture and flavor, and when talking to Bernard Lahousse about it he put them in contact with Stefan Töpfl at the German Institute of Food Technologies. Töpfl’s group works with food processing, and one topic of interest is high pressure processing: it turns out that treating food for 2 min @ 6000 bar is an efficient way of pasteurizing (see for example an article from the institute on poultry pasteurization).

Stefan Töpfl being interviewed by Bernard Lahousse. Peter Goossens in white jacket relaxing at the bar. Photo by Piet De Kersgieter

But there is more to high pressure processing than pasteurization. Oysters, clams and shellfish in general for instance are vacuum packed and the pouches are water cooled throughout the process. This allows for “cold pasteurization”. Apart from the fact that no heating is involved (and hence the flavor remains unaltered) there are several other benefits of the heating process: oysters nearly double in size and “fill the shells”, shellfish are generally easier to open, crustaceans are easily descaled, taste is enhanced and there is less need for salt. The technique can also be applied to other foods such as fruit which turns sweeter after the high pressure treatment. The explanation for the enhanced taste and sweetness is that the water binding capacity of the foods increases, and hence there is more free water to dissolve and carry tastes. Other applications include treatment of guacamole for retention of the green color and flavor impregnation (i.e. oysters impregnated with champagne!).

Every single attendant to TFP2010 was served a plastic tray with four different high pressure processed clams/shellfish/oysters (I admit that I’m confused by the nomenclature here – seems there are differences between languages as well as to how generic the terms are used)

Quite surprisingly shellfish samples were handed out as you can see from the pictures. In my opinion they were very juicy, not stringly, a little salty and had a fresh taste. But I have to admit that I eat shellfish so seldomly that it’s hard for me to really compare the high pressure treated ones to more conventional shellfish. As Bernard Lahousse was called up on the stage he also presented a flavor pairing tip for oysters based on methyl hexanoate, which they interestingly share with kiwis (and passion fruit!). Many more flavor pairing tips can of course be found on the the foodpairing website. And the foodpairing blog published the recipe for Kiwître in 2007, a dish invented by Sang Hoon Degeimbre (chef of L’air du temps) which combines oysters and kiwi.

Bernard Lahousse explaning how kiwis and oysters have methyl hexanoate in common.

Further reading: A quick google search yields numerous hits on high pressure processing of food, including the companies High Pressure Dynamics and Avure which manufacture the processing equipment. There are many scientific publications on the topic (including one on high pressure induced gel of sardine – perhaps this is this what Peter Goossens and his colleagues were served when visiting Japan?), and wikipedia also has a nice introduction to high pressure food preservation. Youtube has several videos demonstrating HPP.

Next up from TFP2010: more Asian inspiration with Sang Hoon Degeimbre and kimchi!

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I also visited The Flemish Primitives in 2009. You can read more about that in my four posts from last year: The Flemish Primitives: A travel report (part 1), Chocolate surprise (part 2), Heston Blumenthal (part 3) and Glowing lollipops (part 4). Final note to readers: This year my travel expenses were covered by TFP and the tourism bureau of Brugge.

Again I was lukcy that all the practical details worked out so I could attend this year’s Flemish Primitives in Brugge. For some one who’s not attended, it’s not so easy to grasp the concept and ideas behind The Flemish Primitives (TFP). And I admit, even though I’ve been there twice it’s not so easy to convey it in a short way. First of all the name is rather cryptic (unless you’re into art) as it refers to early Netherlandish painting. The link to food is described as follows by the organizers of the event (my highlights):

In the 15th and 16th century, ’The Flemish Primitives’ were masters in combining their talent with new techniques. Techniques they developed by interacting with other disciplines like manuscripting, sculpting, etc. This way of working changed the painting techniques in all of Western Europe forever. The event ‘The Flemish Primitives’ wants to continue in the same spirit. Respect for food products and beverages, the knowledge of the classic cooking techniques combined with a stimulation of new techniques and creativity. By promoting interaction between scientists, the world’s most famous chefs and artists, the event wants to deliver a creative boost for the food industry and gastronomy in Belgium and the world.

Considering last year’s sucess it was no big surprise that this year’s event was sold out (and the foyer of the Concertgebouw was equally full in the coffee breaks). And with the memories from last year I arrived in Brugge with great expectations. One main difference from previous years was that the scientific parts were much better integrated throughout the day. Scientists were on stage alongside the chefs, explaining their work. Also, contrary to last year’s back stage kitchen, they had now moved the kitchen onto the stage, flanked by a bar, some sofas and laboratory mezzanine. A good decision!

Flavor pairing (or food pairing as they call it) was the main topic of last year, but even this year flavor pairing was mentioned throughout the day by several people. It’s also obvious that Bernard Lahousse and his team have worked hard to get some of the sponsors of the event to incorporate the idea into their printed material (Belcolade and SOSA).

Flavor pairing diagrams like this one were incorporated into the Belcolade (= Belgian chocolate company) handouts. Similar diagrams for a great number of food items can be found at the food pairing website.

As I see it, one of the main objects of TFP is to find (or even create) new sources of creativity for chefs. And art, science and cooking can indeed be a fruitfull mix for creative exchange and development. Working as a chef is all about constantly finding new sources of creativity. Even among the very best, one can find signs of creative fatigue – it suffices to mention Ferran Adria who recently announced that el Bulli would close down for two years (2012 and 2013). He gives several reasons, but The Times Online reports that according to Spanish culinary insiders the “effort needed to keep dreaming up mouthwatering wonders, has worn him down” (more in a recent Q&A from WSJ). Ferran does however promise to be back in 2014!

TFP 2010 included presentations of five novel technologies and concepts. These included the use of very high pressure for processing of seafood and fruit. This is commonly done in the food industry for preservation purposes, but now it was used mainly for the textural and flavor changes induced. A second device shown was a combined vacuum and freezing chamber were the freezing was effected by liquid nitrogen, allowing virtually any temperature between 0 and -150 °C to be reached within minutes. Regrettably I missed part of the presentation of the third device (due to break out sessions that were running alongside the main program – more on those later). But from the pictures it seemed to be a microfluidic device for precise delivery of flavor essences (feel free to fill me out on this one in the comments!). The last machine presented was a kitchen emulsifier for preparation of emulsions as viscous as Nutella. I’ll post pictures and more info on the gadgets in a separate post.

In the preparations to this years event surveys with chefs and consumers had led to the forumlation of 10 statements on the identity of Belgian gastronomy, which in essence are not too different from the Statement on the ‘new cookery’ which was formulated by Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal, Thomas Keller and Harold McGee back in 2006. I think they are well formulated and it’s hard to disagree with any of the statements. I also belive that most of them could be adopted by many chefs world wide by substituting their own country into the statements. I bring the statements here in extenso for your convenience:

1. Local ingredients. Work with regional products.
2. High-quality ingredients. Work with products of the best quality available preferably in Belgium. Work with seasonal products in the right season.
3. Producer orientation. Chefs have the power to control the quality of the ingredients by making specific choices and demands. Belgian chefs are partly responsible for the motivation of producers to supply the highest quality.
4. Consumer orientation. Chefs have the power to broaden the palate and to revalue or upgrade specific products by paying attention to forgotten, seasonal and local products, or products with low intrinsic value.
5. Inventiveness and openness. Be open to new techniques and products. Strive for innovation and improvement.
6. Inventiveness and cooperation. Strive for intensive cooperation between chefs, the industry and the scientific community. Information exchange is particularily important, also between chefs.
7. Innovation and tradition. Innovation and tradition are not opposites. Have respect for traditional Belgian cuisine by including this respect or tradition as such in dishes.
8. Tastiness and well-being. Strive for food which is tasty above all, but also keep in mind to provide a state of well-being during and after the meal.
9. Moral responsibility. Strive for the use of products that have been produced in an ethical, ecological and sustainable manner.
10. Multisensorial tastiness. Strive for an optimum and ample stimulation of all senses of the consumer. Create a socially agreeable and exclusive experience.

Apart from all the journalists present this year there were also a couple of food bloggers present. You may already know the blogs which mainly focus on restaurant reviews: Very good food (Denmark), Food snob blog (UK), High end food (Germany), Food intelligence (France), Cuisiner en ligne (France) and Gastros on tour. I had a chat with some of them and they all have non-food day time jobs, just like myself. Like last year I plan to write several posts on various topics from TFP – and I will publish this as soon as time allows. But in the mean time, check out the blogs mentioned for a perspective and covering of TFP 2010 that will probably be different from mine

Update: There were more food bloggers present: Coolinary (Belgium), Der Kompottsurfer (Germany).

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I also visited The Flemish Primitives in 2009. You can read more about that in my four posts from last year: The Flemish Primitives: A travel report (part 1), Chocolate surprise (part 2), Heston Blumenthal (part 3) and Glowing lollipops (part 4). Final note to readers: This year my travel expenses were covered by TFP and the tourism bureau of Brugge.

Food Geeks: Liking to eat is one thing, but becoming really familiar with the exact time and water temperature to cook the perfect soft-boiled egg? … This elevates hunger to a seriously geeky level…

I kind of feel a finger pointing at me But believe it or not, there were more than 30.000 who visited the page Towards the perfect soft boiled egg last year (and it was first published in April), so my dear fellow food geek reading this: You are not alone!

If you’ve followed my blog more than a year you probably remember that I took part in The Flemish Primitives in Brugge in January 2009. The visit resulted in four blog posts (just in case you wonder what it’s all about): The Flemish Primitives: A travel report (part 1), Chocolate surprise (part 2), Heston Blumenthal (part 3) and Glowing lollipops (part 4). It was a day packed with experiences and interesting meetings. But let us not ponder more with 2009 – Bernard Lahousse has let me know that the next event is just around the corner. In fact it’s only a couple of weeks away. Like last year the venue is Concertgebouw Brugge and the date is February 8th, 2010 (Yes – you have to hurry up with your reservations!).

As for the program, I quote from the invitation folder (my highlights):

Whereas during the first edition in 2009 the academic part, the keynotes and the chefs’ presentations were presented separately, they will be fully integrated for this edition. You may expect a very lively day during which “The Flemish Primitives” will present their recipes and projects to demonstrate the Flemish culinary identity. The chefs want to demonstrate that the Flemish gastronomy has reached a whole new level that does not copy chefs from abroad.

Every culinary project starts with inspiration. The chefs will start by introducing somebody who has inspired their work: expect musicians, architects, choreographers, etc. During the presentations the problems and challenges the chefs encountered while working on the recipe or project will be explained and illustrated by reverting to the international chefs (such as Joan Roca and Jonnie Boer), specialists (such as Harold McGee and Brian McKenna) and the teams of scientists of the different participating universities (Gent, Leuven, PIH Kortrijk, TU Delft & The Culinary Institute of America).

For registration and more information head over to The Flemish Primitives website. And if you want to participate, be prepared to pay the price of €295. For the food-science-art show you’re gonna get it’s probably a small price to pay

A picture is worth a thousand words, and this is also true for recipes. Several of you who have downloaded “Texture – A hydrocolloid recipe collection” have asked for pictures and now it’s time to do something about that! A picture can illustrate texture well and is an excellent supplement to the descriptions. I therefore invite to you to contribute to the recipe collection by taking pictures to accompany the recipes. But before you run to grab your camera, please take a note of the following:

• Pictures should clearly show the component described in the recipe. If you take a close up picture against a neutral background it’s good if one still has a feeling of what the scale is.
• Only send a picture if you actually followed the recipe! This way the picture can also serve as an indication that the recipe as been tested. However, if you for some reason have modified a recipe for a better or different result I would also be very interested in hearing about this.
• Pictures should be in focus and well lit. But remember that Photoshop can do wonders, so please do send pictures even though the colors seem a little dull.
• Pictures will be cropped to a 1:1 aspect ratio as shown above
• Preferred minimum resolution is 450 x 450 pixels
• It’s a requirement that the picture is taken by you and that you are willing to provide it for use in “Texture – A hydrocolloid recipe collection” under a Creative Commons Attribution – Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License since the whole recipe collection is published under such a license
• I reserve the right to crop pictures and do color/brightness/sharpness adjustments
• I reserve the right not to use pictures received (and I only intend to include one picture for every recipe)
• Pictures will be attributed to the photographer as shown in the above illustration.

If you have read the above and agree you’re ready to send your texture pictures to me at this email address: texture.pictures (at) gmail.com. Remember to include the name of the recipe photographed and your name as it should appear under the picture. Thank you very much for helping me make this collection even more useful

A while ago I came across the article “Christmas gingerbread (Lebkuchen) and Christmas cheer–review of the potential role of mood elevating amphetamine-like compounds formed in vivo and in furno” (abstract from NCBI, free full text pdf download from publisher). The paper reviews a hypothesis proposed by Alexander Shulgin in a series of papers appearing in Nature in the 60’s. Shulgin noted that allylbenzenes and propenylbenzens found in many spices are “merely lacking ammonia to become amphetamines”. The author reviews the evidence that such substances may be converted in the body to psychoactive metabolites, but concludes that the evidence is equivocal at best. However, the author launches an alternative theory:

“… the formation of these compounds during the cooking process, what I have called “in furno.” Examination of the Lebkuchen recipe in Table 3 reveals chemical constituents that, when heated together in furno might plausibly result in some ammonia addition to the alkenylbenzene double bonds, which would lead to the presence in the Lebkuchen of 4-methoxyamphetamine (PMA) from (E)-anethole and 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyamphetamine (HMA) from eugenol.”

But as the author prudently add: “Until the appropriate laboratory and clinical investigations are performed, it is merely a subject of speculation and fantasy.” Nevertheless is an entertaining paper to read, and I’m sure that this kind of “science triva” can cheer up discussions around the dinner tables in an otherwise dark December. And I must add that I really love the term in furno (i.e. in the oven, during the cooking/baking process) used alongside the more common in vivo and in vitro.

I’ve illustrated the proposed reactions in the scheme below. Anethole and eugenol are found in cloves/cinnamon and anise seeds respectively. Baker’s ammonia is known to chemists as ammonium carbonate, but also under names such as salt of hartshorn. It has a very strong smell of ammonia and upon heating it decomposes and releases ammonia which could possibly react with the allyl/propenyl groups.

[Found via the very funny NCBI ROFL blog]