Tabletop Science
Mordaxus emailed some of us and said “I hope this doesn’t mean MG has jumped the shark.” What was he talking about?
Apparently, ThinkGeek now has a “Molecular Gastronomy Starter Kit.” For those of you who’ve been hiding in a Cheesecake Factory for the past few years, molecular gastronomy is the art of using science to do things to food beyond your typical applications of heat with fire or its close analogs, acids baths beyond marinades, combinations harder to achieve than hollandaise, and whipping things without egg whites. See, it’s really a continuum and continuation of what chefs have been doing for years. Really, poaching eggs and poaching jolt cola are all about understanding and using the chemicals available in your kitchen in new and interesting ways. Ten years ago, not a lot of people brined their chicken, and twenty years ago everyone but the Japanese overcooked their tuna. Wasabi wasn’t a normal ingredient. Kitchens change. There’s chaos and experimentation. Some of what emerges is good, and some of it’s embarrassing. Some of it’s the home Sous Vide kits, and some of it’s the starter kit.
The real question is what’s going to emerge next in the market, and what’s going to emerge in your kitchen?
Dude, you can’t buy basic ingredients for sausage making or home curing without resorting to mail order, and those are ancient arts. I just had to mail order food-grade lye to cure some olives at home. Turns out lye is used in meth labs, so you can’t even buy the old Red Devil lye in supermarkets any more.
Ugh…
Uh oh. This looks cool and fun…you may get to eat Molecular Something for Thanksgiving ;>