Introduction to Molecular Gastronomy

Turkchem 14 Dec 2020 48 6 dk okuma

TURKCHEM

I had started reading a book about the effects of colors on people... At that time, a professor from a different discipline whom I greatly admired asked whether I would like to work on molecular gastronomy. Although I actually had a completely different research area, I began to take an interest in molecular gastronomy, which seemed to me a colorful and highly energetic field. When it comes to molecular gastronomy, I found myself watching documentaries by the world-renowned chef Ferran Adrià and the lectures he gave to physicists at Harvard University. I began following many blogs and social media accounts. When an offer came to write an article about food in this wonderful journal, I said this cannot all be coincidence and began my research... First, I contacted an online store in Indonesia that sells molecular gastronomy additives and tools. They work with various brands from all over the world and only engage in sales. Their target audience consists of people interested in molecular gastronomy and wanting to experience it. I wanted to learn whether people's fear of "chemistry on the plate" was unnecessary. When I posed this question to them, they emphasized that the additives they sold were plant-based products and even vegan-friendly. On their social media accounts, they openly share the contents of the additives. They repeatedly stress that the most important factor to pay attention to when using molecular gastronomy additives is dosage. They emphasize that very precise kitchen scales or measures must be used to properly adjust dosage. Besides dosage, they mention the importance of temperature and pH values. They note that if you work with high-quality products, it will not cause a change in the taste of the food but will affect its texture [1]. Yes, I had received answers to my questions, but these were only a drop of water in the ocean... In 1988, a new scientific discipline called molecular gastronomy was defined as "investigating the mechanisms of phenomena occurring during food preparation and consumption." This new definition provided an opportunity to discuss the precise content of molecular gastronomy and its relationship to other scientific fields. When it comes to food, including what food actually is, there has always been considerable confusion between science and technology. Dictionaries provide the following definition for food: "any substance capable of providing to living beings the elements they need for growth or preservation." Humankind rarely needs to eat untransformed tissues or natural products. Raw materials are transformed through chemical and physical changes that determine the final composition and "bioactivity" of all foods. Bioactivity is a term we propose to describe the sensory effects of various compounds released by food systems, nutritional value, final toxic effects, and similar impacts. During food preparation, plant or animal tissues are at minimum washed, cut, and most foods undergo heat treatment. For example, for a simple carrot salad requiring no heat treatment (a plate of shredded carrots): the shredded carrot is now very different from the carrot in the field because tissue cutting triggers enzymatic reactions and thus causes transformation in the carrot's chemical composition. This analysis leads to the conclusion that neither reactants nor transformation products made in the kitchen should be called food. The specific transformation that occurs from raw material to the final prepared dish is considered worth investigating for both scientific and technological reasons. Clarifying the difference between science and technology is particularly important for molecular gastronomy. The confusion between science and cooking and the public's unnecessary fear of "chemistry on the plate" is a consequence of this. Since 2000, innovations based on molecular gastronomy have been introduced almost every month (frequently, new types of dishes have been named after famous chemists of the past). However, the initial program of this discipline was inappropriate because it confused science and technology. A few years later, it was realized that the appreciation of a dish by an individual is not a technical matter but an artistic one; thus, it was understood that cooking also involves an artistic activity of paramount importance. At the same time, it became apparent that social context was also very important: A dish is not "good" if it is thrown in the guests' faces. This is why that remarkable care in presentation also came to the fore.

All these facts led to a new program proposal for molecular gastronomy:

1. scientifically discover kitchen definitions; 2. collect and test information added by technique; 3. scientifically discover the artistic aspect of cooking; 4. scientifically discover the social aspect of cooking In 1999, this term, which went by the name molecular cooking, means food production using "new" tools, materials, and methods. In this definition, the word "new" represents what was not found in Western kitchens in 1980. New tools can include siphons used to make foams; ultrasonic probes used to make emulsions; controlled heaters or circulations used in cooking at temperatures below 100°C; liquid nitrogen for making sorbets and many other innovative preparations; and many types of laboratory equipment to perform useful applications in the kitchen, such as rotary evaporators and stills to obtain extracts.

Regarding materials, many additives were not found in Western kitchens in the 1980s but proved to be useful culinary applications. For example, sodium alginate for making liquid-filled spheres from a gel layer; spaghetti supported by thickeners called carrageenan produced from seaweed made from vegetables. Of course, not all of these elements were entirely new; other gelling agents like seaweed had been used in Asia for thousands of years and many of these tools were substances in daily use in chemistry laboratories. However, they were not used by Western chefs. The aim was to obtain modernized cooking techniques and presentations [2]

In media terms, molecular gastronomy is defined as a new trend in haute cuisine in which world-renowned chefs offer their guests new and strange dishes, using experiences with liquid nitrogen, gels, and foams. One of the increasingly well-known techniques is alginate spheres containing different fruit juices or flavors. For example; at a restaurant, you asked for a glass of water with your meal. Your water came in a beautiful glass, accompanied by colorful tiny spheres inside. As you drank your water, you began to bite the spheres that came into your mouth and suddenly tasted a fruit. At Michelin-starred restaurants, this experience is now quite ordinary. Although we may not have been to Michelin-starred restaurants, we may have encountered these spheres in bubble tea. For some of us, it coincides with childhood—the soda advertisement that was etched in our minds with the line "I swallowed one hundred thousand million bubbles." Well, bubble tea can bring this line to mind again. In fact, in some cafés serving only coffee and tea service, you can even encounter attractive slogans like "delicious bubbles that burst in your mouth." Bubble tea, first produced in Taiwan in the 1980s, gradually spread from East Asia to Western countries. This tea-based beverage consists of fruit jellies filled with fruit juice or syrup, tapioca, or alginate spheres. Producing alginate bubbles and examining their behavior can be fascinating and can be used in inquiry-based learning in different disciplines. Would you like to take a step into molecular gastronomy with an alginate sphere experiment? I am sharing with you the Luminescent Bubbles recipe by Ingo Eilks and colleagues from the University of Bremen [3]. Before creating alginate spheres, you can observe the luminescence phenomenon by adding a compound with luminescent properties to the alginate solution. An easy way to do this is to use riboflavin, which shows fluorescent properties under UV light (Vitamin B2). In addition to pure riboflavin, note that you can also extract riboflavin from custard powder containing riboflavin. Materials: To extract riboflavin (optional): • 1 packet of ready-made custard or pudding powder containing riboflavin (also known as E101). • 200 ml distilled water. • Beaker. • Stirrer. • Funnel and filter paper.

Procedure:

1. To extract riboflavin from ready-made custard powder, pour approximately 8 g of powder into a beaker filled with 200 ml water. Stir well for approximately 10 minutes and filter. 2. Follow the procedure for making alginate bubbles, but add riboflavin to the alginate solution immediately before spherification. 3. Turn on the UV light. You should see yellow-green fluorescent spheres. 4. Turn off the UV light; the fluorescent property of the bubbles will stop. 5. Turn on the light again. 6. Add sodium dithionite to the container containing alginate bubbles. You will see the light stop. Sodium dithionite passes through the alginate bubble membrane and reduces the riboflavin inside. 7. Add hydrogen peroxide to oxidize the riboflavin. You will see the luminescence again. Experiencing the luminescence phenomenon in food is a wonderful thing. Long live science!