New style cooking – following Ferran Adria?

There has been quite a following for new-world/new-style cooking, which combines art and science.  Perhaps, among the more famous ones are the show seen on the cooking channel when former chef Anthony Bourdain took to task in “Decoding Ferran Adria”.  Ferran Adria is well-known in Spain and the world for the way he and his team prepares the food.  Imagine something like a soft gel of mango puree retained in a ball shape without any casing whatsoever, served on a Chinese soup spoon.

Eversince then, there were chef/artist Paco Contres who was Adria’s apprentice/technical partner, and an Japanese American young chef working at Mandarin Oriental Tokyo.

We could be mistaken to think that this type of food style just started quite recently, whereas in truth, we could find some elements of it from early 19th century.  Such as Georges Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935).

Author Escoffier in the book Le Guide Culinaire encourages new style of cooking.  In the last few years,

leading chefs all over the world has begun to incorporate such technique.  Like using N2O or nitrous oxide to foam up liquids.  Good idea, because when you volumise the liquid you stretch the amount you pour for yourself and guests. Saves money for restauranteurs too.

Another scientific way to thicken liquid without heating is usage of Xanthan gum powder.  Just whisk the liquid in a jar or bowl and pour in xanthan gum, all this without altering the taste of the liquid.

Chef Michael Smith of the show “Chef at Home” also dedicated an episode to shed a little light on this type of food preparation.  Here’s what he demo-ed on the show: Poach salmon in olive oil infused with herbs like rosemary and lemon zest and this must be done so in precisely 200 deg Celcius which is just below boiling water. Use a remote thermometer to check the exact temperature.

Chef Smith also showed a bottle, quite like your spray pump, where you can foam up any liquid for desserts.  Wonder where we all could get one so we could save time instead of whipping up mousses.