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There is a movement in the cooking world called "Molecular Gastronomy." The term was coined by Herve This, and become associated with chefs like Ferran Adria at El Bulli, Wylie Dufresne at wd~50, Grant Achatz at Alinea, and Homaru Cantu at Moto. Here is an interesting article in the New York Times.
Essentially, it involves applying scientific techniques and methodologies to the cooking process. One of the interesting results is found in the use of common substances to control the texture of foods, often in surprising ways.
You don't need a chemistry lab to pull off such effects. Jump on board the Molecular Gastronomy train by making up some carrot caviar in your own kitchen.
Here's a quick video of me making Carrot Caviar at Maker Faire 2008:
Essentially, it involves applying scientific techniques and methodologies to the cooking process. One of the interesting results is found in the use of common substances to control the texture of foods, often in surprising ways.
You don't need a chemistry lab to pull off such effects. Jump on board the Molecular Gastronomy train by making up some carrot caviar in your own kitchen.
Here's a quick video of me making Carrot Caviar at Maker Faire 2008:
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Signing UpStep 1Assemble your tools and ingrediants
Round up a few bowls and a strainer in your kitchen. In addition, you need some more unusual gadgets:
A Very Accurate Scale
I chose this one. My criteria were 1) It is accurate to 0.1 grams, and 2) It looked more like a kitchen scale than a drug scale. It also had a bunch of nice features (counting, for instance) that I may never use.
Immersion Blender (optional)
You can use a regular blender, but the immersion version is nice because you get less air whipped into your solution.
Syringe (optional)
I got these the same place I got the chemicals (below). I have also heard of people using traditional squirt bottles, like the red and yellow ones that are traditional for ketchup and mustard. The syringe makes me feel more like a real chemist.
For ingredients, you will need:
250 g Carrot Juice ( some nice Odwalla Juice from the local store)
500 g Water (from my local tap)
2.0 g Sodium Alginate
2.5 g Calcium Cloride
These last two are both a bit unusual. I ordered from Le Sanctuaire, which is based in San Francisco. There are other suppliers, like Texturas (Europe), L'Epicerie (in the US). L'Epicerie has a fabulous looking pipette for making cavier on an industrial scale.
A Very Accurate Scale
I chose this one. My criteria were 1) It is accurate to 0.1 grams, and 2) It looked more like a kitchen scale than a drug scale. It also had a bunch of nice features (counting, for instance) that I may never use.
Immersion Blender (optional)
You can use a regular blender, but the immersion version is nice because you get less air whipped into your solution.
Syringe (optional)
I got these the same place I got the chemicals (below). I have also heard of people using traditional squirt bottles, like the red and yellow ones that are traditional for ketchup and mustard. The syringe makes me feel more like a real chemist.
For ingredients, you will need:
250 g Carrot Juice ( some nice Odwalla Juice from the local store)
500 g Water (from my local tap)
2.0 g Sodium Alginate
2.5 g Calcium Cloride
These last two are both a bit unusual. I ordered from Le Sanctuaire, which is based in San Francisco. There are other suppliers, like Texturas (Europe), L'Epicerie (in the US). L'Epicerie has a fabulous looking pipette for making cavier on an industrial scale.
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http://www.le-sanctuaire.com/index.html
Probably not the cheapest, but local to me. You could also try here:
http://www.willpowder.net/sodiumAlginate.html
or even Amazon.
In the middle of doing this right now.
DEFINITELY not as easy as it seems.
By the way, as a biologist I'm very amused to see a 96-well multichannel pipette for kitchen use...
A full set of pics and instructions is here, and here's a pic of the final result:
Among the differences in our technique was that I heated the alginate mixture, which was according to the recipe I was following, but also I used hot liquid, which as it turns out, was probably not the best of ideas.
Also, I did my measurements in standard U.S. cooking measures (teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, etc. just because it was easier than breaking out the real scale.)
That said, with a little improvisation (and some added chocolate) the resulting coffee caviar turned out fairly well for a first try.
paintballs :D
*thinks of the limitless possibilities* :D