sign in sign up
<<
Home , Gaggan (restaurant), Molecular gastronomy, Note by Note cuisine

molecular cheers to Cryo Margarita!

Cryo Spheres that burst Margarita in your mouth to offer intense pops of flavour. Cunningly created that looks like it is one thing but is actually something entirely different. Dishes where you taste multiple flavours in a planned sequence. Ones that incorporate aromas and sounds or textures. It’s clever . It is molecular that incorporates and technological tools for ever newer and more exciting experiences. Priya Pathiyan explores aperberry and saha c aperberry abhijit saha, PHOTO how… 60 61 DISCOVERY CHANNEL MAGAZINE india DECEMBER 2014 and have joined hands to dish out some fantastically dramatic raspberry caviar with strawberry creations, thanks to some brilliant minds at foam and caramel work in professional

of dried kelp, hijiki seaweed, baby eels, razor clams, cockles, mussels and sea urchins, displaying in a way that was reminiscent of the sea shore, with an ocean ‘spume’ and edible sand. He served this on a glass- topped box that was filled with real sand. To add to the experience, there was an iPod in a conch shell attached to headphones that played the ooking has been about science sound of seagulls and the right from the first time a waves crashing on a beach. human cracked an egg and These tableside theatrics Cdecided to crisp it up in a bit of are not only an impressive animal fat. Maybe even before indication of culinary skills that. It’s been a continuous but also necessary for a journey of experimentation restaurant and its chef to be down the decades. And today, taken seriously in restaurants across the world circles and talked (or are raising the bar to evolve tweeted) about. ever more interesting versions Many Indian chefs are of classic preparations or clued in to this phenomenon. create entirely new ones. Of the three restaurants Experts are applying the that Abhijit Saha, Founding science of how different Director & Chef of Avant ingredients react at molecular Garde Hospitality owns, levels and using these two keep modern culinary reactions to be the foundation techniques centre-stage. His for presenting food in a very award-winning signature visual, sometimes interactive, Indian restaurant is Saha in and often surprising format. Singapore and Caperberry in Think of the newly ginger- Bengaluru, where he hosted haired , and impressed MasterChef no stranger to the average Australia’s celebrity judges Indian who has watched a Gary Mehigan and George few seasons of Masterchef Calombaris in 2012. When we Australia, who wields his ask him to pick one creation molecular magic wand at that incorporates molecular in London. His cooking that he is personally

D reamstime famous Sounds of the Sea proud of, he finds that hoto

P dish, created in 2007, was difficult, as the tasting menu all about his multi-sensory at Caperberry changes every philosophy. He created a two months and there are

62 63 DISCOVERY CHANNEL MAGAZINE india DECEMBER 2014 molecular gastronomy churros modern - with a molecular so many dishes that he has Carpaccio or the live New touch innovated with. It’s all about Age Tiramisu. Also, the The desi demystificattion the right ingredients and duck in different versions,” techniques, experimenting he says. Some of his dishes Sarabjit Kaur, Masters student in Food with Indian flavours that are Innovation & Product Design at the molecular also enhanced by molecular AgroParisTech, France, explains… cooking techniques are the cooking Gol Guppa Spherification, In we have a lot of interesting often relies cooked lamb physiochemical phenomena going on. For on LED- roulade with Kakori Kebab instance, the swelling of a roti or the spongy and live maple wood texture of khaman dhokla. We study these blinking smoke and Spiced Cryo phenomena under Molecular Gastronomy. water baths, Espuma which have been There’s also the study of Culinary Precisions, quite a hit. which are age-old practices used in cooking. syringes, Similarly, Gaggan Anand, For instance, the fact that resting the ph metres who went through the paces before making rotis keeps them soft for a long and shelves with Ferran Adria at the time. Molecular Cooking is the use of scientific erstwhile , recently principles in cooking. For example, making a of food impressed Mumbai’s luxe Kulfi with liquid Nitrogen or serving lassi in an chemicals bunch with his dhokla ice sphere. That will be similar to pani-puri but like xanthan foam and chocolate pani the pani will be replaced by lassi and the puri will puri. His eponymously be a hollow ice sphere. and perfecting each creation. named restaurant Gaggan Note by Note (NBN) cooking is using “And our patrons have in Bangkok, , was compounds like protein powder for creating food. loved the results. Be it a proclaimed the 17th best In NBN, we use only chemical compounds as deconstruction of Salad restaurant in the world ingredients. For flavours as well we use chemical Caprese, the imitation earlier this year. compounds. For example, using protein powder Gresham Fernandes, for making Chicken tikka. So, Indian dishes and Group Executive Chef, Fine flavours can be used for NBN cooking. Dine Division at Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality, and the man behind Delhi’s new age Smoke House Room’s genius, pina colada spent three months at Noma last year to understand the Nordic cuisine and molecular techniques. “At that point, we had forayed into degustation menus and 20-course at Smoke House Room. We had travelled a lot - Spain, France, the UK - just eating at restaurants, thinking what Chef Gresham we wanted to do in our own Fernandes country. Working at Noma reamstime (below) D reamstime and saha; c aperberry Chef abhijit saha, PHOTO

How it all came about... 1969 1988 1992 1994 Hungarian-born, Oxford-based Kurti meets French physical chemist A set of workshops called ‘Science and Hervé This proposes the physicist gives a Hervé This and they conduct several Gastronomy’ are held in Erice, Italy, bringing theory of Note by Note lecture at the Royal Institute experiments together and first together scientists and professional cooks cuisine and Pierre Gagnaire called ‘The Physicist in the ’ refer to this modernist cooking as for discussions about the science behind collaborates with him ‘molecular and physical gastronomy’ traditional cooking preparations

64 65 DISCOVERY CHANNEL MAGAZINE india DECEMBER 2014 molecular gastronomy

for three months, I got a different perspective on how people cook there with On a new note very few ingredients, how to keep it fresh and the ideas Physical care about professionals (in a chemist way), but I use them to show churning,” he says. Hervé the way. This is part of my For him, it’s all about This, who strategy. But remember that using the techniques to works at I am working for the public. create something that can’t the Inter- We deserve modern tools for otherwise be done. “For national cooking, not Middle Age pans! instance, if you want to try Centre for and freeze a gin and tonic, Molecular Gastronomy In your opinion, who are it can only be done using AgroParisTech-INRA in the current chefs doing the Paris, is considered the liquid nitrogen,” he says. most innovative work in Godfather of molecular And it’s imperative that molecular cooking? cooking. He’s the man Ah! You have to know that molecular cooking isn’t used who was invited to molecular cooking is a very old just because it’s there, but lecture on liquid stuff, as I proposed it in 1980. because it serves a purpose, nitrogen when he was Today, I am in New York in order he emphasises, explaining, 12 and the one whose to show the new thing, called “Foams have always been scientific experiments Note by Note Cooking. And around. They’re basically just and resultant Pierre Gagnaire is the first in an incorporation of air into knowledge have the world who could do this! inspired and impacted anything. Cappuccinos in the chefs across the world, What exactly is Note by 1920s had foam. But that was from Heston Blumenthal created to keep the coffee Note cooking? to Pierre Gagnaire! It began in 1994, when I hot as it was cold in Italy. Excerpts from our dreamt of the day when Similarly, the way filter coffee interview with the man recipes gave advice like ‘add is poured at a height from cup who famously unboiled to your bouillon two drops an egg… to cup in South India makes it of a 0.001 percent solution creamy. It’s there for a reason, If all cooking is about of benzylmercaptan in pure not just to impress.” science, then how is molecular alcohol’. The ingredients used cooking different? in include some key In my view, cooking has water, , sucrose, amino nothing to do with science, acids and . For example, molecular and science has nothing to in wine made by Note by Note techniques jiggs kalra by L ibrary M asala do with cooking! Indeed, cuisine, the following might be

PHOTO cooking is technique + art. added: water, anthocyanins (for include hot Science is looking for the colour), , ethanol, amino ice, jelly mechanisms of phenomena, acids (for flavour), glycerol, and science does not make phenols, quinones, and organic noodles, anything except producing acids. Pierre Gagnaire and I aroma leaf, ‘explanations’, models, developed Note by Note dishes theories. When you use the for between six months and a foams, result of science, it’s for year and presented the first liquid education or for technology. Note by Note in Hong above jalebi And technology makes the Kong in 2008. Two years ago, nitrogen and caviar with saffron glaze and link with technique (cooking). I published La Cuisine Note deep frying pistachio rabdi Molecular gastronomy is à Note and now, every year, defined as ‘the science that I, along with the chefs and in water Inset zorawar kalra of masala looks for the mechanism of students at So, what according to him, library by phenomena occurring during prepare a note by note dinner. is the essence of modern jiggs kalra cooking’. This is different from In the Note by Note sphere, the cooking, we ask. Fernandes ‘molecular cooking’ which is idea now is to understand the far LEFT the grins, “Basically, all the top traditional nothing to do with science. 'bioactivity' (think of flavour chefs are just kids in their mishti doi gets Its definition is ‘cooking with release as an example) of transformed into modern utensils’. about 1,500 different kinds of heads. The food is always lollipops about a surprise, about gels that I discovered. Do you believe that a home cook tapping into nostalgia, just LEFT molecular cooking can and should try molecular Do you think Indian an opening of your mind. techniques turn cooking or should it be left to cuisine lends itself well to Like, if you’ve grown up in khandvi into the professionals? molecular cooking? Mumbai, you’ll remember spheres Molecular cooking was Yes, Indian cuisine can certainly Simba wafers, which you introduced for anyone! I don't be modernised.

66 67 DISCOVERY CHANNEL MAGAZINE india DECEMBER 2014 molecular gastronomy Molecular cocktails Spherical are a hit among fancy vanilla yogurt food lovers. techniques with strawberry like dry ice and liquid coulis only get at the circus these nitrogen create a days. So your Waiter could dramatic effect just come up wearing a red The desi demystificattion clown nose and give you wafers with vinegar and salt… Abhijit Saha, Granita of sangria, Frozen duck It doesn’t have to be 200 the man liver parfait powder, Frozen ingredients to be good. It has behind the chocolate ganache powder and menus at to be simple but done with a Caperberry, Cryo espuma. perspective and presented a Bengaluru, certain manner. And unlike and Saha, Sous Vide Cooking Described in the past where people just Singapore, by Harold McGee (who wrote did things for effect and used is one of India’s foremost the chef’s bible, On Food and three different techniques on experts in molecular Cooking: The Science and Lore of cooking. He explains the the Kitchen) as ‘one of the most a plate, everything is simple science of it and the and flavourful today. I look most commonly used important culinary innovations at it as Instagram. You can techniques… of modern times’, sous vide take a picture and spoil it is a French term that literally by using too many different Chefs are now collaborating with translates to ‘under vacuum’. It settings or you can have a chemists, food scientists and is a slow cooking method, where good picture and even use it industrial designers to transform food is cooked in an airtight without a filter. And yet, the food that look and taste different. bag, immersed in a water bath visuals are very important. Some key techniques include heated to a precise temperature. deconstruction, hot ice, jelly Especially useful for cooking Note by noodles, encapsulations, seafood and meats, this unique aroma leaf, foams, sous vide, technique prevents the leaching Note cuisine liquid nitrogen and deep- out of juices, helping to retain uses water, frying in water. Another aspect tenderness and flavour, all ethanol, of molecular gastronomy is the while cooking the food to combining with similar perfection. At Caperberry, we sucrose, volatile aroma use this technique for all our amino acids compositions, which determine meats, some seafood, fish and lipids their flavour. If one ingredient and . has high levels of amines or They can make or break a aldehydes then it should be Spherification & Faux dish. It’s always good to have combined with other ingredients Caviar Spherification is a beauty on the plate. That’s molecular that contain high levels of modernist technique pioneered what everyone wants. A chef - egg, amines or aldehydes. At the Fat by the celebrated Ferran asparagus and can cook good food, but the bacon Duck, Heston Blumenthal (even Adria of El Bulli fame. It is a question always is ‘how do though he does not subscribe to process by which liquids are you elevate it?’ Molecular the term ‘molecular gastronomy’ shaped into spheres without cooking gives you more ways to describe his cooking) external casing, using Xanthan to play with it.” combines caviar with chocolate (a ) and Gluco Fun is something that and oysters with passion- (Calcium Lactate Gluconate) in a Zorawar Kalra understands fruit jelly. Unusually shocking water bath and sodium alginate well. As the son of celebrity combinations seem to work (a seaweed extract used to chef Jiggs Kalra, and Founder wonderfully due to the presence increase ). The liquid & MD of Massive Restaurants, of common amines. is encased within itself. Sizes he could have stuck to the of the spheres can vary, but tried-and-tested formulae Built along the Cryo Cooking This new-age when spherifications are made of success – plush Indian banks of the method of cooking uses liquid in tiny sizes they are referred mighty Mississippi nitrogen to cool food very quickly to as imitation or faux caviar, restaurants with familiar new orleans is Indian food. Instead, he has a vibrant city of at a staggering minus 196 because of their resemblance in chosen to do it differently, culture and jazz — degrees centigrade. This process appearance and texture to caviar. that is completely with flair. The man behind surrounded by aids in creating interesting Both spherifications and caviars Delhi’s recently opened Farzi water. strip the textures and mouth feel, create startling explosions Café and Mumbai’s Masala city looks beneath and sensational style of food of flavour in the mouth. At the city’s great Library by Jiggs Kalra that superdome (right) B ri c khouse Cafe and ar, M umbai; D reamstime presentation. At Caperberry, we Caperberry spherification is hoto has been getting rave reviews P use liquid nitrogen to prepare used to prepare spoon cocktails, since 2013, tells us how he some of our signature creations skinless raviolis, fruit caviars conceptualised the unique including Cryo Margarita, and much more.

68 69 DISCOVERY CHANNEL MAGAZINE india DECEMBER 2014 molecular Coconut jelly & mango gastronomy gel made to resemble an egg using molecular gastronomic techniques, garnished with menus. “The thought came in our cuisine and believe passionfruit pearls to me almost eight years ago that it is up to us to make the or caviar You can do it too! when I had visited El Bulli effort to elevate Indian food, in Spain. After experiencing reintroduce it to the world in if you love science and dream it, I kept wondering why its modern avatar, retaining of dishing up delectable food, we could not do something its traditional roots.” molecular cuisine can emerge from similar with Indian cuisine. Kalra believes that dining your kitchen too! It seemed too cutting edge is a sensory experience. and radical for that time, According to him, “Though MolecularRecipes.com, a leading online but now the infrastructure the taste of a dish is of source for molecular gastronomy recipes and is available, enabling us to extreme importance, while techniques which has even been invited by the make bhel-puri with liquid eating, it is essential to use Harvard School of Engineering and Applied nitrogen, where you get all the five senses to enjoy a to present to their Science & Cooking holistic culinary experience, class, strongly believes that molecular cooking cryo which not only does justice should not be the turf of top chefs alone. Their to the food served but also Quantum Chef explains, “I would see these cooking is engages the consumer amazing dishes created on television. I would a new age at various levels with an taste these culinary masterpieces at restaurants. method that avant garde experience.” But that wasn’t enough. I had to try it myself. My The very clinically named love of science, , uses liquid Phirni Oxide at Farzi Café design and food drove me to explore and nitrogen is certainly dramatic and experiment with Molecular Gastronomy at home. to cool food engaging, being poured in Using make-shift equipment and ingredients, front of you at the table I would hunt for online and in specialty stores, quickly at a with liquid nitrogen, and I was able to create my own dishes. Of course, staggering then broken into a hundred there was a lot of trial and error, but with pieces! Meanwhile in experience and practice I was able to master the minus 196 Mumbai, the thandai techniques and achieve some beautiful results.” degrees sphere served as an With all this talk of chemicals, is it safe to centigrade amuse bouche at Masala create and to eat, you wonder. “When people Library, encapsulates all the hear the words Molecular Gastronomy or exactly the same flavour of flavours of the traditional molecular cuisine for the first time they often the dish, but in a scientific, thandai into a small bubble, mistakenly view it as unhealthy, synthetic, surprising way. The idea which bursts as soon as you chemical, dehumanising and unnatural. This is behind Farzi Café was to bring put it into with your mouth, not surprising given that Molecular Gastronomy Indian cuisine back ‘in vogue’. releasing all the flavours often relies on fuming flasks of liquid nitrogen, Young people love eating out, of the dish! They also do a LED-blinking water baths, syringes, tabletop but they don’t go for Indian signature cocktail, which distilleries, PH meters and shelves of food meals, which intrigued me uses the foaming technique chemicals with names like , for the longest time, and to create a star anise foam. maltodextrin and xanthan. The truth is that the then I realised that there is This offers a glimpse into ‘chemicals’ used in molecular gastronomy are all a lack of hipness associated the potential use of modern of biological origin. Even though they have been techniques, not just for wood flavour. “Molecular and there is a lot more that an Indian menu that uses a lot For instance, Noma has just purified and some of them processed, the raw cooking food but also to Gastronomy is becoming we have to showcase using of these techniques. “Indian 30 dishes. People book material origin is usually marine, plant, animal develop unique beverages. popular worldwide. I first modern culinary techniques food is not built that way and tables in advance, they come or microbial. At an industrial-themed saw these techniques in and presentations. However, molecular cooking takes away on time, they don’t ask for These additives have been approved by EU Mumbai bar, all the London and decided to see it is important for us to be from it. It’s not that we cannot too much customisation standards and are used in very, very small bartenders are trained to if we could recreate some of aware that too much too soon do it, but it’s a thin line,” he except in case of dietary amounts. The science lab equipment used just make ‘molecular cocktails’, them. The response has been may not work today. I believe avers. When we press him restrictions or allergies. That helps modern gastronomy cooks to do simple which the patrons are really overwhelming!” enthuses there is still a long way to go for more clarity, he explains, makes it easier to plan as all things like maintaining the temperature of the Cryo finding interesting. The Bunty Arora, owner of the before you would witness a “In India, there are too many of these processes are time- cooking water constant (water bath), cooling espuma or foam most popular is the Dutch Brickhouse Café and Bar. pure molecular gastronomy variations (some people will consuming and you have to food at extremely low temperatures fast Kettle, made with orange, The trend seems to be concept in India appealing to eat only vegetarian, some create your menu much in (liquid nitrogen) or extract flavour from food with our cuisine, even though basil and dry ice, which has catching on with more and the five senses of the diners.” won’t eat pork, others won’t advance. Also, when people (evaporator). There is still some debate out there the pleasure of having a people reaching for their more restaurants in India According to Fernandes, eat beef, some will be fasting visit a restaurant of that about the healthiness of molecular gastronomy good Indian meal actually cell phones to click and post starting to experiment with while there are people like on certain days, etc) and it’s calibre there, they look at the but I personally believe there are far bigger supersedes anything else. As pictures on social media sites. molecular cooking. Kalra says, Kalra who are doing it and (above) D reamstime and saha; c aperberry Chef abhijit saha, difficult to customise that chef as a musician. They go for health issues in the everyday food we consume. hoto an Indian and an avid lover Whiskey drinkers like The “This is surely the beginning doing it well, it’s hard to create P much and at such short notice. the music. They respect it.” In the end, you are not going to be eating liquid of the robustness Indian food Smoked Godfather, which is pea spheres every day anyway,” explains the offers, we take immense pride infused with a smoky burnt Quantum Chef.

70 71 DISCOVERY CHANNEL MAGAZINE india DECEMBER 2014