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Last updated 2009-01-20
webmaster (at) khymos.org
Copyright © 2003-2009
Martin Lersch
"It's
indecent that we cook as people did in the Middle Ages. They had
whisks. They had pans. They had stoves. The microwave is the only
really new kitchen tool we've had in the past five hundred years. But
in the science laboratory ooh-la-la ... we have many tools that could
do wonderful things in the kitchen.”
The Sunday Times also has a nice article describing new tools for the kitchen.
Typical equipment found in every organic lab
Here are some pictures with descriptions, just to give you an idea of some of the tools that you will find in the laboratory of every organic chemist (my self included). And if you scroll to the end of the page, you'll find tools that are sold with the intention to be used in kitchens involved in molecular gastronomy.
Thermostated hot plate with built in magnetic stirrer (teflon coated magnetic stirbar showed to the right): No more burnt sauces and better control when making hot chocolate
Glass ware for refluxing (that is boiling a liquid with a water cooled condenser): When making stock for instance, many volatile compounds are lost.
Vacuum filtration through a Büchner funnel using a water aspirator: A standard coffe filter can be used for much more than making good coffe, but vacuum filtration will speed up matters. Also, vacuum filtration will allow the use of filters with smaller pores.
Syringes and needles can be used to inject flavor or marinades.
Ultra sonic baths: Makes perfect mayonnaise in seconds from egg yolks and oil.
Accurate thermometers: Cooking very often involves the use of heat, and knowing the exact temperature is of paramount importance when cooking. Luckily, they have become widely available and are quite cheap.
Thermostated water baths: This has already been implemented in restaurants where meat is cooked using the so called sous vide technique where meat is vacuum packed in plastic and heated in water under strict temperature control to desired doneness.
Separatory funnels: Most aroma molecules are fat soluble whereas most taste compounds are water soluble. In ordere to separate these, a separatory funnel is indispensable.
Rotary evaporators (or just Rotavap): A simple way of performing distillations at reduced pressure and ambient temperatures. The composition of many food products changes significantly when heated. By using a rotary evaporator, liquids can be distilled without heating, thus keeping those delicate aromas.
Gas torches: Essential to get the proper caramlized sugar topping on Crème Brûlée or to get those nice Maillard flavors by heating the surface of meat.
Equipment already available for kitchens (or that has been especially designed for kitchens)
Even though the above mentioned tools can all be used in a kitchen, there is a growing demand for specialized tools for "molecular cooking" (or molecular gastronomy or gastro physics or kitchen chemistry or whatever you like to call it). This equipment is quite expensive and probably out of reach for most home cooks. More and more restaurants however use this kind of equipment.
Clifton Food Range produce termostated water baths for sous vide cooking, and they look just like their scientific cousins!
The Paco Jet is a specialized machine for making ice creams and sorbets. Heston Blumenthal at the Fat Duck is very fond of his Paco Jet! Note that you can also make savory ice creams and sorbets such as a chickel liver mousse or a broccoli mousse (you'll find the recipies on their site). As far as I understand, you can freeze whatever you like into a solid block of ice. This block is then inserted to the Paco Jet which shaves the ice. This introduces air (ice cream is nearly 50% air) and gives it the right texture.
Cooking under vacuum can create new and exciting textures. First of all it's a way of removing excess water without having to raise the temperature all the way up to 100 °C (this works just like the distilliation under vacuum described above for the Rotavap). When the water is removed, this will create pockets of air in the food, and when the pressure is released, the liquid surrounding the food that is prepared will rush in and fill these pockets. This technique is known as vacuum impregnation. Unfortunately this equipment is quite expensive, though it should be possible to come up with a DIY version using water aspirators (see above) to create the vacuum. The equipment is available from International Cooking Concepts.
Tags: molecular gastronomy, chemistry
