Montage Art, books, diverse creations

15 The Alcotts, Père and Fille 16 Open Book 18 On Judicial Interpretation 19 Off the Shelf 20 Second-Life Photography 22 A Scourge Remembered 23 Chapter & Verse

may get a boost from Harvard science labs. During a visit to Cambridge in December to de- liver a guest Celebrated chef lecture and to Ferran Adrià mingles cooking visit some of and science at those labs, the elBulli, his chef signed an restaurant near agreement Barcelona. with profes- sors of physics and engineering for an ongoing collaboration. Thus far, Adrià and his sta≠ have achieved their culinary feats through The Harvard Center for sheer trial and error; he has no formal sci- entific training. When a friend gave him a canister of nitrous oxide (the same pro- Gastrophysics? pellant used in Reddi-wip) as a gift, he played around to find out what he could do with it. The result was culinary foam, The University partners with the father of molecular gastronomy. perhaps Adrià’s most famous invention. by ELIZABETH GUDRAIS (He uses substances such as beet, carrot, coconut, and honey, pureeing and then straining the liquid before urprise is Ferran Adrià’s stock splash of briny liquid when bitten. aerating. The resulting foam in trade. He delights the diners These are just a few of the hundreds of has no egg or milk to dilute at elBulli, his restaurant near playful dishes the chef has served in his or distract from the taste of Visit harvard- S Barcelona, with creations such nearly 25 years at elBulli (declared the the main ingredient.) He mag.com/extras as gelatin served hot; a “bubble world’s best by Restaurant magazine for learned about “spherifica- to read more tea” drink in which the liquid tastes of three years running, and four times in all). tion”—the use of thickeners about Ferran prosciutto and the bubbles of melon; Adrià’s experiments with flavor, tempera- such as alginate and calcium Adrià’s visit and watch a video and jellybean-like objects the color and ture, and texture have taken him into sci- chloride to form these “es- excerpt from shape of a green olive—that burst in a entists’ terrain—and his future menus sences” into bubbles—on an his lecture.

Photograph by Maribel Ruíz de Erenchun/elBulli Harvard Magazine 13 Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard MONTAGE

Creations from the elBulli kitchen: “spherical said he hoped to collabo- balloons of rosewater with touches of lychee” rate on an encyclopedia (below); “alphabet soup,” a dessert with of cooking and science “letters” of crunchy, dehydrated strawberry meringue (right); melon “caviar” in ham that would explore these consommé (bottom). matters. He practically salivat- ed as he listened to de- scriptions of the equip- ment in use in Harvard science labs, including a spin coater—which uses centrifugal force to coat cose syrup and sucrose ester molecules in surfaces with an extremely thin layer of a a KitchenAid mixer to produce a foam given substance—and Jiandi Wan’s ma- made of “nanopatterned cells” that hold chine for creating double emulsions. And their shape and preserve a foamy texture then, of course, there’s the potential that in the absence of fat. Dressaire thinks this Harvard scientists could help him solve technique could find an application in problems that still frustrate him, such as fat-free ice cream (see “A Durable Bub- making an ice cream that can be served ble,” November-December 2008, page 18); hot without melting. after poking a finger into a sample of the Weitz, who directs Harvard’s Materi- foam, kept in the lab refrigerator, Adrià als Research Science and Engineering exploratory visit to a factory. Upon dis- mentioned that the elBulli kitchen had Center, says one of his first priorities is covering a new technique, Adrià and his been using glucose syrup since 2005. getting cooking into the curriculum. He team test it across a wide variety of sub- For Campàs, who grew up during hopes to get Adrià’s input in creating not stances, moving from the obvious to the Adrià’s ascent to godlike status and only a graduate course in soft condensed outlandish. (A good example is the mango learned to cook using the chef’s books matter, focusing on food, but also a course anchovy ravioli foam a New York Times and DVDs, the whole experience has taken for the new undergraduate general-edu- writer tried on a 1999 visit.) on a tinge of the surreal. During an inter- cation curriculum (possibly co-taught by Adrià’s invitation to Harvard came view over lunch one day in January, Cam- Adrià himself). “Those of us who do sci- from Otger Campàs, a postdoctoral fel- pàs’s cell phone rang; when he ence do it because it’s fun,” he low in applied physics and applied math checked to see who was call- says. “We want to bring real who wrote him an e-mail in Catalan ing, the name “Ferran Adrià” science, through cooking, to (their shared native tongue) after talking flashed. people who are not ordinarily with other foodie scientists about the Campàs visited elBulli in late interested in science.” overlap between their work and Adrià’s. January with Mallinckrodt pro- Among those who don’t con- Particularly in the area of soft condensed fessor of physics and applied sider themselves ardent Adrià matter, says Campàs, “the connections are physics David Weitz. Details of fans, the chief criticism is that he so obvious.” (A television news clip about the partnership are still being engages in culinary acrobatics, Adrià’s visit noted another similarity be- solidified, but all involved hope concerning himself more with tween elBulli and Harvard: exclusivity. it will include an exchange of feats of science than with food The restaurant’s famously opaque sys- scholars in both directions. that actually tastes good. Adrià tem books the entire year’s reservations, (While in Cambridge, Adrià also vehemently denies this (as do approximately 8,000 from a reported 2 gave guest lectures in an under- most reviewers). Using nitrous million requests received, on a single day graduate course on innovation in oxide to make foam or a liquid-ni- each October.) engineering and a Harvard Busi- trogen bath to freeze liquid ingre- From postdoctoral fellow Jiandi Wan, ness School course taught by as- dients and mold them into shapes who works with Joseph professor of en- sistant professor Michael Norton, such as a dessert cup (a method gineering and applied mathematics who had written a case study on similar to deep frying, at the oppo- Howard Stone, Adrià heard about double elBulli.) site temperature extreme) is no emulsions (tiny bubbles, each inside an- And Adrià voiced hopes that Har- di≠erent from cooking with boiling other thin bubble, dispersed in a fluid). vard scientists could help him better water or hot oil, he asserted during the Emulsions—defined simply as a mixture understand the principles that under- undergraduate engineering lecture. He of two unblendable liquids—are every- lie his creations. Why is it easier to urged his listeners not to confuse what is where in cooking: examples include but- make foam from beets than from any- complicated with what is merely new: ter, cream, salad dressing, and anything thing else he’s tried? Why do the melon “Cooking has always been science— else that mixes oil and water. Emilie “caviar” beads have a soft center at physics and chemistry. When you lit a fire Dressaire, a doctoral student in the same first, but congeal into dense, gummy to cook a million years ago, you were al- lab, showed Adrià how she combines glu- balls if not eaten right away? Adrià ready using science.”

14 March - April 2009 Photographs by Francesc Guillamet/elBulli Magazine, Inc. at 617-495-5746 Reprinted from Harvard Magazine. For more information, contact Harvard