Molecular gastronomy is the

scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

approach of

cuisine A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, List of cooking techniques, techniques and Dish (food), dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, ...

from primarily the perspective of

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

. The composition (

molecular structure Molecular geometry is the three-dimensional arrangement of the atoms that constitute a molecule. It includes the general shape of the molecule as well as bond lengths, bond angles, torsional angles and any other geometrical parameters that det ...

), properties (

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

viscosity Viscosity is a measure of a fluid's rate-dependent drag (physics), resistance to a change in shape or to movement of its neighboring portions relative to one another. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of ''thickness''; for e ...

, etc) and transformations (

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemistry, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. When chemical reactions occur, the atoms are rearranged and the reaction is accompanied by an Gibbs free energy, ...

s, reactant

products Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution ...

) of an ingredient are addressed and utilized in the preparation and appreciation of the ingested products. It is a branch of

food science Food science (or bromatology) is the basic science and applied science of food; its scope starts at overlap with agricultural science and nutritional science and leads through the scientific aspects of food safety and food processing, informing ...

that approaches the preparation and

enjoyment Joy is the state of being that allows one to experience feelings of intense, long-lasting happiness and contentment of life. It is closely related to, and often evoked by, well-being, success, or good fortune. Happiness, pleasure, and gratit ...

of nutrition from the perspective of a scientist at the scale of

atom Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a atomic nucleus, nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished fr ...

molecule A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by Force, attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemi ...

s, and

mixture In chemistry, a mixture is a material made up of two or more different chemical substances which can be separated by physical method. It is an impure substance made up of 2 or more elements or compounds mechanically mixed together in any proporti ...

Nicholas Kurti, Hungarian physicist, and Hervé This, at the INRA in France, coined "Molecular and Physical Gastronomy" in 1988.

Examples

Eponymous recipes

New dishes named after famous scientists include: *Gibbs – infusing

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

pods in

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

white with sugar, adding

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

and then

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than other radio waves but longer than infrared waves. Its wavelength ranges from about one meter to one millimeter, corresponding to frequency, frequencies between 300&n ...

cooking. Named after physicist

Josiah Willard Gibbs Josiah Willard Gibbs (; February 11, 1839 – April 28, 1903) was an American mechanical engineer and scientist who made fundamental theoretical contributions to physics, chemistry, and mathematics. His work on the applications of thermodynami ...

(1839–1903). *Vauquelin – using

orange juice Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange (fruit), orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. As ...

cranberry juice Cranberry juice is the liquid juice of the cranberry a fruit recognized for its bright red color, tart taste, and versatility for product manufacturing. Major cranberry products include cranberry juice, dried cranberry, cranberry sauce, frozen ...

with

added sugar Added sugars or free sugars are sugar carbohydrates (caloric sweeteners) added to food and beverages at some point before their consumption. These include added carbohydrates ( monosaccharides and disaccharides), and more broadly, sugars nat ...

when whipping eggs to increase the

and to stabilize the foam, and then

cooking. Named after Nicolas Vauquelin (1763–1829), one of

Lavoisier Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794),
CNRS (

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

to create a coagulated egg. Named after the French chemist

Antoine Baumé Antoine Baumé (26 February 172815 October 1804) was a French people, French chemist. Life He was born at Senlis, Oise, Senlis. He was apprenticed to the chemist Claude Joseph Geoffroy, and in 1752 was admitted a member of the École de Pharmaci ...

(1728–1804).

History

There are many branches of food science that study different aspects of food, such as safety, microbiology, preservation, chemistry, engineering, and physics. Until the advent of molecular gastronomy, there was no branch dedicated to studying the chemical processes of cooking in the home and in restaurants. Food science has primarily been concerned with industrial food production and, while the disciplines may overlap, they are considered separate areas of investigation. The creation of the discipline of molecular gastronomy was intended to bring together what had previously been fragmented and isolated investigations into the chemical and physical processes of cooking into an organized discipline within food science, to address what the other disciplines within food science either do not cover, or cover in a manner intended for scientists rather than cooks. The term "molecular and physical gastronomy" was coined in 1988 by Hungarian physicist Nicholas Kurti and French physical chemist Hervé This. In 1992, it became the title for a set of workshops held in

Erice Erice (; ) is a (municipality) contiguous with the provincial capital Trapani, in western Sicily. Its historic core occupies the site of the ancient city of Eryx, one of the most significant archaeological and religious centres in pre-Roman w ...

, Italy (originally titled "Science and Gastronomy") that brought together scientists and professional cooks for discussions about the science behind traditional cooking preparations. Eventually, the shortened term "molecular gastronomy" became the name of the approach, based on exploring the science behind traditional cooking methods. Kurti and This considered the creation of a formal discipline around the subjects discussed in the meetings. After Kurti's death in 1998, the name of the Erice workshops were changed by This to "The International Workshop on Molecular Gastronomy 'N. Kurti'". This remained the sole director of the subsequent workshops from 1999, and continued his research in the field of molecular gastronomy at the Inra-AgroParisTech International Centre for Molecular Gastronomy, remaining in charge of organizing the international meetings.

Precursors

The idea of using techniques developed in

to study food is not a new one, for instance the discipline of

has existed for many years. Kurti and This acknowledged this fact and though they decided that a new, organized and specific discipline should be created within food science that investigated the processes in regular cooking (as food science was primarily concerned with the nutritional properties of food and developing methods to process food on an industrial scale), there are several notable examples throughout history of investigations into the science of everyday cooking recorded as far as back to 18th century. Benjamin Thompson

Marie-Antoine Carême (1784–1833)

The concept of molecular gastronomy was perhaps presaged by Marie-Antoine Carême, one of the most famous French chefs, who said in the early 19th century that when making a food stock "the broth must come to a boil very slowly, otherwise the albumin coagulates, hardens; the water, not having time to penetrate the meat, prevents the gelatinous part of the osmazome from detaching itself."

Raymond Roussel (1877-1933)

French writer Raymond Roussel, in his 1914 story "L'Allée aux lucioles" ("The Alley of Fireflies"), introduces a fictionalized version of French chemist Antoine de Lavoisier who, in the story, creates an apparently edible semi-permeable coating ("invol ...") that he uses to encase a tiny frozen sculpture made from one type of wine, which is immersed in another type of wine. The story cites the fictional event as significant "in both the annals of science and the history of improved gastronomy."

Evelyn G. Halliday and Isabel T. Noble

In 1943 the

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...

published a book titled ''Food Chemistry and Cookery'' by the then

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Associate Professor of Home Economics Evelyn G. Halliday and

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

Associate Professor of Home Economics Isabel T. Noble. In the foreword of the 346-page book, the authors state that, "The main purpose of this book is to give an understanding of the chemical principles upon which good practices in food preparation and preservation are based." The book includes chapters such as "The Chemistry of Milk", "The Chemistry of Baking Powders and Their Use in Baking", "The Chemistry of Vegetable Cookery" and "Determination of Hydrogen Ion Concentration" and contains numerous illustrations of lab experiments including a ''Distillation Apparatus for Vegetable Samples'' and a ''Pipette for Determining the Relative Viscosity of Pectin Solutions''. The professors had previously published ''The Hows and Whys of Cooking'' in 1928.

Belle Lowe

In 1932, Belle Lowe, then the professor of Food and Nutrition at

Iowa State College Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State be ...

, published a book titled ''Experimental Cookery: From The Chemical And Physical Standpoint'' which became a standard textbook for home economics courses across the United States. The book is an exhaustively researched look into the science of everyday cooking referencing hundreds of sources and including many experiments. At a length of over 600 pages with section titles such as "The Relation Of Cookery To Colloidal Chemistry", "Coagulation Of Proteins", "The Factors Affecting The Viscosity Of Cream And Ice Cream", " Syneresis", "Hydrolysis Of Collagen" and "Changes In Cooked Meat And The Cooking Of Meat", the volume rivals or exceeds the scope of many other books on the subject, at a much earlier date.

Elizabeth Cawdry Thomas

Though rarely credited, the origins of the Erice workshops (originally entitled "Science and Gastronomy") can be traced back to cooking teacher Elizabeth Cawdry Thomas, who studied at

Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu (; French: " The Blue Ribbon"; LCB) is a French hospitality and culinary education institution, teaching haute cuisine. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The institution consists ...

in London and ran a cooking school in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

. The one-time wife of a

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

, Thomas had many friends in the scientific community and an interest in the science of cooking. In 1988, while attending a meeting at the Ettore Majorana Center for Scientific Culture in Erice, Thomas had a conversation with Professor Ugo Valdrè of the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

, who agreed with her that the science of cooking was an undervalued subject, and encouraged Kurti to organize a workshop at the Ettore Majorana Center. However nothing happened until Kurti met Hervé This: both approached the director of the Ettore Majorana center, physicist

Antonino Zichichi Antonino Zichichi (; born 15 October 1929) is an Italian physicist who has worked in the field of nuclear physics. He has served as President of the World Federation of Scientists and as a professor at the University of Bologna. Biography Zichic ...

, who liked the idea. They invited the food science writer

Harold McGee Harold James McGee (born October 3, 1951) is an American author who writes about the chemistry and history of food science and cooking. He is best known for his seminal book '' On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen'', first ...

to join them as invited co-director of the first workshops in 1992.

Nicholas Kurti

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

physicist Nicholas Kurti advocated applying scientific knowledge to culinary problems. He was one of the first television cooks in the UK, hosting a black-and-white television show in 1969 entitled ''The Physicist in the Kitchen'', where he demonstrated techniques such as using a syringe to inject hot mince pies with

brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured ...

in order to avoid disturbing the crust.''How to Dunk a Doughnut: The Science Of Everyday Life'', Len Fisher, p.24 That same year, he held a presentation for the

Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...

(also entitled "The Physicist in the Kitchen") in which he stated: Kurti demonstrated making meringue in a

vacuum chamber A vacuum chamber is a rigid enclosure from which air and other gases are removed by a vacuum pump. This results in a low-pressure environment within the chamber, commonly referred to as a vacuum. A vacuum environment allows researchers to c ...

, the cooking of sausages by connecting them across a car battery, the digestion of protein by fresh pineapple juice, and a reverse baked alaska—hot inside, cold outside—cooked in a

microwave oven A microwave oven, or simply microwave, is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces Dipole#Molecular dipoles, polar molecules in the food to rotate and ...

. Kurti was also an advocate of low temperature cooking, repeating 18th century experiments by British scientist

Benjamin Thompson Colonel (United Kingdom), Colonel Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (26 March 175321 August 1814), was an American-born British military officer, scientist and inventor. Born in Woburn, Massachusetts, he sup ...

by leaving a lamb joint in an oven at . After 8.5 hours, both the inside and outside temperature of the lamb joint were around , and the meat was tender and juicy. With his wife Giana, Kurti edited an anthology on food and science by fellows and foreign members of the Royal Society.

Hervé This

Hervé This started collecting "culinary precisions" (old kitchen wives' tales and cooking tricks) the 24th of March 1980, and started testing these precisions to see which held up; his collection eventually numbered some 25,000. In 1995, he received a PhD in Physical Chemistry of Materials, for which he wrote his thesis on "La gastronomie moléculaire et physique" (molecular and physical gastronomy). He served as an adviser to the French minister of education, lectured internationally, and was invited to join the lab of Nobel-winning molecular chemist

Jean-Marie Lehn Jean-Marie Lehn (born 30 September 1939) is a French chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Donald Cram and Charles Pedersen in 1987 for his synthesis of cryptands. Lehn was an early innovator in the field of supramo ...

. This has published several books in French, four of which have been translated into English, including ''Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor'', ''Kitchen Mysteries: Revealing the Science of Cooking'', ''Cooking: The Quintessential Art'', and ''Building a Meal: From Molecular Gastronomy to Culinary Constructivism''. He currently publishes a series of essays in French, and hosts free monthly seminars on molecular gastronomy at the INRA in France. He gives free and public seminars on molecular gastronomy every month, and annually gives a public and free course on molecular gastronomy. Hervé This also authors a website and a pair of blogs on the subject in French, and publishes monthly collaborations with French chef Pierre Gagnaire on Gagnaire's website.

Objectives

The objectives of molecular gastronomy, as defined by Hervé This, are seeking for the mechanisms of culinary transformations and processes (from a chemical and physical point of view) in three areas: #the social phenomena linked to culinary activity #the artistic component of culinary activity #the technical component of culinary activity The original fundamental objectives of molecular gastronomy were defined by This in his doctoral dissertation as: #Investigating culinary and gastronomical proverbs, sayings and old wives' tales #Exploring existing recipes #Introducing new tools, ingredients and methods into the kitchen #Inventing new dishes #Using molecular gastronomy to help the general public understand the contribution of science to society Hervé This later recognized points 3, 4, and 5 as being not entirely scientific endeavors (more application of technology and educational), and has revised the list.

Areas of investigation

Prime topics for study include *How ingredients are changed by different cooking methods *How all the senses play their own roles in our appreciation of food *The mechanisms of aroma release and the perception of taste and flavor *How and why we evolved our particular taste and flavor sense organs and our general food likes and dislikes *How cooking methods affect the eventual flavor and texture of food ingredients *How new cooking methods might produce improved results of texture and flavor *How our brains interpret the signals from all our senses to tell us the "flavor" of food *How our enjoyment of food is affected by other influences, our environment, our mood, how it is presented, who prepares it, etc.

Chefs

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the term started to be used to describe a new style of cooking in which some chefs began to explore new possibilities in the kitchen by embracing science, research, technological advances in equipment and various

natural gum Natural gums are polysaccharides of natural origin, capable of causing a large increase in a solution's viscosity, even at small concentrations. They are mostly gum (botany), botanical gums, found in the woody elements of plants or in seed coati ...

s and hydrocolloids produced by the commercial

food processing Food processing is the transformation of agricultural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing takes many forms, from grinding grain into raw flour, home cooking, and complex industrial methods used in the mak ...

industry. It has since been used to describe the food and cooking of a number of famous chefs, though many of them do not accept the term as a description of their style of cooking. Chefs who are often associated with molecular gastronomy because of their embrace of science include Heston Blumenthal,

Grant Achatz Grant Achatz ( ) (born April 25, 1974) is an American chef and restaurateur often recognized for his contributions to molecular gastronomy or progressive cuisine. Achatz has won numerous awards from prominent culinary institutions and publication ...

Ferran Adrià Fernando Adrià Acosta (; born 14 May 1962) is a Spanish chef. He was the head chef of the El Bulli restaurant in Roses, Girona, Roses on the Costa Brava and is considered one of the best chefs in the world. He has often collaborated with his b ...

, José Andrés, Marcel Vigneron, Homaro Cantu, Michael Carlson, Wylie Dufresne, and Adam Melonas. Despite their central role in the popularisation of science-based cuisine, both Adria and Blumenthal have expressed their frustration with the common mis-classification of their food and cooking as "molecular gastronomy", On 10 December 2006 Blumenthal and Harold McGee published a 'Statement on the "New Cookery" in the Observer in order to summarise what they saw as the central tenets of modern cuisine. Ferran Adria of El Bulli and Thomas Keller of the French Laundry and Per Se signed up to this and together released a joint statement in 2006 clarifying their approach to cooking, stating that the term "molecular gastronomy" was coined in 1992 for a single workshop that did not influence them, and that the term does not describe any style of cooking. In February 2011,

Nathan Myhrvold Nathan Paul Myhrvold (born August 3, 1959), formerly Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft, is co-founder of Intellectual Ventures and the principal author of ''Modernist Cuisine'' and its successor books. Early life and education Myhrvold w ...

published ''

Modernist Cuisine ''Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking'' is a 2011 cookbook by Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young and Maxime Bilet. The book is an encyclopedia and a guide to the science of contemporary cooking. It is notable for the use of elaborate eq ...

'', which led many chefs to further classify molecular gastronomy versus modernist cuisine. Myhrvold believes that his cooking style should not be called molecular gastronomy.

Techniques, tools and ingredients

Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalent bond, covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in a gas state at room temperature and at norma ...

source, for adding bubbles and making

foams Foams are two-phase material systems where a gas is dispersed in a second, non-gaseous material, specifically, in which gas cells are enclosed by a distinct liquid or solid material. Note, this source focuses only on liquid foams. Note, thi ...

Foam Foams are two-phase materials science, material systems where a gas is dispersed in a second, non-gaseous material, specifically, in which gas cells are enclosed by a distinct liquid or solid material. Note, this source focuses only on liquid ...

s can also be made with an

immersion blender An immersion blender, also known as a stick blender, mini blender, hand blender, or wand blender, is a kitchen blade grinder used to blend ingredients or purée food in the container in which they are being prepared. The immersion blender was in ...

Liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen (LN2) is nitrogen in a liquid state at cryogenics, low temperature. Liquid nitrogen has a boiling point of about . It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. It is a colorless, mobile liquid whose vis ...

, for flash freezing and shattering *

Ice cream maker A domestic ice cream maker (commonly referred to as an ice cream machine) is a machine used to make small quantities of ice cream for personal consumption. Ice cream makers may prepare the mixture by employing a hand-crank or by employing an ele ...

, often used to make unusual flavors, including savory * Anti-griddle, for cooling and freezing * Thermal immersion circulator for

sous-vide Sous vide (; French for 'under vacuum'), also known as low-temperature, long-time (LTLT) cooking, is a method of cooking invented by the France, French chef Georges Pralus in 1974, in which food is placed in a plastic pouch or a glass jar and coo ...

(low temperature cooking) * Food dehydrator *

Centrifuge A centrifuge is a device that uses centrifugal force to subject a specimen to a specified constant force - for example, to separate various components of a fluid. This is achieved by spinning the fluid at high speed within a container, thereby ...

Maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a name shared by two different families of chemicals. Both families are glucose polymers (also called ''dextrose polymers'' or ''Dextrin, dextrins''), but have little chemical or nutritional similarity. The digestible maltodextr ...

– can turn a high-fat liquid into a powder *

Sugar substitute A sugar substitute or artificial sweetener, is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie () or low-calorie sweetener. Arti ...

s *

Enzyme An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

s *

Lecithin Lecithin ( ; from the Ancient Greek "yolk") is a generic term to designate any group of yellow-brownish fatty substances occurring in animal and plant tissues which are amphiphilic – they attract both water and fatty substances (and so ar ...

– an

emulsifier An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible (unmixable or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Althou ...

and non-stick agent * Hydrocolloids such as

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diet ...

gelatin Gelatin or gelatine () is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also be referred to as hydrolyzed collagen, coll ...

pectin Pectin ( ': "congealed" and "curdled") is a heteropolysaccharide, a structural polymer contained in the primary lamella, in the middle lamella, and in the cell walls of terrestrial plants. The principal chemical component of pectin is galact ...

and

s – used as

thickening agent A thickening agent or thickener is a substance which can increase the viscosity of a liquid without substantially changing its other properties. Edible thickeners are commonly used to thicken sauces, soups, and puddings without altering their ...

gelling agent In polymer chemistry, gelation (gel transition) is the formation of a gel from a system with polymers. Branched polymers can form Cross-link, links between the chains, which lead to progressively larger polymers. As the linking continues, larger ...

s, emulsifying agents and stabilizers, sometimes needed for foams * Transglutaminase – a protein binder, called meat glue * Spherification – a

caviar Caviar or caviare is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or spread. Traditionally, the term caviar refers only to roe from wild sturgeon in the Caspi ...

-like effect *

Syringe A syringe is a simple reciprocating pump consisting of a plunger (though in modern syringes, it is actually a piston) that fits tightly within a cylindrical tube called a barrel. The plunger can be linearly pulled and pushed along the inside ...

, for injecting unexpected fillings *Edible paper made from soybeans and potato starch, for use with edible fruit inks and an

inkjet printer Inkjet printing is a type of printer (computing), computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper or plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range f ...

*Aromatic accompaniment: gases trapped in a bag, a serving device, or the food itself; an aromatic substance presented as a garnish or creative serveware; or a smell produced by burning *Presentation style is often whimsical or

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

, and may include unusual serviceware *Unusual flavor combinations ( food pairings) are favored, such as combining savory and sweet *Using

ultrasound Ultrasound is sound with frequency, frequencies greater than 20 Hertz, kilohertz. This frequency is the approximate upper audible hearing range, limit of human hearing in healthy young adults. The physical principles of acoustic waves apply ...

to achieve more precise cooking times

Alternative names and related pursuits

The term ''molecular gastronomy'' was originally intended to refer only to the scientific investigation of cooking, though it has been adopted by a number of people and applied to cooking itself or to describe a style of cuisine. Other names for the style of cuisine practiced by these chefs include: *Avant-garde cuisine *Culinary constructivism *Cocina de vanguardia – term used by Ferran Adrià *Emotional cuisine *Experimental cuisine *Forward-thinking movement – term used at

's Alinea *Kitchen science *Modern cuisine *Modernist cuisine, which shares its name with a

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (food), course (appetize ...

, and which is endorsed by Ferran Adrià of El Bulli and

David Chang David Chang (; ; born August 5, 1977) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, author, podcaster, and television personality. He is the founder of the Momofuku restaurant group. In 2009, his restaurant Momofuku Ko was awarded two Michelin st ...

*Molecular cuisine *Molecular cooking *New cuisine *New cookery *Nueva cocina *Progressive cuisine *Techno-emotional cuisine—term preferred by elBulli research and development chef

*Technologically forward cuisine *Vanguard cuisine *Techno-cuisine No singular name has ever been applied in consensus, and the term "molecular gastronomy" continues to be used often as a blanket term to refer to any and all of these things—particularly in the media.

hates the term "molecular gastronomy" and prefers ' deconstructivist' to describe his style of cooking. A 2006 open letter by Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal,

Thomas Keller Thomas Aloysius Keller (born October 14, 1955) is an American chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He and his landmark Napa Valley restaurant, the French Laundry in Yountville, California, have won multiple awards from the James Beard Found ...

and Harold McGee published in ''The Times'' used no specific term, referring only to "a new approach to cooking" and "our cooking".

References

External links

* John Mariani,
Decline of Modernist Molecular Cuisine
July 24, 2013 esquire.com *Grubstreet,
Rebuttal of John Marianis esquire article
July 24, 2013 grubstreet {{Authority control Food science 1980s neologisms Culinary terminology