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The History of Molecular Mixology

by Deng Bliven on

Science and technology continues to improve the way we experience the world around us. Sure, the argument could be made that technology can sometimes remove us from nature, but the things we create can help to improve the way we use our senses to connect with the natural world.

There is, perhaps, no better example of this, than the culinary Jabs Bar trend known as molecular gastronomy.

What is Molecular Gastronomy?

Molecular gastronomy is a culinary niche, a subdiscipline of food sciences that analyzes the physical and chemical properties of food.  A term coined by the Oxford physicist Nicholas Kurti and a French INRA chemist name Herve This, this trend takes a scientific approach to cooking that aims to make eating more a multi-sensory experience. Of course, eating is more than taste. We eat with our eyes and what we taste, as a matter of fact, is a combination of taste buds as well as what we can smell. And, also, food has textures.

More importantly, though, molecular gastronomy attempts to analyze and develop dishes that isolate and combine the three recognized components of food culture: artistic, technical, and social.

The fundamentals objectives of molecular gastronomy are:

  • investigate the culinary and digestive (gastronomical) proverbs
  • exploring and distilling recipes
  • introducing new tools and new ingredients
  • combining these tools and ingredients with new methodologies
  • inventing new dishes
  • encourage increased public understanding of the scientific-culinary contribution to society, as a whole

This investigates the tenets of molecular gastronomy by asking questions like:

  • How does varying the cooking methods alter ingredients?
  • How does varying the cooking methods improve or alter textures and flavors
  • How can we more effectively manipulate the senses to alter way we appreciate food?
  • How does aroma influence flavor?
  • How does the brain interpret signals from the sensory organs in order to inform what we call “flavor”?
  • How do seemingly unrelated exterior influences also affect the way we experience food?

What is Molecular Mixology?

With this fundamental understanding of molecular gastronomy it is easier to understand the new trend known as molecular mixology. Basically, molecular mixology  adopts many of the tenets and theories of molecular gastronomy and applies it to beverages; and, more intimately, alcoholic beverages.  This includes techniques like “spherification” which slightly solidifies a liquid so it resembles small spheres, like peas or caviar.

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Cooking Tips

Sous Vide what is it, and how do i get started?

by Deng Bliven on

Sous vide is French for under a vacuum, and this is a method cooking that requires you to sealed the item in question in a plastic pouch in order to be able to cook it, though the cooking method is usually a lot slower than normal cooking methods this usually takes around 7 hours or so but depending on the food and the recipe it can take but that means that the food stuff can cook in this method for more than forty eight hours because the food cooks for so long it is also cooked at much lower temperatures as well than used in normal cooking methods these things are achieved by placing the sealed food stuff in a container that is either circulating warm air usually one hundred and thirty one degrees Fahrenheit to one hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit. The intent of this cooking method is to cook food evenly throughout without overcooking the outside and while making sure that the food stuff retains all of it’s natural moisture.

The reason why sous vide equipment is sought after at the berkel sales and service Inc. is because this cooking method is very low maintenance and with the marvel of modern technology there really isn’t much to do about the cooking once you put the meat in your sous vide machine because like i mentioned the cooking times are indeed quite lengthy. It’s not like you’re going to have to monitor and make sure that the meat isn’t going to burn or something of the like, these specialty sous vide cooking devices make sure that your food is cooking evenly and properly by making sure that the item is fully submerged in water and that the temperature is even throughout the entire cooking process however that may take.

Many people wonder if there are differences in sous vide cooking tools for the home and the ones for the restaurant and or deli business and the answer is yes. While the products themselves perform the same task it is necessary to note that the home cook will usually be satisfied with an immersion circulator which can be clipped to the side of a pot or some similar container and this will in turn be their sous vide cooking utensil, while at restaurants and delis where it is necessary to cook much larger quantities at once than anyone would at home, especially considering that the cooking method is such a lengthy one it is necessary to have much larger scale equipment such as water bath appliances these combine all the process into one item a large container with a water circulator and good temperature gauge giving you all the necessary tools for doing your sous vide cooking at a much larger scale giving you the opportunity to cook lots of stuff at the time.

So remember if you need to buy sous vide equipment you need not look any further than berkel sales and services Inc. they will have the product you need for the price you want.

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Foods

Pralines what are they and why are Goode company’s better.

by Deng Bliven on

For one pralines are a type of candy that was originally made in France, the French variety is slightly different than what we know today as a praline, or at least what we know today as a praline here in the united states of America. For one our pralines are a direct descendant of the French variety and a cousin of sorts of the Belgian chocolate pralines. Though the Belgian kind of praline is more of a high end pastry. French pralines are a combination of sugar and almonds to create a hard lumpy cookie, while the American kind is a much softer, creamier combination of a number of different nuts with syrup milk or cream in order to give it that richer taste in a way it closely resembles a cross between the French variety of the praline and fudge. The way the American praline came about was due to the fact that French settlers in Louisiana brought the original praline from their home country and since sugar cane and pecans happened to be plentiful around there at the time it only made perfect sense that someone would take ideas from that recipe and start making their own confections on it. And so sometime in the nineteenth century some Louisiana chefs combined the ideas for French pralines with almonds instead of pecans, added cream to make the recipe creamier and voila so it was that the praline of the American south was born. The pralines are usually made by combining sugar (often brown), butter, cream or buttermilk, and pecans in a pot over medium-high heat, and stirring constantly until most of the water has evaporated and it has reached a thick texture with a brown color. At that point the concoction is poured over wax paper and made to cool and become a cookie like glob that is what is known as a praline. Although the actual recipe used by the good company is not known it it can be said that their dedication to authenticity is why their pralines are so good.

At the goode company they have gone and one upped the original Louisiana praline makers by going to true culinary lengths in order to create what they like to call the Texas praline which is an invention all on their own these aren’t your average little praline in both size consistency and flavor being bigger to make sure that they can satisfy even the most Texan of all appetites their consistency can be made both crunchy if that is what you prefer or the softer fudgier kind if that is what you prefer. It’s also worth noting that you will be getting your texas pralines in a wood pine marked box that is a perfect keepsake the box has been fire branded with the sentence “You might give some serious thought to thanking the fact that you’re in texas” the box of course can be reused and when ordering remember to make sure you order either all six crunchy or soft but better yet get three of each so you know how good they all are.

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