Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of FlavorHervé This (pronounced "Teess") is an internationally renowned chemist, a popular French television personality, a bestselling cookbook author, a longtime collaborator with the famed French chef Pierre Gagnaire, and the only person to hold a doctorate in molecular gastronomy, a cutting-edge field he pioneered. Bringing the instruments and experimental techniques of the laboratory into the kitchen, This uses recent research in the chemistry, physics, and biology of food to challenge traditional ideas about cooking and eating. What he discovers will entertain, instruct, and intrigue cooks, gourmets, and scientists alike. Molecular Gastronomy, This's first work to appear in English, is filled with practical tips, provocative suggestions, and penetrating insights. This begins by reexamining and debunking a variety of time-honored rules and dictums about cooking and presents new and improved ways of preparing a variety of dishes from quiches and quenelles to steak and hard-boiled eggs. He goes on to discuss the physiology of flavor and explores how the brain perceives tastes, how chewing affects food, and how the tongue reacts to various stimuli. Examining the molecular properties of bread, ham, foie gras, and champagne, the book analyzes what happens as they are baked, cured, cooked, and chilled. Looking to the future, Hervé This imagines new cooking methods and proposes novel dishes. A chocolate mousse without eggs? A flourless chocolate cake baked in the microwave? Molecular Gastronomy explains how to make them. This also shows us how to cook perfect French fries, why a soufflé rises and falls, how long to cool champagne, when to season a steak, the right way to cook pasta, how the shape of a wine glass affects the taste of wine, why chocolate turns white, and how salt modifies tastes. |
Contents
Saving a Crème Anglaise | 68 |
Of Champagne and Teaspoons | 74 |
The Physiology of Flavor | 83 |
Bitter Tastes | 100 |
The Taste of Cold | 106 |
Tenderness and Juiciness | 112 |
At Table in the Nursery | 118 |
Public Health Alerts | 124 |
The Terroirs of Alsace | 233 |
Length in the Mouth | 236 |
Tannins | 239 |
Yellow Wine | 242 |
Sulfur and Wine | 248 |
Wine Glasses | 251 |
Champagne and Its Foam | 257 |
Champagne in a Flute | 260 |
The Secret of Bread | 131 |
Souffléed Potatoes 62 | 137 |
The Taste of Food | 143 |
Foams | 149 |
Spanish Hams | 155 |
Antioxidant Agents | 161 |
Trout | 164 |
Cooking Times | 167 |
The Flavor of Roasted Meats | 170 |
Tenderizing Meats | 173 |
Al Dente | 176 |
Forgotten Vegetables | 179 |
Preserving Mushrooms | 182 |
Truffles | 185 |
More Flavor | 188 |
French Fries | 191 |
Mashed Potatoes | 194 |
Algal Fibers | 197 |
Cheeses | 200 |
From Grass to Cheese | 203 |
The Tastes of Cheese | 206 |
Yogurt | 209 |
Milk Solids | 212 |
Sabayons | 215 |
Fruits in Syrup | 218 |
Fibers and Jams | 221 |
The Whitening of Chocolate | 224 |
Caramel | 227 |
Bread and Crackers | 230 |
Demi Versus Magnum | 263 |
The Terroirs of Whisky | 266 |
Cartagènes | 269 |
82 | 272 |
A Cuisine for Tomorrow 83 Cooking in a Vacuum | 279 |
Aromas or Reactions? | 282 |
A False Solid | 285 |
Liver Mousse | 288 |
In Praise of Fats | 291 |
Mayonnaises | 294 |
Aioli Generalized | 297 |
Orders of Magnitude | 300 |
HundredYearOld Eggs | 303 |
Smoking Salmon | 306 |
Methods and Principles | 309 |
37 | 310 |
Pure Beef | 313 |
Fortified Cheeses | 316 |
Chantilly Chocolate | 319 |
Everything Chocolate | 322 |
Playing with Texture | 325 |
Christmas Recipes | 328 |
The Hidden Taste of Wine | 331 |
Teleolfaction | 334 |
GLOSSARY | 337 |
FURTHER READING | 351 |
361 | |
362 | |