One important aspect of molecular gastronomy is the application of scientific principles to food preparation in a normal kitchen. This can very well be illustrated by discussing the preparation of a steak. The surface of the meat needs to be…
I have been pondering on the chocolate sauerkraut cake I wrote about, and considering the fact that caraway is a spice used in sauerkraut I did some googling… And voilá – I found a page on different chocolate and cognac…
After giving a presentation about molecular gastronomy I was asked if I had ever heard about a chocolate cake baked with sauerkraut. I admitted that this was new for me, but that I would be very interested in the recipe.…
Since The fat duck and El Bulli were announced “Best restaurant” in 2005 and 2006 respectively by Restaurant Magazine, molecular gastronomy has received increased attention. This has also resulted in a greater demand for the ingredients used, especially various thickeners,…
Videos from the MG seminar in Belgium held on November 20th last year have generously been made available for free on the net. There are four videos to watch: presentations by Prof. Peter Barham (“˜Molecular Gastronomy? The science of taste…
Experimental and clinical studies indicate that tea exerts protection against cardiovascular diseases. However, a group of German researchers (abstract, European Heart Journal 2007, ASAP contents) have found that the beneficial effects of drinking tea may be reduced if milk is…
This is slightly off-topic, but take a look at these two videos on mechanical gastronomy. First one is a lego-machine that opens a bottle of beer. The second one is a Rube Goldberg (homepage, Wikipedia) machine that pours a beer…
Have you ever though about how far you can shoot a champagne cork? The swedish physicist Hans-Uno Bengtsson has actually done the necessary calculations in the wonderful Swedish book “Kring flaskor och fysik” (which translates to something like “Among bottles…
Over Christmas I have been reading Luca Turin’s book “The Science of Scent”. This became a real eye-opener for me with regards to my understanding of how the sense of smell works. (BTW, Luca Turin was also featured in Chandler…
This is not exactly breaking news, but I just recently discovered that Robert L. Wolke, a retired chemistry professor and author of “What Einstein told his Cook” (volume one and two), writes a food/science column in the Washington Post entitled…
