IDEAS IN FOOD

Kitchen Alchemy

We're pleased to announce the launch of Kitchen Alchemy over at PopSci.com. It's going to be a regular feature on the website where we explore the science behind the food in our kitchen. Of course we do that here too, the difference is that we will be going into a bit more technical detail in our articles over there. For this first feature we're discussing one of our favorite appliances, the pressure cooker. So if you've ever wondered what's actually happening to your food while it's in that pressure chamber, come check out Kitchen Alchemy.

A Brief Overview of Pectin

Pectin is an indigestible soluble fiber which when combined with water forms a colloidal system and gels upon cooling. It has a wide range of uses. It can be found as a gelling, thickening or stabilizing additive in food, an ingredient in laxatives, a demulcent in throat lozenges, and a vegetable glue for cigars. Pectin used for cooking is divided into two categories, high methoxyl (HM) and low methoxyl (LM).

HM pectins are most commonly used to create jams and jellies. HM pectins require the presence of sugar and specific levels of acidity. The amount of acid in your base solution will directly affect the setting time of the pectin. HM pectins are further broken down into the categories of rapid set and slow set. Each subset is categorized by setting time and/or temperature. Rapid set HM pectins are often used for jellies that have ingredients suspended inside the gel structure, such as chunky marmalades or hot pepper jelly, while slow set HM pectins are often used for clear jellies like apricot or grape.

LM pectins simply require the presence of calcium to activate the gelling process. They are often used to produce low or no sugar jellies. Unlike HM pectins, LM pectins form thermally irreversible gels. Amidated LM pectins are treated with ammonia so that they require less calcium than conventional LM pectins to gel. They have a complementary relationship with dairy and are able to utilize their whey proteins as a source of calcium while also enhancing their innate capabilities for gelation, emulsification and the ability to produce stable foams.

Pectins are most commonly extracted from fruit, usually from apple pomace or citrus peel. These two sources are readily available for commercial production as by-products of the juice industry. Proprietary formulations vary from company to company, so when you purchase commercially produced pectin be sure to follow the guidelines provided by the manufacturer.

An Interesting Link

Here's a link sent to us from Alex Kentsis in Boston on how to make a thermostated water bath for sous vide for under $150. If anyone tries this, please let us know how it works out.

A Basic Primer on Food Gums

We get a lot of questions about how we create some of the more unusual dishes in our kitchen.  The theory behind mozzarella gnocchi and warm foie gras terrine can be confusing unless you know about some of our secret ingredients.   The tools we use to create some of these specialties are known as food gums.  The term food gums sounds more ominous than the reality, in fact, most people have food gums in their kitchens.  Cornstarch and gelatin are common examples of a food gum.  These ingredients are used to change the texture and composition of different foods.  Less common food gums which are often at work behind the scenes in restaurant kitchens are three that we use on a regular basis, carrageenan, methyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose.  For the purposes of simplicity I will group the last two together under the heading  of methyl cellulose in this explanation.

In general there are four basic reasons to use food gums:
1) They are used to thicken products, such as the filling in a pie.
2) They are used to emulsify products, for example a sauce or a vinaigrette.
3) They are used to change textures, in food products that usually translates into a thicker or chewier texture.
4) They are used to stabilize crystals such as ice in a frozen product of sugar in a caramel.

Carrageenan is a obtained from the red seaweed family.  There are three different types of Carrageenan, kappa carrageenan, iota carrageenan and lambda carrageenan.  They each have different gelling properties and can be blended for use in different applications.  Carrageenan’s most important characteristic for food preparation is the ability form different gels at room temperature from soft to firm.  Once a gel is formed using carrageenan it is very stable and can be taken through a range of temperatures with no visible breakdown of the gel.  In other countries it is often used to create puddings and other sweet desserts, an application that we have also applied in our kitchen.

Methyl cellulose is used to create what is known as a thermoreversible gel.  The methyl cellulose hydrates in cold water, after which it is added to your food product and thoroughly dispersed.   Like the carrageenan, methyl cellulose comes in different formulations that can be tailored to the desired final effects.  Once you have the methyl cellulose thoroughly incorporated into your product it will gel when heated.  For example, when we created our warm foie gras terrine, we de-veined the foie gras, incorporated the methyl cellulose, formed the individual terrines and then seared them.  By using this product, we were able to create a dish that had all of the positive aspects of a terrine while still retaining the warmth and the texture of seared foie.

These are just a couple of the ways that we have utilized food gums in our cooking.  Hopefully, this bit of background information will help people understand what they are and why chefs use them in their kitchens.  We tried to keep this first post relatively simple, but feel free to contact us with any questions and we will expand upon this information as time goes by.

*This post has been edited to reflect standard terms for methyl cellulose instead of proprietary names.

They Did the Work

I need to thank Joan Roca and Salvador Brugues for compiling, cataloging and testing sous vide techniques and publishing their works in the book Sous-Vide Cuisine.  They have answered many questions in their step by step practical approach to the technology.  This book was first published in 2003 in Spanish, and my poor linguistics allowed for rough culinary extrapolation.  After several years of ad lib  culinary development, it is a pleasure to have a researched guide with which I am able to solidify our own findings and be challenged to improve upon existing theories and activities.  The book is well worth its $135.00 price tag.  I have witnessed and taken part in many guessing games about sous-vide.  It is a science, and this is the text book. 

Pike Gnocchi and their evolution

It began with pike gnocchi. Actually, it began with Wylie and his stand against mousses and the dispersion of flavors. Why make a mousse if the intitial ingredient is perfect by itself? So we threw spaghetti against the wall, well in our heads at least. How to express the delicate flavor of pike without altering or thinning its flavors with eggs and other ingredients as in traditional pike quenelles? In the same sense we did not want to waste the trimmed parts of the pike, the scraps which were bound for broth or the bin. The answer, transglutaminase. (The uses of this enzyme are far and wide, currently on the culinary fast track. We have been quietly working with the product for just under a year now and loudly sing its praises.) Back to the gnocchi. With the use of TG we are able to make a product with the the delicate flavor prophile of pike but with the texture and mouthfeel of gnocchi. Science is good. With the production of pike gnocchi, fish was utilized, flavor preserved and well we had a new dish; pike gnocchi with smoked tomato sauce and fresh mozarella cheese. We have continued to apply and adapt the gnocchi to other products to enhance dishes and reduce the waste of pristine products. Our current evolution are seen with diver scallops and their gnocchi.

If Foam is Dead, Why Does Starbucks Rule?

In the dining arena from chef, to foodie to reviewer the current and even now fading starement is Foam is Dead!! The forward thinking Ferran Adria and those influenced by his culinary advancement began to use foams and thus aerations in many forms and applications. The presence of foam seemed to be everywhere and it became fashionable for the culinatti--those in the food industry looking to tear apart something to dismiss the needs, uses and essences of foams in the culinary arena...meanwhile they sat writing about the overuse of foam sipping on cappucinos or eating ice cream or enjoying a caramel macchiatto. Their computer keyboard keys are warn with the defamation of foam and other culinary trends for it seems to be the popular manner in which to become heard.

And Ferran may not have been the first. Think back to years ago and Alain Chapel with his cappucino of mushrooms, do we then dismantle Adria and Starbucks for culinary seconds or their use of foams?