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Chefs As Chemists

circletimessquare writes "Using ingredients usually relegated to the lower half of the list of ingredients on a Twinkies wrapper, some professional chefs are turning themselves into magicians with food. Ferran Adrià in Spain and Heston Blumenthal in England have been doing this for years, but the New York Times updates us on the ongoing experiments at WD-50 in New York City. Xanthan Gum, agar-agar, and other hydrocolloids are being used to bring strange effects to your food. Think butter that doesn't melt in the oven, foie gras you can tie into knots, and fried mayonnaise."

20 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. You had me at... by indiepants · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...fried mayonnaise.

  2. How is this different than a food chemist? by schnikies79 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I have a couple friends that went into food chemistry after undergrad. I thought about it but decided to stick with organic chemisty.

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    Gone!
    1. Re:How is this different than a food chemist? by Curmudgeonlyoldbloke · · Score: 4, Funny

      About 50 quid a head.

    2. Re:How is this different than a food chemist? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Remember, cooking is an art, baking is a science.

        And in the south, frying is a religion. Thank you! I'll be here all night.

    3. Re:How is this different than a food chemist? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 3, Funny

      That ice cream was spooky stuff though. We tried some at university at a meeting of the Socialist Workers Party. All the people who ate it now work for the Conservative Party. Some of the girls turned up with blue rinse hair and pearls before the end of the week.

      --
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  3. You know someone read your post by Dorceon · · Score: 3, Funny

    and immediately tried to brew basil coffee, right?

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    What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
    1. Re:You know someone read your post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Bullshit. Is beer a type of whisky? Is coca cola a type of wine? You're a fucking idiot.

  4. Re:Old old old by WombatDeath · · Score: 4, Funny

    I saw some of Heston's latest BBC series. Very entertaining but perhaps not entirely practical - in one of his recipes he made ice cream using liquid nitrogen, and his suggestion for the home enthusiast was to use dry ice instead. I like ice cream as much as the next man, but not to the extent that I'm willing to live through bad 80s disco all over again.

  5. Food? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    If it uses "ingredients usually relegated to the lower half of the list of ingredients on a Twinkies wrapper", then what the hell does it have to do with food?

  6. Re:scam to sell stuff by Algorithmnast · · Score: 2, Funny

    Here and I thought that molecular gastronomy was a way for my kids to detect when they shouldn't come into the same room, by noticing what I ate at the restaurant.

  7. Re:Food as Art, Science or chemistry by karnal · · Score: 1, Funny

    You chefs also forgot to shut off teh boldz!

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    Karnal
  8. Re:Foie Gras is some tasty good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Maybe you should try it and you'll agree that what they do to create such delicious stuff is well worth it.

    In fact, I'm going to eat more of it just to spite your tree hugging, faggoty feelings.

  9. What did you think of these "chemists"? by iminplaya · · Score: 4, Funny

    They were delicious!

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    What?
  10. WD-40 by davidc · · Score: 3, Funny

    Okay, hands up those who read that as WD-40.

  11. Re:Two cents worth... by UncleTogie · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's nothing but a new name for an age old process. The process of adding heat to reagents (a.k.a. cooking) is in itself a chemical process.
    The whole "molecular gastronomy" trend is simply applying the same strategy to "warm" dishes.

    ...which is why I included it in quotes as well. Slapping lipstick on a pig does NOT make it Natalie Portman.

    Paris Hilton, maybe, but not Portman.

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  12. I'm trying not to. by ScrewMaster · · Score: 3, Funny

    Think butter that doesn't melt in the oven, foie gras you can tie into knots, and fried mayonnaise.

    I don't want to think about butter that doesn't melt in the oven, or foie gras in knots ... and I especially don't want to think too much about fried mayonnaise. Cripes, talk about adding insult to injury.

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    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  13. TV Dinners by PPH · · Score: 3, Funny
    "I even like the chicken if the sauce is not too blue." -- ZZ Top

    For some reason, this is the first thing that popped into my head when I read TFA.

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    Have gnu, will travel.
  14. Re:Foie Gras is some nasty shit... by Mr.+Shotgun · · Score: 2, Funny

    Do we really need to torture animals before killing & eating them?
    Well, if they would just confess and tell us where Bin Laden is...
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    Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the (supposed) good of its victims may be the most oppressive
  15. Re:Foie Gras is some nasty shit... by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2, Funny

    Highly intelligent grapes were crushed while still alive to make that wine. Bastard.

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  16. Re:Foie Gras is some nasty shit... by denzacar · · Score: 2, Funny

    Do we really need to torture animals before killing & eating them? Only the endangered ones.

    Mmmm... panda-burgers...

    I mean... come on people.

    Humans have always been eating other animals.
    You know... being the top of the food chain has its responsibilities as well.

    If we stuck to what fell of the tree... well... lets just say that Marky Mark and Charlton Heston would not call this place their home.

    Instead, human ancestors ate meat.
    Whenever they could get their greedy little hands on it. And that tasty protein made them stronger, bigger, smarter hunters.
    After a while, they became so smart they realised - "Why the fuck should I run after these animals whenever I need food? Lets capture some of them, put them in some kind of a fence and keep them there for later eating."

    Tortured? Dude, we used to bash their heads with rocks and sticks.
    And we didn't even bother to feed them and take care of them for years before that.
    We would just sneak up on them, and then 10-20 of us would start throwing rocks at it.
    Many times we would just hurt it a lot, and it would run away to die from the wounds while we went for other, slower pray.

    Get the ancestors of today's cows and ask them if they would rather have it the old way, or would they have it like their relatives today?
    I already know what they would say.

    They would say: MOOOO!!!
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