No, it's not some 16th century venereal disease... it's some kinda cooking style/technique.

If any of you watched Top Chef on Bravo this seaons, there was this totally annoying punk named Marcel that had hair like Heat Miser, who continuously boasted about how he was so cutting edge because he was a molecular gastronomer...

I'm just curious if anyone here has ever sampled any dishes from any self-professed molecular gastronomers, and if so, was the chef an ass?

Style over substance. I am sure the actual process is impressive and helps in plating incredible looking food but it's just a quick way to create more elaborate presentation. Taste wise you shouldnt notice too much of a difference from food presented without. But the overall process is supposed to be a very involved thing to learn. Wylie Dufresne was a sous chef for Jean-Georges and I am a big fan of Jean-Georges and most of his NYC eateries. So I tried WD 50 on his recommendation when one of his sous chefs left to be the head cook and used this elaborate process. I havent been back.

Ahhhh... the head chef from WD 50 was on the Top Chef finale... he looked kinda like a big nerd. I wonder if he collects japanese vinyl.

Haven't heard of it yet. Kinda reminds me of truffle & saffron infused oxygen, another goofy assed trend.

Hmmm... sounds like high caloric oxygen...

There is a place here in Chicago called Moto that is big into this...I haven't been, but the whole thing sounds more like taking in an experience rather than amazing food.

The best thing I heard them do was they had someone dress up like a FedEx employee come in and deliver you a package, then you busted it open and ate the edible flavor infused packing peanuts.

I do that with Celga boxes... psssht...

seems a bit pretentious (molecular gastronemy), but i'm down to try anything.

marcel definitely seems like an ass. regardless of all the shit throughout the competition, he was a really sore loser in the end. its cool that he believes in his ability (obviously the judges did too) but he ripped up everyone on the show to assuage his ego. i'd respect him more if he didn't act like a spoiled kid.

Oooooh... "assuage"...

don't make me kick your ass

assuage - that's a sausage that has had it's molecules rearranged.

There's a restaurant near my house named Gastropod, I haven't been there though.

Weird name

haha!! i was trying to see if they were the same letters rearranged, but they're not ^^

but they are, aren't they?

Aren't they? Assuage --> Sausage

2 "a"s
2 "s"s
1 "u", "g", "e"

oh shit. haha!

did i mention i have a massive head cold that makes me feel like my eyeballs are being sucked out of my head???

I listened to something about molecular gastronomy on NPR last week. Maybe the marketplace program...I think..

Anyway, it does sound like it's more of an experience. The chefs they spoke with had huge tasting menus that were out of control in scope.

And z..I think they had the guy from that place in chicago talking about it.

so, is molecular gastronomy cheap?

If it is, I'll try it. Can't waste vinyl money on expensive food.

Anthony Bourdain had a food network special called Decoding Ferran Adria, it's also dvd. It was very intresting, he went to 60's stlye spy lab, where they did the experaments, really intresting

he talks about the episode in his book tasty bits, he walked in a sceptic and walked out a fan. Never tried but I would love to some day.

I have a couple editions of the El Bulli "Catalog" (read: HUGE ASS BOOK). His stuff is soooo out there. I was in Barcelona a couple years ago and tried to get over to the restaurant but ran out of time. Gotta try it one day.

I heard they do this at Carl's Jr.


also, I like how you had to say "had hair like heatmiser". so right

I bet marcel cried all night. WAY TO FORGET THE FISH I FART A LOT!

if i remember correctly, most of the country's better chef schools make you take molecular gastronomy as qualification for graduation. so most hotshot upandcomers will be at least somewhat familiar with it. they talked in depth about it on Gourmet Magazine's Foodie tv show on pbs just a couple weeks ago. its apparently a "more scientific" approach to preparing gourmet food. they use things like liquid nitrogen and complicated oil/emulsion techniques. there’s a lot of this sort of fakie caviar that a lot of MGers make. delicate little jelly balls of beets, carrots, fruits etc. i think there’s a lot of potential for really innovative things they could do with the approach, but i'm not that impressed so far.

I'm currently reading "Molecular Gastronomy" by Hervé This, the man who coined the term. The book is surprisingly entertaining and unpretentious.

Marcel on Top Chef seemed to be confusing ends with means. His addiction to "foams" illustrates this. He copies techniques forged by others ... nothing wrong with that in any tradition, but seemed not to understand that MG is more about process and refinement of process than the dishes that have thus far been associated with the movement, mostly due to the hard work and surreal results accomplished by Ferran Adria at El Bulli in Spain. Marcel could learn a lot from Heston Blumenthal of Fat Duck in the UK. Blumenthal uses MG (basically, scientific method applied to investigating cooking techniques and folk wisdom about the same) to refine very traditional English dishes. While he does do some pretty wild stuff (e.g. snail pudding, crab ice cream) he's more concerned with maximizing the flavor profiles of existing cuisine.

Given an inexpensive hand blender and proper understanding of technique, anyone can make a "foam." That doesn't make one an "avant garde molecular gastronomist" as Marcel frequently boasted when describing himself. Basically, he's a smart young man with a lot of potential who seriously needs to get his ass kicked to knock that chip off his shoulder. To quote an old Morrisey title, "You just haven't earned it yet, baby."



To my great surprise, there are no MG restaurants here in the restaurant-city, San Francisco. I haven't been to the ones in Spain, the UK, or Chicago yet. However, I've read a great deal about this subject and ... basically ... yes, Marcel was an ass for misappropriating the concept to brand himself as something special, and also for his social ineptitude. On the other hand, his competitors appeared to go overboard in demonizing and ostracizing him, which in turn some of the judges (especially Mrs. Rushdie) were evidently inordinately sensitive to. I think he scored some sympathy points whether or not he deserved them.

Again, Molecular Gastronomy is essentially the scientific testing of conventional wisdom regarding cooking, not the results of that research. It's understandable that this is confused in the public mind (and the subject of considerable skepticism) but all hype aside, MG is a good thing as a process. Whether or not the results are palatable depends upon the chef's choices and the client's open-mindedness. The best results of MG are probably not recognized as such at all ... they're just good food. I'd make an exception for Chef Adria though ... that man is a brilliant artist, a mad scientist in the best ways. His food is supposed to be weird and challenging, but I'm willing to bet that the results of some of his work (e.g. agar-based pasta that can be dispensed fresh from a machine) may indeed affect how we think of and receive food some years down the line.